Hour 1: NFL Week 5’s Biggest Stakes, plus Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

0:01This 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+.

0:26Rich Eisen:As soccer takes center stage this summer, Comcast helps bring the experience home to America as the exclusive Spanish language home of the tournament in the U.S. Telemundo is set to present its most expansive coverage ever 700 hours of programming live on-site presence at all 104 matches and with multi-view and real-time 4K Xfinity will deliver the most innovative and immersive sports viewing experience for fans watching on Telemundo, Peacock, Fox and FS1 Learn more at ComcastCorporation.com 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.

1:05Watch 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. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

1:29Rich Eisen:That's a win for LA! Double play to end the game! Victory for the New York Yankees! There will be a Game 3. The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests. Seahawks wide receiver Jackson Smith & Jigba. Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy. NBA on NBC Insider Chris Mannix. Actor Charlie Sheen. And now it's Rich Eisen. Well, hey, everybody. Welcome to this Thursday edition of the Rich Eisen Show on Disney Plus, the ESPN app everywhere, and ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. We've got four guests. Two of them play football for a living. Jackson Smith and Jigba of the Seattle Seahawks will be joining us in advance of his big game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

2:15Rich Eisen:Last time we saw him play football was a week ago tonight, taking care of the Arizona Cardinals. On Monday Night Football, to wrap up week number five, the Chiefs take on the Jaguars. Xavier Worthy of the Chiefs is going to join us at the top of hour number two. We're going to talk a little bit of hoops since that's been back on our radar screen with all the NBA teams holding media sessions throughout the week. Chris Maddox of Sports Illustrated will be in studio for that. And then in hour number three, oh baby. Let's go. Charlie Sheen in studio. He's got a book, he's got a documentary, and he's got two segments with us.

2:50Rich Eisen:His celebrity, true or false, also coming up with him in our number 3844-204-RICH is the number to dial. I join you here today. Again, I'm 56 years old after watching game two of the Red Sox and the Yankees. I'm now 106 years old, and I think looking pretty damn good for it. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Well, just doing the math, if you're 106, that would make me 95 after watching last night's game. Do you want to share with everybody the text that you sent me after the game last night? So yesterday I'm being father of the year. Me and Cage go to Dave and Buster's right in the middle of, as I was picking him up, Story hit the homer to make it 3-3.

3:31And so we're driving there, listening to the game of the radio. Fast forward to the eighth inning. Cage is riding the motorcycles and I'm peeking at the TV in the pool room over there. and story hits it and i'm like get out and like the guy playing pool kind of jumped yeah like i

3:50Rich Eisen:scared the bleep out of well actually it was a four word text you sent me sweet more stress tomorrow is what you said yeah uh and i feel the same exact way it's playoff baseball man congrats to the dodgers um who um have uh what three we're all three people that they pay money to now but but also retired basically. Well, Yamamoto pitched, then Sasaki closed, who announced Otani's pitching next. That's how the Dodgers work, as they now are the only team in the wildcard round to win the first two to just chill out. There's three game threes going down today. All of them can be heard on ESPN radio.

4:34Rich Eisen:All of them can be seen on the ESPN family of networks, The Yankees and the Red Sox that have been first pitching at 6 o 'clock Eastern got moved thanks to the Dodgers wrapping things up to 8 Eastern. So that's going straight up against Thursday Night Football. Hello, Mike. By the way, Rich, I owe a message for the Yankees. This is your wake-up call, pal. Go to work. Look at Mike Del Tufo. Look at you with props. All right. Our audio executive doing something visual for the radio audience. Yes. Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. What's going on, sir? Well, after seeing what happened to the Reds, I'm thinking, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.

5:10Rich Eisen:It's an old Reds. It's a high register Thursday. We've got our high registers later on. Maybe it wasn't so bad that the Mets didn't make the pass. That's going to be better than my actual high register. Okay, that's coming up. Sure. Later on. Lots at stake tonight, guys. Lots at stake tonight. And obviously, we've got three winner-go-home games in Major League Baseball. but the fifth week of the National Football League season kicks off tonight just down the road. The Rams against the, I don't know how many times you could say, shorthanded, undermanned, injured San Francisco 49ers this year. I guess this is the fourth time we're saying it because they did have Brock Purdy and they did have George Kittle in the first week of the season.

5:53Rich Eisen:They did have Juwan Jennings. They did have Ricky Pearsall. They won't have those guys tonight as it looks like Brock Purdy came back too soon. I don't know, but he didn't look himself. The Jaguars knocked him around, and he's not answering the bell with that toe injury for this short week contest. So it's Mack Jones again. It's 3-1 versus 3-1. Jackson Smith and Jigba is, again, going to be joining us in this first hour. His Seattle Seahawks are 3-1. So the loser of this game will be looking up at Seattle, which is welcoming Tampa at 3-1 into their house. So a lot of 3-1 teams in the mix right now in the NFC trying to stay close to the 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles.

6:44Rich Eisen:The 3-1 Lions are in Cincinnati this weekend. So in the NFC, it all starts tonight. can the Rams take advantage of a short week home contest against a San Francisco 49ers team that is banged up? It seems like every year the Rams and the Niners. Last year, remember that? Everyone was hurt in this game pretty much. Cooper Cup didn't make it. Puka Nakua did make it back just in time. It just seems to be every year these two teams face each other on a Thursday night where they're not full strength, and this is another one. And we'll see if the Niners can use smoke and mirrors and a lot of Christian McCaffrey to get this thing done this evening against a Rams offense that's been clicking.

7:31Rich Eisen:And is one, as an organization, one block field goal away from being 4-0, being the only 4-0 team remaining in the NFC as opposed to being Philadelphia. And in terms of other things that are at stake, I've kind of broken it up into four categories. And it's fascinating. Week five now is the second quarter of an NFL season. Once we're through, I guess, halftime, I don't know how you divide up 17 into four. I was told there would be no math on the Rich Eisen show. But I've got four different categories. And the first one is obvious. You don't want to be one and four. In the history of the National Football League, Super Bowl era playoffs, there have only been 15 teams that started one and four and made the playoffs the last one being the washington football team during covid 2020 and they said that seven and nine uh finish as you know um won them the division you remember that giants eagles sunday night game where for suddenly uh the the eagles wanted to see what they had in nate sudfeld and took jalen hurts out of the game and Giants fans were like, what are you doing?

8:50Rich Eisen:Didn't that get Doug Peterson fired? Right. And Doug Peterson did get fired. Jalen Hurts became the starting quarterback. But 7-9 won the division. The last team to start 1-9, and I don't think 7-9 is going to win the division this year, so the last team to go 1-4 and make a wild card spot, 10-6, 2018 Indianapolis Colts. You don't want to fall to one and four and the teams that could fall to one and four with a loss this weekend the browns the raiders the giants the dolphins the panthers the texans and the ravens and the dolphins and the panthers and the texans and the ravens play each other so somebody unless it's another tie and then we'll start talking about changing the overtime rules again um somebody from those two games are going to finish one and four the giants to finish to start one and four are are are going to have to go to new orleans and become the first victim of the saints this year the raiders are taking on the colts a very tall order there with the colts starting three and one and the browns as we all know are starting dylan gabriel against the minnesota vikings who as i mentioned yesterday started blitzing five minutes ago on this rookie quarterback starting for the Browns and I mentioned it yesterday it's the 41st different starting quarterback for Cleveland since they came back into being in 1999 that's 11 more than the next team in the Bears at 30 and this will be the 13th rookie of the 41 different starters that the Browns are kicking the tires on 13 different rookie quarterbacks that's the most in the nfl since 1999 as well so that's what everybody there is staring down and dylan gabriel is also in the next category of quarterbacks that have something to prove both ohio-based quarterbacks have something to prove jake browning are you can we can we see the jake browning that took over for burrow in 2023 who went four and three in his place can we see that guy because we haven't seen that guy at all yet what we've seen is jamar chase being pissed off and basically saying i'm not taking it into the next game i wasn't taking it out on anybody jake brownie's got something to prove geno smith has something to prove here that he's still has the trust of of his coach pete carroll's like yeah we're not there i'm not there in terms of bringing in kenny pickett another multiple interception game for geno smith he goes into indianapolis ashton genti is running as well as he did the previous game the defense is balling out on daniel jones just as it was doing in the previous game against caleb williams and he's turning it over will will pete stand pat again that's a big one And Bryce Young is once again in the jackpot, it appears.

11:58Rich Eisen:It's time. Last year finished great. It started poorly. Then Andy Dalton gave him a sabbatical that ended because Dalton got hurt. Then he looked great. Now he's 1-3. And last week against New England, he looked lost. As lost as he's ever looked. He's got something approved. Trevor Lawrence on Monday Night Football. Let's go, Trevor. Let's go. The defense is balling out. Travis Etienne, who's a guest on Friday's show, balling out. You're going one V1 versus Patrick Mahomes in front of the whole country. This would be a great moment to just show up like Clemson Trevor Lawrence, like Doug Peterson first year Trevor Lawrence.

12:41I'll give you two more that, fascinatingly enough, have something to prove.

12:46Rich Eisen:How about Jaden Daniels? I know I went to high register on you right there. didn't look all that great before he got hurt he's coming out with a brace is it going to be too soon against the chargers team that wants to wipe losing to jackson dart right out of their mouths jayden daniels doesn't play with the brace i don't think ever but the doctors who are in charge who have cleared him i've essentially said you're putting on a brace how's he going to look does he really have something to prove i kind of think it's just like let's see the jayden Daniels from 2024 because we haven't seen him for very much yet this year prior to him getting hurt now we'll see what happens with a brace can he show up and win this game for a commander's team this difference between two and three and three and two in this division and in this conference that I just started this segment with a bunch of three and one teams that's pretty big for them out here in Los Angeles in week five and then here's another one two and two Kyler Murray he Started 2-0, now you're 0-2.

13:46Rich Eisen:And then he's saying things like this yesterday at the podium, talking about the new practice facility and the new Cardinals digs that are coming in the 2028 season. His contract runs through 2028. And he had this to say about seeing the renderings about what's coming for the Cardinals and their new facilities. What do you mean? What was my reaction? Yeah, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. Beautiful, yeah. I don't know what's coming out, but I hope I'm here to see it. Hope I'm here to see it. Oof. What does that mean? I hope I'm here to see it. Okay. He's 8-22 in his career against division opponents.

14:33Rich Eisen:Maybe that's why he hoops. Yeah. That's potentially what's it – I don't know. He just lost two in a row to division opponents again. uh you know one on the road one at home and now he's got cam ward here who could be he's in another category that i'm moving on to which is a quarterback's arrivals but he's also maybe got something to prove because he's taking on kyler murray they're owing for the tennessee titans and he's coming off of this uh soundbite um i wrote it down here um if we keep it a buck right now we ass yeah i heard that

15:17Rich Eisen:okay so that means keeping it real a hundred right a buck is uh am i under come on rich you know now baby right now if you keep it real we ass yeah so we don't need to sound bad i think i've i think i did it justice i don't know if you sounded like that could i translate maybe for people, if we're going to be completely honest with the situation going on right now, we as a team we're not playing very good football. TJ Jefferson, thank you sir. Now I get it.

15:45Rich Eisen:Time to arrive would be showing up in Arizona and doing this. This is winning football. Three other quarterbacks can arrive in a way. I guess Cooper Rush is one. He's going to start for the Baltimore Ravens we've seen this before can he show up like the Cowboys Cooper Rush and start nailing things down for the Baltimore Ravens you might hear about Jackson Dart can he show up and win two in a row for the Giants and how about you want to talk about a rival like a flat out a rival like here I am here I am although we already talked about his arrival as a terrific 2024 draft choice playing this year.

16:30Rich Eisen:How about Drake May showing up on Sunday night football, going to Western New York with them wearing their new rival jerseys, all dressed in ice or whatever it is. The Bills are dressed in ice, whatever. They're icing up on Sunday night. The Bills are the only undefeated team in the AFC. What if Drake May shows up and is like, I've got this. i'm gonna surprise everybody by playing just like josh allen just like i've played over the last few weeks and the patriots up and the bills and maybe many survivor pulls from sea to shining sea rich that's what's at stake for that and here's just the last category marquee games stefan digs revenge game and what okay by the way say what you will it is something yeah and and no i may May played against him last year, and so did Diggs last year.

17:22Rich Eisen:Remember the Texans? Yeah. But this is a different story, I guess, as well. He's back again. Great Mays balling. And you could put that game on the marquee. It is a Sunday night game. They didn't flex out of it, which I think they had an option to. But at any rate, long story short, how about the Eagles and the Broncos? The Eagles passing game, front and center. We'll talk about that later. A.J. Brown spoke on Wednesday. We'll play that on this Thursday show. And then the Broncos bandwagon that has been full for the entire summer into, I guess, the beginning of this season. This would be a way for the bandwagon people to say, I knew I was on the right wagon.

18:00Rich Eisen:If the Broncos come east and beat the Eagles and hand them their first loss of the season. The Monday night game, I already discussed. If the Jaguars can place their calling card on the league and say, we wrapped up week five by telling the Chiefs, you haven't turned a corner yet. And then, of course, there's the Chiefs saying, oh, we turned a corner. All right. That's a big Monday night game in week five. I also mentioned the Chargers and the Commanders. The Commanders, again, get their guy back. How does Jaden Daniels look with a brace? Can he start looking like 2024? Let's get the offense cooking and getting the defense after Justin Herbert in a way the Giants did.

18:39Rich Eisen:And then there's the Chargers basically saying, we're going to take charging. And that was last week was just an outlier. It was just a blip on the radar screen. The Bucs and the Seahawks. Who wants a piece of the division lead, folks? Seattle the Bucks are playing this game with Atlanta on a bye week they lose two in a row and they lose to the Eagles and the Seahawks or do they go up to the Pacific Northwest and plant a flag as Baker Mayfield did something I may or may not remind Jackson Smith and Jigbo about certainly since Baker's got an Ohio State teammate of his as a teammate and then lastly there's the Lions I understand Lions Bengals may not be on your marquee but the Lions are on a marquee and they could win four in a row and basically say to everybody we are just coming for you biting kneecaps yada yada yada and Jake Browning you're next that's what's at stake Texans Ravens you could put on the marquee because they were division winners last year and then once again they're the loser goes to one and four one and four and it looks like the Ravens are in trouble because Lamar is not walking through that door.

19:50Rich Eisen:He might be limping through it. And then we'll see what happens with the Ravens moving forward. And did the Texans last week against a Titans team that was ass. Is it just a Titans thing or is it a Texans thing? That's the stage that's set for week five in the NFL. Love it. Love it. Jackson Smith and Jigba, let's bring him up. You going to be nice to him? Why wouldn't I be? Well, I remember a previous interview. You told someone to tell Jackson that dad said hi. That was Garrett Wilson. I told that, too. Still, they're from the same family. Yes, they are. And you poke them a little bit. I am a professional, sir.

20:31Rich Eisen:I might just, you know, sneak one in. Okay. Jackson Smith and Jigba has been dominant at the receiver position for the Seattle Seahawks. He's next. This is The Rich Eisen Show on a Thursday.

20:46Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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23:15Rich Eisen:ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance, people. Supporting you every step of the way. Progressive.com Let's go ahead and move on to our first guest of the day. He has been crushing it for the 3-1 Seattle Seahawks. The number one receiver in that offense, that is for sure. Ladies and gentlemen, back here on The Rich Asin Show, Jackson Smith and Jigba. How are you, sir? Thank you, man. Doing great. Thanks for having me on. Thank you for joining here. Let me just jump straight into it. When DK Metcalf was traded away and it was obvious that you were now the number one, the guy, were you surprised?

23:55Rich Eisen:How did that hit you when you found out that? To me, my mindset, it wasn't too obvious, honestly. I knew that I had to go in and work and compete because everything's about competition here. Nothing is given. So I knew I had to put the work in and be ready for an opportunity to come in and do my thing when I got here. But I'll be honest with you then. What I thought when I heard that DK was sent away to Pittsburgh or given the exit visas he was looking for, I thought they must really believe in Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. they really must feel that he's ready to be the one and the man in the NFL.

24:38Rich Eisen:That's what I thought. Yeah. And that never really occurred to you at all? Yeah, I mean, it did. I knew that, you know, Mike and everyone else up there, you know, had high expectations for me and kind of knew, you know, the work that I was going to put in. But, you know, just from a mindset standpoint, you know, you know, everything, you know, this league, it's a business at the end of the day. So me showing up and making sure, proving myself right and my teammates and the rest of the staff right was a big deal for me. So really I was just laser focused on that. Well, in terms of this being a business, you don't have to look too far in the wide receiver room to look at Cooper Cup and know that too, the fact that he's there after all those years with the Rams.

25:25Rich Eisen:What has he brought to the equation for you, Jackson? Man, he's brought so much. he's brought so much um you know his mindset and just talking balls you know it's it went on to the next level so it's awesome to have him you know in my corner to know that he has my back i have his back you know on anything and you know that's a good person to have your back you know a triple crown winner um the list goes on and on and on um so it's a privilege you know to line up next to him and i just try to soak in you know all the information and um all the good stuff you know that he gives up yeah i mean in terms of talking ball with him um he's kind of one of one right i mean just knowing everything about a play call and what goes into it and where he is and what his footwork can do to help him get open and what your job is in the same play call and knowing all that and his recall of the one time that they did run it back in the day right am i right like talking that day is unbelievable.

26:28Yeah, you're spot on. You're spot on. Just knowing what every guy, you know, has to do, you know, for the play to pop open, you know, from the offensive line to all of the looks, you know. He's really like another Sam Darnold out there, another quarterback, another coach, you know, so to speak. And also, like you said, on his routes, just knowing how to get open, knowing what he's selling and how the defense is going to take that information and him just executing it's honestly you know next level you know with his mindset and you know how he plays ball so like I said you know it's the it's a great opportunity for me to raise my game and

27:11Rich Eisen:what you have seen well it's so difficult sometimes for offenses to click early certainly in this day and age we talk about preseason action being one game fewer and it sometimes takes longer for the offense to get up and running to the way that it's supposed to be compared to the defensive side of the ball and yet you guys seem to be clicking certainly with a new quarterback new coordinator so much is new how have you been able to do that so far i tell you this it's a hell of the defense we have to go up against you know every single day and in the spring um we just got better man a lot of reps um you know credit to you know coach Kubiak um just really I feel like simplifying the offense and you know just you know trusting us to to turn the plays um into life you know and um it's been it's been great you know Sam's just been really on top of it and has just been next level, honestly.

28:16And it's a privilege also to play with him. And, you know, the more reps we get, we're going to continue to get better. And I think it started all the way back in spring, had a great summer. And now it's awesome to go out on Sundays and ball out.

28:32Rich Eisen:I haven't read about it, if it's already been written, but was there an offsite for you and Sam and the rest of the receiver room? Yeah. What was that about? What happened? Yeah, I mean, as soon as we got Sam, I honestly hit him up like, hey, like, you know, what's it going to look like in the summertime? So as soon as, you know, we got a little break, we made sure, you know, to keep working just to clean up some things and just to feel good going into camp. And so, you know, all the guys, you know, went out to L.A. and got some work in. And it was a great time just, you know, to bond outside the field and, you know, to get some work in.

29:09Rich Eisen:Jackson Smith and Jigba here on the Rich Eisen Show. And let's talk about you. You started the season with at least 75 receiving yards in every single game. And the only receivers to have a longer such streak in Seahawks history are named DK Metcalf and Steve Largent. You put yourself in a really good neighborhood so far to start this thing off. To what do you owe this, JSN? And, like, walk me through your mindset, your process that fans might be curious to know about for you. Yeah, I mean, honestly, you know, I try to simplify, you know, what I do is get open, catch the ball and get some yak.