Hour 2: Tom Brady Conflict of Interest Debate, plus NFL on Fox Rules Analyst Dean Blandino

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0:50Rich Eisen:Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. 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. Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. What's happening in the baseball world? I think we take it for granted. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

1:35Rich Eisen:Gone! Number 51 on the season for Shohei Ohtani. Earlier on the show, SEC Network Analyst and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. Coming up, Fox Sports Rules Analyst, Dean Blandino. Actor Tyreek Withers. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We're live here in Los Angeles, California. Dean Blandino, the former head of NFL refs and chief rules analyst, along with Mike Pereira for Fox, is making his way to our studio. We're going to ask him what's up with the tush push and all that sort of business. It's an assessment of officiating. Two weeks in, I despise targeting in college football with every fiber of my being because it's inconsistently applied.

2:20Rich Eisen:And kids, due to the inconsistent application, miss halves of football and get kicked out of games that they don't belong to be kicked out of. It's every week, man. There's something going on with targeting. And it's just like, well, I mean, the helmet's connected. And it's just like, it drives me nuts. So I'll hold Dean fully and personally responsible. That's coming up shortly in about 20 minutes time. We're live here on Disney Plus, the ESPN app everywhere. And ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We've got our new Thursday staple, higher register, where we have to go into the higher register of our voices to say a declarative statement about what's going to happen in week number three of the NFL season.

3:05Rich Eisen:But we've got to go in the higher register in order to believe what we're saying. It's a fun segment. It's always fun to have fun. Coming up in the crazy and mixed-up world we live in right now. Chris Brockman and Jay Felly, where they are. TJ Jefferson, the candle is lit. Where he is. The latest on Jaden Daniels. We've got it. Got it. From the offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, the former head coach himself, so he understands how to term things when it comes to injuries, which is say very little, and leave you to glean information. See if you can catch what Cliff Kingsbury has to say on the subject matter while praising Marcus Mariota, the backup, once upon a time, second overall selection in the draft, out of Oregon, a Heisman Trophy winner.

3:58Rich Eisen:Spent some time in Tennessee and some other spots, cups of coffee around the league. He might be playing a pretty damn big game, as you'd like to term it yesterday, revenge game, because he used to play for a hot minute for the Raiders. Yeah, of course. Pete Carroll had nothing to do with whether he was there or not. Nope. Okay. At any rate, is he going to play this week, Marcus Mariota? If so, Cliff Kingsbury is confident. Yeah, last year, just being around him for a year, when we signed him back, we felt like we have two starters in the building, which is rare in this league. So anytime he's asked to play or practice or even on scout team, he's been phenomenal.

4:35Rich Eisen:So he treats him like a pro as a leader on the team, despite not being the starter, which is hard to do, and can't say enough good things about him. So if he has to go, I'm sure he'll be ready. can you provide any update on where jayden is today um no he's just preparing mentally you know marcus is getting the reps physically jayden um preparing mentally and we'll take it from there okay two things first of all preparing mentally um is the name of a racehorse somewhere if i owned a racehorse i've already told you it would be called a room tone which is what you know whenever you're shooting something or whatever they they make you pause so they the folks who have the boom operators want to take some just sound of what the room sounds like yeah so it can match it up if they need it later on why a horse i don't know here comes room tone down the stretch for your horse when it's coming down preparing mentally against room tone room tone against preparing preparing mentally sounds like a great horse horse name uh not the name uh you also that's item number two what you want to term your all-world starting quarterback on a thursday before a game preparing mentally is um earbud territory clipboard back in the day territory i will be stunned if this guy plays on sunday me too and what a damn shame that would be either way something's up and the first month of this we're going to find out just how superhuman jaden Daniels is because if you just remember last year how we're already we're already looking last year at Jordan Love well he got banged up in week one and he just wasn't the same the rest of the year and it's part and parcel of why the Packers still made the playoffs but since they got one and done is that how we're going to talk about Jaden Daniels here well in week two in Green Bay towards the end of that game.

6:35Rich Eisen:Something happened, and we didn't know it at the time, and he said he was okay, and then all of a sudden we find out he's not okay, and he misses the Raiders game, and does he come back and look like last year? Don't forget, that's now another week in which he and Terry McLaurin aren't getting on the same page. In the first two weeks, they were not on the same page. They were in the same book, it seemed.

6:57Rich Eisen:i'm i'm i'm hopeful that marcus mariotta who's looked phenomenal in practice shows up that way against max crosby and the rest of the raiders defense that wants to you know take mariotta out and find out who the third string quarterback is there that's for damn sure don't forget i mean this is a raiders team that with herbert taking the top of the defense off and also finding Keenan Allen and also looking as good as he did, he only scored 20 points.

7:34Rich Eisen:So I'd be concerned. And also then rooting for the Rams, who are taking on the Eagles this weekend. And then here's your Cowboys against the Bears. What a big game this is. Bears backs against the wall. 0-2, needing to come up with this win, man. Your Cowboys, thanks to Brandon Aubrey kicking it from all points of the Lone Star State. Houston. Taking care of business. At one and one. Almost taking care of the Eagles in week one. Then showing up in week two and taking out the Giants, who throw 450 yards at Russell Wilson. And part and parcel of what's going on in Chicago, they get a 50-burger thrown on them.

8:17Rich Eisen:And you got people like Andrew Santino, the comedian here yesterday, and our call screener Adam Chudwin saying Tyson Bajan should be right around the corner if they keep struggling. And maybe he is. You know, we're on in Chicago. I'd love to hear from anybody in Chicago who wants to chime in on this subject matter. But we're already hearing from Bears fans that if Caleb doesn't start turning around, that sounds like a higher register. Maybe we should go to Tyson Bajan. You know what I mean? Bears are favored in this game. well because they looked really good in week one and soldier field chris and that maybe just maybe for three quarters that caleb williams can take the top of the defense off in the way russell wilson did wrong like hey he and roma dunze are connecting it's just him and everyone else that's not and you know and is jadavian clowning going to come off the bench the couch and the bench and start providing pressure that the Cowboys lost?

9:21Rich Eisen:What's the name of that guy that traded to Green Bay? Man, I can't remember what that guy's name is. I think we can find out what his name is. It's on the tip of my tongue here. Oh, my gosh. Macca. There it is. Macca. There you go. Macca. There's no idea where Mike Del Tufo's hitting the drops. We 100 % need to fix this whole situation. Can I just tell you not to worry, DJ Moore, fantasy fans, because I'm just predicting he's going to have his get-right game on Sunday, unfortunately. But the one thing everybody's talking about out of the Ben Johnson press conference that he held on Wednesday is the fact of who's calling the game and his comments about it.

10:08Rich Eisen:As we saw, Tom Brady was in the coach's box, very Natalie-clad. he spent his monday night off from his one of his day jobs on sundays um of fox calling games up in the coach's booth with a headset on and um is he listening to the play calls what's happening there is he talking to chip kelly listen bottom line is you're seeing an owner of the indianapolis colts on the sideline with a headset on on the sideline with a headset on and basically marking down plays and taking notes. Taking notes? You know, we'll get into that in a second. But Ben Johnson was asked, hey, Tom Brady's calling your game on Fox and then you're taking on the Raiders next week.

11:02Rich Eisen:Do you have any concerns about anything on that front? Like I said, I'm really not worried about it. I mean, we change week to week in terms of what we do. Schematically, he's going to be able to turn on the tape and see what everyone else in the world is seeing right now. Personnel-wise, really the same thing. It's not like I'm going to sit down with him and say, hey, don't do this to Caleb Williams or you might get it. There's not going to be any trade secrets that are going to be exchanged. But I really don't think it's that big of a deal, to be honest with you. Again, Brady is not allowed in their building.

11:36Rich Eisen:Brady is allowed to Zoom and have conversations with members of teams that he's broadcasting and um i've been in these broadcast meetings some coaches share others do not others will just shut it down and tell you nothing others will you know depending on who you know i've i've been in broadcast meetings that obviously kurt warner is there and quarterbacks share with other quarterbacks with uh in things and sometimes we'll say this is off the record but I'm just telling you this anyway. Now, clearly, you know, we know what the difference between off the record is and not. And sometimes coaches are comfortable sharing stuff with Michael Irvin or Mooch.

12:21Rich Eisen:I've been in these things, right? And there is information you can glean in these broadcast meetings, even off the record, that you can then turn around and tell the team that you own, if you want.

12:40Rich Eisen:I don't know if any of that is happening. Why would you tell Tom Brady anything if you're going to be playing his team next week and you've seen him in a coach's booth with a headset on? And Tom can separate church and state, I'm sure. Here's where I'm going with this one, okay? When you see, again, the owner of the Colts on the sidelines taking notes, listening in on play calls as Carly Ursa Gordon is currently doing right now, I don't think anybody's thinking that the Colts are getting an extra advantage because she hasn't played quarterback in the National Football League to be known as the greatest to ever do it.

13:25Rich Eisen:So there is some neck up and ability that Tom Brady is bringing to the equation as a quarterback when he is potentially talking. and I don't know who knows more football than Tom Brady. When you hear him break it down, he's awesome at it. And you hear him on other podcasts or on other shows, he's saying things that absolutely make you smarter because he's been there and he's done that. And it makes complete sense for the Raiders to pick his brain. As Pete Carroll said earlier this week, they in fact do. He does have conversations with Brady and so does Chip Kelly. Wouldn't that make sense? Do you have an owner to do that sort of thing?

14:07Rich Eisen:You should definitely take advantage. Right? Pete said they do. So, and it's not like he's a Michigan guy who's taking photographs of your sidelines to steal your signs, right? He's doing his job on Fox, and then he's also trying to beat you when he's not on Fox, which just creates a weird dynamic. I'm not going to lie. It's just weird. It's weird. He's calling your game, and then next week, He wants your team to beat your team. So why would you tell him a damn thing? That's on you. Now, Brady did respond to what Ben Johnson had to say, where he says, much to do about nothing. He said it on social media, essentially like, thank you for some common sense.

14:52Rich Eisen:Finally, a smart coach speaks up. Because, again, Tom is probably like, I've got enough knowledge to help my team. I don't need to know your team as well. But he is getting eyes on the Bears. And for somebody that brilliant at it to get eyes on the team, that's a hell of an advanced scout. Hell of an advanced scout. And the thing that I'm stunned about all this is that NFL owners are fine with it. Because in my 20 some odd years of being around the NFL and hearing stories about NFL owners when I wasn't with the NFL prior to my 20-plus years with NFL Network, they are some of the most paranoid competitors I've ever been around.

15:47Rich Eisen:I mean, somebody, I don't know, ask Mark Davis what his dad would think of if the shoe was on the other foot. Al was one of the most paranoid guys out there. he'd probably been looking at the skies looking for drones over practice fields i don't know if it's just a different era now i have no idea but nfl owners are always freak out about are you stealing this are you getting an advantage there are you looking at our practices you're doing this i mean ask anybody who is part of the rams organization if they thought the patriots were sneaking in their practices.

16:29You know, to this day,

16:32Rich Eisen:there's conspiracy theories around it. But NFL owners are fine with it. And, you know, and if you're the Raiders and you have Tom Brady as a resource, of course you're going to use him. You're going to find, is this the right quarterback? Is this the right draft strategy? Is this the right thing? Why wouldn't you? That makes sense. And if you're Fox and you can hire Tom Brady and get his insight, why wouldn't you do it? but if you're an NFL like are the McCaskies all cool the family I mean are they all cool with oh he's calling our game and then we just saw him with a headset on and a booth so he's clearly locked in on what the Raiders are doing and now he's going to see the Bears and he sees one thing with his incredible keen advanced scout eyes and he's not going to pass that along to the team I guess he could pick it up watching it at home on television too i don't know seems a little unfair i don't know i but on its face it does in practice it may not be that's why brady's just like yeah well you're making much ado about nothing but hey if you're gonna try and do both this is the sort of stuff you're gonna hear you know and from fox too they're gonna hear about it too the thing is i just like nfl owners okay i've met nfl owners that wouldn't allow fans of other teams in their suite to watch a game.

18:00Rich Eisen:They want to see all that stuff. That happened to me once, Rich, actually. Ashley and I, we got a chance to go watch the San Diego Chargers and sit in the Spanos box. And one thing we were told, because they knew I was a Cowboys fan, is like, you cannot cheer for the Cowboys. So I had to sit there and just keep my thoughts to my – which was understandable. You're in the, you know, they own the team. Right. That's their, that's sweet. I guess that may be different from what I'm also describing as well as, as a competitive advantage. It's just, I'm just saying that there's a lot of not thinking straight.

18:36Rich Eisen:Just surprised that they're cool with it. I think there's so much money being thrown around. They don't care anymore.

18:45Well,

18:45Rich Eisen:anyway, that game's on Fox this weekend with a ton at stake, man. massive amounts at stake. Who do you like in that game right now? Great question. I think the Cowboys the way they played on the road should win it. The way that they played in Philadelphia, that team shows up in Chicago, they'll win the football game. Definitely has shootout potential. It's the highest total of the week, over 50. That would be fun. I'll take it. And so would Fox. So would Brady. And Burkhardt. I'm sure. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program. Dean Blandino of Fox Sports, now that I've talked about his bosses, he'll come on out here and break down what's going on in officiating.

19:28Rich Eisen:He says he's done with the tush push. Oh, man. Let's hear it.

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22:11Rich Eisen:Thank you for coming here in person. Of course. I really appreciate that, man. Always great to see you. Yeah, you know why. One of the reasons why I texted you, you said I'm done with the tush push when you were part of the crew in Kansas City, seeing it for the umpteenth time. and man, you know, it helps to be part of a crew with great professionals and 90 cameras, I think. And that shot that they had right down the line of the line of scrimmage when you could clearly see the Eagles were false starting and it wasn't called. Was that the play that caused you to say you were done with the touch pressure?

22:48Well, I think it was a combination of things. I think there were six in the game, but there were really three that stood out. Well, four. There was the third and goal play where they ruled Hurts short, and it looked like he scored. And now we've got to spend two minutes reviewing it and looking for the football and all these bodies. Then on the fourth and goal play, they false start that doesn't get called. They false start again later in the game. And then the last one where I made the comment was Eagles are trying to get the first down to run out the clock. They run the tush push. It's a big pile.

23:18The Chiefs come out with the football. They're waving. They have the football. The officials don't do anything. And I've got Brady and Burkhart looking at me in the booth like, what's going on? Right. And it was just a visceral reaction where I was like, you know what? I am done with this play. I'm proud of myself that I didn't say I'm effing done with this play. That's where I was in that moment. And it just then it kind of took on a life of its own.

23:45Rich Eisen:So why are you done? Explain the emotion. I was thinking about this on the way here. I'm going to present my argument three different ways. Please. Okay, three different ways. First, we'll start with health and safety. Now, I don't think there's no hard data that says this play is any more dangerous than other plays in the game or short yardage plays, right? So I don't think that's necessarily a strong argument that, oh, we have all these injuries. But the league has in the past, I think about low blocks and some of the chop blocks and some of the things they've outlawed. There wasn't a ton of injuries, but the league said, this is putting our players in a position of unnecessary risk.

24:24Let's be proactive versus reactive. So let's not wait for somebody to get hurt on a play like this. Let's say, okay, this is unnecessary. We don't allow the defense to push in field goal formations because the league felt it was dangerous. We're pushing these teammates, the down linemen, into the offensive formation. So I think from a health and safety perspective, being proactive versus being reactive. The second argument I have is that it's a competitively unfair play. It is. When you think about the defense, if the defense hits the running back at the line of scrimmage, stacks him up, and drives him 10 yards back, the offense isn't going to lose 10 yards.

25:01You've got forward progress right there. But we allow the offense to push and now gain an advantage in that instance. And it's also a hard play to officiate consistently. It just really is. And it's never been legal in the history of the NFL. You go back. I was talking to Joel Busser yesterday, long-time head of player personnel. Yes, at the league office, liaison to the NFL Competition Committee and a historian of the game. and he was reading to me from the 1938 rule book, you know, as one does on a random Wednesday. And the language in that book about aiding the runner was almost verbatim to where it was in 2005 before it came out.

25:45So it's never been legal in the NFL until 2006. And so because the people that created this game and made the rules, they wanted to kind of separate it from rugby, right? This is more rugby play. It's not a modern football play. And so they wanted to separate it from that. And that's where I think, you know, it's never been legal. Why do we allow it? And the third thing is just as a fan, it's not a fun play to watch. I mean, think about the Eagles. Saquon Barkley last year has one of the most incredible, I mean, he's hurtling people backward, right? Wouldn't we rather watch Saquon Barkley try to get a first down or some other than this, just all of these bodies and pushing.