Hour 2: New NFL Power Rankings, Jayden Returns, plus Bears WR Rome Odunze

22:45Rich Eisen:back here on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance before Roma Dunze pops on we have a call coming in apparently from Chicago, Illinois gotta get this because it is very timely Grayson in Iowa you're on the program what's up Grayson? hi what's up Grayson? hey dude what's up man? hi hi Grayson you're on the air Hi, buddy. I have a question, and I was wondering if you could answer it. Okay, first things first. How old are you, Grayson? I am 11 years old. Okay, it sounds like you were not in school today. You want to explain why? My dad's taking me my first ever Cubs game. First ever? All right.

23:31Rich Eisen:Grayson, 11 years old from Iowa, going to his first ever Wrigley Field game, and it's a playoff game where they can clinch a spot in the divisional round. Is that what I'm understanding, Grayson? What? What's your question? Oh, since he's bringing me in my first Cubs game, we're sitting in the first row in right field. If I get a home run ball from the opposing team, do I throw it back? Yes. Of course you do. Come on, man. Grayson, you're a Cubs fan. It is your duty to throw that ball back if you catch it. Well, what is your dad counseling you to do, Grayson? Yeah. Are you there? All right. Yep.

24:18Rich Eisen:Thank you. Can you hear? No, wait. Hold on. Grayson, are you there? Yeah. Okay. What is your dad telling you to do if you catch a home run ball? What is he telling you to do? He told me that if it's Tatis, then keep the home run ball. I like it. One thing, Grayson, trust me. I also told him he'd be infamous. Hold on a second. What's your name, sir? What's your name? My name's Seth. Okay, Seth. Can you and your son hear me both together now? Yes, sir. Okay. Grayson, your dad is, I think he's giving you good advice, but the one thing that I think your dad can definitely attest, the advice I'm about to give you, if you were in the first row, under no circumstances are you to reach out into the field of play and grab a ball?

25:12Rich Eisen:Are you aware of this? From a Cubs player. Okay. Has your dad told you this story of previous playoff Wrigley Field lore? Seth, have you told your son about this? a young man. Oh yeah, we watched the documentary 30 for 30 and everything. Okay, good. Alright. Just want to make sure our bases are covered because Grayson, this is a big day for you and I'm so thrilled that you decided to share it with us. Can I offer a suggestion? Sure. As long as it's not Tatis, Grayson, if you catch the home run, take pictures of yourself just so you have the moment and then you chuck the ball back. Just make sure you have pictures holding the ball, maybe a video, and then he's got to do it.

25:55All right.

25:56Rich Eisen:Terrific. Have a great time. Grayson and Seth Bartman on their way to the game. Calling into the rich eyes. Have fun, Grayson, man. You're going to remember that for the rest of your life, bro. That made my day. That phone call is exactly why we do a show like this. I'm telling everybody. When I say this, and I mean it, I mean it. What I do for a living, very lucky to do what I've done for a living, to suit and boot on television sets and be hosts. But a show like this one, I cannot hear from the Graysons and Seths of the world on a big day for a father son to share with us. I'm getting goosebumps talking about it.

26:35Rich Eisen:That's why we do a show like this one. So I can connect. We can connect with fans. So cool. And they want to share with us. Don't take that for granted at all. We had father daughter with you and Taylor. We had father and son. We're hitting. As George Valera hits a homer to give the Guardians a one nothing lead. There you go. All right. This man is currently second in the National Football League in touchdowns. Only Amon Ross St. Brown of Detroit has more than the five of Roma Dunze of the Chicago Bears joining us on the program. How are you, Rome? Appreciate y 'all having me. Thank you. Thank you.

27:08Rich Eisen:What a pleasure to see you here. What's going through your head right now through four weeks of your second season? Rome, how are you feeling? You know, we're sitting at two and two, so we're feeling good about the past two weeks. you know we've made some improvement from the first two weeks and going into bye obviously we got some guys down so looking to get all those guys healthy and come back and and win this game versus commander so doing good I mentioned your number of touchdowns and introducing you you James Cook and J.K. Dobbins the only players in the NFL to have a touchdown from scrimmage in each of the first four games of this season so has the game slowed down for you a little bit this year compared to last do you think I think definitely a little bit um you know obviously you know playing a year in the NFL gives you that experience to kind of know where things are going to hit and um know the different windows that you're going to be able to get the ball and you know Caleb and the offense has done a great job you know you know holding up their end of the deal and um having successful plays and I've been on the you know successful end of that um you know five times now so hopefully more to come okay and so um how how I guess have you improved what do you think you're doing better through the first four games Rome what do you think I think I'm just you know dialed in on my responsibilities obviously you know I took you know all of last year to you know understand what I need to get better at and try to emphasize those things when it came to wide receiver play blocking understanding offense and all those different things so I feel like I've improved you know overall in all those areas and it's allowed me to you know play free and fast and I'm able to capitalize on some of those opportunities Walk me through as well how things have changed with Ben Johnson as the new HC.

28:44Rich Eisen:So much is made of what he and Caleb are communicating about. What about you from the wide receiver room? Yeah, it's been great. You know, I think, you know, Coach Ben has been, you know, super, you know, intense with the offense and the team as a whole, just trying to take us where we need to go and being strict on those things. And I think that sort of culture and mindset has led us to, you know, continuing to develop and get better. So he's done a great job. And, you know, the wide receiver position is also, you know, one of his babies. He coached it in the past. So he's very, you know, diligent on all the details of the offense from our standpoint.

29:20And we appreciate that. And so is Coach Randall and the offensive staff as a whole. So we appreciate them.

29:24Rich Eisen:So you use the word diligent, strict. Give me examples. Intense as well. You got a good example of that? Yeah, I would say we had a split. A wide receiver split alignment that was supposed to be plus two and a half. I think one of the first times we went out there and did perfect plays, I was about plus three, maybe plus two and a half, and he let me hear it. So, you know, that was kind of the, you know, first instance of me really experiencing it. But it's an everyday thing, you know, and it leads us to having success, and it's important, so we appreciate it for him. What do you mean about letting you have it?

30:04Rich Eisen:Was it in front of everybody? oh i mean yeah he was coaching me in front of everybody for sure i mean he was telling me yeah it's plus two it's plus two what's the split on this um and we reset the whole place so yeah has he done that with everybody oh yeah yeah he owes everybody accountable to that standard for sure o-linemen um see will running backs uh wide receivers you know coaches everybody uh under under the organization he he wants to be perfection how has he done it with caleb if you have an example of that for me? Sure. I mean, you know, whether it's, you know, a replay, something, a play that we have to do, whether, you know, I mean, you know, there's so many different opportunities for quarterbacks to mess anything up because their job has, you know, that's responsibility.

30:49So, you know, I mean, even saying one word wrong, it's going to bug him. So those are all things that he's diligent on and we've reset before. But Caleb does a great job with it as well.

30:59Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, two and two and obviously some definitely improved situations based to last year, Rome, and your relationship with Caleb Williams. I'd love to dive into that for a couple of minutes here. If I'm not mistaken, is it true? My memory serves. Did you guys meet on a flight to the combine? Is that is that the first time you guys ever crossed paths? Yeah, I think it was. Obviously, I had played against him, but we didn't formally meet on the field that day. But, yeah, I think that was right. Flying into the combine, I think that was our first time actually meeting one another, I believe.

31:41Rich Eisen:After, obviously, playing in the same conference collegiately together. Right. And so, what is it like when the two of you talk ball, Rom? I mean, it really just comes from a, you know, quarterback to wide receiver sort of relationship, you know, obviously trying to understand how we can take advantage of defenses, you know, looking at our strengths and our weaknesses and seeing what we can improve on and understanding the relationship, you know, within those realms and then kind of playing that into the offense as well. So, you know, it varies from a bunch of different things, but honestly, we just trying to, you know, make each other better and be able to complete passes.

32:18Rich Eisen:yeah and so when you how often do you did do you talk it i mean how often do you guys sit down and start outside of a film room connect in that regard oh man that's a daily occurrence honestly that's a daily occurrence you know anything we see that out there on the practice field and i'm like okay i see it this way he sees it that way coach see it this way we make it all mesh you know and we make ends meet so um it's really a daily daily occurrence when we're out there but you know hopefully going into this by week we can talk about some other things okay yeah what are you doing for the bye what does the bye look like here i'm just gonna be here i'm just gonna be here i'm getting my body right um probably post out with my lady um go watch a movie and stuff like that that's about it oh what what movie are we watching what are you what are you gonna do oh man i don't know um what do we got i don't know there's some new there's some new movies out um i'm i'm a fan of a demon slayer it's a it's an anime so okay there's a movie uh version of that out right now so I'll probably go see that.

33:14Rich Eisen:Have you seen Sinners? Have you seen that? I have seen Sinners. I loved it. Yeah, I thought it was amazing. You know what I mean? Like, that was really good. And, I don't know, do you play the Bills this year? I don't know if you play the Bills. We had them preseason, so we got to go against I just mentioned that because, you know, Josh Allen obviously knows one of the stars of Sinners, for sure. You know, I just... Okay. I heard about that a little bit now she did a great job in the film it was awesome to see and you know josh is you know doing his thing on the field so their power power couple goals for sure so what do you say to people who might be stopping you around town asking about caleb and is he the real guy is he the real deal what's going on uh and his development i mean it seems like a daily conversation nationally i can only imagine what it's like in chicagoland rome what do you say to people who might actually start to talk to you about that subject matter i guess like me right now.

34:10Rich Eisen:What do you say? I mean, I've consistently, you know, held the belief that Caleb is doing everything in his power to continue to progress and, you know, become the best quarterback that he's capable of being. And I think he's capable of being the best in the NFL. So I think his thoughts, his actions, everything are going towards that. So I've said before, I mean, I'm in the building with him every day and I see that. So, you know, people outside the building sort of question that I don't know, you know, what that's based off of, but, you know, Caleb's been doing a great job obviously everybody's seen his progression and you know you know his fight his will so it's been incredible and when you come off the bye you know obviously you're going to a spot that has a recent history for you um and washington in the in that game last year where you guys took the lead late we all know what happened at the end of that game uh and and we also know what happened after that game and how it all sort of spiraled spiraled out and now you're in a different spot now.

35:07Rich Eisen:Will you go into that game with a different, with a sensibility of wiping the slate clean and cleansing the palate and showing how things are different now? Is that something we only talk about in the media? What do you make of that, Rome? For me, honestly, yeah, I don't think, you know, we go into it with that sort of mindset, honestly. I think all of our mindset is, you know, focused on this team and the present moment that we're in. And obviously the commanders are our next opponent. So, you know, we're going to go out there and compete at the highest level to go get a win, regardless of, you know, what the situation is or what people might say it is.

35:43But that's sort of our mindset. I don't think we're really focused on, obviously, you know, the things that happened last year.

35:49Rich Eisen:Has Randall L, Coach Randall L, you're bringing up Antoine Randall L, has he brought up the fact that he's thrown a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl to you guys? He hasn't brought up nothing, man. He hasn't brought up anything. He's really humble. and we know we haven't we've only seen glimpses of it when they turn on the highlights but all the coaching staff around him and everybody you know obviously in the building that was watching him when he was playing and has seen him play it was like man that was the real deal so we're all like oh was he really the real deal and he's all humbled about it but I'm sure he's got his highlights in the vault I mean he could show you where in Ford Field he threw the pass that's where they won the Super Bowl Rome you know what I mean I didn't know that that's crazy oh yeah oh let me he doesn't say okay uh what and nothing in the state of illinois either of indiana football crushing right now he doesn't even talk about that nothing like that at all he doesn't man he doesn't i'm telling he's real humble about it okay we gotta we gotta remind him like hey man you really did that he did i mean he was the real he threw it to heinz ward for a touchdown in the super bowl uh for the steelers and um do you talk to penix at all have you spoken to michael penix Yeah, we've chopped it up a little bit.

36:58Yeah, we've chopped it up. We've chopped it up preseason a good bit. Since the season has started, we've been dialed in a little bit. But obviously, we got our dogs group chatting. And we had Ohio State last week. So cheering on those boys and all that. But, you know, that's my brother. I know he's QB1 out there. So he's got a lot on his plate. But it was awesome to see, you know, have a bounce back week and go get that W. So and we'll be watching his film here. So we get to see his highlights.

37:22Rich Eisen:You know, I know you guys, Washington was taking on Ohio State last week. I was rooting for you because, you know, I went to Michigan, Rome. So, you know, I was – I know, I'm sorry. I know that that's kind of like a four-letter word to you. I get it. But everything seems to have worked out for you at the next level. Do you have a number in your head of touchdowns you want to score based off of the number that you've already scored this year? You've got five through four weeks. Is there a number in your head of number of times you want to hit the end zone or you think you can this year? I mean, no, I don't have a number, man.

37:56Obviously, you know, I've had a hot start. I think it's, what, 23 touchdowns in a season? Receiving touchdowns is a record?

38:02Rich Eisen:I believe we can look that up right now. Randy Moss, yes, sir. That's 2007. That's it. Yeah, if we're not shooting for that, then we're selling ourselves short, so I guess I got to go get 24. There you go. Ladies and gentlemen, Roman Dunze here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay. and how have you taken to the great awesome city of Chicago have you wound up in a spot that you like a restaurant you like food that you like north side south side I don't want to get you in trouble but I'm just throwing that out here to you Rome yeah I have man the city of Chicago has been a lot of love honestly you know welcoming since the start obviously they got their passion for football and their you know criticisms but we appreciate them and all that they you know go out there with that passion and bring the rocks.

38:48So, but yeah, I've got lots of food spots, man. Man, there's so many.

38:53Rich Eisen:I mean, have you done a wiener circle yet? Like one in the morning, two in the morning? Have you done that yet, Rome? Have you done a wiener circle? I haven't done that yet, man. I haven't done that yet. So I don't know what that's in my future, but well, listen, you don't have to do it that late at night, but when you go there, you just need to know what you're ordering before you go up there. I just, maybe because you're a top notch Chicago bear, they might let you slide if you don't do it the right way but if you think so they'll curse him out they'll curse him out oh i didn't know that's okay you gotta be ready for that yeah man you gotta have your head on a swivel uh when you go to the wiener circle okay just just think about that but it's also worth your time uh that's for sure um and you know enjoy your enjoy your bye week rome and i appreciate you chopping it up with me uh because again um i'm sure you're aware i know the cubs are in the playoffs right now and The Bulls are about to start their season.

39:45Rich Eisen:But if the Bears win it all, it's a football town. Chicago is a football town through and through. I think you've noticed that, right? Yeah, most definitely. Yeah, most definitely. They got football in the blood. So we appreciate them. And we know we're continuing to progress and put this team at one of the top echelon teams in the NFL. So we know the city is going to be rocking when we accomplish that. But it's coming. All right, Rome. Thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it. congrats on the great start for you statistically and for your team being two and two going into the bye week and best of luck and look for more of my calls.

40:20Rich Eisen:Oh, by the way, I've just been told in my ear, it was the draft. Wasn't the combine that you were on the flight with Caleb Williams. You were going to the draft together on that one. Yeah. And I think you were going back and forth about flying the plane or you're glad you're only flying the plane or if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. That's the way the story goes. I think I did fly. Yeah, that's right. Actually, now we know it. You're definitely landing it very well right now. Thanks for the time, Rome. Greatly appreciate it, sir. That's what's wrong with you right here on the Rich Eisen Show. So much fun right there.

40:50Rich Eisen:That's for you out there, everybody listening on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. See, we're partners. We're partners. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the show. Don't you dare move. We'll take your phone calls. Who else is going to the Cubs game? Give us a call. Adam.

41:14The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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42:41Rich Eisen:The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE certified master technicians. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. 24-4, 204-RICH, number to dial right here on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance. Dylan Gabriel has been named the starting quarterback. He was the third-round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns at the time. Everyone was surprised it wasn't Shador Sanders, and then we got surprised it was Shador Sanders in the fifth round, certainly after you chose Dylan Gabriel in the third. open competition Shador crushed it in his one preseason start I went on the air and said everyone's going to boo every single time it's not Shador getting the start been a little off on that I think certainly if Dylan Gabriel shows up and shows out it won't be at the dog pound and also won't be on the road domestically it's a home game first guy ever to make his first start in an international series game and he's going to do it against the Minnesota Vikings, who I believe started blitzing five minutes ago.

43:49Rich Eisen:Dylan Gabriel on his readiness for this start. You know, I got a text from a good buddy of mine, and he sent me a picture of a fire station, you know, and like it's kind of like, why are you sending that, you know? But when he sends it, you know, he just lists the obvious, right? Like doors are open, garage doors are open, like things are ready to go, and like they're just waiting on that phone call. to like respond surgically and like just what a great representation of like the job i had and and being ready for that moment and i think you know i smile because it's like a moment you prep for and you you are extremely excited for but also got to realize that it's extreme focus and and that's what i've continued to harp on but you wait for the perfect time you know you're gonna wait a whole lifetime so for me i'm just i've always been ready for every moment Went to root for, that's for sure.

44:46Rich Eisen:Remember he came on the show before he was drafted? It's just like, hey, everybody, I know you're talking about Shador, and I know you're talking about Cam Ward, and I know you're talking about Jackson Dart. And I know Tyler Shuck was coming out of the combine. Everyone's talking about him. But remember me? I was on the Heisman podium. Remember the 63 starts in three different places? I've got the record for most touchdowns accounted for and tied for the most touchdown passes in the history of college football. Six-year starter. Woo! And those are the guys who do perform well in the league, right?

45:24Rich Eisen:Brock Purdy. Experience. Bo Nix. Yeah. Those who have seen it and done it. I just don't know if he's seen anything like Brian Flores' defenses. And they're going to test him. They're going to test that line. Hopefully, Quinshawn Judkins can take some of the pressure off with a running game, as he has been able to do. And then just look for your tight end. Look for Jerry Judy. And look for the way through. And the Cleveland Browns, after that, will be taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, guess what? Those are two teams that just faced one another. and the Steelers just came up with six sacks and two takeaways and the Vikings are pissed about losing.

46:12Rich Eisen:And they're coming across from Ireland and they're the ones who are already there, used to the time zone, and you're the one who's at a press conference in Berea on a Wednesday talking about my first career start. It's a tough one. But I said Jackson Dart had a real tough assignment against the Los Angeles Chargers, and he marched down the field and ran one in to cap his first career drive as a pro and won the game. Crazier things have happened. The opportunity is sitting there for him to take it. It's there. Because Deshaun Watson is going to maybe walk through that door next year, and a lot of fans don't want to see him anymore.

46:54Rich Eisen:Will the Browns take that opportunity? Will they have all those draft choices to choose someone else? Well, guess what? Dylan Gabriel has the opportunity to quiet all those conversations and ball out and spin it and be the answer for the Cleveland Browns. That is in the ether as we're currently sitting here with one another entering our three of this Wednesday. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs.

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