Hour 1: Raiders/Cardinals Takeaways, Chargers ‘4-Downs’ Preview, plus Brian Baldinger

0:00Rich Eisen:This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. You know when you're locked in, focused and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three.

0:43From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here.

0:53Rich Eisen:Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long. 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. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Show. Pump up the volume. All right, 25, go! Fernando Mendoza, a rifle. Yes. The Jack Best. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guests, NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, Steelers Radio Network host Jerry Dulac, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, and now it's Rich Eisen.

2:00Rich Eisen:Hey, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Back here on Disney Plus, the ESPN app. And ESPN Radio's Sirius XM channel lady was hanging out on NFL Network, which is also on the ESPN app, by the way, all day and night last night as soon as I left here for preseason football. Going to be doing the same tonight at 7 Eastern time. The Jets and the Bucs on NFL Network tonight. a triple header tomorrow as well, including the Browns and the Bears and the Rams and the Chiefs and the Cowboys and the Seahawks. That's on Saturday. Oh, my is right. We're going to hit all of it today with you.

2:39Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH is the number to dial. And I'm just telling everybody, 844-204-RICH is the number, and nobody can take that number away from me. It's been promised to me, and I'm going to have this number. 8-4-4, okay. But Dan Patrick had, and he said that. Excuse me. Dan has his number. I've got mine. You know, and some kid may want to come into this business and say, I was promised that number. Yeah. 8-4-4-2-0-4-RICH is the number to tell. Somewhere there's a young sportscaster named Rich who was promised that number. Right. Baldy is going to be the first to call it. What? Oh, he's going to zoom in.

3:28Yeah.

3:28Rich Eisen:Brian Baldinger. Baldy. And talk about all these kid quarterbacks that went at it last night. God, that was fun. Yeah. That was fun. Jerry Dulac from Pittsburgh. We're not one, but two. Two. Kid quarterbacks balled out last night. Hey, man. The Steelers said we're going to hire Mike McCarthy to start grooming quarterbacks and, you know, check the box. It's preseason week number one for Will Howard and for Drew Aller. I said two. And then Dan Lanning, the head coach of Oregon football, hour number three to take us to the weekend. I've got a four downs on the Chargers. It's a what's more likely Friday.

4:01Rich Eisen:And again, nobody could take the number away from us. 844-204-RICH. Number to dull. What's going on over there? What are you guys chatting about? He's got a hot take. I got a Steelers take. He's got a hot take. Okay. Well, keep that in your pocket. Okay. And just understand. They'll come for you. Best throw last night for the Patriots was from their head coach throwing a challenge flag. Well, good. And you got kicking problems. So you live in a very glass house coming out of preseason week number one, sir. Let's see if that guy will come out and return. Good to see you, DJ Mikey D. Good morning, Rich.

4:35Rich Eisen:TJ Jefferson, candles lit, or you're lighting it right now. Good to see you, sir. I mean, I saw some interesting things last night, Rich, including a running back that looks like Adrian Peterson. Okay. And we're going to hit that. Whoa, like Washington? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, sorry. We're going to hit that shortly. I think I know you're referring to. Nick Singleton? No, no. Oh. Let's start with young quarterbacks. I mentioned how Will Howard balled out for the – he looked very good. He had a nice two-minute drill at the end of the first half against the Green Bay Packers last night in the first game of our doubleheader on NFL Network last night.

5:10Rich Eisen:It was his first snap since the national championship win for him at Ohio State because he didn't play in the preseason. He didn't have a snap all year last year due to injuries and everything. else. Oh, wow. And then in Las Vegas, the first overall pick in the draft, Ticko's first snaps since he won the national championship for Indiana. That's two. I said two Big Ten champion quarterbacks that took their first snaps and third national championship game appearances in preseason football. One had way more time between them. Understood. but um mendoza had to wait his turn despite being the first overall pick in the draft kirk cousins got his action and i'll dude he just strolled right down the field right like it was okay kirk went five of six fifty yards a touchdown throw to michael mayer because brock bowers we We won't be seeing him until week one.

6:11Rich Eisen:And so Kirk looked good. And then Mendoza came in and went 10 of 16 for 97 yards and a score over four series, four drives. This is where they're going to start giving him his live action. Okay. And I would go higher register, but I expect him to look pretty good. And he did. He did. had some nice throws, including a touchdown throw to Jack Besch on a quick route over the middle. Mike Robb, who was sitting next to me on the set on NFL Network's coverage last night, said that's not easy because it's a pre-snap read, knowing where you're going, making sure the defense doesn't know where you're going, and quickly get your fingers on the laces of the football and fire it accurately.

7:04Rich Eisen:He did it, touchdown. and the other drives didn't result in points one of them he held on the ball way too long and took a hit i mean so take the good to take the bad right we call that the facts of life take them both and then i mean talk about lovable so earnest right that's a great it's so true i mean so many Raider quarterbacks have what learned the playbook by the light of the jukebox. This kid's the milk drinker. I mean, and I'm sure he's got, he's got, he's a competitor and a red ass, but he's just so damn lovable. This is what he had to say about his first preseason experience. It was an invigorating experience where there's not many moments where you feel fully alive and on the field is when you feel fully alive, especially in the NFL atmosphere.

8:00So I want to give thanks to that. It was great to get out there, get my feet wet. At first, especially the first drive, felt a little sped up because so much anticipation and excitement. However, I feel like my teammates around me protected me very well and they helped slow me down. And I think it was a good experience.

8:24Rich Eisen:And not many quarterbacks using invigorating. It's so cool. I mean, he went to Cal before he went to Indiana. Hey, you know, he could come out and have a little bit of that swagger, but that's just not him. You know the last time a number one overall drafted quarterback threw a touchdown pass in his first preseason game? Thanks for watching last night. I gave the stat on the NFL Network. It's okay. You've got things to do. You've got after parties to go to. I watched, but I missed this part. That's all good. No, I'm just having fun. Baker, 2018. Now, obviously, there could be some circumstances.

9:00Rich Eisen:We're not playing our first overall pick because, you know, yada, yada, and yada. But I'm sure many have played. First one since Baker to throw a touchdown pass in his first crack at it. And then he was asked to break down his four possessions. Listen to this one. The first series, I felt a little sped up. So it was good to come back on the sideline, learn from my mistakes. and then the second series we were able to score third series you know i missed a read there and the fourth series i thought we had a good thing going and then unfortunately i missed the throw at the end uh and then overall i felt that the group that i was in with you know they they blocked fantastic they had great routes the run game was good you know and unfortunately like i I let my teammates down today, but it's a growing experience.

9:54And, you know, I feel like we're all growing,

9:57Rich Eisen:and it showed me that I need to grow a lot. I mean, the accountability is just so delightful. You know? I let my teammates down. Oh, come on, man. I just wanted to, like, take him aside. Come on, Fernando. It's preseason week one. No, that's just the way he rolls. Remember, I already thought it just was hokey or not genuine. That's him. I know. And the way he talks about it. Then he went, like, we played like three minutes of sound bites on the postgame show last night of him breaking it down one play by play sometimes. And it sounded like he was delivering a PowerPoint presentation. Like, half the time, I just thought the next words in his postgame press conference would be.

10:39Rich Eisen:Next slide, please. Slide two. I actually felt that. It felt like it was football for dummies there. He was explaining something so people who don't really know anything could fully understand what he was talking about. His 14-year-old brother Max is in the booth. It's not just him. His brother did a few minutes with the broadcast. It sounded just like him. It's so fun. He's just like, he's having fun. The Mendozas are having, you know, the pirate, the autumn wind is a pirate pillaging just for fun. And this guy's fun is just talking football and being genuine. And it's like, what the hell's happening with the Raiders?

11:17Rich Eisen:Clint Kubiak, your thoughts on your kid's performance? You know, I thought he let a good scoring drive as far as getting in and out of the huddle and commanding the group and getting the play calls down. You know, I saw the same guy that we've seen in practice. I see, you know, an ascending player. We just got to keep getting better. Yeah, he's not allowing anything. Listen, it's Kirk Cousins' gig. He was even asked again by somebody, like, is it Kirk Cousins' job? And he said it was Kirk's job to lose is basically what he said, which is another way to light a fire underneath Kirk. Like if he needs it, everybody who runs the offense that Clint Kubiak runs from the Shanahan's plural to McVay to anybody who runs it.

12:00Rich Eisen:Daniel Jeremiah has said it over and over again. You must pay fealty to Kirk cousins because he runs it exactly the way they want it. That's why Mike Shanahan, when RG3 got drafted second overall, and they actually traded a ton of capital to get up to that spot, is sitting there in the draft room saying, we're taking this kid out of Michigan State. And Kirk Cousins. And I'm sitting there on a draft night, and I'm like, what the hell are they doing? Mayock was pushing back at me saying that was low-hanging fruit. That's where I began to learn that if I don't push back on Mike Mayock on live television, it's going to end well for me.

12:37Rich Eisen:so uh but yeah man so here's kirk you like that because he's the one who can run the system and he honestly it seems okay well this was cousins afterwards talking about uh his role with mendoza rolling yeah i just let him be i don't know that i give him advice i don't like pull him aside and say hey you know come here from my wisdom i think he's he's a pretty smart mature player in person. And if anything, I don't want to get in his way. I think he knows what he's doing and has a good feel and I don't want to overload him. And so if ever I am observing, if I feel like I can offer a quick nugget here or there, I will.

13:16He's a great question asker. So a lot of times he'll just ask, but there's also times where I say, Hey, nothing needs to be said, you know, go do your thing. You got it. So he's, you know, there's a lot of good football up ahead for him.

13:28Rich Eisen:I mean, that's why it's a perfect match. I know the Raiders had fun with the stepbrothers meme right after after mendoza was officially drafted yeah it was cool there but really the the movie that this that's the perfect analogy is big like mendoza got big and he walks around like kirk cousins like kirk cousins is the big version or the older version it's funny i mean giant suit jacket exactly again he's going to be a competitor like he doesn't want to just come here again just for fun he does want to pillage and he would like to show everybody here that he's still kirk cousins who can do this at a high level you like that and he wants to do it for the raiders and not and and kind of be the alex smith here you take the year off pal while learning i get it no no no i know and that's we'll ask baldy what he thinks about all this because i'm sure he's broken the tape down 15 different ways already overnight um because that's brian but cousins is not going to want to give it up but it's going to be you could see mendoza has it man does he have an arm he's got a head he's got a heart he's got a powerpoint presentation he's got a 14 year old brother's a chip off the old block and he's just delightful he's exactly what you want in the nfl uh somebody who's going to lead you and do it with a heart and do it with a sense of community and do it with a sense of brotherhood and do it in a way where your phone's not going to ring at 2.30 in the morning saying, guess what just happened with our quarterback?

15:01Rich Eisen:Not going to happen. Look at the call. Hey, Fernando won't leave. That's it, right? Have him go home. Here we go. Good one. Awesome. Now then, you mentioned, TJ, that you saw a running back that looks like Adrian Peterson. I'm going to guess you're talking about Jeremiah Love. Rich. Oh, dude. Man. oh man does this kid pop Notre Dame fans are probably like yeah welcome to the party pal but oh baby there it is look at that that's the picture leaping over people there was one run before the one that that we have the still photograph up on the screen and I think anybody who's listening understands what I'm referring to because that popped up, that run right around midfield where he did leapfrog at the end, showed up on your phone as an alert.

15:58Rich Eisen:It did on mine. And it lit up threads. And he's the real effing deal. And this one right here too. This is the other run where he's running to his left. There were two Raider defenders in the backfield and he ran past them. Okay. They had clear shots at him and they had no shot at him because he ran by them to the edge with, and this is the Peterson stuff, authority. Authority. With power. With an intention. There was no hopping around. Let me pick a hole. He knew when he got the ball. I'm going here. Intention. Stop me if you can. Yes, sir. You probably can't, but I'm going this way. Correct.

16:47Rich Eisen:All of that. Yeah. All of that. Every time he ran it, again, I'm with two running backs on the NFL Network set, Michael Robinson, Maurice Jones-Drew, whenever we were watching and he was running it, everyone was like, woo-hoo. Yeah. Okay. So third overall choice, got it. And now you add him to Michael Wilson, who had a 1 ,000-yard season last year, and Trey McBride, who had a thousand catches last year. It was like a record or something. To use a Kenny Mayne phrase. Right? And Maserati. And Maserati, Marv. Yeah, Mazda. The first touchdown last night for Arizona. Jake Brisket, Jacoby Brissett, fading back, like leaning to his left, throwing right, which looked to me, if you look at it again, was he no look in it?

17:39Rich Eisen:I don't know. It didn't look like a chuck and duck to me either, but if it was even that, what a dime, what a dot, and Marv caught it. And they were saying all camp he was dropping everything. And, you know, Mr. Atlanta Vulture himself, Tyler Algier is there. Connor's coming back from an awful leg injury, but he's not coming back to just watch. And Mike LaFleur is the one dialing it up. They scored a 30-burger in the Hall of Fame game, and last night, 27. And they didn't play the full freight. Gardner Minshew looked terrific. Carson Beck didn't play because he's banged up, which is unfortunate for him because these are the reps he needs.

18:24Rich Eisen:They had no issue, though. I mean, afterwards, Mike LaFleur is probably hearing stuff like what I just said, and he was kind of matter-of-factly pumping brakes. I give the guys credit for executing when the ball's being snapped. Guys, it is the preseason. But with that being said, being where your feet are and handling your day, good little window right there. But again, stuff to clean up for sure in all three phases. And then we're right back to work on Saturday. And it's back to camp. We didn't break camp just because we left the wigwam. Okay. I think wigwam is the hotel that we spent our first year at.

19:04Rich Eisen:Is that what he's referring to? In Arizona? for our first Super Bowl. Great spot. Christopher J. Long. Great spot. Millionaire. The great Chris Long, who birthed us here at DirecTV's campus. What's up, boss? Put us in the wigwam. We say hello to our friends at the wigwam from our first Super Bowl 12 years ago. Oh, my God. Played golf there. Okay. I don't think I'm overstating it. Arizona is going to be a problem. Oh, come on. On occasion. On occasion. I understand. Listen, I get it. That offense is nice, man. Dude, you don't have to go higher register even. Because that kid is a different dimension.

19:45Rich Eisen:So can I ask you this? Wow. Have we seen enough? Because that one play where he ran to the left. Sit him until week one at the Chargers? That one play where he ran to the left and his leg kind of got. Oh, that's true. I think we've seen. He did tweak his ankle. They did say it's just minor and that's it. If I'm the Cardinals, I think we've seen all we need to see. I'll tell you what, man. And you look at the Cardinals' schedule, and they're going to be tested right off the bat because the Chargers, their four downs today. They are a physical bunch. D 'Amico Ryans, in last night's preseason game, said that they out-physicaled the Texans, which is saying a lot.

20:19Rich Eisen:Now, I understand it's preseason and everybody's not playing. Then they're home for Seattle and at San Francisco. At the G-Men, home for Detroit, at the Rams, home for Denver, at Dallas, at Seattle. home for the Rams at Kansas City. Good Lord, that is a gauntlet. But if Brisket, if Jake Brisket, if Jacoby Brissett stays healthy and throws it around and uses the neck-up veteran ability and finds these guys, they're going to be a fun team to watch this year. It's Friday, not Monday. The win total is three and a half. Can we all relax? Okay. I don't get that because I know what I saw yesterday. And you saw shades of all day in Jeremiah Love.

21:07Rich Eisen:You guys are crazy. Okay. I love it. Great. I got it. First Friday of preseason. It's like the analytics thing. Football's back. Back off. Baldi's zooming in. Let's take a break. Come on. He only looks at what Vegas says. Ryan Baldinger. They're 101. He's probably broken down all these games three times between last night and now. 101. 101.

21:32Thank you.

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23:34Rich Eisen:the rich eisen show podcast brian baldinger here on the rich eisen show what's your opinion of what we saw to fernando mendoza and his four drives on thursday night well it he he did everything that you were looking for him to do. So he was under center, Rich, play action pass. Didn't do that at Indiana. Didn't do that at Cal. But he did it, and he did it well. Everything from the mechanics of hiding the ball, from the defenders to being able to locate the receiver. The touchdown to Jack Besch was a stick throw low and away from the defenders into basically the teeth of his own. It was the right throw.

24:13His ability just to be able to go through progressions, Rich, and really, you know, the popular phrase wherever I go in these training camps right now is you throw with your feet. I mean, you've got to get your feet set to make the throw. It puts you in a good platform and it's time's up with the routes. And he was throwing with his feet last night. That's what Mike Sullivan, the quarterback coach, is teaching him to do. And you saw it on display.

24:40Rich Eisen:So let's move to the Steelers quarterback room. Mason Rudolph getting some run, but it really was all about Will Howard, who we have not seen since his national championship victory for Ohio State. And Drew Aller, what did you see out of both of these guys that could get Steelers fans thinking, okay, this is a quarterback room we can depend on post Aaron Rodgers, Brian? Well, Mike McCarthy has had great success with his quarterbacks. Going back to his days in Kansas City with Joe Montana, and then you go Alex Smith in San Francisco, And, you know, he's done with Dak and obviously with the quarterbacks in Green Bay.

25:19Like this guy, you can already see the mechanics of Drew Aller far better now than whenever we saw him at Penn State. And we know he's big, strong, and he's got a great, you know, he's just got a great frame for the position, along with Will Howard. Like I expect both these quarterbacks to improve. And it might be a real battle to see, you know, who's going to be two, who's going to be three. because they got four in the roster and they're all big and strong, including Mason Rudolph. But I want to see who emerges through preseason and who ends up maybe winning that backup job to Aaron this year.

25:54And then the other thing, Rich, is the guy that throws scout team, that's who I'm interested in. Like who's going up against the Pittsburgh defense every day where you don't care if you make a mistake. You're just cutting it loose and you're getting a lot of time to throw and go through reads and run offenses and different types of offenses, like those guys that throw scop team tend to really improve and are on a pretty good arc to get into the next step.