Hour 3: ‘4-Downs’ Eagles Preview, Titans HC Robert Saleh, Tua & Ty Simpson’s Polar Opposite Weekends

0:00Rich Eisen:In ESPN's wild world of college football, every Saturday begins with a ritual. And then, the migration turns to mayhem. Predators hunt, territories are defended, rivals clash. In this wild world, legends are unleashed on Saturdays. No one brings you closer to the wild than ESPN. College football on ESPN kicks off August 28th. Witness the wild on ABC, ESPN, and the ESPN app. 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.

0:47Rich Eisen:But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. How about the Cowboys? This is the Rich Eisen Show. And that is the rookie that they have been talking about in camp for Dallas. Camden Brown. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, quarterback consultant Jordan Palmer. Titans head coach Robert Sala. Coming up, ESPN Cowboys reporter Todd Archer. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:32Rich Eisen:hour number three of the rich eisen show is on the air first hour we had jordan palmer on talking about all forms of quarterbacks in the national football league trying for jobs and trying to improve their standings like these coaches sam donald and joe burrow and bryce underwood at michigan we went all the way down that road with him and hour number two todd archer joined about how the cowboys have signed javon miller and everything else going there if you missed the first two hours of the show you can check it out on disney plus as soon as this show is over there's our podcast version of the show as well uh if you want to listen to us uh on demand there's also our youtube channel youtube.com slash rich eisen show for all of that good stuff um and uh robert saul is about to join us here on the program for the tennessee titans the pre-season college football rankings are out for the Associated Press.

2:28Rich Eisen:Oh, isn't that interesting? Ohio State's number one. Hey, look at number two, though. Oregon. Shucky, ducky, quack, quack.

2:43Rich Eisen:Ducks. All that has to happen is you zoom into the show. You're a head coach and you offer T.J. Jefferson shoes. By the way, it's not just shoes. I don't think people understand. The Oregon P.E.s on the Jordans are some of the most coveted and limited edition that you could possibly get in the game. T.J. knew what he was doing. He's a veteran. Classy veteran move. Well done. I'm jealous. Okay. I mean, you say that like I had it. No, you're motivated. Hey, listen. And Dan Lanning said he sent you shoes. But you have to put Oregon's banner on the, you know, you know, I don't control the graphic of all your teams.

3:24Rich Eisen:You got to put Penn State's banner into sort of like a dot. That's what he said. So when the ducks quack, feed them. Georgia three, Notre Dame four, Texas five, Indiana with eight first place votes, but still not enough to crack the top five. But that's the Associated Press latest right there. and D4 and then Ole Miss Oklahoma we got the top 10 where's my school do we have anything there they are 16 you'll be higher than that at the end we just had Jed Fish on Washington 17 right there LSU Penn State's right there too your former favorite team I mean they're not offering you shoes Matt Campbell's not offering your darn thing Well, next time he calls in, we got to rectify this.

4:14Rich Eisen:Okay. We were Penn State. We were the good one. I mean, I'm dropping him. Del Tufo could sometimes. I've been here. See what happens when he comes to work? When you work like a month straight. See what? I get back to my form. You're on. We're getting Robert Sala joining us here in a matter of moments. Tennessee Titans. Okay, ready? Last time I chatted with this man. I was sitting to his right. His son was to his left. We were watching the Nate Bergetzi comedy show at the American Century Championship. show you guys oh listen i'm just dropping names Robert Sala how are you coach good to see you man I'm great how you guys doing good man good man uh look at you man i'm look at this is this your new office is this what we got yeah you know what they uh it's a hell of an office okay hey um how how was it for you uh listen you've obviously been a head coach before uh but of all places for you to stand on the sideline with a headset on for the titans there you were back where you you you coordinated defenses twice uh how was how was this uh past weekend for you it was awesome you know uh go back to that place and uh uh just get a chance to compete with what we feel is a championship uh caliber roster and uh uh to take our young guys out there and like i said get a chance to compete it was really cool and what was it like in terms of seeing um you know friends folks you know hugging it up what do you got there all that's great you know like uh so much respect and admiration for all the guys there not only not only the coaching staff and and ownership and all the the scouts and gm but the players too you know so uh it was great to see everybody um you know it feels like i mean it was it was true it was not even eight months ago but i think that we're playing uh seattle in the playoff game but uh it was good all right let's get down to it for your team here um the you know you had a nice long scoring drive on the offense with your ones, you know, Pollard popping it in there, Cam making some plays.

6:10Rich Eisen:He was trying to get Carnell Tate a touchdown, but that one got broken up. What did you, what was your takeaway from the couple of series that your ones had on that side of the ball? Yeah, I felt really good about the first series. Even the way the second series started, it was pretty good. But, you know, things got away from us a little bit there in the second third series with our first group both offensively and defensively but um still a good chance to get out there go compete and uh and and recognize a lot of things for the first time but uh definitely a lot of things that we can improve on okay and so with cam now in the care of coach dayball on that side of the football what what have you seen already uh between when you first started breaking a sweat with cam back in the spring to now that you're like, okay, I see the gradual improvement?

7:01Rich Eisen:What can you identify for me? Well, the biggest thing is just the constant communication. You know, they're constantly communicating. They're constantly talking about the different things that are happening, not only in practice, not only in the game, but in practice, from drill to drill, to play to play. And, you know, so as long as the dialogue is strong and as long as there's open communication and honest communication, I think you're always going to find growth. And Cam, one thing about dayball, he's not going to sugarcoat anything. He's going to tell you exactly where you are and what you need to get done and how you need to do it.

7:33And to Cam's credit, he's taking all the coaching, wants all the coaching, and he's attacking it with every fiber in his body.

7:41Rich Eisen:Well, by the way, I mean the uniforms. Aren't they sweet? Dude, I'm telling you, they are. Home run. They are. They are. They're very Houston Oilers-ish. And I know that that's the history. You know, when your kicker got out there, I said on NFL Network, is that Al Del Greco? That's what I said, because we were covering your game live the other night. We've been talking about how they look in practice, and then to see them under the lights in San Francisco, just they really did, they outdid themselves in all the little detail, you know, like the little guitar strings to represent Nashville being the music city.

8:17But credit to the organization and the people that worked on the design. They had an absolute home run.

8:22Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, so just the photograph kind of threw me off right there. So my follow up is what will you allow to get out there about what day ball is coaching Cam Ward up on hard? Like you said that he doesn't sugarcoat anything. That is a fact. Anybody that he's coached up from either Jalen Hurts in college to, you know, Josh Allen in Western New York will tell you that. Jackson Dart, obviously, last year in New Jersey. but listen uh that he he's a bit of a hard ass which is probably one of the many reasons why you hired him what's he telling him like what's he he's a true he's a truth teller you know like um a lot of times in this in this day and age where you know uh you'll find that these kids are raised to to kind of coddle in the sense that you you know being honest with kids is kind of you might lose a kid if you're too honest with them so you got to sugarcoat everything and kind of coddle them but uh you know we we've always taken the approach dayball too that uh that they'll they'll respect you more if you tell them the truth tell them where they are tell them what they need to get done tell them whether they're right or wrong and uh and you know you can't be afraid about you know we're not trying to make friends but in the process you're going to end up finding that yourself yourself in a very honest open relationship um that gets the most out of each other and and i think that's where dayball strength is with cam right now and then in terms of just what he has coached him up on what has he coached him up on that you've seen already you know you're you're attacking every day with regards to footwork with being disciplined with being his eye discipline his uh um we're still installing the playbook you know it's and it's not like cam goes off the reservation and he's being uh you know it's not like we he's a guy that we got to reel in because he's he's undisciplined he's a very disciplined kid he's attacked the heck out of his offseason.

10:11He studies relentlessly. So it's more just making sure that we're all on the same page and that constant communication is always had. So, you know, you're hammering away on the fundamentals, you're hammering away on progressions, you're hammering away on technique, and you're just trying to be as detailed as you can and not losing sight of the most important thing, which is, again, I go back to our technique and fundamentals. And then let's talk about Tate.

10:38Rich Eisen:you're the kid you took at the top of the draft the receiver from the Ohio State I want to be respectful um what what is the expectation level for him coach yeah um it's really the expect I know I know I'm sorry Rich is such coach speak but it's just get better man there's there's really no expectations like I know at the end of the day we're all judged on results but if that if you make that your daily process you're screwed um you know so the expectation for Tate along with the entire roster and everybody in this building is that we attack every day as if it's our last. We find ways to get better.

11:13And we put our best foot forward when results are needed. And if the results are, if we do that, we give ourselves a chance to have the results we want. But otherwise, if you're out there working in training camp with the idea that I got to chase results, you're not doing it the right way. And the good thing about Carnell and really this entire roster we they really have attacked the heck out of training camp it has not been easy uh that's i mean we're at the hardest part of training camp now with having gone against san francisco we got a joint practice versus seattle and then another one for chicago so there's there's a lot going on but um but at the same time i think our our young team is is getting

11:53Rich Eisen:better every day well it's not your first rodeo drafting a kid out of uh columbus for the first round for that position uh where does he stack up obviously you've been around Garrett Wilson been around some other terrific receivers in San Francisco as well where does Carnell Tate stack up in your mind you know I I'm not uh what's what's the saying that uh comparison is a uh thief of joy you know they're uh Garrett for one has established himself as a an elite wide receiver in this league has for a couple of years now Carnell uh he has all the promise to be a great receiver but he has to go do it and um you know to try to stack them up to to what Garrett was and all that stuff up I'm going to steer clear of that one but what I will say is that Garrett has established himself as a as a as a elite tier one receiver um and if we can get that out of Carnell that'll be pretty cool okay defensively walk me through where you found this team from that side of the ball that it's obviously your area um outside of being an HC where where does this uh team look It looks good.

12:56You know, I like our front. You know, we got Jeff. Jeff is a son of a gun. Oh, he's been here. He's been here. We treated him with kid gloves.

13:07Rich Eisen:We didn't want to piss him off. You don't. But he's relentless. He disrupts practice. He gets mad at me every day because I don't call sacks. I always tell him, we'll get sacks on Sunday, keep the ball moving. But, you know, him, you know, John Franklin Myers being here, he hasn't practiced in a couple of days or in a week. But he's going to be when he gets back, he's a handful. Jermaine Johnson looks awesome. He's on a mission, you know, really looking forward to seeing the season he has. Femi's one of our young guys. You know, we've got a lot of really good guys who grind. And again, we've got it.

13:45We got a good mixture of young guys. You know, you got Femi from last year, who I just mentioned. We just drafted a kid in day three with Jackie Marshall, who's pretty good. And then we got some guys who are transferring from outside linebacker to this defensive end role who are kind of showing, not to name names, for purposes of competition. But, you know, the D-line's coming along nicely. I like our linebacker room. I love our safeties. Our corners are developing the way we need them to develop. You know, the one thing I'll say is the system is new for everyone. and we are unique in the sense that we're not as much man and match and because of it, you know, it's hard to transition, you know, from one to the other and, you know, but to their credit, it's a smart defense and they're learning every day.

14:34Rich Eisen:By the way, do you like the joint practices more than the games? What do you think? I love the joint practices. Why? I love them. One, it's a new stimulus in training camp. You know, training camp is supposed to be hard And if you approach those practices the way you need to, I think you can maximize not only the mental part of it, but the physical part of it, which is what you're supposed to do. It should be exhausting. Practices are supposed to hurt. It's a great opportunity to callous, but it's also a chance for you to lean on different bodies, to go against different schemes, to go against different techniques, to continue honing in and working on your craft rather than just the redundancy of playing against one another, your same teammates, over and over and over and over again, which is great.

15:19But at the end of the day, football week in and week out is about different bodies, different schemes, different techniques. And so to be able to get that work, to me, it's gold.

15:30Rich Eisen:Do you mess with the other team, like, say, put them next to an electrical substation when they're practicing? Anything like that? You doing anything like that, Coach? He gave us energy. Hey, look at him. All right. All right, look at you with a wordplay right there. So, okay, so you liked the joint practices. Love. Love. Not just love. Love. So would you be up for one fewer preseason game and more joint practices? Would you be up for something? No. Okay. Because, and I'll say this, I think, and this is just my opinion, that if you remove the preseason games, you're really, really hurting the undrafted free agents and day three picks in terms of figuring out who the bottom of the roster is going to be.

16:24That's where those guys get a chance to shine. Practice is practice, but there's nothing like those preseason games where the lights are on and they've got to go play and they've got to tackle and it's real. Some guys can be great practice players, but when the lights come on, they fade and vice versa. The lights come on and they shine. And I think we would be doing a severe disservice to the development of the league as it pertains to the day three kids and the undrafted kids as we remove these preseason games.

16:57Rich Eisen:All right. In the last couple minutes I have with you, maybe your least favorite subject, which is you. um so what are you gonna focus on or have you focused on now that you got your second swing here at being an hc in the nfl of your first experience that you're like when i get my shot again i'm gonna do this and that you've already implemented what do you have for me on that that's a good question a fair question too thank you um you know the keep the main thing the main thing you know there's uh you know i've always talked to the players about controlling what they've got full control over um and and for me i've got a i've got to practice what i preach and uh and so for me it's just keeping the main thing the main thing doing everything i can to put our players in position to be the best they can possibly be um you know outside noise is outside noise but focusing on the team the roster focusing on us and uh and giving everything i've got to making sure that the players are in the best position to succeed.

17:57So is that something you weren't doing before? No, you were, but, you know, self-admittedly, you know, when you look at the past, and I've said it before, I've been vocal with regard to, you know, trying so hard to control narrative to keep a positive light around the New York Jets. It meant well. You know, I was trying my best to work with the people outside the building to make sure that the messaging around the team wasn't a way that allowed us to go operate, when in reality, none of that matters. When you win, you're a winner. When you lose, you're a loser. And the narrative will be whatever that result is.

18:38And so focusing on our process, focusing on our players, focusing on us is the only thing that matters. and if you want the narrative to change, you've got to win football games.

18:48Rich Eisen:Well, at least nothing's going to be outside noisy about your first opponent. Oh, wait a minute. You know? I mean, that's going to be something you're going to be asked about nonstop, so I might as well, if you don't mind my last one, take a swing at it here. You're opening up against the Jets. Is that going to be something that you're head set on? You're going to be a little bit more amped up? Take a little more of those smelling salts throughout pregame. I'm just asking. You know what? You know, I've said it before. Like, Rich, you and I have spent enough time together that I think you know me that I don't hold grudges, man.

19:25I'm grateful for what the Jets gave me, the opportunity they gave me. It was a tremendous learning experience, a tremendous opportunity to be one of 32 coaches in the entire world. Like, I am not going to look at that and scoff. And, you know, there was a tremendous learning experience in those four years. But I also look at it as I'm very blessed to be in this situation here. And then on the flip side, I really don't think anyone at the Jets in that building really gives two flying craps about me being here. It's more about the Jets being the best team they can be versus the Tennessee Titans.

20:04Nobody's playing me, and I'm not playing them. So for me, like I said, I'm grateful. and my desire to win week one has everything to do with Tennessee starting 1-0 and nothing more. You're the man. Great to see you again. Always, man. Rich, hopefully I get to see you next year at the American Century, man. Well, hopefully I'll be in a better golf position than I was when I was. I still think you were robbed. Just so you guys know, Rich, do you mind? Coach. So he's saying, was it That's Life, Frank Sinatra? Correct, sir. For karaoke. And completely robbed. I mean, by far, my son was just in awe In awe, he was like, he had to win He has to win I mean, it was one of the best renditions I've ever heard of That song from a non-Frank Sinatra Look-alike or anything Rich, you got robbed You should have won it Who ended up winning?

20:58The Kachucks with their gold medals, man You know? He had no chance It was already predetermined The vote was already counted We want to recount, damn it

21:10Rich Eisen:thank you coach i appreciate you having my back and i've got yours you take it was outstanding i'm not sugarcoating my son i'm telling you my son was like that's bs man he should have won yes i told them that now it's confirmed all right second source i wish they recorded it i'm telling you guys it was outstanding outstanding well we'll find a copy we'll make it we'll make sure america sees it now that's for sure uh thanks for the time man best to your son appreciate you guys Robert Sala, everybody. The Tennessee Titans. He says he doesn't sugarcoat it. He speaks the truth. That's it right there, man.

21:45Rich Eisen:It's the truth. You got in my ear and you're like, you love this guy. I love this guy. I'm a big fan. Also, I do have video of your performance. Fantastic. Why don't you post it? Send it to the Titans. Maybe they'll re-gram it. They'll collaborate. I had a source in Tahoe that sent me the video. Oh, great. That would be Susie, my wife. Actually, no. Oh, really? Oh, geez. Second source. I don't know who that person might be, but I was great with Robert Sala, everybody. Fun stuff. I've got a four downs coming up. Big fan. I like the Titans. Oh, baby. They were, what, three on my list? I like the Titans.

22:24Rich Eisen:They were my first sleeper pick. Right, right, right, right, right, right. Last month, yeah. Cam Ward, baby. Let's go. Yeah. Robert Sala. Good luck to him. Running a small business means every hire matters. a bad hire costs time and money but the right one helps your business grow the challenge is finding that person without sorting through resumes that's where linkedin hiring pro comes in it screens candidates you can focus on conversations with qualified talent with hiring pro you can hire with confidence and build the team you need join the 2.7 million small businesses using linkedin to hire get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Eisen.

23:00Rich Eisen:Terms and conditions apply. Boy, man, I loved it when he said that I got robbed and you thought he meant golf. I did. I know. I saw it on your face. Please tell me how Rich got robbed in golf. Bad bounces? No. He was talking about karaoke. I was so excited for you. Trust me. I wish he was talking about golf. I will take a break. See, I saw the look on your face. I know. I got my hopes up. 844-204-RICH is the number to chat.

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25:18Rich Eisen:Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash rich and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash rich. One more time, gusto.com slash rich. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Here on the Rich Eisen Show, Tua Tungo-Vailoa looked terrible for the Atlanta Falcons. Should I? I'm not sugarcoating it. No, you're not. You look terrible. I know. Falcons look terrible. It was rough. With him there. He dropped the second snap. Yep. And then the second possession, first down throw to Kyle Pitts, then three and out. Eight snaps, done. See you later. And finished.

26:08Rich Eisen:And it was brutal. Now, was Drake London out there? Was Bijan Robinson out there? No. was Jonathan Cooper and Nick Benito coming in on him unblocked. Yeah. Okay. Did Sean Payton play a whole bunch of ones in this game? Was Sean Payton ready to teach a lesson to the Falcons because he used to coach the Saints? Yeah, Sean Payton was cracking on the empty seats. Said that there were fans dressed as empty seats. He was on one. Oh, yeah. And I think he is, the Broncos looked great. They were salty. They were good. Stidham found Cortland Sutton on a 40-yarder to set up a gimme touchdown. R.J. Harvey touched it.