Hour 2: Raiders’ & Cards’ HC Seardch, Dusty May vs MSU Students, plus Josh Lucas In-Studio

0:00So good, so good, so good. Spring styles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now, and they're up to 60 % off. Stock up and save on Rag & Bone, Madewell, Vince, All Saints, and more of your favorites. How did I not know Rack has Adidas? Why do we rack? For the hottest deals. Just so many good brands. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite Rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. 5 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink. Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work.

0:37Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down. Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live, fit, go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. 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 Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment.

1:21Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I would say to the Pats now, who wins the game is not the team with the best players. Who wins the game is the players with the best team. Today's guests. Actor Josh Lucas. Actor Nikolai Koster-Waldau. Super Bowl 60 storylines. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:54Rich Eisen:Hour number two, The Rich Eisen Show on the air on Disney Plus and the ESPN app, our usual spots. But we're on ESPN linear cable today as well. So we say hello to everybody out there watching ESPN and listening on ESPN radio or Sirius XM channel 808. 444-204-RICH is the number to dial. Have a chat with us. The actor Nicholas Koster-Waldau is going to be in studio. The Kingslayer, Nikolai, pardon me, is going to be in studio in hour number three of this show. so we're gonna have a great chat with the the kingslayer of the game of thrones from back in the day but joining us now uh from palm royale we just talked about shrinking with uh ted mcginley last week and available on apple tv another hit show palm royale season two at its finale uh last month back here on the rich eisen show actor josh lucas is here good to see you buddy how are you man good to see you man very happy to be in the nicest stage studio of all of hollywood Thank you, sir.

2:49I will take that, man.

2:50Rich Eisen:I will take that from you and run with it. And, you know, obviously so much to talk about with you. Let's start with the sports aspect of it. Well, you know what I want to talk about? This was this was the first weekend without football. And I'm struggling a little bit. I thought about it. I was like, what's it like for you, man? I mean, I know we have this big Super Bowl coming up, but like, yeah, I literally told my brother, I was like, I'm worried about the postpartum depression. Tell me about it. I mean, do you go through it every year? I go through it every year where I'm wondering, you know, there's a void.

3:24Rich Eisen:But yesterday was the first Sunday I had not been on television or worked in quite some time. And I looked up in the sky. I'm like, wow, the sun is shining. Like there's an outdoors, you know. But then at the end of the. So is it a good feeling for you then that you get a break and the rest of us just suffer? Listen, it's the ultimate first class problem. But, you know, yes, football not being played. And then after the Super Bowl is over, it is a complete and total loss. It's a void. You know what I mean? What I think has really surprised me about this season, you know, we've talked about it before.

4:01I'm a lifelong Seahawks fan. I've got this 13-year-old boy who's as big an obsessive fan as – and so the two of us, we really share it, right? Yes. And because the NFL has just become so shockingly brilliant in its entertainment and that wild card weekend when you were able to lock in for four games in a row, you know, that were some of the best sports I've ever seen. Right. Yeah. Every single game. Right. I even heard him, you know, Mike McDonald talking about it. The coach of the Seahawks saying how he was like, you know, I started to care deeply about one team winning when why did I care so much about one?

4:34And, you know, he was and I had that feeling. So there's kind of that post weekend let down every time of like, OK, back to reality. Right. To be so involved in the sport. But then with the Seahawks in particular, this whole season, I found myself being kind of emotional in a way that's been surprising to me.

4:52Rich Eisen:What do you mean? Like, well, so we were lucky. We got to see both games, both Rams games, meaning the one that was here that they lost. Right. You know, the last second with the field goal. And then obviously the extraordinary one at Lumen Field. Which the Thursday night one? Yeah, the Thursday night one. Oh, my gosh. Which was, it was mind-blowing to be in that stadium. Now, what was it like, though, early fourth quarter when you're down 30 to 14? The Rams just picked off Sam Darnold inside the five-yard line, and you thought this thing was what? Well, literally, this is why I'm saying all this, was because I thought, like, do we go?

5:27You know what I mean? Because there was reasons why we had a very early flight. There was a bunch of different reasons. And my heart was like, I was hurting. and i was like my heart was like having this kind of like emotional reaction i was like that's wrong you can't you can't i don't even mention that right yes and so obviously then it that you know he does the the return and suddenly we're back in it and but like the emotion i've never ever understood what it is to be a soccer hooligan but suddenly i'm like oh i get it like i get it I understand why, you know, Bill's fans are suffering the way that they are.

6:03And so emotionally, like, that's what's been surprising. And even obviously in this last playoff game with the Rams, I mean, I felt like I was on a roller coaster. My son was like, calm down, dad. And I'm like, oh, my God.

6:15Rich Eisen:So you pass this on to your son. That's what you're saying. You know, I. Or vice versa. And it might be the fact that he's so invested and that it's something we share so deeply together. We're so like we just lock in during. Yeah. How did the Seahawks become the team, though? I mean, you're born in Arkansas, and you bounced around, right? I bounced around, but I went to high school in the Seattle, Gig Harbor, Washington, a small little fishing village not far. And so the first NFL game I ever went to was in the Kingdom, the Steve Largent, great Jim Zorn era. Yes. So the first team that I ever supported for the NFL was, I guess, a little late in my life.

6:54So that's the first thing I shared with my dad, First time we ever went to an NFL game, King Dome, like all of it. And so I became a Seahawks fan at that point and have always stayed one. But then, you know, then I think it does have to do with the fact that my son has just grabbed onto it so hard, so deeply.

7:11Rich Eisen:Right. Now you've bonded. And now look at all those pictures that we just showed from your Instagram where you're just locked in and you're tattooing your face and stuff like that. You are into it, like all the way in. And Darnold doing what he's doing and JSN doing what he's doing and Cup doing what he's doing in the running game. And they're just so young and talented and fast. They play fast. They hit you in the mouth, too. So they're quick and they're physical, which is what you obviously want in a football team. You know what I mean? You know, I think what John Schneider, the GM, has done there is the fact that this guy's gotten executive of the year with two different organizations, in a sense, even though it's the same organization.

7:54It's the first time, obviously, people know that's ever. You know, people who really follow sports know that that's happened. But what this guy's done, and even down to, like, did you hear that he went to mass, you know, he's a Catholic and went to mass and prayed to be able to hire Mike McDonald? That is news to me. I did not know that. did and and you realize like that's how deeply that you know his like it's almost sacrilegious but like yes you know his his true deep um understanding of the game his ability all the things that he's done is is really remarkable and that i i am struck by mike mcdonald i'm struck by like the interesting like tactician of him the quietness of him you know coaching really fascinates me and i just am in awe of what this team and this guy's done and i mean you know my son believes that we might be on the verge of a dynasty well i'll leave you with this nugget then

8:48Rich Eisen:before you move on a little bit here uh josh lucas is that because that nfl network research department i don't know if the hell they they snagged this but um i should know what john schneider did to hopefully sway the coach to be hired right that every time there's been a new Pope, the Seahawks have made the Super Bowl. Did you know that? I did. That's why there's this weird, obviously, the Pope element, but then the fact that John Schneider went and prayed at mass. Well, I guess it's a good thing they didn't take on the Bears because the current Pope is a Bears fan. Absolutely. So that would have smashed up against higher powers.

9:28But I loved your episode that you did recently, which was all of the mind-boggling statistics of that Rams matchup of that playoff matchup yeah just how close it is I mean it was yeah like it was one point difference in terms of the history of the series but also everything about it is just and you know I will say as well during that playoff game and the fact that we ended up winning I did feel a little bit like oh that was the Super Bowl you know there was a sense of there

9:55Rich Eisen:is that sense you know um except the Patriot fan over there might beg to differ and we'll see you next weekend that's right there's no doubt and it's just that the 2001 patriots team also had a second year quarterback and a second time head coach go up against an nfc west team that was supposed to spank him and we all know what happened in that one so like it's it's truly the any given sunday but you take a look at the matchup and the seahawks do come in i think as the better team for sure they're on fire right now they really are i mean you've seen it you've seen them just grow and develop and and even down to like that moment after the rams win and the playoffs the other night where you saw mike mcdonald say he didn't care like there was something kind of cold in a way that i've not seen from him which was like oh this guy i've always sensed again to go to the coaching of it all right that he was now he's not the friend of all the players but there was a kind of very friendly jovial kind of good guy aspect to him but suddenly to see that the the the hard edge to him that is appearing.

10:59But I feel that way throughout the whole way the Hawks are playing and the discipline of what they're doing, which is why obviously that moment when the, you know, the taunting file happened the other day, you saw the team. It's like not acceptable. They are, they're playing in a unified, cohesive way that I think is a testament to the organization as a whole. But that's what, you know, again, we'll see what the Superbowl, I'm fascinated by Vrabel too. I mean, And Vrabel is obviously his own force to do what he's done. Yeah, man. So he's two young, powerful coaches coming. It's great. The NFL is on fire.

11:31Rich Eisen:Speaking of coaching, I've got Josh Lucas here on the Rich Eisen Show. We talked about this the last time you were here, but we have a new audience, so I'd love to just dive into it. I was at the UCLA women's basketball game with my daughter, wife, and some of her friends and our friends yesterday in Pauley Pavilion. And I show them the banners that are hanging in Pauley Pavilion. in 64, 65, and then 67 all the way to 73. And the 1966 one is missing. Yeah, of course. Because that's the glory road year. The great Don Haskins. Obviously, the great Don Haskins, who you played in the film, the Disney film.

12:06Rich Eisen:Here we are on Disney+. You met Don Haskins, right? Did you meet him? Oh, more than that. I spent a lot of time with him. In fact, even after the movie was done, I would occasionally go down to El Paso and get in his big white pickup and go out to the desert and drink tequila. It was one of the best things I've ever heard of. You know, the first time I met Haskins, he walked up to me and very gruffly sort of patted me on the belly and said, you better start drinking beer, son. They called me the fat man. You know? It was like. That's what he said to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, Jerry Bruckheimer, who's the producer of that movie, is a brilliant producer, obviously.

12:43He's proved it, you know, for decades now. And one of the things that Jerry Bruckheimer does that separates him is he gives, like with Tom Cruise, he's putting them with the drivers for F1, right? He's putting, or sorry, Tom Cruise with the fighter pilots, right? I mean, they're doing immersive, detailed, diligent research to become those people, like Brad Pitt with F1 or whatever. So with what he did with me is he surrounded me with unbelievable coaches. I had Pat Riley. I had Tim Floyd, coach of Chicago Bulls. Tim Floyd was interesting because he was Don Haskins basically adopted son and truly Haskins raised him and raised him to be a certain kind of coach and so not only did I have Haskins with me I had these different coaches who were really imparting sort of you know coaching wisdom onto me to the point that at times I would get really frustrated and be like I'm an actor I'm not a coach you know because I had to almost push back and be like I'm trying to do a performance I get That you guys want to see that particularly because what Bruckheimer was doing and the director of that movie is that we were not so much improvising, but some of the stuff that was happening on the sidelines or in the during the games was very much.

13:56They wanted to see the essence of what made Don Haskins the coach he was in those little huddles that were before, you know, during the games. Right. And so they would be saying to me, you should be saying this and you should be saying this and you should be saying this. both Haskins, both Floyd and Pat Riley in particular. And it was like I had these deep conversations with them about what made great coaching. And Haskins was very unusual. You know, I think in some ways Haskins out Bobby Knighted Bobby Knight and his intensity, which is saying, you know, it's kind of the ultimate level, right?

14:27But what struck me about Don Haskins is how much his players loved him. Even decades later, they talked about him as the most important person in their whole life, almost to a man, every player I met. And that's what it goes back to, like, what I'm seeing with Mike McDonald or even Vrabel. You know, you're seeing, like, the thing that always interests me as I watch these guys on the sideline is Sean Payton, right? Sean Payton is a force of a, you know, in a way, a dark coach, right? He's a tough, tough coach. And that's one of the things I haven't fully seen with Mike McDonald, but I'm so interested.

15:01And I don't know. I'm watching, you know, the way that these men manipulate the players, both psychologically but also just from like the way that they get them to step up i don't know if manipulates the right word but right because not riley would say it because yeah yes because it is

15:18Rich Eisen:it is sometimes done with love in terms of trying to bond and and have a collective uh be you know greater than you know uh than others some of its parts and things of that nature i mean pat riley you mentioned him he was on the kentucky team that lost absolutely and so what did he what did he bring to the equation for you well he told me it was a seminal point in his life because he said from the moment the game started that final you know the final four championship that 1966 won the glory road movies based on that you know and he said that he knew you looked over at haskins and haskins said in the movie they do a kind of like a heightened movie version of the speech that happens before the game, which again is how he manipulated the players to be not just angry, I mean, to be just the intensity of what they came out for.

16:07And Pat Riley said he knew it from the very first moment. And it's a true story in the movie where Don Haskins said, you go out there and to David Lattin, who was a big, tall, incredible basketball player. And he said to him, you slam it down their throats, meaning you dunk. And dunking at that point was almost like, you know, frowned upon, right? And he said, I want, And you see, and Riley said that he knew the game was over with, like from the very first moment, which was what Haskins had attempted to, you know, he wanted the Kentucky team to be intimidated from the very beginning. And there was something, again, about the psychology I was talking about the other day about how much people have been really rough on Sam Darnold, I think, in kind of unfair ways.

16:49And particularly if you look at him statistically. and I was saying if I was Mike McDonald how I might be kind of I don't want to say getting in his head about that but to make you know and somehow you've seen Donald is there's no longer

17:01Rich Eisen:you know those questions have sort of started to disappear well we we we had Jordan Palmer the quarterback guru on the show a couple weeks ago and he he says that Sam Donald is internally motivated he's not externally motivated he's not motivated by what others are saying about him and that Mike McDonald knows that and he might be, you know, he might not say, hey, you hearing what they're saying about you, which is a way to manipulate a player or coach a player, you know what I mean? But I think just to go back to McDonald here, Josh Lucas here on the Rich Eisen Show, is that you're wondering if that, if you will, dark side is there.

17:36Rich Eisen:Oh, it's there. Because you heard about the totem pole in their meeting room where they have a totem pole or did Brock Hewitt refer to it is a spear or something like that that's in the meeting room where Pete Carroll used to have a basketball net and he removed the basketball and he met and and he put the spear and they're taking a helmet of every team that they've beaten and putting it on like a head I'm speaking of you know Game of Thrones like I on the spike they they're putting him around those helmets on a spike which is you don't hear that and um what do you think that John Schneider saw in Mike mcdonald that was so strong that he was able you know he prayed for it like what i don't know i that's a good question uh and you know obviously if if your team wins at all that'll be a question that hopefully i do get to ask him either way if not but what i think he saw was a a level-headed but intense head coach who's on the defensive side of the ball and if you're in a division against kyle shanhan and sean mcveigh you better take care of that side like if you're going to be going against the Rams twice and the Niners twice, or in this case this year, three times.

18:45Rich Eisen:You better have that side buttoned up. And I think that was a choice, a clear choice. Like, okay, they're zigging, and boy, are they zigging. We're zagging, and we'll get our offensive side of the ball right in a complimentary way with Mike McDonald as a play caller defensively and a culture changer CEO overall. And I think that was a choice and looks like it's working out. But even down to the very amazing choices that have worked out as well, it was like moving on from DK Metcalf. You know what I mean? That's like those things that you think like, whoa. And Gino. And Gino. Yeah, oh, absolutely.

19:26Rich Eisen:You're swapping out your quarterback and your number one. But you're like, okay, JSN, we've seen what you can do. Let's do that. and then oh rams are going to get rid of cap cup and a cap casualty we'll take him too yeah and then you know i'm a michigan guy which is how i know mike mcdonald i mean a.j barner is nobody talks about him at tight end and he's he's outstanding bobo's interesting i mean there's like exactly like what the heck no and it's all working for you yeah uh let's talk about palmer real before we send you out on your super bowl monday uh what a cast man that you're you're involved with.

20:02Rich Eisen:And in the same way that I, you know, I and football might be on in your house quite a bit. My oldest son binge watches Palm Royale. He loves it. He can, my Zan cannot get enough of it. We see it all the time. So what do you, what attracted you to this? Look, it was, it was a dreamy job from the very beginning. You know, first of all, obviously when you have a cast that includes Kristen Wiig, you know, from the, I mean, Kristen Wiig to me, you go back and look at her work on Saturday Night Live. She's one of the greats. And so that's, you know, right there, boom, Laura Dern. I mean, you know, icon, but then Carol Burnett, Alison Jane, I mean, just becomes sort of like, like, I was like, wait, really?

20:38Like I'll do this job without, you know, for life for free, truly just to go be a part of it. Because again, it kind of goes to the team aspect of it. What actually surprises me, and I do think a lot of this has to do with Carol Burnett is that Carol Burnett is the most kind, extraordinary professional human being I think I've ever come in contact with, which is mind-boggling considering in her mid-90s, she still walks on set and says quietly hello to everyone and knows everyone's name. And the stories about her from the time that she was even beginning her career that she responded to every single fan letter personally.

21:15That she would show, it just truly like all of our crews have stories where they sent a letter to Carol Burnett, multiple people on our crew, to come see their middle school play and Carol Burnett showed up. like stuff that's just kind of like, like you, you kind of like arch your eyes, like really. And the essence of this woman and this legend and this icon, but also just the kindness of her, but the professional, like, you know, she's early to set. She knows her lines better than anybody else, you know, all the different things. So it sets a tone and, and that, you know, this group of women and these incredible performers, I think everyone takes, you know, leadership or takes that leadership and there's the opposite of any diva behavior on this show it's a really it's a team of people who love and are there we also feel incredibly grateful we're working in los angeles you know we're trying to make something that's fun and light there's nothing about it that is attempting we you know we live in very strange times as we all know i'm surprised how much when i look at television these days it's dark there's a real darkness to a lot of you know the the the the offerings that are out there.

22:22So we purposely, I think, are attempting to make a very light, playful, silly, you know, piece of confection and just have a great time.

22:29Rich Eisen:Well, it's fitting that you're on Apple TV where there's Ted Lasso, there's your show, there's shrinking. I mean, there's a lot of good feelings when you're watching shows like that. I don't know. I can't attest to what the inherent sort of drive from the corporate side of Apple, but I do know that they, you know, they look at it's Disney, right? Same thing. Like Disney has certain elements that they want to put good things out into the world and there are certain limitations within that yes i think apple has a similar kind of thing that they're trying to do i love it by the way in that chair just a couple weeks ago was tracy let's and we talked about ford versus ferrari when that man is a sports fan oh my god dude i mean plus i mean you want to talk about he was he was in um he was in uh the hbo show about the lakers showtime you know all that business and we talked about the ford v ferrari with him and the scenes that you're in with him are just phenomenal.

23:18Rich Eisen:One of my favorite things about making Ford versus Ferrari was I found out that he, you know, we both had whatever separate vans that would pick us up every day. And I was like, well, it's kind of along the way. If you guys pick up me first, can we pick up Tracy? And I would just basically like get him to tell stories every day. And he was fine with it as long as he got out first. And I manipulated the situation like a coach because if I get to spend time with Tracy Letts, I'm going to do it. Dude, it's a pleasure having you back here. You come anytime you want, Josh Lucas. Thanks. Our home is yours.

23:49Rich Eisen:And good luck to your Seahawks. Send our best to Noah. Hopefully he will be, how old is he now? He's 13. Okay. Look, again, to what I love about Mike McDonald is that's a guy who worked his way up through the system, you know, in such an interesting way without ever having played, right? Obviously, like I'm kind of wondering if my boy, my boy's got it. I don't know if he's going to have a coach, but he wants to be the GM. He's after John Schneider's job. Okay. Have your head in a swivel, John. I'm sure John would say, let him finish with his job first before your son takes it. Everyone check out Palm Royale.