Hour 1: Blue Jays on the Brink, plus NFL Network Analyst Daniel Jeremiah

0:01Rich Eisen:This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever.

0:36Rich Eisen:Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with Power Boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment.

1:23Rich Eisen:Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Austin down the middle, he goes to win the game! To win the game! From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Vladirocks the ball! It is gone again! Back-to-back blasts in the first. Today's gasps. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. Actor Gabriel Luna. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. All three hours on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, which has ESPN everywhere. We're on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. We say hello listening on Sirius XM Channel 80.

2:11Rich Eisen:That's how you can get ESPN Radio via satellite. Hey, podcast listeners, we think of you too because you listen whenever you want. That's great that you're right. However you get this podcast, we appreciate it. all three hours available for you and say uh maybe you chop it up and you check us out every now and then on our youtube page hello to you too as well youtube.com slash rich eisen show for all of that the actor uh gabriel luna is in studio an hour number three you might love him from last of us if you do guess what uh you're gonna love something just a little bit lighter than that uh about john wayne gacy who's a uh you know serial killer but anyway he's in something called devil in disguise john wayne gacy available streaming now for peacock it's a limited series eight episodes it's great he's in studio in hour number three of this program dan lanning the head coach of the oregon ducks ranked sixth overall we've never had dan on the program that ends in hour number two he's on his bye week uh and then coming up uh daniel jeremiah in 18 minutes time to set up the stage for week number nine of the national football league that begins tonight with Lamar Jackson back under center and in shotgun for the Ravens, as expected, taking on the Miami Dolphins.

3:20Rich Eisen:Winner, I guess, moves on towards digging themselves out of a hole, and the loser essentially goes home. We'll set the stakes on all of that. Daniel's also going to set the stage for some of the teams that are already looking over the steering wheel at next year's draft, this year's quarterback class coming up. We'll also hit him up on everything else going on with the Chargers. He calls the games for that. And he's a big San Diego Padre fan, so I imagine he'll be joining us with a Canadian accent in about 17 minutes' time. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? I just like the idea of Daniel doing a Canadian accent for the whole segment.

3:55Rich Eisen:I don't think Daniel's a drinker, but you'll know he's really rooting against the Dodgers if he's having a Labatt's at 9.20 Pacific time. Sponsored by Molson, this segment. Good to see you over there. What's up, DJ Mikey D. He's nuts. Good to see you. And TJ Jefferson, candles lit over there. How are you, sir? What's going on over there? I'm swell. Okay, great. I'm swell. I find it kind of funny, you guys, that take joy in your rivals losing games. I think we need to talk about this at some point. Wait, what? Okay, we'll talk about all this. 844-204-RICH. You weren't out here earlier. You weren't out here earlier.

4:31Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH is the number to dial on the program. So I was at game five last night, saw it with my own two eyes. I don't believe I've ever seen a game in person where the first two guys homer. I don't think I've ever seen that. I can't recall the last game I saw where the first pitch went yard. One pitch, one run, one swing, one swing of momentum that we've seen the Blue Jays now carry for a couple of games in a row in Los Angeles. and I don't think I've ever seen that and it's the first time a World Series game has ever began with back-to-back home runs Davis Schneider again who I had 15 of his cards if he played in 1979 I'd have 15 of his cards on tops he's got like that Doug Drabeck look about him with glasses oh that's um you know and and he took a 97 mile an hour fastball from Blake Snell up and in got his hands out, threw it, and yanked it into the seats.

5:38Rich Eisen:And then Vlad Guerrero Jr., who's now one game away. I would say nine innings away, but we all know. Well, the series can rock. He's one game away from being the most valuable player of the World Series. And what a capstone that would be on his season and a feather in his cap for his career. And he'd have a ring and he'd be able to give it to his dad and all that sort of stuff. and little did we know that those two home runs those two at-bats the three pitches into this game in which the Blue Jays took a two nothing lead was would be all the runs that they would need literally there were people stuck on the 101 freeway coming into the stadium looking up oh it's two nothing that's how quickly this thing had happened it was uh only about 10 minutes after five o 'clock local time and this is a a series in which a game ended at three in the morning toronto time or you know what i mean and um that was all the blue jays would need because of this young stud named trey yasavage and this photograph on the screen i'll describe it for everybody who's listening on espn radio presented by progressive insurance and sirius xm and our podcast it is a guy whose pitching style is so over the top that the ball looks like it's coming from the hand of victor wambonyama standing flat-footed and i'm not kidding it's about it's about seven foot six inches off the ground and so when he threw up they they they documented this on on fox i believe in game one that his wingspan and his ability to come over the top is and release point is the the tallest off the ground of anybody in in major league baseball i might be wrong about that tyler glass now as we all know has got the longest stride right because he's so tall but this guy he he creates such a release point that it's jarring and it normally if you you got him figured out in game one which the dodgers uh did before you know the roof fell in on him in toronto um you'd figure that they might have a better chance at him in their second time seeing him around but not this time and it's an incredible story i mean i think it's been well documented for those who have been locked in on the world series and the postseason but i'm sitting in this game next to my boy coop who goes to summer camp in maine and uh because susan i want him to have you know an east coast different experience than living in Southern California.

8:39Rich Eisen:And it's awesome. The camp every year takes kids on a field trip to the Portland Sea Dogs, double A affiliate of your Boston Red Sox, Christopher. Correct. And Cooper. I covered the Sea Dogs for many years. Cooper, and I kind of mentioned this before your Savages first started in the World Series. I'll repeat it here again. And Coop saw a Portland Seadogs game against the Toronto Blue Jays double-A affiliate from New Hampshire. And sure enough, who were they starting the night that Coop was there on July the 6th? The Fisher Cats had started a guy who had just been elevated from single-A ball in Dunedin, Florida for the Toronto Blue Jays.

9:28Rich Eisen:And his name is Trey Savage. He saw him in double-A baseball in Portland, Maine this summer. By the way, you can look at the box score. I'll read it out for those who are listening right now. Connerly Early was the starter for the Seadogs. He started game three of the wildcard series against the Yankees. Crazy. In Yankee Stadium. But the kid who gave up, by the way, three earned on four hits in three innings against the Seadogs. He wound up catching fire, and he wound up pitching for the Blue Jays, and he wound up on the mound in games one and five of the World Series, and now that guy that Cooper saw in July and saw last night set a record for most strikeouts by a rookie pitcher in the history of the World Series.

10:27Rich Eisen:And this photograph of him striking out Shohei Otani with a pitch that fooled him so greatly that his helmet came flying off and he lost his balance is something that, I don't know, do you print this out and put it on your wall or put it on a t-shirt or walk around the rest of your life going, I did that? No, that goes up in the crib for now. You know what I mean? For sure. And the guy, he surpassed Don Newcomb of the Dodgers organization. And he became the first pitcher to have 10 strikeouts in a World Series start through the first five innings of that start. Since one of the folks in the crowd, Sandy Koufax, who was there again, Trey, you savage.

11:25Rich Eisen:Going through seven innings and just pounding that strike zone. Pounding it. And had this to say after his remarkable Game 5 victory to make the first two at-bats results of the night stand up for the rest of the night to give the Blue Jays a shot at winning the World Series at home One of two different chances to do so. This is what he had to say after the game. Crazy world. Crazy world. Hollywood couldn't have made it this good. So just being a part of this, I'm just very blessed. Walking from the bullpen to the dugout, I took a moment to look around the stadium, see all the fans I wanted to.

12:13I was hoping I'd send them home upset. but yeah, it was just a cool full circle moment.

12:22Rich Eisen:Kid born in Potsdown, PA is now the toast of Canada as he became the first to have 12 strikeouts and no walks in a World Series start. How about them apples? Just three hits. The one earned was a Kike no doubt about her. That guy is just a beast in October. Playoff Kike, man. Right? That was a no doubt about it. Made it 2-1 and it could have been a game. And then you know what the Blue Jays do, man? I'm telling you, I keep pounding this because they play baseball in a way that can take down the most well-heeled future Hall of Fame studded lineup and franchise in the sport, which is timely hitting and timely connections with the baseball.

13:22Rich Eisen:Their ratio of productive outs to non-productive outs is their superpower. I turn to Cooper whenever there's a runner on third with less than two outs, and I'm like, is there any doubt the Blue Jays are not scoring that run right now? Whether it be by a base hit like Isaiah Kiner-Falefa late in the game to give him a 6-1 lead or a fly out or a ground out to the right side to get someone from second over to third. And again, I use the Yankees as the measuring stick for various reasons, for personal reasons. But also, this is the second straight AL East winning opponent the Dodgers are facing in the World Series.

14:08Rich Eisen:and this team that they're facing doesn't strike out as much doesn't need the home run to score has timely pitching has timely relieving has a manager who's pushing the buttons that work more than not does have don mattingly in the dugout also this team guess what didn't completely disintegrate after a gutting loss in Dodgers stadium capped by a walk-off Freddie Freeman home run. The Yankees disintegrated last year in the World Series. The Blue Jays, since losing to Freddie Freeman in the 19th inning and all the Dodger fans going home happy, listening to Randy Newman talking about how much he loves Los Angeles.

14:56Rich Eisen:They rallied. They have not lost yet. Not only have they rallied, they haven't lost. They said, you know what? We're going to just sweep the rest of Los Angeles. We'll win games four and five. We'll beat Otani after the whole world's talking about what a unicorn he is on the mound. And then we'll send our kid out there and give him a lifetime photograph memory on the wall of Otani losing his balance in his helmet. They're unbelievable. They're a great baseball team. They play the game the way it's supposed to be played. And you know what? you could take davis schneider's salary i bet i don't even know what their salary is and earning clement's salary on top of each other right and bar bargers pardon me barger's salary and lucas's salary and just mount them up did they even come to the equivalence of of a fraction of one one of these dodgers um deferrals are uh davis schneider is uh making uh eight hundred and twenty thousand dollars this year and you know the dodgers lineup is not making contact they aren't playing baseball as well as the blue jays uh mookie bets man i love this guy he he's raising his hand saying look at me hit it i don't want to speak on anybody else but for me personally um i've just been terrible i've been terrible and there's no uh i wish it was from lack of effort i really do but it's not so I don't have any answers.

16:22Rich Eisen:Well, that's one thing you know it will never be for Mookie Betts is lack of effort. He's hit 130 in the World Series, but his talent is so great. Normally, when you hit 130 in the World Series, you're dropped from 2 to 8. They dropped him from 2 to 3 in the lineup. Right. Because you just never know. He catches fire, and he'll change the entire fortunes. Good news for the Dodgers is Yamamoto's on the mound in Game 6, and all he's done is finish what he started two times in a row. Got to do it again. They need that man. They need length from him. They need to score some runs. They do. That's true.

16:57Rich Eisen:They have four runs in the last 29 innings. I ain't going to get it done. Because the Blue Jays pitchers make you swing and miss, and all they do is make contact with the baseball. It really is amazing. The Dodgers just hit solo home runs. Yeah. That's it. That's all they do. Rich, you being there. Sort of like who? What does that remind you of? The Yankees. The Yankees. Yeah, right. Yeah, sure. Sure. Blue Jays are turning the Dodgers into the Yankees? Is that what you're telling me right now? It seems like it. Rich, you being there, what was the feeling like in the crowd going down 2-0 that early, man?

17:30Rich Eisen:Did you sense that the fans were just taken out of the game? No, not really. I mean, I was like, it's 2-0. Kike got him right back into it. I mean, Kike's home run got everybody right back into it. As deflating as it might be, that thing was gone. And Dodger fans know their lineup is so loaded. Yeah, you can't really give up. And here's the kid that they cuffed around well enough to keep it a game in game one until, again, as I mentioned, the roof caved in. But unbelievable. Well done, Blue Jays. They go home, grab your passports if you're the Dodgers, and look out for this one. I'll just put this one in your head because Coop said it to me on the way home.

18:14Rich Eisen:What's that? Because, you know, Otani pitched in game four. He says, what if Yamamoto gives you seven, Otani gives you the eighth, and Sasaki gives you the ninth? What if it goes Yamamoto to Otani to Sasaki in game six? And I'm like, the only thing that might be, you know, not reasonable about that is Yamamoto just goes all nine. But it's entirely possible. I think I saw that it's going to be a glass now Otani game on game seven. Got it. Should it get that far? Should have got that far. Yeah. Yeah. Which will be wild because at that point in time, you know, Otani can only warm up after he's hit.

18:54Rich Eisen:And gotten off the base paths. Right. So I don't know if he starts and then glass now comes in relief. Is that how, that's wild, man. Gotta get there first, obviously. Yes, you do. What a series. It's been highly entertaining. it's been fun. To say the least. And just for the Toronto Blue Jays, an absolute, how about this, exhibition. Remember they used to play in that stadium? It's been an exhibition. of how to play the game. How do you play the game? Make contact, put the pressure on the other team because you make contact, and then pitch well enough where there is no contact. What was it, 23 swings and misses?

19:30Rich Eisen:A lot, yeah. Wow. All right, so the Dodgers are down three games to two, which no doubt delights the Padre season ticket holder that's about to join us. Again, I'm wondering if Daniel Jeremiah, when he joins us next, we'll have a Canadian accent. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We will talk to Daniel Jeremiah, eh? Actually, you can't spell Jeremiah without A.

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21:11Rich Eisen:because Next doesn't wait for an invitation, and neither do we. Hyundai has always moved the future within reach. We did it when we made advanced safety standard on every vehicle and engineered EVs with ultra-fast charging capability because the future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Daniel Jeremiah, voice of the Los Angeles Chargers on radio right here on the Rich Eisen Show on Disney Plus and ESPN app and ESPN radio. Let's just jump into tonight's game real quick. Are you of the mindset here that the Ravens can actually put a run together and win this division at the end of the day, Daniel?

22:00Yeah, I think so. And look, I'm confident in the offense with the Marback that they'll get rolling offensively. I'm not confident that the Steelers are going to put so much distance between them that they can't catch them. The deciding factor is going to be whether the Ravens defense can do what they did last week and look more like a more vintage Ravens defense where there's no blown assignments, where there's a little bit of pass rush, and where the tackling is solid. And Roquan Smith coming back and the way he played in kind of like a force multiplier with just the energy, the effort, and the playmaking, kind of all that rolled together.

22:38I think that made a major difference. But that, to me, is the – that's just the one question mark. Can they get consistent defensive play? The offense is going to be fine.

22:45Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, you mentioned the Steelers. You're going to see them in person in a Week 10 Sunday nighter here in Los Angeles after they play the Colts at home. And are the Steelers in trouble, Daniel? you i'm i'm worried about their defense rich it you know i talk about tackling and this is a team that has just been really really poor and you go back to the cincinnati game you know when you're watching the uh the tape of that game and you see how much separation in space they allowed you know for the number one receiver in the nfl and jamar chase and that should be you know focal point number one and he's that uncovered that was an issue and then you go to this last week's game and they can't tackle uh you know it was it was not just one person it was a whole collection of guys at the second and third level of their defense they can't get guys on the ground and i know there's a lot of you know i i've heard a lot of chatter about okay where's this pass rush this pass rush isn't getting home and i'm like well you don't have a chance to get home when you got guys that open that early and when there's such a low risk high reward for just completing a pass in the flat knowing that instead of a five to seven yard gain it could go for 35 or 40 because they haven't been tackling well so um that to me is a is a major cause for concern well you've seen Denver in person you've seen Indianapolis in person because again I'm looking at all the games that the Chargers uh have played you also saw Kansas City in person in Brazil just like I did but that's that's just not the same team right I mean just in terms of uh who's healthy in terms of you know uh Drew Tranquil barking at Chris Jones to do your job and everything like that they've turned a corner.

24:24Rich Eisen:And, you know, the Chargers, again, are in the mix themselves that they are healthy. Just overall, based on what you've seen with your own two eyes and then watching on all 22 as much as you do, who's the best team in football entering week nine? Yeah, I'll put it this way, Rich. Clearly, to me, the Broncos were the best defense that I've seen in person this year. And they are so fast up front. and they have a mix. I talk about it this way. You've got darts off the edge, right? You've got just two of the elite get-off guys coming off the edge. And then you've got disguise with how Vance Joseph sets up this defense.

25:04So if you cause a little bit of hesitation, you've got that much speed, particularly with Benito coming off the edge, it's a problem. And then you have when they're healthy in the secondary, it's really, really deep and talented back there. So that's been clearly the best defense. The Colts offense is the best offense that I've seen. And just their physicality, the play design creativity. Jonathan Taylor is playing as well as any back in the league. Daniel Jones is playing consistent, efficient. That was an impressive display, seeing them in person offensively. So those are the units to me that impressed the most.

25:38And then the way the Chiefs have started to get rolling, they weren't all hands on deck when we were together and saw them there in Brazil. So I'll have to wait till I see them a little bit down the road. But, you know, in terms of the best combined overall team, I mean, I don't know. I think those teams are kind of all in the mix. I don't know if there's a separator at that point in time. I guess you could compare the Broncos offense to the Colts defense. I might lean a little bit more towards the Broncos offense there.

26:06Rich Eisen:Well, and let's open it wider to, as I said, all 22 or whether you're sitting at home watching Sunday Night Football, like I'm sure you were because the Chargers had a Thursday night game last week. Just seeing Jordan Love playing as well as he did, the Packers playing as well as they are a host of 5-2 and 6-2 teams in the NFC. You've got the Seahawks coming off of a bye. Same thing with the Rams. You've also got the Lions coming off of a bye themselves sitting there currently in the NFC standings. Let me get this exact number right. They're fifth at 5-2. What do you say there in the NFC, Daniel?

26:43Well, it's going to be a fun ride. I think health is going to go a long way in deciding that because I don't think there's much that separates those teams. If I was looking at it right now, I would say if they hit their ceiling, if all of these teams hit their ceiling, I might lean towards the Lions slightly over Green Bay and the Rams and the Eagles are still lurking out there as well. But I think the Lions' best, healthy and their best, I think is the best in the NFC right now.

27:12Rich Eisen:Daniel Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen Show. Speaking of Green Bay, when we were on the set there for the draft on NFL Network, over and over and over again for three straight days, you're like, you know what? The Patriots are having an incredible draft. They are set up. And then we didn't even discuss Drake May becoming an MVP caliber quarterback by the middle or the first third of the NFL campaign that was to come. Are you even surprised with how he's looked and how the Patriots have put it together right now? I mean, look, I believe in his talent and I believed in what they were building there.

27:48I thought they hired the right coach. I thought they had a great draft. I thought they were targeted in what they did in free agency. I thought this was going to be a team that was going to be ascending. That being said, I did not think they would be where they are, including a road win over Buffalo and a quarterback who's not like fringe MVP discussion, but one of the favorites in the MVP discussion. So they are way ahead of schedule. The talent was unquestioned with Drake. I didn't think they'd be able to support him enough at this point in time. I was going in the right direction, but I think they'd be able to support him enough to be this good right now.

28:24And I think it's them meeting each other halfway where, yeah, the supporting group's ahead of schedule. and I also think he has just got to his upside in a hurry. And I think you've got to give, you know, for whatever people want to say about Josh McDaniels as a head coach, you've got to give him as props as an offensive coordinator and as someone who can work with quarterbacks because he's got the absolute best out of him.

28:46Rich Eisen:All right, so now I put you as the foreman in the Caleb Williams jury room. Where are we right now in deliberations entering week nine of his first year with Ben Johnson, Daniel? I would say we're trending positively. As someone who had a big grade on him going through the draft process, I was hoping he'd be a little bit further along in the advancement where you'd see a little bit more of the good stuff, a little less of the bad stuff. But still, it's getting better. You can see the frustration when you're watching the TV copy. You hit pan to the sideline. You can see Ben Johnson because he's got some things dialed up and there's some opportunities that he just hasn't been able to hit.

29:29So I think there is some frustration there just watching the TV side of things. But I still go back to last year in a game, Rich, you could pull out six plays and you could get really excited about these six throws from Caleb Williams. And this year, game by game, you can probably pull out 10 or 11 of those plays. So it's getting better. It's not where it's going to be. It's not where it necessarily needs to be right now. but I think it is trending positively. It's just hard when you look up and you see what Drake May's doing and the fact that Jaden Daniels has already been in a conference championship game.

30:06You know, that's kind of who he's going to be compared to, for better or worse.