Hour 1: Rams-Giants Reactions, plus Bengals HC Zac Taylor

24:33And that's that's what he does.

24:34Rich Eisen:That's the thing is that for me, you know, I just never doubt that his feet are going to be down and that he's going to maintain possession going to the ground like it. That would have been surprising in that case. But but the most impressive aspect of of that catch for me was he stumbled at one point. And then, of course, his college teammate, who's one of the best in the business, is the one covering him. And for him to maintain his balance or regain it and spot the ball and twist his body, I don't know how many other people could do what he did, Coach, to be honest with you. Probably nobody.

25:13You know, it's just him. And I think just the chemistry that he and Joe have together, it's more about Jamar than it is the corner he's going against. We got against great corners. Stingley's one of the best. but really Joe just sees Jamar, and I don't care who's covering him. I'm going to give him an opportunity, and when I give him an opportunity, he usually makes us look pretty good, and so we'll continue to find as many ways to do that as we can.

25:36Rich Eisen:And I think we saw that on display in the second touchdown too, right? That looked like backyard football a little bit to me, that one. Yeah, I mean, we're trying to figure out what Mike Gusecki did to Joe because Mike was open on the front pylon, but I think Joe, when he broke through, he had to scramble a little bit. As soon as he pulled through the contact, his eyes went backside, and he was trying to find Jamar coming from the backside, and Jamar did a great job shaving back a little bit, making a great play on the ball and getting us to 20 points. Zach Taylor here on the Rich Eisen Show. Would you mind taking everybody inside your meetings with Joe Burrow, talking ball with him and game planning?

26:14Rich Eisen:What's the first order of business? What's the usual order of business? Just whatever you're willing to share, I'll take it. yeah usually after a game uh monday after the game oftentimes he and i will recap you know just some key points uh whether it's regarding him or the offense or the team um we'll hit that and then usually i'll hit him again you know wednesday um early in the morning on just some some thoughts as we've game planned for the next opponent then we'll go in the quarterback meeting we'll have a more in-depth meeting on wednesday morning about some of the normal down stuff um circle back on Friday again with him to now that we got the game plan in and make sure he understands from the coach's view, how we see things.

26:54Hey, we've, we've got three days of practice now. What are some things you like or don't like to try to tweak that? And usually there's very little that he doesn't like, he might, he might have a tweak or two on the backside of a progression or something, but, and then we'll have a big meeting on Saturday night, Saturday night in the hotel or at home, however it is. We'll go through every play on the call sheet. We'll make sure all the quarterbacks understand what we're trying to get done. any questions they have at the last minute. We play Jeopardy, our backup quarterback, or really our third string quarterback, he's usually in charge of creating Jeopardy.

27:21So you got to pick the categories and pick the amount you want to wager and answer questions about the other team's defense and so forth. So we got a good weekly process and we've been following now for seven years. And I think it served us really well and we're both comfortable with the communication part of that.

27:36Rich Eisen:All right. Now, okay, you know where my follow-up questions going. What do you mean Jeopardy? Somebody comes up with an actual Jeopardy board where the categories are based on the opponent and the style of defense that they're running? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, it could be. It's all on the internet. There's some website you can go to and create the job. I'm not smart enough to do it myself, so we let our other quarterbacks do that. So Flacco's creating a Jeopardy board? No, no, no, no, no. No, Flacco. It's Sean Clifford right now does it for us. Sean Clifford. So we've got four quarterbacks in the room.

28:10Sean's the one that does it. one category might be, hey, Steelers defense, potpourri. You might have to answer random questions about Pittsburgh, their personnel. You might have to, hey, finish the play call. It might be an elaborate third down call we have, and there's only a couple words in there, and you've got to finish the call. And, hey, what are these check criterias we have this week? That might be a category. And then whoever's got the least amount of points has got to do the$500 miscellaneous question that tries to get you a couple more points at the end. Is there a buzzer system? Like an actual, like.

28:43No, but that has been a complaint over the years on what is the timing you're allowed. Some guys sit in there for two or three minutes really dwelling on a question. So, yeah, if you sat in there, Rich, you might have a couple tweaks that you would offer up.

28:58Rich Eisen:Well, I'm always at your disposal for that sort of thing. No doubt about that. and and and are you a stickler for making sure whoever gets to answer does do it in the form of a question do we stick no we don't do that no usually the biggest complaint is we've had so many different guys that have put together the jeopardy like what is their standard for the overall correct answer because there's some room for interpretation sometimes so the awarding of the points usually draws the biggest um gasp you know from really we're letting him get 400 points for that answer that wasn't that was a complete answer so that's usually the number one complaint okay and then my last follow-up question is has there been a jeopardy moment from this meeting that actually did foreshadow what happened in a game that helped you win that's happened oh i'll tell you well it wasn't necessarily jeopardy so we always go through the entire call sheet yes and then everybody in the room so right now we have four quarterbacks we have about four coaches that sit in there they pick their first touchdown call um what do we think we will score the first touchdown the game on and Joe picked the play we scored on against the Texans.

30:06And oftentimes when Joe says a play kind of puts it in my head, like, all right, well, he likes that. So, so trust me, we get in that field zone against the Texans and that was, that was Joe's touchdown call. And I'm not trying to cater to Joe and let him win because he picked it, but it does lead me down a path of, okay, that's, that's, that's a good shot play that we'll go with the start. So Joe won it.

30:28Rich Eisen:And that was the, the, the, the, which throw one of the throw, It's a unbelievable catch that you were talking about. That's the one. That's the one. He's like, we're going to score our first touchdown against the Texans on this play. And that's the result right there. That was the result. Oh, my gosh. It worked. Well, listen, you're not catering to Joe. By the way, not a bad guy to cater to number one. Number two, he's used to winning. He's used to winning. I think it says more about me. It says more about me, though, Rich. I wasn't willing to put my ego in front of everybody and try to pick the one I picked.

31:02You know, I was I was willing to. There you go. Let him win this one. Give him something for once.

31:07Rich Eisen:There is no I in Zach or Taylor. I see that you're you're a team player right there. So at the end of the day, starting to know is much better than some of the results that you've had as as the HC there. What do you do with this? I understand it's a week to week situation. I get it. But it's got to feel good. Yes. Correct. Well, it gives you confidence. You know, I think anytime you feel like you had a good training camp, you feel like you had a good offseason, you feel like on paper you got the players you need. The unknowns are the chemistry and adversity, and we really haven't faced adversity yet.

31:43So coached long enough, been a part of enough seasons now where adversity is coming at some point, and oftentimes it comes in road divisional games as well. So how's our team going to handle that? I don't really know that yet. So we played with Leeds in two games and been able to control the games that way, but we haven't faced adversity yet. So I feel like I know what I'm going to see from the team when we get that. But until we do it, it remains to be seen. And you never know. Road divisional game, that's oftentimes where things can pop up for you.

32:11Rich Eisen:Well, again, I know you've got your hands full with the Steelers, but did you check the Monday night game out at all? I watched a couple plays when I was in here. I didn't watch the whole thing. Okay. Did you see 99 back for the Rams? Did you check him out? You know, I think the Giants were on offense most of the times. I ended up putting my eyes on it, so I didn't get to see. I've seen him up close in person more times than I need to, so I'm well aware when he's capable of it. No, and I know what you say about your guy in Sexy Dexy is what I would expect you to say about your guy, but you got a good Aaron Donald story from your time around him at all?

32:47No, he held out of both training camps I was there. So fortunately for our offense, when I was working there, I don't think we ever went against him in training camp, But he showed up for the first game and he always made an impact. So I was happy about that. So I was there for two years, obviously played against him in the Super Bowl. So unfortunately, I have stories about that. But he's a tremendous player, great person. His wife, Erica, actually her dad coached with my father-in-law in Green Bay. So my wife is friends with his wife. And so she's known her for a long time.

33:20Rich Eisen:And again, you know, we're obviously so focused on his return and Miles Garrett and everything going on with the Rams, yada, yada, yada. But you were also in that building the last time the Super Bowl was in this city. Do you think about that? Do you think about that? Like, hey, I'd love another shot to get back there right now and have a different result? I'm human. Yeah, that's the ultimate goal. Think about it every day. But I also know that there's no steps that we can skip as a team, and our guys fortunately understand that. We've got enough guys that played in that game. We've got other guys that have been in Super Bowls that know that this is a long process.

33:57And it's about getting your team better every single week and to where your best team is stepping on the field in January. And so that's our mindset right now is to go on the road and win our first divisional game.

34:09Rich Eisen:Well, I'm just trying to leave you in a better spot than I found you, Coach, even though you're 2-0 and feeling good right now. But I think you've got to be a stickler on making sure every answer is in the form of questions. Otherwise, why do you call it Jeopardy? You know what I mean? Like, I think you got to, I mean, you know it's all about the details. You know what I mean? I agree. I'll get Sean Clifford in here. I'll make sure that he does a better job. It's on him. He's the judge and juror in that one. Yeah, and if Burrow's like, what gives? You just say it was the Michigan guy and see how that works with him.

34:41Rich Eisen:Okay? Okay. I'll be sure to do that. All right. Thanks for the time, Coach. Appreciate it. Always enjoy our chats. Thank you. You got it. Thanks, Rich. Zach Taylor, everybody, the Cincinnati Bengals, taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers coming up this week. Jeopardy. What's that? Right. You see what I mean? We should play Jeopardy here. How so? No. I don't know. How so? Sports Jeopardy. We did not do well. No, I didn't do well. He did well. You guys did not do well. Brockman did well. The board didn't work our way. We did not have. We got pretty unlucky. We did an in-celebrity family feud. We got pretty unlucky.

35:17Rich Eisen:By the way, what's in the ether right now, I have been offered. I shouldn't say, but I'm going to say, I haven't offered a chance to return to the wheel. Oh. Do you think we need one more? Oh, yeah, we need one more. A little celeb wheel? A celeb wheel. Nice. Me versus potentially other ESPN on-air individuals who have no idea the smoke that awaits. I'm the smoke monster. Okay. I'm lost. Yeah. I need that to complete my cycle. The wheel? Well, I have Price is Right. Yes, sir. I have Family Feud. Now I either need Jeopardy or The Wheel or both. I'm really good at Jeopardy, too. I'm sure you, listen, I'm sure you are.

36:00Rich Eisen:You and I share, like, look at that. I am. You were locked in. I was locked in. You're like, I was not going to let. Who was on that episode? Candace Parker. Candace Parker. Dwight Howard. And Dwight Howard. I was not going to lose. Let me tell you something. I was watching that along and I was getting a lot of answers. myself yeah you were that was one of the part of me because i'm a little petty because all the crap i took about losing prices right a little part of me was like man i hope rich gets smoked in this so he could know what it feels like but then i let that go and i was rooting for you and you dominated i appreciate that but like you um i i i crushed in the regular rounds rich eyes to your showcase, I got to the final puzzle and I whiffed on both final puzzles.

36:47Rich Eisen:Those were not easy. Yeah. Tough. But I have been invited back. I have accepted. I just don't know who else is going to accept. I want... And that, if it all works out, I will return to the wheel. We need Family Feud to invite us back so we can redeem ourselves. We definitely need feud redemption. Like Bob Marley. One thing's for sure is we did better. This Michigan guy still did better than Portnoy. They got bageled. Yeah, they got, yeah. We got some point before Del Tufo screwed it up. Oh, I mean. You did. I'll admit it. I sucked. I'm still mad my line got cut out to show. Yeah, he had a good line.

37:21Rich Eisen:Yeah, you had the line. You had the best line of them all. You did. Yeah, I know. You worked a little blue. Well, Steve definitely worked blue after that. Steve Harvey, man. All right. Let's take a break, and we'll talk about the New York Giants and, my gosh, what happened in that game. Josh Pate, Hour 2, overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. Still beckons. There we are. That's good, though. That's a good picture. There we are. Oh, man, that was so fun. I mean, look at that. Yeah. Come on, that was packed. We did not do well next to Steve Harvey. Oh. I suck.

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40:27Rich Eisen:Great chat with Zach Taylor. Josh Pate is coming up next. Yeah, buddy. And we got Cameron Hayward to be fair and balanced for the Steelers' perspective of things. I texted George Kittle to tell him that always a great day when you're on. And I asked him if he's good. He wrote back, amazing. Football is life. Yeah. Nice. George Kittle is a Ted Lasso character for football. Yes, true. You know? so George is on in our number three of this program George Rojas listen right exactly listen uh we had our our guy Alan Dallas calling yesterday diehard giant fan and I I was having my phone with him like manifest it man give me the give me give it give it to me what's going to happen to mine tonight let's go and you know it all started with Jackson Dart looking like what we saw in week one, which is a highly improved quarterback from year one with an ability to escape, an ability to make throws, and an ability to run to create problems for the defense because you didn't know which is common.

41:40Rich Eisen:And then doing it in a way where it felt controlled. You know? Didn't feel like, oh my god he's going to put himself in the blue tent it really felt like an absolute real deal repeatable exciting way to quarterback an offense that had an improved offensive line and let's go to work against the Rams team that might show up jet lagged somehow and typical of a New York sports team on a Monday night football the quarterback doesn't last long i mean in comes young and um hits him on his right side um who is it was it spates who came in on the other one he got high load man he and and and then that left leg it just looked like um like i said it did like flop around like one of those uh one of those balloons outside of outside of a car dealership yeah oh it's josiah stewart i should know you're michigan man coming around the end and it it looked terrible like a knee's not supposed to you know rock back and forth like that and out goes dart and in comes jamis and he just did not look ready for prime time maybe he can because it looks like he's going to have some time at under center here so dart goes into the blue tent again and he's got to be looking in there going how do i keep winding up here then he limps off to the locker room we're getting full-on reports from laura rutledge he's not in the x-ray room yet oh wait a minute he's now in a cart going to the x-ray room and then we find out the giants had to take his uniform away from him because he wanted to go back in the game they had to hide his uniform from him and the good news is he was back out on the field right although in street clothes.

43:37Rich Eisen:Yeah, but he wasn't in a hospital somewhere. That's correct because, you know, if it was something really significant, he wouldn't be standing there, one would think. And, you know, then goes Malik Neighbors grabbing his shoulder off of what appeared to be a very otherwise benign, you know, meeting with Trent McDuffie. you know uh mcduffie covering him and then he grabs his arm and lies down on the ground and like what the hell is happening here like somebody protects scadaboo at all costs right and then he tries to jump over someone yeah well but that's just him man and he slammed yeah that's that's that's him i know and i i love seeing it then brian burns limps off yeah What a disaster.

44:33What a disaster of a Monday night for the Giants.

44:38Rich Eisen:And that's why G-Men fans and friends of mine, when I'm like, this looks real, guys. This looks real, ladies. We're all like, pump the brakes. They're all looking for the trap door. They're all feeling like the PTSD of all these years since Coughlin left. Where it just ain't working. But what are you going to do when the first time your quarterback gets contacted, it's a Malachi crunch, and his left leg is the one that's taken the brunt of it? The good news apparently is it's not a season-ender, and that's what John Harbaugh was attempting to hang his hat on last night after the loss. NFL Network's initial report right after the game is a sprained MCL for Jackson.

45:29Is that the case? Yeah, we'll know more tomorrow. That's in the neighborhood of it, I would say. We'll get an MRI tomorrow and have a really good feel for it and it'll give you more information then.

45:39Rich Eisen:Is that sort of the, are you bracing me without him for a moment? I'm not just answering it that way because we'll know more when we find out more. I think you make those decisions when you get all the information, not right after the game. How much is that almost? I know it's obviously could lead to this time, but a sense of relief. You know, when you see something like that, there are outcomes that could be. Well, there's no question. I mean, the fact that it's not that outcome that you're talking about, that the devastating outcome is really good news.

46:11Rich Eisen:OK, so it's Jameis time for who knows how long. Let's call it four to six. Right. Look at the Giants schedule. Next up, it's Dayball coming into the house. All right. The man that John Harbaugh is replacing. and Tennessee is 0-2. Then you're home for Arizona, which is, again, no joke of a team, guys. I know that the Niners just – the Seahawks, pardon me, just put the bang thing on them. Then you're at Washington where I'm assuming it's going to be Jameis versus Mariota, one versus two from that draft class, which is nuts. Wow. That's crazy. There's a story there, though. And then a Saints team with Tyler Shuck coming in that could be in first place in their conference by then.

46:54Rich Eisen:That's the four-weeker. And if you remember last year, that was when the Giants were playing well with Dart, surprisingly, and then there was a turnover palooza for them in the Superdome in a game that they otherwise could have won or would have won before a visit to Houston. And I'm imagining if you've got somebody coming back from an MCL in five to six weeks and week six is a bye, and week five has Will Anderson at all coming for you, you're going to wait for the bye so maybe just maybe if this is four to six weeks at philadelphia which would be a great time to get dart back and you know that's where scadaboo had his leg blown up last year for for for tango and cash to be back together doing their thing in that building surprising the eagles helping you out as a cowboy fan is exactly the sort of thing that you want to maybe just say maybe we can do that and get back on the swing of things and win three of the next five in the process with Jameis and go four and three into the bye and come out at Philadelphia and see what you can do.

47:58Rich Eisen:Season's not over, not to go full Jim Morris Sr. here. It isn't, but that sucked to put a blunt point on it about the Giants. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney +, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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