Hour 1: MNF’s Troy Aikman, Arch Manning Falls Flat, Micah Trade Impact

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1:27This is The Rich Eisen Show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Yeah, it's kind of my thing. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Now you're making your debut as a college football coach. I hope it goes a lot better in the game against Dallas. They crushed us. Today's guests, ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Troy Aikman, Commander's linebacker Von Miller, actor Paul Rudd, Broncos head coach Sean Payton. And now it's Rich Eisen.

2:01Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. Welcome to the wonderful world of the Rich Eisen Show on Disney+. ESPN Radio and the ESPN app everywhere. We say hello to absolutely everybody out there in our world, whether you are streaming us to see us or, again, you are listening to us on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We are thrilled to be here on Disney Plus, and we welcome that new audience. We welcome anybody that might be new to our show that started 11 years ago coming up next month. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Again, whether you're watching us or you're listening to us, Sirius XM Channel 80, we say hello to you and to anybody that's out there on the ESPN Radio Network, coast-to-coast on this affiliate, smart enough to have us.

2:54Rich Eisen:Let's chat. We're available every single day between 12 and 3 Eastern. If you somehow in any way miss this program, you can watch it again on Disney Plus at your leisure. You can also check us out on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for all the videos. And then, of course, there's our podcast form, all three hours, however you get your podcast through the ESPN Podcast Network. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you? Rich, I'm great. How are you, my friend? I am doing well. Is it true you actually spent Monday in Disneyland? land? Did you lean into our new partnership that way, Christopher?

3:28Rich Eisen:I was in the land of Disney all day Monday. Look at you. It was spectacular. And you survived it. Yes, I did. You survived the ground. It was so hot. Fantastic. Good to see you over there. DJ Mikey Diaz and D's Nets. Mike Del Tufo, how are you, sir? Good to see you. Good morning, Rich. How you doing? I'm great. And TJ Jefferson, the man in the corner of our program. Good to see you. The candle is lit. How are you, sir? Hey, it's our first day of school today. So our first day of ESPN, and this is awesome. You are how many years old? because you don't give your age out. Is that on there? That's a question mark because we're still not sure.

3:58Rich Eisen:Oh, that's so weird. Less than 100, more than 10, I guess. Okay, very good. Good to see you all over there, TJ Jefferson. Let's go. Welcome back. Diehard Dallas Cowboy fan, resident Cowboy fan here. Troy Aikman is first up. He's calling the final game of week one that starts on Thursday night. Week one, Monday night football, Vikings and Bears, and obviously we'll talk about Micah Parsons being a Packer with one of the all-time greats. Von Miller is now a Washington commander. We'll chat with him. We all know he was born into this league in Denver. The Broncos have a very large bandwagon, all hyped up.

4:33Rich Eisen:Sean Payton will join us in hour number three. And a man who was on our very first show, and I think he's been on every first show of our tenure when we've had a new partner. Absolutely. To help us choose our fantasy football name, our team name, there's a whole bunch of options that we're going to provide to this man. And Paul Rudd will be on this program. Very popular man. He hasn't aged a day. He's on an hour number three. And again, again, there's you at 844-204-H, number to Dom, on the program. TJ Jefferson, you have famously said on this show over the last few months that you have not one but two Arch Manning football cards that you hope, five, you have five of them?

5:11Rich Eisen:Five. That you hope to one day parlay together to buy a yacht. Some type of sale investment, yes. Yeah, for sure. All right, at this point in time. Sailing investment. At this point in time, no, listen, one day in to his college starting career as the full-time starter, the Texas Longhorns, there's a lot of folks out there that would think that maybe you should take the bus. Wow. Thingies are available, Rich. It is, I will say this, watching him against the Ohio State on a day where they raised a banner. in game one, him on the road. He had never even thrown a pass on the road as a member of Texas Longhorn football.

5:56Rich Eisen:And all the hype surrounding him, Heisman this, Heisman that, it was subpar. And it is something about which I am unconcerned. I am unconcerned. I am not one of those tape heads. I'm not one of those all 22 individuals. I'm not going to sit here and break it down like say Orlovsky would do or has done. Right? All I will say is at the end of the day, and by that day, I mean next year's draft, that a lot of people pegged him to be the first overall selection in. And the number of people that were like, did you see that Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry were on the sideline of this game? and um yes i saw uh first of all not a very long trip for them no uh i'm wondering if they took the the flying private pilot whatever it is air j j yeah um just don't know if they took that pj a quick trip i don't think they drove is that certainly not a yacht let's take you there um there's other people that are top five worthy draft choices that were on that field.

7:16Rich Eisen:And particularly in Scarlet and Gray, that kid Caleb Downs can play football. Oh my God, can he play football? And maybe by the end of the day as well for that draft, prior to which maybe Caleb Downs is going to get some Heisman votes. I understand you need to score touchdowns for Heismans. And, you know, there's a number two who hails from the state of Ohio who won one for the University of Michigan because he would score touchdowns on many different ways on offense, defense, and special teams in Charles Woodson. But that kid, Caleb Downs, is outstanding. And you say what you will about Matt Patricia.

7:57Rich Eisen:The guy knows how to coach defense. Just saying he wasn't in the ear of, you know, saying the quarterback. as he was maybe for New England a couple years ago. And we'll talk about Belichick in a second. Arch went against some guys that are going to be maybe top 10 draft picks, plural. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Against a defensive coordinator who, if I'm not mistaken, once upon a time tried to stop his uncles and were successful at it on occasion. more so against Uncle Peyton than Uncle Eli and he did have a throw similar to Uncle Eli with the game on the line in the fourth quarter on the left sideline as soon as he dropped that pass in between two guys I texted Joel Klatt saying just like Uncle Eli with Mario Manningham in a much bigger game Joel Klatt was kind of busy the kid, you know, he responded after the game.

9:04Rich Eisen:But I don't care about that sort of stuff. Kid's going to be all right. He's going to be absolutely fine. And, you know, after the game, he clearly has learned from his uncles and dad and his grandfather about what a quarterback should say after losing a game in which his stat line and the results were not what he wanted. Start off season 0-1. They're a good team, but I thought we beat ourselves a lot. That starts with me, and I've got to play better for us to win. Can't wait until the second half to kind of get things going. Were you uncomfortable in the first half, or was it something else? No, no.

9:49I just got to play better, got to execute, got to get the receivers ball more, and let them make plays. And in terms of that, you look at their schedule and next few games to the University of Texas.

10:07Rich Eisen:Winnable games. Home for San Jose State, home for UTEP, home for Sam Houston. Oh, nice. Games, by the way, that you can all see on the ESPN app everywhere. Because there's ABC, SEC Network, ESPN Plus, and SEC Network. So, seek it out. His next game's at Florida of significance. On the road, in conference. And then he's home for Oklahoma. Now those are the games we're going to have to see Robert meet in the road. And the next three games, he's going to make some hay. And it'll be better. After that, at Kentucky, Mississippi State, home for Vanderbilt at Georgia. Before he finishes with two at home against Arkansas, Texas A &M.

10:51Rich Eisen:This is going to be a playoff team. Again, you just got to take the long view here. this is going to be a playoff team, and Coach Steve Sarkeesian knows exactly that. I do think he settled into playing. I think part of it, sometimes when he gets hit a couple times, it helps him. He's one of those kind of guys. And so I think we learned a little bit that way, of maybe incorporating a little more of his run stuff earlier in the game, where we waited a little bit into the second half. I think when that happened, I felt like he started really playing. and we saw some real flashes and glimpses of the type of player that he's going to become here.

11:30You know, I'm sure he's going to watch the tape and say, man, I wish this, I wish that. That's the life of a competitor. But I think there's a lot to hold on to of what the future is going to look like for Arch Manning here, so we're excited about that.

11:43Rich Eisen:Put a pin in all of it Saturday, October 4th at Florida. That's it. That's where Rubber's going to meet the road. He's going to be a lot more confident. The offense will be a lot more clicking. Ohio State is no joke. Number one team in the country, right? Correct? One week through? Yeah, someone was making the case for LSU, but I would say Ohio State's number one. Please. Come on. Penn State. All right, dude. Penn State, yeah. Okay, yeah. James Franklin's already in mid-season form where he's barking at officials, already up 40 with 30 seconds to go. Okay, all good. Listen, the whole Arch thing, I'm not going to come on here, and again, if you're somehow new to this neighborhood, and we're not hot takers here.

12:22We'll have takes, but, I mean, let's just pump the brakes here.

12:26Rich Eisen:That said, the photograph of your yacht right now, it's sort of like Back to the Future fuzzy. No, come on. But you're saying I shouldn't be worried, though. You should not be worried. Yeah, of course. That's correct. Just in the same way that, again, the picture wound up existing in Back to the Future. Even better, though. But right now it's fuzzy. We're in the, what is it, the underwater of the sea dance? What is it again? Enchantment. Okay, very good. Right now, that's where we're at right now. Because I was getting it on X and threads about my boat disappearing. Arch has got to go to the car and find Biff and punch him out against Florida.

13:00Rich Eisen:And then you've got your yacht back. I'm with it. Or at least you're on that pace. I would say stay tuned for a reaction Monday on a Tuesday. And right now, though, on that front, it seems Cleveland should look at Caleb Downs. If they're somehow top five. Well, they need a quarterback. I understand. We think. I got all these draft choices. One more thing before we throw a break here. That was my professional opinion.

13:28Now then. Oh, the glasses are off.

13:31Rich Eisen:Arch Manning. Can't win them all. And not everyone wins at Ohio State. As a matter of fact, not many people win at Ohio State. It's tough to win at Ohio State unless your name is University of Michigan. So there's that. Reach out, take some notes. Next time you're anybody who goes to the horseshoe, maybe Penn State could call and take some notes. Because we go in undefeated and win. We go in with multiple losses and walk on quarterbacks and win. so if you want call uh penn state have drew call jj whatever whatever just we can we can we can help is what i'm saying you know taking those right so it's a tough place to to win unless you're the university of michigan with a flag and you plant it and in that regard uh there was one young man who did not struggle in his first start that helps to be at home against new mexico as supposed to be on the road against the Ohio State.

14:40But our friend Bryce Underwood, he took care of business.

14:45Rich Eisen:I will say this. Again, I'm very straightforward when I say this. In my, oh, so I showed up 1986. Jim Harbaugh was my first quarterback when I showed up on the campus of the University of Michigan. So you want to do the math for me? I'm more verbal. Is that coming up on 40 years? Yeah. Jeez. Of me watching Michigan football and living and dying with it. I've never seen a ball come out of a hand of a quarterback wearing maize and blue like Bryce Underwood. That's a bold statement. Oh, I could make it. Drew Hanson could throw some bombs back then. Chad, hey, and a cannon. By the way, Elvis, come on now.

15:24Rich Eisen:Thomas J. Brady. I've never seen anything like it. Rolling to his left, throwing seeds. And this one, I will say this. First of all, two things. He threw a block with his throwing shoulder. Let's not do this anymore. The height of stupidity. Well, it's also the height of 18 years. You're right, of course. I mean, immediately saying that clip, I was like, what is he doing? The height of 18 years. Okay. And there was one. But the University of Michigan frequently has what happened to them, which is big lead. suddenly things start turning against the momentum, including a freshman who puts the ball on the ground on a kickoff after New Mexico makes it a 10-point game, yada, yada, yada.

16:13Rich Eisen:It's now a one-score game right before halftime. Michigan gets the ball back. First two offensive plays go for negative yards. It's now third and forever. Everybody who roots for the University of Michigan knows at this point in time that's when you run the ball. You go into some sort of a turtle situation. Let's not make it worse. Let's punt. Let's play defense. And things begin to continue to slide against him. Instead, Sharon Moore let the kid cook. And he threw a seed on third and 14 for a 39-yard gain. And this is a team last year that didn't have a chunk play of 40 yards or more all season.

16:51Rich Eisen:That led to a touchdown. His first touchdown pass as a Michigan quarterback. And it changed everything. Next up is Oklahoma. We shall see. but that's my, I guess, unprofessional take on Arch Manning's performance. Arch, don't worry about it. Should have gone to Michigan. Can it be more unprofessional than that? Yeah, but if he did. I'm so proud of myself. That's the way he's somewhere else. Oh, that's true. I'm happy with the guy I got. Thank you for that. I just had to keep it in perspective for you. I guess I'm the minister of culture here as well on that front. We'll talk Bill Belichick later on in this program.

17:31Rich Eisen:What happened with UNC. Also, on this show, our Overreaction Monday podcast came out yesterday. We appreciate everybody who is watching it on our YouTube channel. Over 170 ,000 snagged that one in their viewership over day one. It's also available through the ESPN Podcast Network. Check it out. All three hours of the show every single day. And no contest wrestling. You and O'Shea Jackson Jr. are recording the latest episode. Yeah, we have WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton. It's Tiffy time tonight. Okay, fantastic. So that's still to come. Let's take a break. When we come back, Troy Aikman will join us.

18:08Rich Eisen:His thoughts on what the Dallas Cowboys did, trading away their best defensive player to the Green Bay Packers of all teams. That's coming up. We're off and running here on Disney +, ESPN Radio, and the ESPN app.

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20:03Rich Eisen:We're back ESPN radio network with Troy Aikman. Your thoughts on, on, on Micah in that locker room or anything like that about his welcome status in Dallas, Troy? Well, it's a, it's a, it's a fair question. Unfortunately, I don't have the answer to that. I, you know, the, and, and the guys now maybe on the team would come out and be a little bit more vocal as to if in fact Micah was a distraction or however he might have been as a teammate. Obviously when he's on the roster, guys are very guarded as to what they may or may not say. There's no question that the negotiation got personal. The fact that, that Jerry never even spoke to the agent and then to say that he typically doesn't negotiate with the agent.

20:49That's a first that I've ever heard of. But I sense, Rich, that at that preseason game when Micah was laying down on the training table, that that might have been the final straw. And maybe it was orchestrated on Micah's part or his agent's part in trying to make it clear that they were ready to be moved. And again, Again, what that looks like going forward for the Cowboys, what that may look like for the Packers going forward, time is about to tell. And a lot of it, too, is Mike is an outstanding player, and if he can be as productive as he's been with the Cowboys, he's definitely going to be a key figure for this Packers team.

21:31But I didn't realize the back, potentially, could be more. I thought it was more a ploy as to why he wasn't practicing. Me, too. Yeah, so that's news to me, and that becomes a concern for a young guy to be dealing with a back issue.

21:44Rich Eisen:Yeah, me too, right? Because I thought that was Micah positioning for tomorrow when there's a plane to get on, right? Like, oh, my back, it's tough for me to sit on the plane, so I'm going to stay home. And now he's in Green Bay, potentially, according to our friend Adam Schefter, needing an epidural to play against the Lions. So I guess how powerful is this, do you think, in the Cowboys locker room that Micah's gone, and everybody seems to think that that's the end of the Dallas Cowboys 2025 season. How do you think this does position Dallas for that opener against Philadelphia and beyond, Troy?

22:24Well, I said it during our preseason game that the leverage that I felt Micah had with the Cowboys was the simple fact that I didn't think they could win without him. And that's a bold statement, I realize, because players do get hurt. And then to imply that the season is over is not fair to those other guys on the team. But I just think that he is such a disruptive player. And for a defense that had their issues and they're going through some changes, to not have a central figure like Micah Parsons that offenses have to worry about is game-changing for an offense coming into play against them.

23:02And I think it was going to be challenging for them in a lot of ways regardless, but now even more so. And I think that, of course, that adds more pressure to Dak Prescott in this offense to be able to score points and keep the ball away from the opposing teams. But, you know, I do think this defense that was going to have some concerns going in, you know, those become even more pronounced without a dominant pass rusher like Micah is.

23:32Rich Eisen:And then let's flip to Green Bay, Troy, because it's not like these prideful athletes and Packers need a vote of confidence from the front office, right? But what a way to hear from those in management to say, we believe now's the time. Yeah. Right? I mean, and that to me alone is worth the trade. And I wonder what you think. Yeah, no, I'm a big fan of the Packers and Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst and what he's been able to do. And I know last year when the season ended, based on two years ago, what they were able to do with a road playoff win against the Cowboys. And then it just didn't really translate into much last year.