Hour 2: ‘Overreaction Tuesday’ plus FOX Sports’ NFL Analyst Mark Schlereth

0:00The Laminya Maal steps into McDonald's, looks left, sees Pulisic, looks right, sees Jimenez. Gives a nod to Ronaldinho in the corner with a FIFA World Cup meal. Ronaldinho sees Son in the booth. Son finds Beckham going for extra Big Mac sauce. He's got Davies at the table just behind him. Davies going for his collectible cup. A steal by Henri, who pulls his own collectible cup. Collect one of nine legendary cups with a FIFA World Cup meal. At participating McDonald's for a limited time. While supplies last. All rights reserved. 2026 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 2026.

0:30Rich Eisen:Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with Power Boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Goats only trust Goats, because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell. 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.

1:17But 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.

1:30Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Let me break it down for you again. The Rich Eisen Show. Devontae Smith. Let's go. Many got it. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. You hold good football teams to 10 points, you should win the football game. Earlier on the show, Chargers wide receiver, Ladd McConkie. Coming up, three-time Super Bowl champion, Mark Schleren. Actors, Ted Danson and Mary Steenbergen. And now, Rich Eisen. Well, that's right. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, and of course, ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. Hello, Sirius XM Channel 80 listeners as well.

2:12Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We just said goodbye to Lad McConkie, as we refer to him here as Mr. Garvey once upon a time. The DD McConkie. Listen, you know we like being right around here. We love it. But we like being nuanced. We like just hanging out. But listen, what this is all about is about being heard and having that acknowledged. Did you see what the Chargers just sent out? Birthday wishes to Ladini. I don't know if they spilled it right. Who cares? That's awesome. I agree. I think there are. That's incredible. It's right. But I think it is D-E-E. Yeah, that's it. We need a little more.

2:55Rich Eisen:I mean, a few more E's. But let's not. Yeah, I'm not going to. Let's not pick this. You know what I mean? I like that. That is amazing. That is so good. I'm telling you, man. When D.D. When Herbert said D.D. after the game, I was just like, I had to rewind it. D.D. now shortened it. Just D.D. D.D. now shortened it as a nickname. D.D. Fantastic. Cut out two of them. Two of them. Mary Steenburgen coming up in hour number three. It'll be great. By the way, that was awesome what we just did. That was so much fun with the USC. the Trojan students of Professor Schuster. Because we never have people watching this in here, right?

3:32Rich Eisen:We like audiences. It's kind of like, oh, wow. They're like really paying attention. Usually it's just us chickens zooming with Mark Schlereth. Look at all those chickens. Mark Schlereth back here on the Rich Isaac Show from Fox Sports three-time Super Bowl champion. Good to see you, Mark. How are you? I'm doing good, Rich. How are you, my friend? I'm just going to jump into the conversation that we were having at the end of our number one about Matt LaFleur flat out asked in his media post-press conference last night after the Packers lose their first game at home after giving up 10 or fewer points, by the way, since Jim Harbaugh's Bears from Mike Ditka beat them 10-0 in Lambeau Field in 1991.

4:08Rich Eisen:So it's been a long time since they've seen a loss like this. And now they're 5-3-1. He was flat out asked about his job status. Do you think it's fair that Matt LaFleur is on a hot seat right now in Green Bay, Mark? No, no. Matt LaFleur has been a hell of a coach. They've won a lot of games in Green Bay. No. Do I think that's fair? I think it's endemic of the National Football League right now. Rich, when you look around the National Football League, the level of inconsistency, especially on the offensive side of the ball, it's littered across the National Football League. So, you know, you can sit there and say it's an injury issue.

4:45You can say, hey, it's a lack of preparation. It's a lack of continuity because of the way we practice or the lack thereof practice. all the different things that are attributing factors to the lack of consistent offensive play. And we've seen it with, you know, we saw it on Thursday night between the Raiders and the Broncos and the lack of consistency on the offensive side of the ball, especially for the Broncos. We've seen it, obviously, in that Green Bay-Philadelphia game. We've seen Buffalo get shut out for three quarters against the Miami Dolphins. So we have seen this on a consistent basis throughout the season.

5:21And I think it's I think it has it points back to just the way we practice or the lack of practice, the lack of doing things in full pads, the things that that have contributed to, you know, offensive inconsistencies in this league.

5:36Rich Eisen:Interesting. I mean, if you let's I'm going to call an Omaha here with my producer, Mike Hoskins, put up the NFC and AFC standings because you're not wrong. You know, with the NFC standings, you're talking about offensive inconsistency. The Eagles last night had it on the same field. Right. And then you take a look at the Bears. That's been somewhat inconsistent. The Lions have a new play caller. His name is Dan Campbell. You know, the Panthers are another example. The Vikings are another example for various reasons. the only outliers right now in that regard with seven win teams the Seahawks and the Rams have not had those problems and then you take a look at the American football conference you mentioned the Bills being one of them uh the Chiefs um you know had a nice stretch but we've seen some up and down play from there the Broncos my goodness gracious either there's a fourth quarter wake up or there isn't but it doesn't matter when they're eight and two the Steelers we just saw it against the Chargers on Sunday night.

6:41Rich Eisen:The Colts and the Patriots may be outliers there as well. So you think it's an inconsistency due to practice and the way that it gets to the collective bargaining agreement overall sets up the way players can be utilized in season and not, Mark? Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. I think the other thing that happens is when you don't practice that way, it's really hard to establish an identity. This is what we are. and so like when I travel around the league polling games it's unbelievable how much is called at the line of scrimmage and it's always been you know there's always been that kind of check with me or can it packages across the National Football League but in today's game like 80-90 % it feels like it's called at the line of scrimmage like hey we're going into the line of scrimmage with multiple plays like we can run this or we can run that hey if the strong safety down, we're checking to a weak side run.

7:37If the weak safety's down, we're checking to a strong side run. If they keep two safeties up, we're going to check to a pass. And ultimately, it's to say, hey, we want to get a premium play based upon the look we're getting. Well, the problem is those looks change. The other problem is when you're always kind of waiting around as an offense, it's hard to establish an identity. It's hard to just come off the ball and shorten somebody's neck because you're always just kind of waiting around to see and letting the defense kind of dictate what we're going to do as an offense. And some of that is because you don't get to practice a lot of those things in the regular season.

8:14You don't get to say, hey, man, this is what we run. We're going to come off. And, you know, in my time, I'm sure you've seen Dodgeball, you know, the movie Dodgeball, one of my favorite movies.

8:26Rich Eisen:Yes. But Global Gym, you know, Global Gym, their motto was, you know, we're better than you and we know it. And so in my day, like we would line up and just say, we're going to whip your ass because we've run this 10 ,000 times. You've defended it 100 times. We're better at it than you. So you can line up in anything you want to line up. I've done everything. It's like you can line up in a 57 front, a 4-3 front, a 25 front. You can line up in 3-4 front. You can line up in anything you want. We're going to line up and we're going to whip you because we've done it so much more than you. Well, that's not how the game is played today anymore because you don't get to put those pads on.

9:05You don't get to work those reps in practice. We've got to save everybody's, you know, not only everybody's health, but we've got to save everybody's feelings nowadays. You know, we can't hurt anybody's feelings because then that would be that would be, you know, a penalty worth. and I don't know what. But anyhow, those are the things that are going on in today's game. And I think it's one of the reasons you see so much inconsistency from the offensive side of the ball.

9:29Rich Eisen:So are you saying when you're wondering why the Eagles don't have an identity, they should throw a wrench at it? Is that what you're saying? Like if you don't have a ball, you should just take a wrench? Yes, yes. Because if you can dodge a ball, then you can dodge a wrench. Everybody knows that. Well, I mean, in that respect, Mark, though, is how does a team whose identity was so clear last year with the Eagles, you know, have trouble finding it this year? Is it as simple as their offensive coordinator is new? I mean, let's turn the page to the Eagles side of things. Are there any concerns here for a team that otherwise is atop the conference, despite how ugly it looks at times?

10:14yeah and and part of that you know part of that is the growth like hey listen um new coordinator it's always it's always to get on that same page and have that same feeling like i'm a big believer in if we go up to a certain situation you know and we always talk about situational football i get into a certain situation and it's third down and two or second down and two whatever it is and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt, three plays are coming in. These are the three plays we run in this situation. And it doesn't matter that the defense knows because, again, we're better than you and we know it.

10:50And so there's comfort in that. There's consistency and continuity in that. And I think that that's part of the learning curve when you get a new coordinator. The other thing for them is, hey, listen, we ran the ball so effectively last year. Well, some of our offensive line has changed. We've had some injuries on the offensive line. We changed our right guard. So there's a lack of continuity there. So that changes a little bit. The other thing is, can we continue to put our quarterback in harm's way with the run stuff that we do? We want to develop into more of a drop-back passing organization.

11:25So that's part of the change that goes on. And then all of a sudden you feel you get eight, nine, ten games in. You're like, yeah, we're not very productive doing what we're doing right now. And so I think all of that feeds into it, you know, where you want to grow as an offense, how you want to develop as an offense. And then you've got, are your wide receivers complaining? You're like, do they want the ball more? You know, like, is A.J. Brown happy? So I think there's a lot of these things that go into trying to grow an offense sometimes. And I'm just a big believer in when things aren't working, Rich, and this is just from experience of playing and then calling games and being around the NFL most of my adult life is that any time that I have struggled or we have struggled as an offense, the answer is always simple it down.

12:18That's always the answer. Because when you have it as complex and it becomes so complex that people have to think, I mean, we're a game full of PE majors, right? I mean, honestly, I'm a general studies. I have a general studies degree from the University of Idaho. Right. So like my my education is an inch deep and a mile wide. Keep the questions, you know, general and I can answer them. Get specific and we're going to be in trouble. So, like, I think there's an aspect of it is I want to be as aggressive as possible. And the more I have to think, the slower I end up playing. and that's part of you've got to call an offense not based on all the things you can do, but you've got to call an offense based on the dumbest guy you have on the offensive side of the ball.

13:10We've got to make sure that that guy doesn't screw up. You've got to be able to... We might have a bunch of smart dudes and a bunch of guys that can assimilate and really understand multiple complex multiple complex kind of play calls and all that stuff. But if we got one dumb dude on the offensive line or one dumb dude in the backfield, then we got to dumb our offense down to that guy's level so that we can be successful. And you got to realize that you'll never make up for that dude if he can't handle the calls and the checks and all the different things that we do as an offense.

13:48Rich Eisen:Mark Schlereth, keeping it simple, here on the Rich Eisen Show. Sometimes you just waste your time with complexities. If there's one dumb guy, it doesn't matter how many Harvard or Stanford grads are on your team. It's the lowest common denominator bringing you down. Weakest link. Fantastic. So who's the best team in the NFL entering week 11? I was talking over the last couple days, Mark. Seriously, I can't recall a more wide open Super Bowl race in my time. Yeah. I'll answer your question. The team right now that I think is the best team on film that I've watched, the Rams. Okay. I think the Rams are, I think, obviously, both lines of scrimmage, they can play defensively.

14:36They can get after the quarterback. They can do all those things. I think one of the cool things for me is going back to Sean McVay when he first got to the Rams. I remember doing a game, maybe his first or second year, and they were in 11 personnel, three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back, 98 % of the time. The only time they got out of 11 personnel was at the end of the half or the end of the game when they were going kneel down, essentially, to get out of the half or get out of the game, right? They won, victory formation, they got out of it. Right now, when you watch them, they probably are the number one team in football when it comes to three tight end formations, two tight end formations.

15:16They got four dudes that play tight end. They can all play. And they all are cookie cutters, right? They're all like 6 '5", 250. They can all run. They can all block on the edge. They can all pass protect. That's a problem. It's a problem for NFL teams because you dictate to the defense. And so they've got all these dudes. And ultimately, when they get into these heavy formations, you want to match them in heavy personnel, right? You want to bring in your big-bodied linebackers and all that stuff. And this is just science, Rich. I haven't checked it out with anybody other than me. Again, it goes to the general studies aspect of this.

15:55But fat guys don't run as fast as skinny guys. So I want to get as many fat guys on defense out there playing as I possibly can. And because of the tight end formations they use, they get a lot of fat guys that don't run as fast. There are great matchups for those guys. And they're cutting people up on the offensive side of the ball. And their quarterback has been lights out.

16:18Rich Eisen:Yeah, and so the defense doesn't know what play's coming from the same formation. And that's been a McVay staple for nine years. So you choose them as the best in football. Who's the best in the AFC? You've got eight win teams in three different spots. And I know the Colts just bounced back, and Jonathan Taylor may be the MVP of the league. But the Patriots, who you've seen in recent days, Mark, I know everybody's waiting for the pumpkin to come out of the carriage here, but I don't know, man. Vrabel's got them cooked up along with McDaniels and Drake May, and the rookies are doing all right. They had a hell of a draft.

17:00Rich Eisen:They're all playing well. They're all contributing. Christian Gonzalez may be the best defensive player people don't talk about. They're for real, Mark. I kind of went high register there. Who's the best in the AFC? What do you got for the game? Yeah, they are for real. I don't think there's any question. And, like, I wouldn't hesitate to put the New England Patriots there. I mean, they're exceptionally well coached under Mike Vrabel. And you can say what you want about Josh McDaniels as a head coach, but as an offensive coordinator, that dude knows what he's doing. And the way Drake May is playing, I mean, they are so good.

17:39And it's interesting to watch Drake May, you know, how they're operating as an offense, how they're giving him the front side of the read, one to two. And then, you know, having a conversation with Josh McDaniels, he goes, hey, one to two, I'd like him to get to three or four. And he does occasionally. But most of the time, it's one, two, take off, go make something happen with your feet. You know, go make something happen with your legs. And there's this natural progression that's going on right now as he is growing as a quarterback. And they're allowing that to happen. They're not trying to force it to happen.

18:10They're allowing it to happen on a natural level, and he's athletic enough to bail himself out of situations. And then they're exceptionally well coached. Did you see Trevi Henderson running down the sideline and then looking over at Rabel to go, can I go in here? Or do you want me to kneel? Like, what do you want me to do? It's just phenomenal to watch. And I've been out there. I've done a couple of their games. Watch Mike Rabel in practice. Watch the way this team works. the attention to detail. I think they're as well coached as any team in the National Football League, and their players are playing lights-out football right now.

18:46And they're big and physical. So it's a rabble trait. We're going to play exceptionally smart. We're going to be big, and we're going to be physical and control both lines of scrimmage. And that's what they've been able to do.

18:59Rich Eisen:And then, of course, in the AFC, there's two division winners year in and year out. Well, that's three, right? I mean, four. My goodness gracious. I'm on the fly here Chiefs have sat atop the AFC West forever and a day the Bills atop the AFC East forever and a day the Texans who you're seeing against the Titans calling on Fox this week, Mark with a big comeback win over the Jaguars to keep any hopes that they have alive of making the playoffs maybe it's a wild card because the Colts are so far in front of them, and then you got the Ravens at 4-5, now just a game behind in the AFC North Which of those four teams do you think that usually come up on top will, in fact, win their division?

19:42Rich Eisen:You could say none if you want, Mark. What do you think? Yeah, I think the Ravens will win that North division. And I think that, yeah, I think the Ravens, at the end of the day, with health, because they had four or five guys on the defensive side of the ball that weren't playing, obviously. Lamar wasn't playing for a while. And I just believe that the rest of that division with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Browns, not very good. Browns are awesome on defense, but just not overall very good football team right now. And then I think the Steelers are kind of paper Tigers at this particular point in time.

20:20So I think Ravens are going to come out and win that division.

20:23Rich Eisen:All right, so let me remove Ravens from it. Texans, who you're seeing, Bills, and I'm going to put you in a spot. I know you're seeing the Texans this week. Bills or Chiefs. One of those three win their division or none. What do you think? Call your shot here. I think the Chiefs have a chance still to win. The Chargers have had all kinds of injuries. They're sitting at 7-3 right now, but they're an inconsistent football team. The Chiefs aren't. The Broncos, outstanding defense. They play this weekend, the Broncos and the Chiefs. Outstanding defense, but they have sputtered on offense if not for a couple of fourth quarters that team you know that team would be in third place in the AFC West right now so I think the Chiefs still have a chance to rectify things Andy Reid coming off a bye week we know he's like 21 and 4 or something ridiculous coming off the bye week so I think that I think the Chiefs have a chance to still win this division only a couple of games behind or a game behind, I guess, the Chargers and a couple of games behind the Broncos.

21:30Rich Eisen:His podcast, Stinkin' Truth Podcast with Mark Schlereth. Get it wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, check Mark out with the Titans and Texans on Fox in the early window of a terrific week 11. Thanks for the time as always, brother. You make us smarter and laugh at the same time. Thanks. I appreciate you, Rich. Take care, buddy. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. General Studies from My Idaho himself, Mark Schlereth, studying generally here on the Rich House. An inch deep and a mile long. I've never heard that before. Mark. He studies generally. In the same way that grocery shoppers manage generally.

22:06Rich Eisen:Every week he says something that just has us cracking up for a few days. Outstanding. All right. We'll take a break. Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. Also still heading this hour. Is Joe Burrow coming back? It's Thanksgiving. It's coming up. The Rich Isis Show Podcast

22:49Rich Eisen:Now we're talking. So grab a bag of Lay's and jump on the bandwagon. We're undefeated. Lay's, the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Rich Eisen here, and summer's here too. And that means it's travel season. My favorite summer trip last year was to Sao Paulo, Brazil. With so many fans traveling for the Los Angeles against Kansas City game, they got to see how lively the city is. I love the culture and the amazing food that I'm still craving. Those memories remind everyone that it's that time of year to plan a little getaway. And that's why summer has a way of turning weekends into big events.

23:25Rich Eisen:One minute, it's a normal week, and then all of a sudden, a huge concert, sporting event, or festival brings people in from all over. And when that happens, visitors start looking for places to stay all across your city. So if you're already planning a summer trip of your own, you could list your space on Airbnb and earn a little extra cash while you're away. It doesn't have to be some big year-round commitment. It's about making the most of a busy weekend when your place would just be empty otherwise. I can tell you, people love finding a place that helps them feel connected to the city that they're visiting.

23:58Rich Eisen:If your city's about to have a big summer moment, this is a great time to maximize your space. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Save$2 when you buy two cans of Superior Products Coverall tire dressing. Plus receive four times O rewards points now at O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Coverall delivers long-lasting shine. Visit your O 'Reilly Auto Parts store or OReillyAuto.com. Back here on the Rich Eisen show here on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. on the TV side for a radio audience. We just showed Keegan-Michael KB and Mr. Garvey when he was here doing a roll call.