Hour 2: Mike Mayock Talks Lions, Eagles, Broncos & More, plus Skenes Denies Yankees Rumor

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1:00Rich Eisen: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 richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Joe Burrow doing the gritty. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Bring on Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Burrow has been throwing for a while. The plan, I think, is to get him seven on seven work. The Rich Eisen Show.

1:44Rich Eisen:Burrow, touchdown! Earlier on the show, ESPN analyst Marcus Spears. Coming up, former NFL general manager Mike Mayock, actor Ali Larder. And now, it's Rich Eisen. our number two the rich eisen show is on the air we're on disney plus we're on the espn app we're on espn radio presented by progressive insurance we're on sirius xm channel 80 we just said farewell to marcus spears the actress ali lauder in support of season two of landman that premieres on paramount plus on sunday she's coming in studio in our number three um and she's an eagles fan and you know who was the first to tell me about what A.J.

2:31Rich Eisen:Brown said about how his work life was an S show it's a man who is 1000 % completely tuned into Janky Rondo's Twitch feed and Mike Mayock ladies and gentlemen joining us here the man who's all over Janky Rondo's Twitch feed Mike Mayock on the Rich Eyes what's up Mike how are you good to see you I just learned what Twitch was yesterday I bet you did In all seriousness, somebody had to go up to Sirianni in his office and say, hey, coach, you got a minute? And explain to him what A.J. Brown had said on Twitch the night before. Who was that person for you when you were in the front office for the Raiders?

3:16Rich Eisen:Was there somebody who was letting you know what was going on? Because invariably something had to be said somewhere that you weren't following, nor your daughter on your behalf to tell you what's going on. Was there somebody who was that person for you? It kind of was most of the building because it's interesting, Rich. When you're GM, you're kind of on duty 24-7. Yeah. You're in the building at 5 a.m. You're already meeting people by 5 a.m. And the outside world is kind of gone. You're in a bubble. and I used to dread when I'd get that knock like hey Mike need to talk to you and sometime it'd be a young scout who might be more social media conscious than me a lot of times it was Will Kiss our PR guy um so it was different people and you you know they're dropping stuff on you like uh we there was a tweet that went out and often it would be before I'd have to talk to the media and I'd have like half the building want to tell me how to handle it.

4:26And I'm kind of going like I've worked with Rich Eisen for years.

4:30Rich Eisen:Ladies and gentlemen, yeah, you had to sit through. By the way, every single time I see Grover Stewart make a play for the Colts, I think of the moment that he got drafted with an orangutan revealing it from the Indianapolis Zoo and you being so upset about get the ape out here and both DJ and the great Charles Davis was like, it's an orangutan, Mike. That was one of my favorite moments in the history of our... By the way, that was in Philadelphia. The draft was in Philadelphia, I think, when that happened. Mike, I remember all of that. Rich, I was good with the first two trips to the zoo. It was the third one that I kind of lost it.

5:11Rich Eisen:Oh, my gosh. But in all seriousness, I keep thinking this is just the Eagles' oxygen. That this is the Yankees of the 70s, where you need this sort of, I guess, drumbeat to feel comfortable. Because they seem to be really comfortable with it. Unless this is a massive offensive problem that you, Mike, think is going to come home the roost one day for them. I think all the conversation in Philly centers on is what's going to happen last year, continue to happen, which is the team gets better and better and it culminates in a Super Bowl championship. or what's going to happen the year before with the team that started out 10-1 and had some locker room issues and kind of fell apart and lost to Tampa Bay in the wild card round and really didn't even compete.

6:12So when you add in the flavor of East Coast media, which you're very aware of, and Philadelphia, which has its own distinct flavor, It seems like every day is an adventure. I certainly think Nick and the coaching staff would rather not deal with it. I think from what I read last night, Nick started getting a little testy with all the A.J. Brown questions and the questions about his game management at the end of the Packers. I don't blame him. Especially the A.J. thing, that's a hard thing for a head coach to have to deal with.

6:49Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, give me a little more meat on that, Bones, Because at one point he pointed out, you know, hey, the touchdown to Devontae Smith was supposed to be for Brown, but he was covered. And we threw it over him for a score and we won. You know, I mean, so that was one interesting way that he did handle it. But if he's upset about being asked these questions, it's because there is no there there. Even though A.J. Brown says, hey, I'm just being honest. My work situation isn't great right now. Mike? I think the I think what all of us old people have to realize is that today's generation communicates a different way than we did.

7:30And A.J. Brown, by all everybody I know, tells me he gets on the practice field. He works. He competes. He tries to get better. He tries to help the offense. Same thing on game day when he goes home and he relaxes and he wants to get on. twitch whatever it's called you're nailed it um and and talk with his buddies and hang out and relax he understands it's a public forum but i don't really think he cares or understands that there's kind of a passive aggressive tone to it with a message getting to the eagles even though he can say hey i was just you know playing games on social media i that you know you can take out of it what you want.

8:14The one thing he can't do, in my opinion, is come in and complain about all the attention when he's the one that kind of generates it with the comments he makes. So I think it's a little more complex than some people realize. At the end of the day, if the guys in the locker room are kind of just going, hey, it's just AJ. That's who he is. We're good then it's not a problem it's all media noise the the only time it becomes a problem in my opinion and I'm not saying any of this is happening but the line that can cross is if you get to a certain point where the quarterback doesn't trust the wide out anymore that's an issue now I don't see it I don't expect it I I don't think it's getting there but at this point Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni and the Eagles seem very content to say, this is a really talented guy, and we're going to feature him every week in our game plan, and then we'll see what happens on Sunday.

9:16Rich Eisen:Yeah, they keep winning, and then before we move on here to the Sunday night game, I'm wondering what the GM in you and the Roseman aficionado in you thought when Jalen Phillips recovered the fumble in the first half. Were you just chuckling? Like, there it is. There it is, a three for this guy. A three for this guy. when the rest of the league could have said, we'll give you a three, and our three is definitely better than Philadelphia's. You know? Unbelievable, right? Boom. Makes a play. Makes a play. There were a bunch of media people in Philly that wanted to talk about all the sexy stuff about going to get Miles Garrett.

9:55And I told one of them on the air, like, there's a less than 1 % chance that that happens, and they didn't want to hear that. And in my opinion, the guy they needed to go after was Jalen Phillips. He's 26 or 7 years old. He is a gifted dude. He's been hurt. So if it comes back to haunt them and he gets hurt tomorrow, I still say it was more than worth the third-round investment. And, Rich, I watched the defensive tape last night from the Packer game, and Jalen Phillips played his tail off both in the run and the pass game, and he will make a difference if he stays healthy.

10:30Rich Eisen:Yeah, and N 'Kobe Dean looks like he's back too. He's all over the place, and now that's going to be the problem for the Lions offense, coordinated in part with the play caller and Dan Campbell. What did you think of when you heard Dan Campbell took over the play calling? Mike, what did you think of that? You know, it's a highly personal thing, Rich. You know, when I was in the Raiders building, obviously John Gruden called the plays, and one of his high-level assistants was Johnny Morton. the now coordinator in Detroit. And J-Mo is a hell of an offensive mind. I mean, big time. But different play callers have different flavors in what they're looking to do.

11:16And I think Dan Campbell just got to the point where he said, you know what, I need to insert my flavor here. And I'm in charge. And if it goes wrong, that's on me, and that's fine. So I think it's his prerogative. and kind of like the Eagles, they have so much firepower. If I'm Vic Fangio, I'm looking at them and I'm going, okay, in order, how do we slow these guys down?

11:43Rich Eisen:Oh, number zero is first, right? Zero is first, right? Gibbs, he's the first guy, right? You've got to shut – I don't mean to interrupt you, but if you're just a – that's the guy, right? That's the guy. That's the first one. I think the two things sitting right here for Mayor, Jameer Gibbs, number one. Yeah. And I'm talking run and pass game. Heck yeah. He is a different dude. And you can't let him make big plays in either of those. And then I think point number two is you've got to make Jared Goff uncomfortable. And it's less about sacks and more about hitting him, pressuring him, getting him off his spot, kind of like they did the other night with Jordan Love.

12:26Just make him uncomfortable, and he'll throw the ball up a little bit. And I think – I look at that offense, and they're really difficult to deal with. Talent-wise, scheme-wise, every other way, you know, they are high-octane, man, and that's going to be fun to watch.

12:42Rich Eisen:Yeah, and maybe you and I are singing from the same book here, Mike, because maybe you could help make Goff uncomfortable when Gibbs is not working. And I think you'll enjoy this because we saw this stat, and let's pop it up here. I think you'll get a kick out of this one, Mike. Take a look at this. Most touchdowns prior to age 24 in the history of the NFL. Look at the people that Gibbs is running down right now. Barry Sanders, Randy Moss, Emmitt Smith, Jim Brown. And Gibbs is going to play the entire rest of the season as a 23-year-old. He doesn't turn 24 until, as I said on Monday's show with this board, there'll be a new league year before there's an actual new year of age for Gibbs.

13:29Rich Eisen:It's crazy what he's doing right now. Mike, I love watching this kid play ball. I just, and I love watching them find creative ways to get him touches. Remember last year, everybody was saying, well, they're going to share the load and they've got a really good back with him. And they do that other back is strong, tough. He's been in the league and he offers a different look. He gives – but at the end of the day, he makes that engine go, and then you add in this wideout with a chip on his shoulder, you know, like up to here, Amon Ross St. Brown. I remember being at his pro day, and he was pissed off at his time and just so competitive.

14:11And he's one of those guys who can name every single wideout that got drafted before him. He's still mad. Jamison Williams, oh, my goodness. You know, they're starting to try to reintegrate him in vertically and a good offensive line. So, yeah, they're the thing that puzzles me, Rich. And this is what I think frustrates people in Philly is that I can kind of go player by player in Philadelphia on the offensive skill position side and say they're just as good. There's Saquon Barkley. There's two wide outs that are world class. People forget Devontae Smith is every bit as good as A.J. Brown, a tight end in Dallas Goddard, you know, a quarterback in Jalen Hurts, been the two of the last three Super Bowls.

14:56Why isn't Philadelphia's offense playing at the same level as Detroit? Bingo. And really that's been the frustration in Philly.

15:04Rich Eisen:Mike Mayock here on the Rich Eisen Show. In the minutes I have left with you, Mike, let's hit two marquee games, one in each conference. Let's go to the AFC since we've been very NFC heavy with one particular game to start things off here in our conversation. The Chiefs and the Broncos, man. This is a pretty big one. Obviously, the Broncos, 8-2, way better than the Chiefs in the record department. But this is the Chiefs coming off a bye with Andy Reid. How do you break this one down for me, Mike? What do you think? I find the quarterback situation in Denver intriguing because, you know, Bo Nix is such a good fit there.

15:47And Sean gets so much out of his quarterbacks. But I think he's hit a little bit of a spot where a lot of teams now have a lot of tape on him. And they're getting more familiar with what Sean's trying to do and how they're trying to do it. So he's at a point now where he's got to take care of the football and still be functional and still help them win games. But he's got to take care of the football. I think I look at Patrick Mahomes in that group, and I said this before the season started because they had a young left guard and left tackle who were way more athletic than the guys last year in Kansas City and were going to get better.

16:26They were going to get their wide out, Rasheed Rice, back after six games from suspension. They were going to get healthier at tailback. A lot of things were going to happen, and they just kind of needed to hang in, and I thought Patrick Mahomes would help them do that. So it's probably a little bit more dramatic than I expected. It's taken a little bit longer. But, you know, I always have my money on Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. And ultimately, the division for me still goes through them, even though they're behind two other teams.

17:00Rich Eisen:Yeah, I know. So what does it come down to, the ability to get Mahomes off the spot? Although that sometimes doesn't work out for you. I mean, what does it come down to? in this one, do you think? You can't let them run the ball at all. They've struggled a little bit there, and they've had some guys hurt. But you can't let them have that other avenue to give Mahomes a break and some relief where he doesn't have to be the man every play. So you've got to take care of the run game, number one. Even though that sounds counterintuitive, you can't give them any air to breathe. I think Kelsey, you know, he's not as explosive as he used to be.

17:38Still makes plays. More than anything, if you limit their big plays, and I'm talking about both Patrick scrambling, because the thing Patrick does best is scramble with his eyes up and make plays down the field. If you can limit big plays, you can limit their offensive production and make them go 70, 80, 90 yards every drive without a penalty or a turnover. And that's how you beat them.

18:06Rich Eisen:Yeah, and I guess have your own offensive efficiency problems solved on your own with Denver. Yeah, compounded by the fact that if there was a Hall of Fame for defensive coordinators, Spagnuolo would be in one. That's right. So they're not going to beat themselves on defense. They're going to force you to make plays. They're going to put a ton of pressure on that quarterback where he's going to have to make some plays with his legs and his arm. so between Spagnuolo, Reed, and Mahomes I think that's a pretty special show and you can't make mistakes you just can't beat yourself you've got to make Kansas City beat you and then last for you Mike Ram Seahawks man this is awesome I'm really excited for this one and I'm wondering how you handicap this one between two seven and two teams that'll be battling it out while the Eagles and Lions get ready.

19:04Rich Eisen:This is going to be a late window game on Sunday. So this is a huge one. This is big. Yeah, I love this game. I'm looking forward to really taking a hard look at it. And my biggest curiosity, Rich, is kind of thinking back to Sam Darnold last year, Week 17 and the playoffs. Right. How he played a little differently than he did the rest of the season. A lot of magnification on this game. A really stout defensive front with Jared Verse and those guys. They're going to put some pressure on him. So how does Sam Darnold react this weekend? I'm totally intrigued by that, especially in the red zone, where I thought last year, week 17 in the playoffs, the red zone where you have to make decisions instantaneously.

19:53You can't hesitate. I thought that's where he really didn't want to make a mistake, and that's one of the things that cost him. So I'm really looking forward to that aspect of the game.

20:05Rich Eisen:Yeah, because Darnold did get eliminated by a Rams defense that was all over him, and there was a conversation about he was holding on to the ball, taking too many sacks and things of that nature. That said, he hasn't had to play a full game in about three weeks because their games have been over by halftime, and part of it is not just last week it was defense. the week before is he didn't miss a pass in the first half against Washington. Yeah, and I think they're two of the best coached teams in the NFL. You know, you can throw San Francisco in there too in that division. I mean, in that division, they're so well coached.

20:42It's just, I think everything you want in a big, right now, this league is wide open. I can't tell you who I think the best team in football is right now, which is unusual by this time of year. Yeah, I was saying that. So this thing's wide open.

20:55Rich Eisen:Yeah, I was saying that. There's a whole host. We just had Marcus Spears on an hour one. He named only nine teams in his estimation that can win it all. I always think that there's going to be some team that you're not thinking of. We always see one that comes from, you know, a six seed, seven seed, even eight, nine, and make a run like that. I'm with you on that. So I know I've kept you for 20 minutes, but before I let you go, what are we not talking about? What have you been zeroing in on? Maybe stuck in your crawl. Could have been anything from the trade deadline or anything, Mike, that you think we should be focusing on based on what you've seen.

21:33Yeah, what's intriguing to me are some of those teams from last year that weren't very good that are making some noise this year. The AFC to me has flipped things a little bit with the NFC. But when I look at two young AFC teams, I get a little excited thinking about the Colts and about the Patriots. Right? I mean, they're coming out of frigging nowhere. Vrabel's done an amazing job. And let's face it, you got somebody who's looking awful, awful lot like a franchise quarterback there.

22:12Rich Eisen:Yes. Right? Oh, yeah. And then you've got this Colts thing where, here we go, another rehab story, Daniel Jones. And it remains to be seen. I didn't think he played great last week, even though they snuck one out. I'm rooting for him. I think he's smart and he's tough. And I think Anarumo's done a great job with their defense. I'm really anxious. You talk about the trade deadline. We already talked about Philly. You know, what they did with a third-round pick. Well, you know, Indy gave up the boat to go get Sauce. And, you know, Daniel Jones, by default, is going to be their quarterback going forward with all that first-round capital gone.

22:53They got to perform. And it's going to be really fun going forward to watch Indianapolis play.

23:00Rich Eisen:Yeah, it would be a very New York football thing to see Daniel Jones and Sauce win a Super Bowl together. You know what I mean, Mike? That would be tough. There'd have to be a Giants-Jets therapy session right there in MetLife sometime in February if that happens. But, you know, stranger things. Thanks for doing this, Mike. You're the best. We'll chat again soon. You be well. My pleasure, Rich. Thanks, Mike. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Mayock here giving us his two considerable cents. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Love that guy. He's not wrong about the AFC. We talked about that, right? Bills, Ravens, Chiefs.

23:37Rich Eisen:Normally those are the seeds, top seed teams right now. It's Colts, Patriots, Broncos going for it. Patriots going tonight. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. We do some revisiting and some housekeeping from yesterday's show. Some conversations got advanced last night.