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Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes to detail. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Baker freaking Mayfield. The Rich Eisen Show.
My boy. He's super nice. Baker Mayfield's playing like a most valuable player, gents. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, Alabama head coach Kaylin DeBord. Coming up from Prime Video's evolution of the black quarterback, Constance Schwartz-Marini and Fred Anthony Smith. Saints head coach Dennis Allen.
Nebraska head coach Matt Grool. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two The Rich Eisen Show is live on the air on the Roku Sports Channel and this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey.
Tune in. We say hello to anybody listening through our podcast portal because you know what? It's your right to listen whenever you want and we appreciate that.
We respect it. All three hours are available on the Cumulus Podcast Network. Overreaction Monday. We recorded Chris Brocklin and I after yesterday's show.
That's out there for you. When we're done today, Susie Schuster and Amy Trask will take to our podcast studio set for What the Football. Steve Young is their guest. We've got coming up later this hour Dennis Allen, the head coach of the surprising 2-0 New Orleans Saints and Matt Grool, the coach of the 3-0 Nebraska Cornhuskers will be joining us in hour number three. But old friends are kicking off hour number two right here on The Rich Eisen Show in advance of Prime Video's evolution of the black quarterback. It is a three-part docuseries hosted by Michael Vick as he travels across America to explore the history and impact of black quarterbacks on and off the field and the director of this documentary Prime Video's the evolution of the black quarterback Fred Anthony Smith is here as is the executive producer and the CEO of Smack Entertainment, Constance Schwartz-Marini back here on The Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you guys.
All right. Thanks for having us Rich. Now, we, before we get to this, we got to talk about us, Fred Anthony. We go back.
Well, like a car seat, right? And because those who might be watching back at the NFL Network and NFL Media Group are probably pointing at the screen going look at this right here because I know you are Chris, right? Of course, it's wild. What's going on? It's so good to see you. Now, I feel like this is like Goodfellas where, you know, you know, it's been a long time. You've been away a long time. He's, he's, he's no longer a production assistant, right?
Is that how we met? 2005. Wow. Long time.
So NFL Network was two years old. 2005. I just dropped off a kid in college who wasn't born when we met. Wow.
I don't understand because I've stayed flat. I follow my mom's kind of ethics there. Like she's 98, but she really just stayed at about 50. So I'm, I gotta be younger than her. I understand that.
So I can't relate to this conversation. I know that you dropped off a kid at college like you used to drop a shot sheet off on the desk. Yeah. I remember those days. But you don't do that anymore, do you?
Not anymore. You and Emmys, sir. That's what you do.
You know? And so, um, congratulations. Well, thanks Rich. And it's, it's amazing to be here and to see old friends and a huge fan of the show.
So I appreciate you saying that. And it is just amazing, you know, how life works sometimes. How did you guys get connected?
Constance? I don't even remember. I might actually, was it through Snoop? Probably through Snoop. I think it was through Snoop. I left the NFL by the time he got there. Right.
I was gone. Um, so I think it was doing some shoots with Snoop, maybe the Snoopy football league. So Snoop and then, so what's crazy is the year leading up to Super Bowl, Super Bowl in Los Angeles, I was doing a lot of stuff for Snoop.
Right. And Snoop reconnected me and Constance. And here we are. He was my number one draft pick.
And by the way, great choice, great choice for sure. Because again, I, I just, I, I'm not just saying this now because you're directing this and you're doing so many other great things. Uh, it was obvious that you were overqualified for what you were doing for the very beginning, you know? And I just hope that I wasn't too deep at some times because, you know, Susie, my wife will frequently, uh, point out sometimes that, um, when shot sheets were handed to me back in the day, I was in my own tunnel vision.
And there's some people that might push back about anything that I might've said or done, or it was all love, uh, on my enrich. And that's, that's why we're here today because, uh, you know, it was, it was great just being around you and so many of those guys that, you know, that we came up with and came along with, you know, uh, and stuff like that. I mean, me prime and Mooch, right? All of that, Mike Muriano, all, all those guys right now, who's now at prime video as well. The best training ground. I mean, look for me, starting at 1991 at the NFL to all full circle, there's nothing better. So let's talk about, uh, what, what we're here to talk about right now. So, um, why, why now, why do a documentary on black quarterbacks right now, Fred Anthony? So, you know, when you think about Superbowl 57, um, and Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes facing off against each other for the first time ever, you had two black quarterbacks facing off that was cause for celebration.
Some people were like, well, well, you know, they're here. So why is it cause for celebration? And one of the reasons is it took 57 years, 57 years is a long time, but at the same time with as many black quarterbacks starting in the league now, um, that is reason to celebrate because we know that there were so many guys that didn't get their chance. And so many guys that went through through tough times and sacrifices and death threats and things of that nature, just to have the opportunity to play quarterback. So, uh, so it was a perfect time to celebrate, but also to pay homage, uh, to the guys that did it before the guys that are doing it now.
And, and what better time than the now really. So you're referring to folks that might be most obviously to some people, Warren Moon is what you're talking about. Williams, Shaq Harris, um, a ton of guys that, you know, didn't get a chance to even play quarterback to play quarterback in, in college and couldn't play once they, once they got to, to the, to the NFL. I mean, Tony Dungy, uh, who's, uh, featured in the doc talks about playing at Minnesota and he was leading the, the big 10 at the time in passing, facing off against Warren Moon leading the pack eight in passing.
And neither one of them were drafted coming out of the NFL, uh, coming out of college, uh, because there weren't a ton of black quarterbacks at the time. Or they wanted to play another position. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You, you, you, why don't you try wide receiver?
Why don't you try another spot? And, and, and, and again, uh, I understand we're talking about names back in the day, but it was just, uh, right around, uh, a couple of years ago when Lamar Jackson was told, why don't you run at the combine? We'd like to see you do other things and just spin it and throw it at the combine. And he's like, no, not going to do it. Well, I mean, even the first person featured in the, in the doc, Jalen Hurts talks about being at the combine and people asking him if he's willing to come in and do other things and be a Taysom Hill, Cordell Stewart type of gadget player. And that was, you know, that's what he was told. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so it's, uh, so it's, it's, it's not ancient history, uh, but history is being made Dak Prescott saying that when he was on a visit to Dallas as a collegiate player, going through his top 30 visits, that a player in the Cowboys workout room said, we're not gonna have a black quarterback here.
And then a club promoter in town told him the same thing. Yeah. When you're sitting there hearing that, what are you thinking when you hear that Fred Anthony? Well, you know, it's crazy.
You know, I'm not, it's, it's, I'm saddened, but I'm not surprised because you hear stories like that from, from guys all the time. Um, but at the same time, the reason that we wanted to make this film is because we wanted to celebrate the progress that's been made. And you, you think about stories like that, that Dak had to face Dak just signed a contract to make him the highest paid player in the NFL history, 16 million per, you know, so, so that's the, that's the progress. And that's the positive that, that we chose to look at, you know, doing this, doing this, this doc.
And it doesn't shy away from the things that, that these guys face like this. I mean, Russell Wilson had a very similar story where he talked about the week after he won the super bowl, being at a golf course, and basically being told this isn't for you. You shouldn't be here by somebody that was at the, at the, at the golf course, um, where in Seattle, this is right after he won the super bowl in Seattle.
This wasn't in Seattle. Okay. Yeah. But, um, but this is something that was told to him and he's, he's riding this high and Russell was like, look, I, I choose to see the positive and I just know some people need healing, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna be positive. Um, but people still, still face these sorts of things. And, um, and it's unfortunate, but, uh, but a lot of progress has been made. Um, and that's one of the things that we really wanted to focus on, on this, on this doc.
I'm biased, obviously, but Anthony, Fred Anthony, as we call him here, um, really struck a perfect chord to celebrate the evolution and also highlight the racism that these guys still face. I mean, you're hearing it firsthand from, from DAC or, you know, the Russell Wilson story, um, which is an easy thing to do. And I kind of almost looked at him as how an actor, you know, immerses themself in a role because he was in it right. Like hearing all these stories and still had to make sure that there was a balance in this.
And I don't think there's any, any director could have done what he did. And like you said, starting at the NFL in 2005, um, and sitting here now, I can't imagine how you feel. Um, you know, knowing that you're a part of change and there's a line in the doc that common says that it's a revolution and it truly is.
And it's a celebration. And so just as a followup, cause in the clip, DAC said there was a player in the workout room who said, Oh, you know, when he said, I'm here to interview with the Cowboys. And the answer was, well, you know, we're not going to have that here. Um, and he wouldn't name the player. So I'm assuming off camera you found out.
So, so two things. So, so one, it was, it was, it was weird because in Michael and DAC actually talked about it off camera. There was like, there've been black quarterbacks in Dallas before, you know, Quincy Carter had been there.
Randall Cunningham was a backup there for Troy Aikman. So, so it was an odd thing to say, but no, he didn't say it off camera. Well, no, the thing that I wanted to ask is, is, was it a player of color who just said, knowing the area, or was it somebody who was white saying, I don't want, we don't want you here. He wouldn't give us any more information, but that, yeah. Yeah.
Cause that's what I'm thinking. Like I'm wondering the context, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Fred Anthony Smith, the director of Evolution of the Black Quarterback and executive producer Constance Schwartz Marini here on the Rich Eisen Show.
It's on Prime Video next Tuesday, a few more minutes with them. So how, what, how did this come about Constance? Like just sitting around? I think it was the first week Anthony came to Smack and we were starting to put just like our development. A few years ago, like how long has this been? Two and a half years. Okay. I mean, this happened pretty quickly. Oh yeah, two and a half years is life.
Getting something developed, sold, made and on the air. And we were sitting around and he said, hey, you know, I've been kind of thinking about this one. How do you guys feel about it? And Michael Strahan, who's obviously my partner at Smack and I both were like, let's go.
Like, what do you need from us and how can we do it? And there really is only one person that could have taken us on that journey and it's Michael Vick. I mean, you'll see when you watch it, just the adoration that all these players, celebrities, fans just have for him. There's, there's someone that said there is no way of telling the history of the black quarterback in the NFL without Michael Vick. And is, is his journey covered in this time?
Absolutely. So, so, you know, what's interesting about Michael and I've known Michael for a few years now, and this was always something that him and his wife had talked about wanting to do something around, around the black quarterback and just the evolution, because he says a lot of times people come up to him and they're like, you know, you changed the game. But he was like, there was guys before me that gave me the opportunity to do what I do, what I did.
And so there was that. And then also when you think about the evolution of the black quarterback, you think about that timeline. So 1978 is a huge year. So that's the year that Doug Williams comes out of college. That's the year that Warren Moon comes out of college. Fast forward 23 years, 2001 Michael Vick is the first black quarterback drafted number one. Fast forward another 23 years and it's 2024 and I'm sitting here with old friends and there's more black quarterbacks playing in the NFL than ever before. So he's literally right in the middle of that historical journey. Yeah, with Caleb Williams, number one overall himself. Exactly. So he's right in the middle. And then when you talk about his professional journey and his personal journey, one of the things that he's talked about and he talks about in the doc is that, you know, once he rejoined the NFL, he wanted to be a positive change and be a positive contributor to society and be an ambassador for the sport that he loves.
And this is an example of that. And he was great. The guys were great with him. They loved seeing him. I remember Steve Young who flew himself down, flew in a private jet or flew himself privately to meet Michael here in Southern California to golf and to talk about their journey, which we go into in the doc. But I guess in 2001, Steve Young flew to Atlanta, which a lot of people don't know, and worked out with Michael. And he was like a left-handed quarterback, mobile. He was like, this is my guy.
And they talked about their history and their journey. And Steve was almost in tears being there with Michael. So really seeing Michael interact with the other players was amazing too. Oh, you got to ask Steve. I mean, he had to work out with Michael and realized it's a good thing he's retired. You can't keep up with Michael.
It's Susie and Amy to ask him about the story, right? That's right. Look at you producing. You can't stop. You won't stop. You only know one speed.
I'm only on one speed. I understand that. Oh, this is awesome.
This is great. So I guess then let's finish up with where we are now. What's your sense of where we are now in this subject matter? You know, I think that we're at a place now where you're going to see more and more black quarterbacks. And some of them are going to be good. Some of them are going to be great.
Shador Sanders. Look at you. Some of them can't stop.
Can't turn it off. Some of them won't be very good, but they're going to get a chance. And I think at the end of the day, that's all anybody wants is a chance. So onward and upward. But I think we're at a point now where we're just going to continue to see more and more black quarterbacks. And people will be judged by how well they play on the field and not anything else, hopefully. Well, I mean, do you think we're in a spot where we're evaluators?
Those in the halls of... Rich, no water here. No, hold on a second. I'm so choked up. We'll get you one. Sorry.
No worries. Do you think we are in a spot right now where evaluators, those in front offices do not see race when it comes to evaluating a quarterback? I think we're in a better spot. We're in a much better spot than we were when you and I first met.
You could just come on in. RJ, just go on. I think we're in a much better spot than we were in 2005. And there's still progress to be made. But one of the things that I think it was Doug Williams pointed out in the doc, he says that we're at a point now where you have black backup quarterbacks.
That was never the case. Even when you had black starters start to come into the league, you never really had black backups. And he says that's important for two reasons.
One, oftentimes those backups are the ones that become offensive coordinators and become coaches. So that also impacts coaching, which also impacts management and front office and things of that nature. So strides have definitely been made. But again, I think that we all know that we still want to continue to get better and at certain things. And there is going to be progress that still needs to be made. But this is an issue that wasn't solved in the years before we were born and won't be solved in our lifetime.
But the idea is that every generation moves the ball forward a little bit more. All right. What else is going on with you, Constance? You got 50 million things up in the air. You still giving away cash and prizes in the form of a pyramid or like what else is going on? You want to come back? You know the answer to that. Why would you even ask? I mean, I might as well put it out there.
We just got our pickup for season eight. I'm going to get in so much trouble. Look at Jose. Jose, I need a chance to to to give away the full freight because, you know, I was going to win somebody $50,000 if she hadn't blown the clue herself. You can't ever blame the contestant.
Excuse me. I 100 percent can because I was ready to give her that money. Can we pull up the clip?
I don't know if we have the rights to do it. That's what happened. I know I know all the shows for you meld together.
But for me, it stands out. You were one of our favorites. I would have come back in a heartbeat for that sort of your friend, Coach Prime.
Not so much. How bad was he? Oh, he was bad. He started he started singing like lollipop lollipop.
He just didn't even know what the clue was. He was entertaining. But I mean, that's yeah, that goes without saying.
Yeah, sure. You know, but yeah, I mean, I think I did it with I did it with Joel McHale. Glaze wasn't that good either.
He was not that great. I understand. I don't want to get in trouble. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. You know what I was born to do on this planet, right?
That is correct. That's what I was born to do is give away. At any rate, great to see you. Please have me back anytime. I would love to have you guys back anytime. Thank you. So thrilled to see what's going on with you. It's a pleasure to be here. And we're very lucky.
And Mike and Chris and everybody. Don't don't feed the animals over there. Smiley.
We were the ones in the trenches with each other back in the day. Rich, come on now. And I'll say this. I'll say this in front of you guys. And there's no offense.
It's great to see somebody for whom NFL Network losing them was a real loss. You know what I'm saying? And our win is your win and their loss.
And you guys, there was a door and an ass and they didn't mind it hitting you. Not with me. I take umbrage. Not to see you guys. Evolution of the Black Quarterback available Tuesday next week. It's a three part docu series.
Check it out on Prime Video, which, of course, means you could see it right here on Roku. Dennis Allen, the head coach of the Saints, is right around the corner. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Are you struggling to close deals? Business to business selling is tougher than ever. And that's why I want to tell you about LinkedIn Sales Navigator. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sales intelligence platform that helps professionals effectively prospect and engage high value customers, drive higher revenue and increase sales performance.
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Just go to linkedin.com slash direct and get started. Hey, everybody, you know, we're living in a new age of football with the expanded college football playoff, NIL, conference realignment and increasing popularity of the draft. The landscape is changing and it's changing quickly.
And it can be confusing, but you know, you're still into it. That's where the new podcast, the triple option comes in each week. Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, host Rob Stone and three time national champion coach Urban Meyer team up to bring on the biggest guests in college football, pro football and anything related to the culture of the game. They covered all from top stories to recent changes and shifts in the game, the culture surrounding it and everything in between. So get in the game today. Follow and subscribe to the triple option on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the triple option on YouTube as well.
New episodes drop Wednesday mornings. Listeners, please welcome a real finance nerd from our sponsor nerd wallet. Hey, Sean. Hey, Rich.
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Hey, that's my line finance smarter y'all nerd wallet compare Inc and MLS 1617539. Put your hands together for the most recent Heisman Trophy winner. Where is that trophy right now? I sleep next to it.
It's on your nightstand. Yeah. See, it's good morning Heisman every day. Yeah. Seriously, it's right there next to it. Like there's a night table next to the Kyler Murray's bed and the Heisman Trophy is resting. Yes, sir. That's amazing.
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and you've had it in your arms like you've been spooning with it? There's no there's no Heisman spooning. And by the way, I would absolutely screw with the Heisman if I won the Heisman. Now taking part in the rich eyes and show throw challenge. Kyler Murray, is this the first NFL Duke ball that you've thrown?
That's an NFL. Oh my God, you won't even answer that. Wow. Go for it. Kyler.
Go for it. That's one. That's one.
Here we go. That's two. That's three. By the way, that's four. Those are all Duke NFL footballs. Just wanted everyone to know that.
First overall pick. That's four. That's five.
These are the footballs Kurt Warner complained about. That's six. That's seven. Oh my goodness. Let's get some up. Here we go. Keep going. I'm off.
You got one more. Hold on. This is getting bad. Here we go.
No, it's getting bad. You got seven for first seven. Good enough.
Seven out of ten. Congratulations. He won the Heisman and it seems the rich eyes and throwing contest in the same year. That's a first. No one could ever take that away from you.
And he's never been back. Back on the rich eyes and show radio network. Oh yes. I'm sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.
Call click Grainger.com or just stop by. Oh, we've asked to have Kyle Murray back. You know, I think I got his dad's number still from that day. I just now realized because I had to send pictures and his dad gave me his number. His dad was a fan of the show, a fan of mine.
I think you should text him right now. And then he went down the hall to chat with Dan Patrick and that thing went off the rails. Right. Because we pre-taped Kyler and then we aired it later, three hours later. And kind of made the news for being awkward. He was awkward with us first. We should have gotten full credit for him being awkward with us. Are you playing baseball? He was awkward with Dan. Are you gonna play baseball?
Uh, what's baseball? And then his dad was like, we'll see you at the combine. Yeah, that's right. That's right. He did say that. We all knew. He knew.
We knew. And now he looks like the MVP. I mean, well, he looks good. He does look good.
Yeah. You know what looks good? The New Orleans Saints look good.
They look really good. And I'm not just saying that because he's about to join us right now. Is he ready to join us right now?
Coach of the 2-0 New Orleans Saints, Dennis Allen right here, looking like the cat that hit the canary with 91 points eating the cat eating the canary. Good to see you, coach. How are you? Yeah, man. Rich, I'm doing great, man.
Appreciate you having me on. Oh, you're doing great. I can confirm that.
I can totally confirm that. What has this been like for you? Obviously, listen, I know we're marathoning. We're not sprinting. You're not raising a banner. We're 2-0.
I get it. But this has been a phenomenal start for your team. Your perspective has been what, coach?
Well, first of all, I'd say this. I'd say you've kind of got this routine down pretty good. So you kind of know exactly where I'm at. Look, it's been good. I've been really excited about the way we've been able to play, I think, in all three phases, offensively, defensively, and in the kicking game. Certainly, our offense has been extremely explosive. We've been able to score a lot of points. And that's been really beneficial for our team, our fan base, our confidence, everything that we're doing. And yet we know that it's a long season.
And we've got to make sure we come in each and every week and get ourselves prepared and ready to play. And again, I know you're not hanging any mission accomplished banners, but I'm assuming the offense, looking the way that it is, is what you were hoping for when you hired Clint Kubiak. Why did you hire Clint Kubiak to begin with, coach?
Well, look, A, I had a little bit of familiarity with him. B, he's done it before, so he knows what it's like to call plays in the National Football League. He's had success doing it. He's experienced failures doing it.
You learn from those failures. I think the scheme that he's been involved with throughout his entire life is one that presents a lot of challenges for defenses. And so I wanted a system that I felt like allowed us to be able to run the football well, utilize the play-action passing game, and where we could be a little bit more of a balanced football team. And I think, you know, our identity in my mind has to be, you know, to play great defense and be able to run the football on offense and be explosive in the play-action game.
And I think so far we've been able to do that. And in terms of your quarterback, coach, I don't think I'm telling any tales out of school when I say the manner in which his Vegas career ended, his Raiders career ended year before, year of, and then last year with some, you know, a little bit of an adjustment for him. He looked like a guy who wasn't enjoying playing deep down.
And the guy I see for the first two weeks is a joyful guy. And I'm wondering if you would agree with that assessment, coach? Yeah, well, look, I think certainly he's had a lot of challenges. You know, throughout his career, you know, I think there's always been a ton that's been put on his plate in terms of, you know, being the guy that's out front in the organization. He's always had to make all the checks on the line of scrimmage. He's been the one that's had to get everybody in the right play.
And he's never been able to just kind of go out and just play football. And I think he's able to do that now. I think some of the burden and the responsibility of being the flag holder for the team, he doesn't have to do all those things. And so he's able to be free to just play the game.
And I think, yeah, I do. I think he's enjoying doing that. And I'm enjoying watching him do it. He's playing outstanding right now.
Well, I guess I should just walk in through the front door instead of trying to be coy about it. Have you had conversations with him straight up to say, hey, throw an arm around him, you're our guy, or Clinton him, connect, they go fishing, they've done something together. I'm just trying to see where I could put my finger on it to why it's so explosive and so different and so comfortable looking, coach. Yeah, I think, look, I just think it fits what he can do.
And more so than anything else, it fits what the rest of our players can do and do well. And what we've done is we've freed those guys up to not have to think so much and just be able to go out and play. And when you have guys like Alave and Shaheed and those guys that really have that speed down the field and you take away, hey, look, you don't have to worry about reading all these different coverages, just run the freaking route, let the quarterback throw it to the open guy. And you tell the quarterback, hey, look, this is the read.
It's one, two to three. And, you know, if one's open banging on him, if not get through your progression. And I think that's what, you know, he's been able to do. And man, it's worked great.
And look, he's had great protection. Alvin's been running the ball extremely well. The offensive lines play well.
So when all those things are working together, you know, you can usually have some pretty good success. What's it like to be a coach of a team in a locker room that just beat down a team that the rest of the country didn't think you had the opportunity or the ability to beat down? Coach? Look, anytime you win the National Football League, it's a lot of fun. We enjoy it. And yet I know that this is a week to week game that we play. And as good as it feels when you win a game like that, if you don't come back and back it up with another solid performance, then it's a pretty crappy feeling the next week. So we're kind of focused on getting ready for Philly. Excited about that opportunity. It's a good team coming in here and we'll get our guys ready to play.
Well, I'm not looking for a game ball. I'm not looking to be off till Wednesday here. I'm just saying, like, put me in your shoes, man, Sunday.
You just put... You're not looking to be off because nobody's, nobody was off early in the season for that. We've got too much work to do. There was no victory Monday or Tuesday? There was no victory?
No, not in week two of the season. Let's see if we can't stack four, five, six of these things in a row and then we might think about that. Okay, I'm not... Trust me, I haven't heard from any of your guys. You're going to have a hard time on my team, Rich. You know that? I'm sprinting, right?
I forgot the whole marathonic part. I'm sprinting, but then you know I'm a sprinter. But seriously, what's it like to hand out a game ball in the AT&T Stadium after, you know, putting a bang thing on the Cowboys when, you know, nobody's really expecting you to do that right now, coach? Yeah, well, look, nobody expected us to really do anything this season. And so, look, it's a gratifying feeling to win in our league.
It's a great feeling. We enjoy it for, you know, players probably for about 24 hours or 18 hours. Coach is probably for about, you know, five or six hours and then we get right back into work and go into the next one because the reality is, you know, two wins just guarantees you that you're going to go no worse than 2 and 15 this season. And so we got to focus on how do we get to win number three and if we spend too much time patting ourselves on the back after win number two, then win number three becomes that that much more difficult. Well, and I guess it was helpful last night that you could scout your next two opponents with one sitting of a watching a game, right? Is that what you did last night? Yeah, I got a chance to watch a good bit of that game last night. You know, it was a crazy game, crazy ending.
It looked like both teams ran the ball exceptionally well and so I know that's going to be something that's going to be an important part of the next couple of weeks is our ability to run the football and our ability to stop the run. And then in terms of your self-evaluation, coach, how are you a different coach than when you first took over or even last year this year? Well, I think each year you grow. Each year you get more comfortable in what you're doing. I think each year this team and this coaching staff has become more and more in my mold.
And look, these things don't just happen overnight. I mean, we went from being a highly successful team. We had had a lot of change in the last couple of years and, you know, my hope is that my vision for this team is beginning to start to take shape. Okay, so then what Rod Woodson once upon a time told me, coach, that the most adaptable organism in sports is in NFL defense.
And you would know that better than most. What do you think is repeatable by your offense moving forward? That what we have seen is not an outlier.
What we have seen maybe the 91 points in two games is something that's a lot. But what do you think? What do you think? I've said this all along. People ask me a lot of questions about, you know, did you see this coming?
And my answer has been the same. I don't know that I ever saw the scoreboard looking the way that it did, but I knew based on the way that our guys work, the way our guys have practiced, the way we meet, the attention to detail, the accountability that our players have with each other, I knew that we were going to have some success. Now, I don't know what that success is always going to look like, but I think we have a good football team. And the biggest thing is for our guys is to continue to understand how we got to this point. And we got to this point with a lot of hard work and not really listening to all the people that doubted us that are now wanting to pat us on the back.
And so we didn't listen to them then and we're not planning on listening to them now. Do you lean on your veterans, your horses on defense to deliver that message that this thing is, you know, there's no banners being raised here? I mean Cam Jordan, Tyron Matthew, Demario, those guys, they've been around. You got one at each level of the defense. Is that who you lean on, coach?
Yeah, absolutely. We lean on all the captains. I think we've got some really good, experienced players in this league that have seen both ends of the spectrum. They've seen the good.
They've seen the bad. They know what works and they know the amount of work that has to go into being successful. And so, yeah, I absolutely lean on those guys.
And the best teams that I've ever been on are the ones where the locker room has that accountability towards each other and they hold each other accountable to the standard that we want to play at. And the last question for you here, coach, before I let you go on with your fat Tuesday, if you will. So, the cards that you play as coach, I've got a couple questions of your cards. Do you play the nobody believes in us card? Have you done that?
Do you play that card? Yeah, look, I mean, I think that was kind of the initial thing for all of us as we went into this season is, you know, there's not a lot of people that got a lot of faith in us and including, you know, quite frankly, a lot of people in our own city. And so, you know, you use that as a little bit of motivation. But really, it really boils down to just the standard that we want to hold each other to and our work ethic and what we're willing to do to accomplish the things that we want to accomplish. And so, you know, it takes what it takes in this league to win and it's never easy.
Well, the last team to start a season 2-0 by scoring at least 44 or more in each of those games was the 2009 Saints that won it all. Do you play the card of we have an opportunity to win it all in our building? Have you done that?
Do you do that? We're way far away from that, looking at that. We're worried about next week, this week, Philadelphia, and trying to get that win. Because if you just worry about the card that's in front of you, then all the other things take care of themselves.
When you start looking too far down the road, then, you know, that's when you slip up. Okay. Coach, thanks so much.
I think this interview went so well. I'm giving everybody off the rest of the day and Wednesday. We'll see you, we'll see you. Victory Tuesday, guys. Victory Tuesday. See you later. Right. See you.
Is that a bad way to run? I like it. I'll leave that to you, Rich.
Where are you going? No, I was just joining. That's a joke. I can't leave.
That's a joke. These guys are gone. Come on. All right. I'm just trying to take my cue from you.
I need to drive a much sterner ship right here. I scored 91 points in two games. That's a long way to go. Coach, thanks for the time. Appreciate it. All right.
Appreciate it, guys. That's Dennis Allen right here getting set to host the Eagles right here on the Rich Eisen Show. There he goes. I didn't enjoy that interview as much as you guys did. Well, because you're a Dallas Cowboy fan and he put the beat down. Yeah, he put the, it stomped us out. It's a beat down. Congratulations to them.
Best team in the NFL. Check out overreaction Monday. That's a subject matter on overreaction Monday. You said right now. Right now. Right now.
Yeah. Week to week. Put up the Saints schedule. Week to week. Put up the Saints schedule. Put it up.
Exactly. So last night, hey, you want to scout the Eagles? You want to scout the Falcons? They're the next two opponents. All in one sitting. And then they're at Kansas City on a Monday night. Oh man. Home for Tampa.
The next four teams. There's proof. There's pudding.
What do you think? They're going to run that all green. It'll be six green rectangles on the screen. But why not? Okay.
What have you seen the first two weeks that thinks it's not possible? Well, because that's a gauntlet, pal. And you've been an arrowhead under the lights too, dude. Yeah.
Where they should have lost. Okay. That's true.
That's true. You're all in the Saints now. You're in on the Saints.
Week to week league, Rich. You know what I mean? We didn't bring that up with coach Allen.
I'm all in on Bourbon Street. That angle would have been perfect for a furrowed brow, sort of. Well, here's the thing.
I've heard the way he speaks about some of his players that he's disgruntled, you know, that he's angry with. I don't want that ref. Understood. Hey, we're going to take a break and we're going to make a rule change. And the competition committee should have me on their committee. I should have a seat. I'm going to make a rule change. And there's no way you guys are going to say I'm off this one. This one is a no brainer. Okay. Let's hear it.
That's next overreaction Monday on a Tuesday in Nebraska's Matt rule and hour three. Hey, people, let's talk about leaf filter. It's that time of year where the leaves fall down off the trees and right into your gutters. And the worst part about that is you probably don't even know that your gutter is filled up with leaves until it's too late. That's where leaf filter comes into play. Even if you are a DIY homeowner, leaf filter is there to help you. If you're a low maintenance kind of homeowner, kind of like me, it's so convenient to never think about gutters at all. And that's where leaf filter comes again into play. Leaf filter uses award-winning patented technology to keep out everything from your gutters but water.
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Stream on Hulu. Whenever they have a shot of a head coat, the cutaway, the cutaway, we like to guess but that individual is like as a stepfather. Brockman, who's up first? Who do we have up first here? First up, Alabama head coach, Nick Saban. Nick Saban. What is he taking a look at Nick Saban? Nick Saban is the kind of stepfather that regardless of how different he may seem to you in every single Christmas card photo, his hair has been the exact same since the since he married your mother. He's also the kind of stepfather that wears dress pants and then a, you know, a white tank top undershirt all the time unless he leaves the house and then he puts on the dress shirt.
Former 49er head coach, current Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh. Be gentle here. You'd be having a conversation with him. You think it's going really great and then he just and then he just all of a sudden gets a look on his face and he goes, what was that?
And your heart just goes into your throat and you think you've you've said something horribly wrong and you instantly start thinking about all the things that you could possibly be getting in trouble for. Do we have Tom Sula? Yeah, we have a bonus one. You got Tom Sula? I've got this one. What about your current runner head coach? He is the kind of guy that we will be having a conversation with you and he'll never be looking at you and he'll be going, how was your day?
You got a good day and you start telling him how your day was and then he'll always go, hey honey, what's for dinner? No matter what you're talking about, you can be bearing your soul. Can we try?
Yeah, you'd be bearing your soul. Yeah. So hold on a minute. So I'll be I'll be your stepson. Okay. Richie, how was the day? That was great. Dad, let me tell you about what was going on. Hey honey, have you seen the clicker?
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NFL Sunday ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. I've got a rule change guys. I've got an improvement, an improvement.
All right. Competition committee people listen to me. You are wise to expand replay assist. You hear those words a lot, replay assist. What that is is the eye in the sky. Yep.
Looks at stuff and helps them out. And you'll sometimes hear, you know, through replay assist, they'll announce it. Hey, we got some help basically by using the words replay assist.
Uh, wait a minute. We thought that was a completed pass through replay assist. It's incomplete. Or you call it an incomplete through replay assist. That's actually in bounds or what replay assist we, we, uh, we can, if it's obvious, we can mark the ball better. We can now the replay assist. We had Walt Anderson, the, uh, the rules analyst and chief explainer, as I'll call him. I know that's not his title for the NFL and officiating department. They're helping out, uh, pick up flags for that's not rough in the past, sir.
Well, what have I been saying? Let's use replay assist for that stuff. Now they're not going to put flags on the field for it because that opens a Pandora's box or that's it's moving too fast.
It's too fast. It's too much for some NFL members to deal with that. Even when it's clear and obvious member, uh, on Sunday night football, when, um, Roshan Johnson just minded his own business on the sideline for the bears and Al Shaw, you're just clocks just gets up and it's a lot going on. And just, he hits the first barely sees he got up. He was surrounded by orange jerseys and the reps missed it.
And even though the flag, the cameras caught it, replay assist cannot put a flag down. I can't believe that one, but here's what we can do. Oh, how many times have we seen it?
We saw it last night. CJ Gardner Johnson. He might not go Chauncey Gardner Johnson. He might not go to the pro football hall of fame for his play. Maybe he will one day, but one thing he should get in the pro football hall of fame for is antagonizing somebody else into being flagged for 15 yards. He is absolutely the master at this sort of thing.
He is the best in the world. I don't know. Can, can somebody's mouth get inducted into the pro football hall of fame, just their mouth? Well, a broadcast is a broadcaster in there yet?
Just their mouth for playing the actual mouth. I'm saying last night he did it again. Ray Ray McLeod. He yanks Ray Ray McLeod's mouthpiece off his helmet. And McLeod responds by hitting him in the face mask, 15 yards on McLeod. And by replay assist, we could see, I mean, there's even a shot on the Monday night football screen of split screen. The reps are talking on the left and on the right, Joe Buck saying, Hey, Gardner Johnson pulled off the mouthpiece from the face mask of Ray Ray McLeod. And here comes McLeod being flagged for hitting them back replay assist.
There's a flag on the field. You can now chime in and say, both guys deserve to be flagged. How many times in our lifetimes have we sat as fans and we heard, Oh, they always catch the second guy all the time. Well, now replay assist. You can catch the first guy too. And we can get offsetting penalties. Now I understand that's technically putting a flag down on the field, but the flag's already down on the field for one. That opens the door for you to put the flag on the field for the other guy and even it out. We should be past the century of, well, the refs always catch the second guy with the hand in the cookie jar.
When there's one guy who opened a cookie jar, took out the cookies and threw it in the face, the guy is retaliating and then he ate them. And we now see it. We should use replay assist to end this century's worth of inequity.
I call it inequity. We see it. We see you first guy in, we see you doing the first guy in BS. And the second guy in is the only one caught. Well, replay assist, you should be the hall monitor, the parent in the room, the teacher in the room, the proctor at the test to catch the cheater that started the whole mess.
I was the second guy. And let's just wipe it all out. If it's clear and obvious and yanking off somebody's mouthpiece, that's even health and safety. Rainier McCloud might have to put that thing in, he could lose teeth.
He could lose a tooth. Put me on the competition committee. This is reasonable. This makes sense.
And it cleans up something that replay can help you clean up this whole business of, oh, the refs only saw the second guy. You're welcome. Put me on the competition committee and see. Tell me I'm wrong, guys. Not wrong.
Thank you. TJ Jefferson. I mean, I'm with you on this one, yo. I want a harumph out of you. Did I get a harumph out of you? Rich, being the second guy when I was a kid all the time, I'm for this a thousand percent. Yes, we see it.
I was a guy that got caught. CJ Gardner Johnson shouldn't get away with it. No.
Take them both. Penalties both. Eh, can we see it in real time? We can use a camera to spot anything.
It's tough. I mean, dude, these guys are so big and they're flailing all over the place. There's refs all over the field.
I understand them. But Replay Assist is there to help the refs get it right. Let's get it right. This whole business of, well, we didn't see the first thing. Well, we see it with 22 freaking cameras.
A lot of cameras. There was a split screen of the refs talking, so you can get in the ref's ear. There was the other guy got it too. Offsetting penalties, let's move on. Boom. Instead, it cost Atlanta 15 yards after her first down.
Come on now. There's three fouls on the play. Holding, defense, number 24, penalties decline. What that means? No, those are just the refs.
Oh, thank you. Just in case people don't know what a ref making a call sounds like. Well, you never know. I'm worked up.
You never know who's tuning in for the first time. I am worked up. I'm looking at you. We're using it.
It's more than one foul. We're using it. We might as well get the first guy. Finally.
We see you first guy. Can't get away with it anymore. It's kind of being a snitch though, Rich. Well, you know what?
The first guy deserves snitches too and stitches. Hey, it's Rich Eisen here. Join me and my compadre, Chris Brockman, every Monday on the overreaction Monday podcast. A 2023 last place team will win a playoff game this year. I'm taking the Cincinnati Bengals to be that team. If you gave me safe bet. If you said two last place teams, I might say that's an overreaction.
Come react or overreact with us. This one makes it much easier. So thank you for making it easier. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for making it easier. Tune in next week. Overreaction Monday, wherever you listen.
