Hour 2: Flacco to Bengals Trade, Overreaction Tuesday, plus ESPN’s Jermey Fowler

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1:57Rich Eisen:hour number two of the rich eisen show is on the air week five is completely in the books uh the season may be completely or close to being in the books for the new york yankees and the philadelphia phillies uh and the chicago cubs um we'll talk about the divisional playoff series as conditions warrant throughout the rest of this three-hour show we've got two hours remaining in it tom pelfrey the actor from the terrific show on hbo max called task is a giants fan he's coming in studio he's been here before uh some of you may know his work from ozark as well he's a fantastic actor and uh and maybe a friend of the program should we call him that right now i think we have very good uh he'll be in studio hour number three i've got a top five list top five wildest plays of week five and there are many uh from which to choose uh that's coming up later on so is my take on what to make of the chiefs being two and three we started the show giving the flowers to the Jacksonville Jaguars for their final second one possession game win to make them four and one tying the Indianapolis Colts atop the division in the AFC South through five weeks.

3:03Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Joining us here now on the Rich Eisen Show once again but the first time since we've been with our friends at Disney is ESPN's Jeremy Fowler with all the information we need the senior national NFL reporters here. How are you Jeremy? Rich, thanks for having me, man. Great to be with you. Thanks for being with us. So let's just start with the Ravens at 1-4. What do you think is going on in that building? What can you tell us about this start for the Ravens right now, Jeremy? Yeah, the panic meter is rising a little bit because, Rich, I can tell you going into this or last week against the Texans, just talking to people there, they felt like that was going to be a get-right game for them.

3:42They were legitimately shocked with what happened despite Lamar Jackson being out. They felt like they were going to get back to team complimentary ball, playing like a Raven, playing with an edge. They felt like they could help Cooper Rush by running the ball with Derrick Henry. And then suddenly none of that happened. And so I do think there's a shock in the building that has to sort of wear off quickly. And they're trying to navigate this thing. Like, look, when Lamar Jackson's in the game in the regular season, he wins like 72 % of the time. So if they can get him back, and I know he's rehabbing, he's been working in the pool, trying to loosen up that hamstring.

4:16And everything looks good behind the scenes. He's got to get back on the practice field this week. But if he's out there, they're always going to have a chance to win. But, you know, they were kind of hoping him being gone would be a chance for them to sort of galvanize themselves and play like a complete game. And now, you know, you're looking at 177 points you've given up in five games on defense. That's the worst clip in a five-game stretch in Ravens history dating back to 1996. And so right now the season is slipping away in a hurry. and I don't know what solutions they feel like they can find right now.

4:47Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, just getting whatever, I guess, voodoo doll that keeps sticking pins in their players, maybe that would be the solve. I'll be honest. I understand that coaches love their roster and their players and it's next man up mentality, but I'm a little surprised that there was a feeling that they could compete with the Texans on offense with Lamar out and then their defense being as banged up as they are. What can you tell us about the preparedness of these guys to get back on the field on defense? That to me is, you know, if Lamar's in the pool and he's trying to get things, you know, loosened up, there's a bye the next week.

5:35Rich Eisen:So maybe you give Cooper Rush one more shot, but the defensive side of the ball is decimated. Jeremy. Yeah, and I think the issue they're having on defense, it's not just personnel, even though they're not getting enough out of it. It's not just the injuries. They just feel like they're not playing with an edge. You know, Zach Orr, defensive coordinator, and it hasn't gone well in his second year. It really didn't go well the first year, although they were able to rebound. They felt like he was always, as a player and a young coach, somebody who had a serious edge to him, a fire. You know, I look at Jacksonville, the way they played last night.

6:08They gave up yards, but they played with an edge and that eventually led to a turnover. Baltimore is just a little lifeless right now. They know it and they're trying to work their way out of it. It's going to take some of the leaders on that side of the ball, at least some of the leaders that are healthy, to try to get something out of it. You know, pass rush, they're not getting much. They need to kind of start there, be able to dictate terms of the line of scrimmage and just try to find a spark. But, you know, right now, like they're trying to plug whatever holes they can. You know, they bring Jire Alexander in at cornerback, Kyle Van Noyze back.

6:38on the pass rush, but they just don't have anything to catalyze them right now, and they feel like the energy is gone. And I think that's part of the focus right now is just trying to get that back. And then if they lose, they lose, but they at least have to play the way they have in the past.

6:52Rich Eisen:Okay, so before we move on, Lamar's in the pool trying to get things loosened up for this week. It's possible he could return before the bye, you think, Jeremy? Yeah, just talking to people there, they say it's possible. They really don't know yet. They're going to play this out and see if he can get on the practice field. But, you know, as was relayed to me from a source there, he's not going to be out there unless he can be himself. You know, he's not going to be out there 50 percent just trying to throw the ball from the pocket. He's got to be able to operate as his normal dual threat self.

7:23That does take time. And as you see, Rich, I mean, a third of the league injuries are hamstrings right now. It's like an epidemic in the league. And when you get them, it's usually at least two weeks in most cases. So if we're going by that, he might need that bye week to get right. And then you're looking at either Cooper Rush or the Ravens are at least entertaining, bringing back Snoop Huntley, who's on the practice squad, elevating him. And he can try to maybe get some of that Pro Bowl magic he had a few years ago. But right now, this is a team that is searching in a big way.

7:51Rich Eisen:All right. I mean, you just opened the door a little bit. I don't know if there's any information that you've gleaned on this front, Jeremy Fowler, but you mentioned an epidemic of hamstring injuries. I'm getting questions from all different parts of my life within my own house from Suze my my wife and guest host of this program on Thursday to fans online is are there more injuries this year than than before or are we just seeing bigger bolder names getting hurt quarterbacks getting hurt is is there is there something going on that we're not aware of Jeremy we're talking about you know I don't think there's any sort of secret sauce there for the injury uptick it does feel that way I feel like every few years is worse than others where you just get an avalanche of star players that go out this year it's pretty bad I mean there's no doubt and you saw it a couple weeks ago when five backup quarterbacks had to play in week four whatever it was you know like it's just it's not a good trend we're gonna probably have another 60 quarterbacks play this year because of injury and benchings and all that and it's I mean if you talk to coaches you talk to teams they they typically say the same thing that this is an accumulation of the lack of true training camps where back in the day you had two a days you know your body would get callous to all the contact you just don't have as much of that because of what happened with the CBA 15 years ago there's been less contact less practice time and you know most Most people I tell you around the league believe that that has had an effect on injuries and that you kind of have to live with that.

9:21You know, and that was a concession that the owners were willing to give up in exchange for more money, essentially. And so this is what you get. You get star players going out with injuries that you really didn't have 20, 30 years ago. Now, these athletes are more explosive than other. I think that's why you get hamstrings and, you know, you get calf issues and some of that. And then teams have more data, so they know if a player has a calf strain, you don't want that to lead to an Achilles, so you've got to sit them down for a couple weeks sometimes. So I think it's preventative as well, and that leads to guys being on the bench more than they would have a decade ago.

9:55Rich Eisen:Jeremy Fowler here on the Rich Eisen Show. The Bengals head coach, Zach Taylor, made it seem like the door was open to changing personnel at the quarterback spot. He talked about it in general, about we're going to look at everything, personnel. What is going on in the front office of the Bengals, do you think, about the quarterback waiting for Jake Browning of two years ago to show up this year? So, yeah, I've been checking around on this, Rich. I've checked with some teams that have quarterbacks that maybe could be in the trade market or, you know, a veteran who's not playing. You know, the Giants come to mind.

10:29I don't think the Bengals are working the phones a lot right now at this moment. That could certainly change. It's not the Bengals' style to make a big trade, particularly at a quarterback spot. It's hard to make an in-season quarterback trade because you have schemes and you have a lot of planning that goes into a quarterback getting on the field. So right now they have released Mike White off the practice squad. They could backfill with a quarterback to put on the practice squad. They could develop. You know, there's some free agents out there like Kyle Trask, who's with the Bucs, Taylor Heineke.

10:59Otherwise, there's not a lot out there, Rich. You know, you can look into Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson, but that's hard to ask them to come in on a Tuesday, week six, and start a game. So as of now, I know that Jake Browning, last I checked, had not heard anything definitive on what's going to happen here. So everybody's sort of moving forward. It wouldn't shock me if he got one more week. We'll see. However, I could be wrong because most of the time, as you know, when a head coach leaves the door open, he makes the change that week. So we'll see. I don't see a clear solution right now for the Bengals in another direction at this moment.

11:33Rich Eisen:What about Jameis? I mean, he's a third stringer. He's sitting there not dressing. And he's definitely prepared. And listen, man, I'm with you. It's tough to just learn a new playbook and get out there and play quarterback. I mean, Baker Mayfield did it on a two-day stint for the Rams and won a Thursday night football game. I mean, it's kind of see ball throw ball sometimes. obviously I'm oversimplifying but why not that as a possibility that's not a big trade either it's just some sort of a draft compensation that you slide based on what he does before Burrow can come back if at all if you want to get Jameis Winston Rich it's not going to cost you a third or fourth round pick you can do a late pick swap you see a lot of these deals right now they're sort of inconsequential so if you want Jameis you can get Jameis and Jameis is going to get you yards Jameis is going to get you three touchdowns he's going to get you two interceptions maybe three and but at least you're going to score a little bit and right now the bangles can't do that i will add we talk about shock with the ravens there's equal shock in the bangles building because they really felt going into what was it week three when jake browning first started to take over for joe burrow when he got hurt that like this is a guy who's who's probably somewhere in the top 32 to 35 quarterbacks they really did believe that he's incredibly smart incredibly well prepared they're sort of shocked at what happened too and you know he just simply hasn't played well a little bit of an uptick late in that Detroit game but it was already out of hand so not a lot of encouragement there I think if they go back to him it's simply for for one more week you know but Cincinnati's not they do things differently over there they just don't make trades just to make them they don't pay players just because they're worth a lot you know like they they do things in their own style and that to me that style would signal that they sort of stay put maybe out of practice called quarterback that's either a free agent or own another practice squad with another team and go from there.

13:33But I would be all for the Jameis Cincinnati experience.

13:40Rich Eisen:Jeremy Fowler here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about Mike McDaniel's hot seat. Is it hot? Is something going down there at one and four, Jeremy? Well, it's moderately hot, I would say. I don't I really think that ownership there likes Mike McDaniel a lot and this is not something where they're looking for an excuse to move on from him right now. So, you know, I don't expect anything at this moment this week. And, you know, I feel like they want to give him a little bit of time, but there are a lot of factors that go into that into that kind of situation. One of which is, you know, is your team getting better?

14:19Is it lifeless? Are seats in the stands in Miami Gardens empty? You know, those are factors that could go on. If they have some home games that are pretty ugly and the fans start to turn on the team, that's when Stephen Ross could make a move. You know, my understanding is Stephen Ross has his, the owner has his sons involved in the process. You know, so they could be a factor here in sort of the future of Miami and what they do. And, you know, it's interesting with McDaniel. He's, I believe if he doesn't still have a winning record, he's still got something close to it or around 500. Like it's been respectable.

14:53but he's been given a team whose roster is in transition I mean the defense clearly lost a lot of key players that they felt would be good to move on from for the locker room sake but they backfilled them with players that weren't as talented so they're not working with a team that's ready made to win right now at least on that side of the ball and then you lose Tyreek Hill so you know to shoot my McDaniel a little bail you know he's got a quarterback that can't really take a lot of hits, if at all, because of the concussion history. So there's some limitations he's working with. You could tell McDaniel was really deflated by that Carolina loss.

15:28It just looked from him walking off the field, the demeanor after the game, that they really needed that one, knowing the schedule is going to get only harder from here. So certainly he's on the short list of changes that could be made for head coaches, but I don't expect anything like right now in the short term.

15:44Rich Eisen:And last one for you, Jeremy, Brock Purdy not seen during the media portion of practice. on Monday. Not usually a lot of practices on Monday, but the Niners are on a short week. Do you think it's going to be Mac Jones again at Tampa? What a big game this is in week number six, Jeremy. Well, they're going to see how the week progresses. He's going to have to be able to get on the practice field, not only perform in practice, but protect himself. He was able to do that two weeks ago. And then just watching that last game he was in a Sunday and a half ago and then talking to the Rams coaches as they were preparing for their game last Thursday night they said like he's just not ready he doesn't look right he doesn't look healthy that's kind of what I go back to when I think about this week you know he might just need more time here and so certainly it feels on the table that that Mac Jones could get another shot but it's really early in the week so if if Brock can make progress by Thursday or Friday maybe be a limited or even a full participant in practice that changes the story I do expect him to be the guy when he's healthy.

16:47I don't think there's any sort of conspiracy theory here, but certainly the 49ers are really comfortable with Mac Jones, who is yet again, Rich, like the fifth or sixth reclamation QB project we've seen to great success. Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, you know, Geno Smith is struggling now, but the last couple of years in Seattle, like we're seeing these guys, you know, confidence and belief is a funny thing and good coaching. You know, if you go to the right place, you can have success. And we're seeing that with Matt Jones, who really looks like kind of a starting caliber quarterback right now.

17:19Rich Eisen:Jeremy, thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it. Look for more of my calls as we matriculate. Senior National NFL reporter from ESPN, Jeremy Fowler, right here on the Rich Eisen show. Boy, there's lots cooking. Apparently, just as we are leaving with Jeremy, there is a trade. The Bengals have actually made a move. And it's kind of surprising who they made a move for and where they got him from um and we've got overreaction monday on a tuesday so let's take a break i still have my opinion on what we i think of the chiefs moving forward 844-204-RICH is the number to dial don't go anywhere we're back with breaking news and more right here on the rich eisen show rich eisen here for gusto on my shows we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated.

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20:09Rich Eisen:Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, one big happy simulcast family. ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance. Take the next step forward in your career with great benefits and an award-winning workplace. Apply at careers.progressive.com. Make sure you do that today. hey, why don't you get progressive and apply at careers.progressive.com. For this particular instance, 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. So these things happen when you're talking with an information reporter about something, and then something breaks as you're talking to that individual, and you find out after you hang up with that individual.

20:48Rich Eisen:Well, that just happened with Jeremy Fowler, and I talked with him about the possibility of the Bengals getting Jameis Winston. They did not just acquire Jameis Winston. There's breaking news. Go ahead and hit it. Here it comes. Boom! And Murray, I see. Breaking news. All right, Chris Brockman, what do you have over there about what the Bengals just did to deal with their quarterback situation of Jake Browning not performing like the Jake Browning of a couple years ago with Burrow being down for the foreseeable future? What do you have over there? So according to the information man, Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero, Adam Schefter, the Browns are trading Joe Flacco in a sixth round pick to the Bengals for a fifth rounder.

21:29Rich Eisen:Joe Flacco in division. Now Cincinnati's QB. So let's lay all this out in terms of you can't make this up. So if you had told us collectively, not the Royal, us collectively five weeks ago, that Dylan Gabriel would be the week five starter for the Cleveland Browns. We'd be like, okay, we see that. Could we have seen the fact that Joe Burrow getting hurt for a large part of the regular season? While we've heard, it's not something you want to hear. It happened. And the fact, though, that the guy that filled in for Burrow quite capably two years ago would do something to the bed so significantly that the Bengals would reach out in week six for a quarterback and it would be Joe Flacco.

22:32Rich Eisen:In state too. In state. That's one thing. In division. But in division, in state. And he hasn't looked great either. And that's the guy that they're bringing in, and at least, you know, he's 40, so it'll be quick to get him up to speed. It's not like he's been in a million different playbooks in his life. He'll also be quick to break a hip. Whoa. I see. I mean, and in between, Shadour Sanders would be in the news as a third-string quarterback because he thinks, or he has said, that he's ready to the point where he's better than current starting quarterbacks in the NFL, talking things into existence and speaking his mind and showing off his confidence.

23:20Rich Eisen:And then for whatever his reasoning, deciding to listen to Rex Ryan and respond to him through mining. and the browns decide to now have a quarterback room with two rookie quarterbacks and no veteran presence that's currently active on their roster as we are speaking in to a microphone right now if you had told us all of this prior to the season in week five you'd be like this is crazy but it's the nfl you never know and that's what's happening right now so let's take the bengals part of it which is again they weren't going to go ahead and get somebody like kirk cousins who costs a lot of money now and is on the hook to be paid something more than one cent for next year's services when Joe Burrow has an injury that he could come back earlier this year which lends credence again as to why we have this drop anytime the Bengals decide to pay anybody in the national football so they weren't going ahead and rip open their Velcro wallet and spend a lot more than obviously a fifth round draft choice for Cousins that wasn't going to happen the Jameis thing man is right there.

24:54Rich Eisen:I don't know if the Giants could easily be like, no, we're just, we're, you know, we see teams down, like for a split second, the Vikings were down to their third string quarterback, the first team to be such. The Max Brosmer season almost hit in London for a split second, but Wentz came back and finished that game. And so we'll see. the Bengals now having Joe Flacco on their roster. I don't know. Will they be able to get it? Will he be up to speed to go visit Green Bay? Like, hey, Joe, welcome to the team. That's Micah. Kind of avoid him. That's Rashawn. Definitely avoid him, too. Here's a playbook.

25:44Rich Eisen:Will he be able to, or is it going to be Jake Browning going out there? I don't know, man. I'll do respect to Jake, but how do you trot him back out there? I don't know. Because there's Brett Rippon there as well. And how quickly can he go? Can his first game be home against Pittsburgh on the Thursday night or to kick off week seven? That seems more likely, right? Before a revenge game against the Jets. Yeah, Ryan. This season is all about revenge games. Everybody in the AFC North, You get a revenge game against the Jets. You get a revenge game against the Jets. Avenge me! Who else is going to play Baltimore again?

26:25Rich Eisen:One for Pittsburgh, one for Cincinnati. I mean, can Cleveland acquire Ray Lucas in time? Who else we can get? Is Brown and Nagel out there? Vinny? Hey, let's give a comeback player of the year to him. hey let's get as many revenge games of people with repaired achilles as you can possibly get let's get test of arty not a bad idea all right let's stay on target here

26:57Rich Eisen:so that's my take on the bengal side of things that things have just been so difficult for them to keep moving forward with Jake Browning, again, he won four of seven starts in place of Burrow and was lighting it up. And now, by the way, I'm just telling you, my take that Jake Browning is not so bad that the Bengals season is over has now led to Joe Flacco being acquired by the Browns, officially making this my worst take since I've returned to Disney and ESPN. so what's up you got the bad one out of the way out of the way maybe Jake Browning lights it up against the the Packers and we have a new quarterback controversy in Cincinnati alright I'm going to give it up you gotta move on thank you now then as for the Browns what are they doing what are they doing here's what they're doing Here's what they're doing.

28:10Rich Eisen:Honestly. Let's take it one at a time here. Let's take it one at a time here. They're starting Dylan Gabriel this week. Right. Okay. Dylan Gabriel is going to get a start this week against the Pittsburgh Steelers who are coming off of their bye at 3-1. And he's going to go to Pittsburgh, and he's going to see TJ Watt, and he's going to see Cam Hayward, and he's going to see that defense coming off a full week of rest, and good luck, sir. Mike Tomlin, 14-4 off a bye. Okay. So going to be an interesting start. Now, the question is, who's the second string quarterback there? Who's going to, and you could basically say it's going to be a rookie backing up a rookie.