Kevin O’Connell: I Have A Lot Of Confidence In Sam Darnold

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USPS Ground Advantage, simple, affordable, reliable. 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 cover it 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.

And they're being facetious, but not really. Earlier on the show, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, still to come, Dancing with the Stars, and America's Funniest Home Videos host Alfonso Rivera. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

Just had a nice chat in our green room with Alfonso Rivera. He's wearing an outstanding suit and tie. Like he's coming suited and booted, and I love it. It's so great Dancing with the Stars. You know, America's Funniest Home Videos coming back.

Lots of conversation with him on that. Great chat with Geno Smith and hour number one, 3-0. Let's be fair and balanced, there's another 3-0 team in the National Football Conference. Now, having coaches on when they're 3-0, it's dicey because coaches aren't going to be raising any banners, right? Are there 3-0 banners? Are there banners for being 3-0 in the National Football League anymore? No comment. I don't think so.

I don't think so. But that said, it is a great start for the Minnesota Vikings, certainly with Sam Darnold, who Jordan Palmer was saying, don't sleep on him. And boy, is he waking everybody up so far. And the head coach getting set to play Green Bay this week, and then I will see him in London for Jets and Vikings in London on NFL Network. Kevin O'Connell, good to see you. Coach, how are you?

I'm doing great. No banners, and it also sounds like Alfonso's much better dressed than me today, so I got my work cut out for me. Kevin, he's showing up the host on that front, too, so don't worry. You're a coach, you're in the middle of your day. When was the last time you put on a suit, Kevin? I wear one for every game.

You do? Yeah, I see you, the professional that you are on weekends doing great work, and I figure I'd better dress up just in case the camera might catch me in the background when they're shooting Justin Jefferson walking into the game. I like that. So you come suited and booted to every game every time, huh?

I didn't know that. Closed. I don't want to say every time, but I think when I see you out in London, that's a nice trip, special trip, so I'll have something nice on for you.

Well, it's got to be a Windsor knot, you know what I mean? Do as they do. But before getting to that, walk me through why you think Sam Darnold is performing as well as he has been through the first three weeks. Coach? Yeah, I think that's a great way to ask the question, because I think everybody wants to always look backwards on what may have been different situations elsewhere.

All I can really speak to is what's going on here. I'm incredibly proud of Sam. Really, from the first day we got him, solidified a lot of the things that I viewed of him from afar.

Did him coming out in the draft and knew how talented he was and just kind of envisioned building an offense for him and with his skill sets to have success. And really, when you've got the type of people to throw the ball to that he does, our old line's playing really well. And Adnir and Jones to go along with Ty Chandler, we've been able to run the ball. And we like to try to help out the quarterback as much as we can.

If we're going to throw it, we want to have a purpose and an intention to doing so. And Sam's been lights out, finding his teammates, being smart with the football. And then some weighty downs in the red zone on third down where he's just making plays, Rich. And he's more than capable of doing that every single week.

But it all comes back to the really boring things like consistency and preparation. And just the comfort level, him and I already have built up with each other. I got a lot of confidence in Sam. Well, again, in 2018, you were with Washington.

Their draft choice was way too far down for Darnold. But what were you seeing when he came out that you knew what you were getting when he arrived on your spot now, Kevin? Yeah, I can remember doing my evaluations of him.

There was really two or three things that stuck out to me. He always knew the talent. I actually met Sam when he was in high school. When I first got done playing, I was helping out with the Elite 11 quarterback camp that they do for the best quarterbacks in the country. Sam was their super talented kind of Southern California kid, but had some grit and some toughness to him. Just kind of seemed to be the same guy every single day.

And so that always intrigued me. And then he goes to USC, a place that has had great quarterback play and standard at the position. And I just remember going through his tape and seeing him play in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State. And that was Bosa and Young and just one of the best defensive fronts in the country.

And it was a kind of a grimy, tough day. He was getting hit a lot, had a ton of pass attempts, but he just kept standing in there showing kind of that big field vision, the willingness to kind of make throws from the pocket, used his athleticism when he needed to. And then his pro day, Southern California, the whole reason you go to college in Southern California is to have a nice sunny, sun's out, 70 degrees, no wind pro day.

And it poured rain the whole time the guy went out there and threw the ball great. So I just knew that there was the framework in place with the right kind of guy that regardless of what his quarterback journey has been, it didn't really concern me. Because I feel very confident in what we do here. Not only myself, my coaching staff, but the team around that guy to bring Sam in here and give him an opportunity to build himself up by just doing the things that he's always been able to do. Just be a little bit more consistent and his teammates love him. They all have a ton of confidence in him. And you get the same guy every day ready to just go to work. I'm having a blast coaching him. Yeah. I mean, I remember that pro day, Kevin, where it rained and we had our fun with Sam when he came on the show before he got drafted saying that when he wore a hat that day to protect his hair, that that was a red flag in our estimation.

How to protect the hair and we're, you know, follically challenged on this program. We had our fun with him. And then just seeing again what's happened in his career and the through line. And obviously we know you drafted a quarterback and I'll ask you about J.J. McCarthy in a second. But just the through line of bringing a quarterback into this league and growing him and nurturing him. And the whole nature versus nurture where you're drafted and who's there and all of that. I'm wondering if you see any of you having been a quarterback in this league yourself. Is there a tried and true method you think about making sure a guy has a chance and when he doesn't, making sure he can still get another chance?

I'm wondering what your opinion is on this whole subject matter. Yeah. First and foremost, Rich, I don't believe that there's one particular way to do it where you want to put a ceiling or a floor over a young quarterback. I think you treat each individual day. Once you identify the guy, regardless of what you may think, everything gets activated when they walk in the door to your building. And you better have a plan. You better have a plan for development. You better have a plan to maximize the time that you get with that player. And it doesn't always equal sitting. It doesn't always equal playing from day one. But I feel it's very important that people have an understanding of this position. The unique intricacies of how you need to play, how you need to respond when you inevitably get punched in the mouth in this league. Because the quarterback position, why it's the hardest position in all of sports is because the entire team experiences your adversity right alongside with you, but is also impacted by it.

So your ability to respond, your ability to get back to all those little things that you've either demonstrated early on, you're ready to do consistently, regardless of circumstance, or over a period of time where you're kind of solidifying all those things within you. And no guy comes out of college the same these days, how they see the field, what you're going to try to teach them from a standpoint of your progressions. And I just think as a whole, there's not enough emphasis put on the organization's role in the development of the position.

Meaning I do believe this, Rich. I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations. And that's not, there's no specific example in my mind that I could give you of a team or a quarterback. But just overall 30,000 foot view, I think it's important to understand that every single one of these guys is on a journey, a very difficult journey, that they need the support. They need the teammates around them. They need the systems in place to ultimately try to maximize who they are and what their potential is because you're still drafting players, Rich, off of potential. And then everything that happens from that moment to when that potential becomes a reality is really on the organization if you've got the right guy that you're bringing in.

And then in regards to, you know, I do believe there's some times where things just don't work out and then getting a chance to kind of, you know, wipe the slate clean and get a restart while still using your previous experiences to kind of shape, you know, how you're going to work, why you're going to work, why things are important to you will only make guys better in the end. And I think we've seen some examples of that in our league as well over the last few years. Kevin O'Connell here on the Rich Eisen show, your defense has just been a perfect complement.

It really in this week, just in itself, a Houston team that is highly regarded league wide coming in and the terrorizing is the only way to put it, just watching the defense go at it. Your conversations with Brian Flores throughout the week, can you give me a little insight on what you guys talk about and that side of the ball and how it's being handled in your world right now for the Vikings? Yeah, Rich, it's been one of the fun parts of the job for me. Flo and I have become really close. We talk a lot about the game plan, what it's going to look like, how it's going to feel, how are our players going to absorb each individual aspect of how we want to attack people on a Sunday. And then I, you know, I'm able to give him perspective from the offensive side that allows him to, you know, take something and maybe fit it even more so for what I'm seeing on tape, the dialogue between him and I. I've got the utmost confidence that every single week he's going to have these guys prepared, ready to go. And on top of that, I think he's a really good play caller in and out of situations and games, how he manages that group, how him and his staff communicate.

I think Flo's done an incredible job. And I think the personnel we have on defense and really the multiplicity and our players' ability to own the scheme right alongside Flo and his staff has kind of been a winning formula for us. And there's going to be challenges for our whole football team.

That's why they do not give 3-0 banners to anybody in this league. How are we going to respond? How are we going to continue to adapt and evolve as a football team throughout the season? All while staying true to what we need to be from a preparation standpoint. So many times these answers can co-mingle right along the cliche line, but when you're doing the right stuff behind the scenes and you got the right guys coaching with you, you know, those cliches can become a real reality of positivity and success.

We just got to keep it going because, you know, the last three games mean absolutely nothing this week or any week moving forward. Yeah, and of course you're going to use as a head coach in the NFL, Kevin O'Connell of the Vikings here in the Rich Vices. Do you use anything to your advantage that you can exploit and you've got a running back going back to where you got him from? Do you talk to Aaron Jones openly about, okay, this is your game or part of a game plan, we're going to feed it to you and feed any of that sort of revenge game aspect with your running back this week, Kevin?

No, no, I don't. Aaron's one of our best players and we're lucky we got him and he's been phenomenal for our organization, you know, off the field. He's been spectacular on the field, kind of bringing, you know, a new life to our offense with his ability to make a lot of plays in the run game and the pass game.

He's always going to be a major part of our game plans regardless of who we're playing. Now, I would be naive to not think with all the relationships and the special moments that Aaron's had in Green Bay over the years that he's not going to be thinking about that. But I also know Aaron and I have had dialogue about just, you know, being totally where he is at right now, being present in the moment as a Minnesota Viking. I think he's loving being a part of what we're doing and he's a huge part of it. But at the same time, I think it's important to acknowledge what was an unbelievable time he had there. I know he feels strongly, as do I, about, you know, Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff. They've got, you know, a great history of their organization, fan base, all those things.

So I'm sure it's going to be an incredibly positive experience going back for them. But then when the ball gets kicked off, it's about, you know, how best we can have Aaron Jones help us as one of our best players going to football game. You expect to see Jordan Love, Kevin?

I do. I mean, we've got to prepare for both Jordan and Malik. It's been remarkable just how fast Matt and his staff and Steno and the group offensively have been able to really transform, lead the league in rushing, you know, find plays in the past game. And Malik's played really well, hitting some big time throws, you know, throughout the two games he's played. But at the same time, I know how impactful Jordan Love is to their team, one of the best young quarterbacks in football. We've seen it firsthand. So I do think we're going to see Jordan.

I do. But at the same time, we've got to have game plans locked and loaded with whatever differences or intricacies for each individual guy that Flo and his staff thinks are important. And we've got to have the players have that ownership and be ready to go play because it's going to be a great, great challenge. I mean, they've got very good skill players, a fantastic offensive line, running backs, tight ends. They've got it all offensively. And if Jordan's back in there, they're incredibly explosive.

And if Malik's in there, you know, it's the marriage of the run in the past and explosive passes that have really propelled them with that great running game to move the ball on both teams they've played. Honestly, you know, you're in the obviously coaching business. You're in the leadership business. You're in the X's and O's business. You're in the facts and the film and all that stuff.

I'm in the narrative business. And just having this conversation with you, you know, your quarterback was counted out, right? Your running back was counted out of Green Bay. Your defensive coordinator, I think a lot of people thought would never coach in the league again, right? And your team, because Kirk Cousins is in Atlanta and you're going with a guy who was counted out and Darnold and a rookie who I'm hoping is convalescing well. But is it fair that, you know, as you're going into Green Bay, a spot where a lot of people were looking at them as a team on the upswing because of how they finished last year, that you're counted out and that you can use that to your advantage this weekend?

Kevin? Well, I think, you know, for me, Rich, the coolest part about this season is I've been incredibly confident in the football team we could become since the first time I stood in front of the team in training camp. And I got out in front of a lot of this just by really authentically believing we had everything in that locker room and with our coaching staff and if we were able to build day by day schematically, you know, individual players throughout our schemes that make it come to life. If we could build it throughout training camp, I told them that, you know, people would be talking about this team.

I told them that this would come, but the discipline of getting there and then once we did arrive there, as I told them we would, the discipline to maintain is really the challenge. And what that looks like, it's hard to win in this league. Every single Sunday, you have to play well, you have to play based upon principles that are important in a football philosophy that you've built, regardless of your schemes, you got to play good football to win in this league. And I think this team has done that for three weeks in a row, which once again means absolutely nothing. And, you know, our league is kind of built, not just necessarily through narratives and things like that, but our league is built for the rise and the fall. You know, to be something that is applauded and then the fall being expected and we're gonna get punched in the mouth at some point, Rich, it's happened in games already, maybe not to the detail to affect the ending score, but we're gonna have to deal with some adversity.

I think we're made of the right stuff, we got a great locker room and guys are just consistently doing the little things and working hard every single day and I believe with the type of guys we have, we've got the formula to sustain, but not without adversity. It's coming, Rich, we all know it. How are we gonna respond? I look forward to seeing that. I love it, man.

One for me going out the door. How's JJ? How's he doing? He's doing great. He's doing great. He's, you know, he's dialed in and the game plans, I get a chance to speak with him. Him and I meet every week for kind of a scheduled time to go through the game plan as if he was in it, as if he was playing. He's doing a lot of extra work here in addition to his rehab early on and as we get further and further into it, we've got an extensive quarterback development plan that the only thing missing right now in the present is being on the practice field, practicing and experiencing physical reps. But make no mistake about it, he's developing, he's working. The kid's a blast to have in the building as you would probably expect, Rich. Just, you know, it kind of has that it factor to him that transcends even what has been a temporary setback and an injury, but, you know, love having JJ McCarthy in our building. Well, he's in the right hands.

I appreciate the time, man. Is that a Bud Grant hat before I let you go? Have I noticed that?

It is. I love it. It's a hat that got made last year for Bud and it's one of my favorites. I got a picture of him up in my office. Nobody impacted me more in this role than the year I got to spend with him in 2022. I still go back to things he taught me and talked about and as sharp as he was, but most importantly, willing to spend some time with a sloppy like me, man. It's never going to be lost on me, man.

I think he was as impactful as anybody I've been around in this league. I love it, man. It's good to see you. I'll see you in London. I'll see you in a couple weeks. Can't wait. Yeah, I can't wait. It'll be great to see you.

Look forward to it. That's Kevin O'Connell. He's got a big game first before that London game on NFL Network against the Jets, taking on the Green Bay Packers right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

That's Kevin O'Connell. Great chat. Just love talking to him. It's awesome. So cool.

So neat. What's going on there? And just again, the growth of Sam Darnold getting that shot here, getting this whole thing going. MVP Sam, but it was three and out after he was MVP Sam. This is where it started turning into the pumpkin because Christian McCaffrey got hurt in Carolina. They were 3-0. One of the handful of teams 3-0 to eventually miss the playoffs. This team isn't built that way. I agree.

The defense is a significant reason why they're 3-0, too. Correct. Aaron Jones says he will leap into the stands if he scores. He will do the Lambeau leap.

Now that would be sick. And we will see when he gets shoved out, rejected out. Junk grab and the whole business. They're unhappy. They don't like it when an opposing team player jumps into the... I think we'd be surprised. I'm sure they have a lot of love. Oh, I'm sure they do, but nice. They should, but on that day... Depends on what the score is. It's 28-0 Packers.

They rooted against 4 when he was wearing purple. Let me just say this to you, because I've done this before. They had us do a Lambeau leap. It's way taller than you think.

It's so way taller than you think. Didn't Schefter get hurt one year trying to do it? Schefter got hurt.

Schefter, man. Because he had to jump on like 15 apple boxes at a shot. We tried. I tried.

That is a tall wall. Mooch tried it once. That wasn't pretty. Good for the Vikings and their fans, man. This is fun. What a fun way to start the season.

I just love talking to him. Mike, do you count him under the Belichick tree? Because he's a former Patriots quarterback. No, I don't think so.

Players don't care. Is Rabil on the Belichick tree? He should be.

Technically a player if you've played him more than I think five years, I think. Let's take a break. Alfonso Ribeiro has been hanging out. He got here early, so let's bring him out finally.

Taking us out. Oh, look at this. Nice little video bump here. There he is.

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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.

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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Alfonso Ribeiro here on the Rich Eisen Show. We're back with our radio network. We just showed a clip from last year's Dance with the Stars where you were doing a number and referring yourself as just a mere celebrity.

You can move. We already knew that coming in. You would be a ringer if you were on this show as a celebrity. I was.

I know that. And I did okay. You were a ringer. I did all right. I wasn't a ringer.

Yes, you were. No, no, no. I mean, come on now.

The reality about. It's not like you had never shown off any moves at all in your life. That's true, but they've had many people that have been on the show that were in some form. On a Pepsi commercial with Michael Jackson. No, they didn't have any of those.

They didn't have any of those. Or been on. Had a dance move named after them. Yeah, doing a live show. You know, like. Yeah, the Broadway. Yeah, Broadway.

You know, come on, man. Yeah, but, you know, listen, listen, we've had professional ballerinas. Seymour.

Jane Seymour was a professional ballerina. Okay. Right.

Like Lance Bass and Joey Fatone. Right. I mean, they were basically backup dancers and did some did some singing. Okay. Right. So, I mean, they were they were dancing. Right. We had some people from Glee. Right.

They were I mean, this is the people have done, you know, stuff. All I know is that if I ever showed up doing that, you know, back in the day. Different situation.

I get it. Like and then I'd be like going against you. Get out of here. Well, the good thing is you won't have to go against me because I host it now. If you want to come on. I know some people. I'm not I'm not.

It'll get you in great shape. So much fun. That would be bad news. I want to do what you want. So bad. Yeah, but you're not really. No, I'm not a star. So I'm not a star in our world. It would be a little harder to get you on. No, I get it. I wouldn't be able to automatically get you on.

What's that pitch meeting like? OK, so I got a guy. I got a guy. I got a guy. I got a guy. He's got a great heart. He's got a great heart. You don't really know his name much. He probably is not going to bring a lot of fan base, but he's a good guy. I got a guy.

I got a guy. Alfonso. His dance movements work in the fingers. He has almost 65,000 Instagram followers. I mean, OK, you know.

That's it. That does make him a guy. He's got a great smile.

Great smile. How is it with Dwight Howard, man? Fantastic.

Dude is so much fun. Yeah? Like, I mean, first of all, he's 6'11".

Yes. He's got like a 7'3 wingspan, right? And it's like, how does a guy that big move so smoothly? Like, he did this last week a foxtrot. Now, most of the time a foxtrot is a pretty simple dance, but that's if the two people are the same size, right?

His partner is 5'3". Oh my God. Ish.

And so for them to be able to move together in sync is really, really difficult, right? Yes. And he did a fantastic job of it.

First show absolutely just ripped the ceiling off the building. He's definitely going to be there in the end. I'm rooting for him. I'm just rooting for him to continue to have fun and show that, you know, million dollar smile and have the best time. They're just, they're loving it.

Dwight is, he's an absolute pleasure to have on the show. Yeah. And speaking of ripping off things there, I mean, Ilona Mar as well, one of my favorite Olympians to watch. Come on. As she crushed it, she's running over people, which is not really usually the concept of dancing, is running over people.

It's not. You typically need to keep them upright to dance well. Scrum is a bad thing.

Not a good, not a good, not a good, not a good. But like this week, they did lifts. They had the dirty dancing. And so she lifted him. She did flips with him, which was like he flipped her.

And then she was like, oh, wow. Like we closed the show with it. Right. They did the dirty dancing lift. Not, not fully though.

Not extended on the shoulder. Right. And then, and then she like, you know what? I'm gonna flip you again and flipped him again. And I was like, okay, nobody puts her in a corner.

Nobody. That was the first time we've ever had a pro male get flipped in the history of the show. Right.

We're going to be loving that one for decades. There's so many great, this season's different than most seasons because of the fact that there are so many contestants. Like I was doing them as like nine, eight or nine contestants on a 13 contestant show where I believe that if they won, I wouldn't be shocked. Right.

And that doesn't happen. Normally there's two or three that is like, they're the winners. The question is which one of these three are going to win.

This is like, nah, the eighth place person could win if they continue to grow. I think Eric Roberts would win if he somehow comes up with a dance interpretation of his scene from Pope of Greenwich village. That would be, that would wrap it. He'd win the week. He'd survive. But I don't know about the rest of the whole show.

Spoiler alert, maybe not Pope. He's an awesome dude though. Awesome dude. He must have stories for days. But you know, that's the only problem when you're like, they go off in rehearsals. They're not on stage that much to where you can really just, like I spent most of my time I spent with him was in New York when we announced the cast and I was like, Hey, they were putting everybody on shuttles to go back to our hotel. And I was like, dude, you want to walk? He was like, yeah, I'll go with you. So we just walked back to our hotel. All the PR people are freaking out. Cause they're like, well, you can't. I was like, we're walking.

They're like, I'm walking. And we went, we walked through Times Square and we just chatted it up and like got to know each other. And it was great. It was a great, like few minutes walking in Times Square with Eric Roberts, just him telling stories, telling stories and me telling stuff and just like sharing how happy we were to be on the show. And it was, it's cool stuff. Love it.

Alfonso Ribeiro here on the Rich Eisen show. Okay. You want to tell us what happened in Tahoe or what happened in Tahoe? By the way, I think finishing what? 25th? Is that what it was? Did I finish 25th? 25th in Tahoe? Something like that.

20 something. That is, that is an incredible achievement for you. You're disappointed. I can see it. Why?

Very, very disappointed. Okay. Before going in, I went back to like my old coach at, at Lakeside.

Okay. I was playing for overhead pro and we fixed all kinds of things that I started messing too much with and got it back to like my core, really good swing. And before going like, like as I was getting into the rhythm of it, I started playing some really good golf. Like I was like, okay, I've got full grasp, full control of my swing and exactly what I need to do when I'm hitting the ball. Right. This is my fix. I have this like total control.

And then we did the promo shoot for dancing with the stars and I tore my hip flexor and a ligament in my, in my, in my foot, my left foot. Right. So in the promo shoot. Yes. Cause that's just means I'm old or you only know one speed. I do know one speed and I probably should have taken a lot off, but I'm having a dance with Julianne Huff. Okay.

Yes. And I'm playing for 125% is still 80%. Like she goes hard every time. So I'm trying to match her energy and basically tore my body up. So now I couldn't practice for a month, right before Tahoe.

And I'd like hit some balls the week before and I was like, okay, it's not hurting that much and went up there and I played okay, but not like, and it happens every year where you're like, okay, it's not what I need it to be because I can't get to my left side. And then, then I fully heal up. I go away.

I go, I went to Europe for a few weeks. I come back. Now I'm fully healed up. My next three rounds were 73, 72 and 69 and I went full control of the swing, just not my body before Tahoe. So it was a disappointment, but I did get to, to play with two of my buddies. I played, I played two rounds with Aaron Rogers and AJ Hawk, which two of the greatest dudes good, good friends. So I got to enjoy, you know, I played with Ray Romano one day also, and who's a buddy at Lakeside.

And so I got to enjoy the people that I was playing with, which was awesome. What was Rogers like? Well, I mean, I hang with him a ton. So he, he's, cause I mean, And this is, you know, final throws of, you know, personal freedom before you're going back. Yeah. Yeah. And he was, He looks like a, he, he looks completely spry right now. Last, last week he looked amazing and he does seem to be, you know, I know his, his, his mantra is about being peaceful or at peace.

Yes. He just looks like he's just going with the flow and Fully at peace, fully ready. I think he was fully ready for the season. Of course, there were, were some moments of like, you know, he hadn't been at full game speed in well, in almost two years, right. A year and year and six, seven months, right from, from his last, from two seasons before we're not going to count the four plays in, in as a jet.

Right. And so he was, he was, I'm sure a little nervous. I went, I went, I flew up to San Fran and went to the game and saw him before he went on the field. You know, obviously ready, ready for the moment, but of course that defense, a tough time, but he's absolutely back into the flow. And I think he's, he's going to have an incredible season and hopefully he can take the jets all the way. I mean, it'd be, it'd be, it'd be an incredible story.

Oh my God. I couldn't even, For, for jet fans. But just in certainly in terms of New York sports stories. Absolutely. Absolutely. After what the hell happened last year.

Yeah. I mean, I'm seeing him in London in two weeks. Yeah, he's going to be, and I'm sure he's going to be fantastic. He's really in a great space right now. I think you know, hanging with him in Tahoe and, and seeing him outside of that arena also, it's just, he's in a great mental, emotional, physical space. He's totally healed up. And you never know. I think maybe the, the year off of not getting hit, you know, has its advantages in other ways, right?

Obviously he was getting over that injury, but the rest of the body, you know, quarterbacks take some beating, right? And and so we'll, we'll see, you'll see what it means. We'll see whether it all plays out, but you know, in the end, we never know what the story is. And this might've been a blessing in disguise to be able to have that year to fully recover the rest of his body and, and and emotionally, spiritually and all the rest, you know, I'm, I'm rooting for him.

We'll see what happens. You met him through golf. Is that how you met him through golf? Yeah. Yeah. And so that is where I, all the guys that I know from sports are guys that I've played golf with in Tahoe or the Orlando one, which is the Hilton grand vacation tournament champions, which is with the LPGA now, but it was with the PGA tour champions at one point.

And so those guys there and through the years meeting all the, these incredible hall of famers and athletes and, but yeah, we played together a few times up in Tahoe and, and from there got to know each other and we have a, you know, group of mutual friends and, and so, yeah. All right. So cautionary tale, just stay away from the promo shoots a month before, a month before. Yes. Yes. Not going to do it. Take it easy.

Not going to do it. Let's do a slow dance. You know what I mean? You can still, you can still promo Dancing with the Stars. I could, but it just, for some reason, I just say this, I, I, if I do it, I have to do it a hundred percent.

And that's kind of like the, the good and the bad of me, you know, V, uh, is coming up. My gosh. Unbelievable. How many seasons? 35, you said? 35th season for the show. September 29th on a, on a seven Eastern on ABC. It's coming right up. It's coming right up. Um, this Sunday. Yeah, we shot, we've shot three episodes already. Great. Um, on Saturday I do three more. Um, so essentially we'll have six in the can before we air, which is great because it gives us some time to not have to, uh, knock them, knock them out every week.

Um, but the first one's really funny, great, funny videos. And what I've always said with this show that I'm super proud of is the fact that, you know, you can sit with your grandkids, you can sit with your grandparents and your parents and everybody can hang out together while watching the show, while laughing together. And this show has something for everyone, right? Whereas 90% of programming on television is for a very specific audience, uh, and this is for everyone.

So it's, it's a nice Sunday hang, uh, with your family before, you know, your work week starts or your school week starts for, for everyone. It's so rare to have, it's rare to have, you know, TV shows where you can all share like that and that the biggest surprise, if you will, would be like a good nut shot video. You know what I mean?

Right. Well, you know, that's as, that's as crazy as it gets, but everybody knows what happens there. You're going to have a bend over everything's going to go up until you, yeah, yeah, yeah. You might cry a little bit here and we laugh, no sympathy, none, none, none. I don't understand why there's never any sympathy when there's a nut shot video.

Well, I think because we know they'll live right at the end of the day, like we've all had one, right? Oh gosh. I got kicked by a roller skate and you have no idea what you've been kicked by a roller skate when I was a roller rink guard, my gosh, like no idea. I was out and you don't want him on dancing with the stars.

You slept for a second, but then you, but then you, you came to and you lived. Do you have kids? No, he does not. All right. So maybe that's a bad story. Maybe that's a bad example.

He's what? I'm going to take it back. Maybe that, maybe that's a bad example. This pre-interview for dancing with the stars or AFV, man, we just have you fall down, not get hit.

Okay. That's not true about all the big hits on AFV is that we know they're okay. Right?

They weren't that bad. Like they're just kind of funny in the moment. Yes. We, we actually ask people when they send in videos and they do like an interview with, with whoever, like we're going to put your video on. We just have one question. Tell us the backstory of what happened in your video. And they'll tell the story. It's like, well, did anybody end up going to the hospital where anybody seriously injured?

And they're like, no, no, no. I mean, the guy was down for a while, but you know, then he got up and he moved around and it was okay. We're like, okay, we can put your video on. So if you know, if you, if you actually want your video on world, uh, pretend you didn't really get hurt. I'm giving you a cheat sheet y'all.

Nuts, shots, welcome as long as there's a happy ending, as long as it all turns out out. Oh, okay. That's right. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. That's on Sunday on ABC. And you can watch it the next day on Hulu right here on Roku and the new episodes of dancing with the stars airs Tuesday, eight Eastern on both ABC and Disney plus stream at the next day on Hulu, which is again available right here on Roku, the multi-talented multiple show host Alfonso Ribeiro, great to see you brother. Great to see you buddy. Always fun whenever you stop by. Thank you for doing it again. Thanks for having me.

We're back to finish up this Thursday show in a sec. Let's talk DoorDash people. If your family's like mine, it probably is. You want something to eat.

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Learn how at USPS.com slash advantage USPS ground advantage, simple, affordable, reliable. Every once in a while I'll pull up a video of, you know, I'll show, you know, my kids or other kids or whatever, and I'll show there's a video of me at Lincoln center with Michael Jackson and the story that I tell, which is always very funny is right before he walked out on stage, he went to the bathroom and accidentally dropped his sequin glove in the toilet. Hey, come on through story, drop it in the toilet. He's freaking out. Is it the only one it's the one it's the glove, right? He's got one glove.

He didn't come with multiple. He didn't have a suitcase of gloves in the glove. He dropped it in the toilet. Like he must have taken it off, put it on the sink or something and it fell on the toilet.

He's freaking out. And like, finally he realized, wait a minute, he reaches in, grabs his glove and the rest of us are like, he dropped the glove and what you going to do with the glove, right? And so we have to go out on stage and he has a soaking wet sequin glove on from the toilet, from the toilet of Lincoln center at Lincoln center, Lincoln center, toilet water on the glove. This is the first time I'm ever telling this story on TV. Wow.

This is a rich Eisen first right here. One would have to think though, I mean, if any toilet water Lincoln center is going to be, I mean, the question to me was whether he flushed it first, which is my question, right? Did he flush and then pull or did he pull then flush? I think that's a huge difference.

There is a huge difference there. A pull and flush is much better than a flush and pull. No, you don't flush and pull. Get all the dirty water away, the new clean water kind of cleans it off a little bit and then you pull the glove out. Right? Exactly.

How did MJ toilet glove not make it to our final cut of fantasy team names? I don't know. Back here on the rich eyes and show radio network, 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 Joe in North Carolina. You're here on the rich eyes and show. What's up, Joseph? He's up. Uh-oh. All right.

Then let's put them back on hold. Louie in Kansas City. What's up, Louie? Or is it Louie?

Hey-o. I get that. It's Louie. Okay. Very good. What's up, Louie? How are you doing, sir? How are you doing, Louie? What's up? I'm good. I'm good.

So I wanted to call in earlier. You guys were talking about the chiefs and Travis Kelce and who was at Kirk Herb Street comments from the other day, talking about him running around, acting like he was partying all summer and not going through a grueling Andy Reid training camp. And anybody that's been around the league long enough knows Andy Reid's training camps are some of the hardest. So I thought that was real funny. Actually, I've heard some of it. Who said it? Chris, you said it. Scott McShay. All right.

Scott McShay. I'm going to ring our podcast, yeah. All right. So what do you... Well, you know, it's early in the season.

Travis is getting doubled and tripled off the line. Right. And I think everybody's just making a real big deal out of nothing. You know, I'm with you, Louie.

I'm 100% real. I also kind of wanted to pivot and talk about the builds. I think Josh Allen, he's already in mid-season form. Looks great.

He sure does. But I want to talk about who they played. You know, they got taken to the wire by a Cardinals team, who everybody kind of rode off early in the year, who actually looks really good. And then, you know, a Tuolus Dolphins team. And then... Well, it was...

I don't know what's wrong with... No, I know. And Jacksonville, I understand that. It was Tuolus at the end of the game. That game was already done, because the Bills had already put the bang thing on Miami. That thing was well out of reach. Absolutely. But Tuolus hadn't showed up at all in the game. No, and it looked ugly.

It looked ugly. And you got to... I don't know. Give it up to the Bills. Thank you, Louie. We're towards the end of our show.

I appreciate you calling in. Let me just say this. This has to be the dumbest storyline I've heard, that Travis Kelce is having struggles to begin this season, because he was too busy gallivanting in Europe with his girlfriend while she was on tour. That has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I am sorry. You've heard dumber things. No, not this year. Except that's what really happened. Well, I mean, because this has nothing to do with the defenses that the Chiefs are playing. This has nothing to do... No.

This has nothing... But he did do those things. That's all I'm saying.

Let me ask you this. He did those things. Again, I'm not making you this point. I'm just saying he didn't do all that stuff. No, I know he did all that stuff, which is his right to do in his spare time. He also shot multiple TV shows. He did. He did.

So, right. So, oh, he should be sitting at home watching film in his mid-30s, right? He should be sitting... Definitely not. And I'm sure... What was he doing? He wasn't working out, I'm sure, in London or any of these places. I'm sure he wasn't paying attention to his body or his nutrition at all, right? He was just eating...

When she might have been in Germany, that's always eating pretzels. That's all he was doing, right? Come on. It's just so stupid. He's struggling right now or they're struggling to get him the ball or whatever.

I mean, I'm not an all 22 guy, but is it possible that maybe age has caught up with him? Sure. I don't know. We'll find out. There's 14 games left in the season, but it's just a typical blame it on somebody who's doing something other than football because he has no right to do stuff other than football and he has no right to hang out with his very famous girlfriend and do dance acts when he's got football to be played. Four months later, come on, come on. You open yourself up to that sort of stuff, but really, okay. How many...

If he didn't go on the heiress tour, he'd have a touchdown now, right? How many subpar games before you're officially worried? Oh, I'm worried already. Oh, you are. Okay. I thought you were just kind of like, no, nothing to worry about. No, because you never know, right?

Nobody ever knows. But I'll take the over. I'll take the over on him, honestly. I don't think he's done by any stretch of the imagination. And as he said on his pod with his bro this week, if he is done, he's got all these rings, he's got all these accomplishments, he's got his teammates, they're all winning now anyway. They're still 3-0, even without it. Oh, he's good. Is what he said. He's good.

That's what I'm saying is that they're still winning without him if he's not getting his. And I think it's only a matter of time and I think it's going to look stupid. And it's just the latest example of people just trying to tear somebody down for living a terrific life and being a winner at life. I don't know about that.

I think it's week three, we're looking for stuff to talk about. It's the whole Swifty thing, too, that people can't stand her for whatever reason. It's just dumb.

I think it's a small percentage. I think you put it all together and it's the dumbest storyline I've heard of the season yet is that if he wasn't gallivanting around Europe, he'd have a touchdown now. I'm just wondering if they had lost the Super Bowl, do you think he would have retired?

I don't know. Like, is he only back to try to go for the three-peat, which obviously is really cool. I asked him that question in his interview when we had him and he said no. He said he just loves playing, loves being around the guys. He could still do it. And by the way, utilizing the platform to grow into what he's going to do for the next 30 years of his life. Smartly so. I'm not worried about him. That's the headline. Back to rap in a sec. The BiggerPockets portfolio of podcasts are worthy of your investment.

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