Hour 3: NFL Week 2’s Top 5 Games, plus Actor Michael Chiklis In-Studio

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0:45Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15 % off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home, from your garage to your attic. Visit homedepot.com. How doers get more done. 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 richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show.

1:28Rich Eisen:Jordan Love's performance. How would you rate it? This is the Rich Eisen Show. And a beautiful play fake by Jordan Love. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Love takes, looks, throws slant right side, touchdown. Earlier on the show, Steelers defensive tackle Cam Hayward. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Coming up. Actor Michael Chiklis. and now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. The very delightful and entertaining and talented Michael Chiklis is in studio. He's excited about his new movie, The Senior. You will be too when you see it in theaters nationwide next Friday, September 19th.

2:12Rich Eisen:He plays a 59-year-old football player. Is he like the Thornton Mellon of college football? Is that what it is? All back to school? Pretty much. Is there a triple indie at the end? We'll ask him. Let's hope. He's all excited about that. his family's doing well and we'll talk about the patriots that's coming up shortly here on the program same record as you buddy boy red socks and yankees tonight lots to talk about with the man when he joins us on this program um we've already had a great time with cam hayward in hour one tom pellicero in hour number two um if you missed any of it don't you dare worry we can be seen on demand on our disney plus page as soon as this show's over you can go right to our page click the tile with today's show on it and you can watch it whenever you want same thing throughout the entire weekend there's our podcast version of the show all three hours the way you can take in any podcast uh and also there's our youtube channel youtube.com slash rich eisen show for a lot of our videos and then our friends at espn i mean they're putting our videos everywhere which we see and we appreciate it um we definitely appreciate all that 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program.

3:18Rich Eisen:Let's take a quick phone call from Milwaukee, where we're on the air and ESPN Radio. ESPN Radio, by the way, presented by Progressive Insurance. Mike in Milwaukee. What's going on, Mike? Hey, thanks for taking the call. Thanks for making it. I just wanted to make a quick comment to make sure that in all the very deserved hype of Micah Parsons arriving in Green Bay and causing all the commotion that he's caused and just been such a spectacular addition that we don't lose sight of a couple other things one uh it was expected that giving away kenny clark was like a a one step backwards in the rush d for two steps forward in the pass rush and the truth is the rush defense has been totally lights out like vaness has moved inside he's looked amazing i don't think anybody thought he would be even in the discussion for a replacement for what kenny clark was doing but he has been he's been fantastic And the other piece is people late last season and coming into this season had predicted a potential all-pro caliber breakout for Edger and Cooper, and I think it's absolutely been happening in the first two weeks.

4:28But I think a couple of those things have kind of gotten washed out, like I said, in a much-deserved hoopla over a Michael Parsons.

4:34Rich Eisen:No doubt. Hanging with Mr. Cooper. That's what you're doing right now. Oh, yeah. And the defense has been terrific. Jeff Halfley already getting, you know, a lot of folks in my world are basically saying, hey, Packers fans, enjoy your defensive coordinator. He's going to be a head coach somewhere next year. You're going to lose him, which is a sign of an excellent team. Just look, you know, in your division at the team that's won it the last few years in Detroit. But the bottom line is, coming into the season, we always look at teams through the prism of the previous season. and the Lions were the one seed in the NFC.

5:10Rich Eisen:They got one and done by the Commanders who made it to the NFC Championship game and the Packers dominated both at home to start the season within five days. And that's the way that the season started in Green Bay. One big additional point there is, historically speaking, if you look over the last six, seven years, the Packers have really struggled with running quarterbacks. The pocket might break down. Rashawn Gary or the other guys, they might have made a mess of it. But then these quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts had huge success running the ball against the Packers. And Edron Cooper has put an end to that, as we saw yesterday, with Daniels unable to really get away, you know, take off with the ball.

5:50Rich Eisen:Mike, thanks for the time. And congrats on your Packers starting off 2-0 and looking like the best team in football. We'll see what the Eagles look like against the Chiefs. And, you know, obviously they're going to kick back and watch the Vikings play on Sunday night against Atlanta, which is going to be in desperation mode, if you will, coming into that game. They'll watch the Bears and the Lions beat each other up. Hope that maybe somehow, someway, the Titans knock off the Rams. The Niners are all banged up. The Bucs are taking on the Texans. And they're going to just sit back and watch television.

6:20Rich Eisen:Already 2-0, taking care of business, holding serve in division, holding serve in conference at home in Lambeau, and looking the part and looking the role, and not even having Micah play a full game. You said that after the week four game, the page is going to get turned. Page isn't getting turned. Because at some point, we're going to get bored of talking about it. Are we? Yeah, we are. Because let's just say the Packers do what Chris and I think we predicted, and they go on the roll, and the Cowboys really, really fall off, especially defensively. That's going to keep – we're not going to forget about this.

6:55Rich Eisen:At this point in time, it's still so new, and Micah still is raw about it. he's raw about it and then he's going to return in week four and then at that point in time it's like all right it's all out of everybody's system the media's done that other than just saying man micah's incredible dallas shouldn't have traded him it's just obvious it's asked and answered and then as things begin to ramp up getting into the playoffs and if they go deep let's just say he plays in an nfc championship game of course it's going to be brought up you He goes somewhere else to get to the spot that Dallas hasn't been in 31 years now.

7:29Rich Eisen:And then he goes to the Super Bowl in the spot where, you know, the Niners play. And here he is in the Super Bowl. And that's all it's going to be talked about all week. That's the way it's going to go. That's my tea leaves for you. Just hang on for dear life through week four. And in the meantime, you know, Jerry Jones was asked about it today as well. We don't have that soundbite just yet, but we're getting it later. That's the way our show is going to end. And I believe it or not. I believe the subject of the matter is. Macca. By the way, Rich, I have a little beef with you. Uh-oh. Well, you know, you posted something on Instagram, on Twitter.

8:01I didn't like it. It wasn't Twitter. It's threads. Catch me on threads. Threads. But then it got repurposed onto Instagram.

8:08Rich Eisen:Yes, because Jay Culp is an Eagles fan, and he handles my social media accounts. He likes it when I have takes like that, and he wants to put it on Instagram for what's called engagement. Well, I gave you some engagement. If I could. I didn't see it. You said, delete this. we delete this absurd the cowboys traded micah evergreen post that's the way it's going to be at this point in time next next game he's taking on cleveland we'll see what happens there joe flacco is 40 this kid's damn near half his age going for him in a game where miles garrett is standing out there compare and contrast all of that stuff see how it works and then the big one on Sunday night at Dallas.

8:51Rich Eisen:They're on a buy the next week. Honestly, man, at that point in time, it's going to be like asked, answered, evergreen. Rich, you know I respect you, right? Oh, boy. Is that a different version of it? It is. I truly do, obviously, and I hold you in high regard in your opinion, but I got to vehemently disagree that a page will be turned because there's going to be members of the media, some of them we now are, I guess, channel mates with who every Sunday when the Cowboys don't do well, we'll make sure that they put the spotlight on that. Are you talking about Stephen A. Smith? I don't want to drop any names.

9:27It's like Beetlejuice. If I don't say it, then maybe it won't come out.

9:30Rich Eisen:One of my favorite moments of your early days on this program, being on every day, being an everyday player for the Rich Eisen show was when Stephen A. Smith called in and you started talking cowboy stuff. And he basically said, I don't know who you are. you seem like a nice guy but boy are you basically delusional and he started going in on Dallas Cowboys fans I'm telling you at week five week six week seven we'll have already been through all this we'll be a little bit through all this but now how about this how about this the next time it might come up is if he makes Aaron Rodgers's night miserable and it'll be one of those things is, well, Cowboys couldn't get past Rodgers, but he wins the day for Green Bay against Rodgers in a way that Cowboys fans would have loved for him to do.

10:20Rich Eisen:Blah, blah, blah. I would also like to point out... Green Bay is successful with him against other opponents that have eviscerated or had a history of beating Dallas. That's another one. I'd also like to point out when Stephen A did come in and we actually met, he did say, I like that brother. Well, I mean, you're a likable guy. That is true. When you meet, when we meet. but from afar that's the that's the steven a you're gonna get and you know my entire family from suz coop yours truly we are uh we are eager to see his videos on days uh i'm not you're not happy but i'm not deleting what you told me to delete and guess what later on we're gonna finish up with jerry jones talking about um what's his name again i don't know by the way when we play it later it's going to be it's going to be the real McCoy it's not uh it's not Frank Hellion no all right guys I do this every Friday and this is Friday and uh it's it's it's it's like every other Friday um which is uh I look over the steering wheel at other matchups in the upcoming week that I'm looking forward to my top five matchups for the rest of week two hit it high 5.

11:321, 2, 3, 4, 5. Rich's Top 5.

11:36Rich Eisen:All right, here we go. Top 5 matchups of week number 2. I'm looking forward to seeing. Number 5 is the Sunday night game. It's usually higher on the list, the Sunday night football game, but there's tons of other games that are intriguing to me. Number 5 is J.J. McCarthy's first home start as a Viking. How does he follow up that terrific fourth quarter that erased three quarters of dreadfulness in Chicago? By the way, hopefully he'll be getting some rest because he'll be going back and forth to the hospital where his bride is giving birth to their first child. Could you imagine? Is he 22? All of this stuff is happening.

12:12Rich Eisen:So he's got a kid in Huggies while he's dropping his against the Atlanta Falcons who need this game, gents. Big time. 0-2 in conference to start their season. 0-2 period. 0-2 in conference. The toughest loss you can have is a home loss in division. That was what they suffered on Sunday against the Bucs. And then there's the Vikings on Sunday night football. That's a big one. And, of course, a rematch of the national championship game that I replay in my head every day between Michigan and Washington. Back in the day, J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr. renew acquaintances. Number four on the list is the D.K.

12:51Rich Eisen:Metcalf revenge game, if you will. We had Cam Hayward on in the show before. in our number one. He said DK Metcalf told him he's had at least 20 tickets for this game with Seattle coming to the Steelers home opener and DK Metcalf's home opener as a Steeler. Seahawks and Pittsburgh and the Seahawks need this one too. They lost just like Atlanta at home in division and the Seahawks need to get a good game out of Sam Darnold who reportedly the Steelers were kicking tires on before they landed on Rodgers and so this is an interesting game to say the least and the Pittsburgh Steelers can go to 2-0 before taking a visit to New England for yet another Rodgers sort of spin around the league tour places that he has been unwelcome and then the Seattle Seahawks after this game are home against New Orleans so they can get some sort of a momentum going.

13:51Rich Eisen:How will this look? Will the Steelers run defense and running game be any stouter against the Seahawks defense that Mina Kimes came on Thursday's show and called a top five defense? So we'll see how this one plays out early window on Fox. Number three is one of the two Monday night games. The NFC South favorite Tampa Bay Buccaneers opening up a week two game on the road again going into Houston, licking its wounds from a dreadful week one Sunday in SoFi against the Rams. I mean, is it possible the Texans finish, start the season 0-2 and look up and look at the Colts or Jaguars 2-0? Now suddenly they're two games out of first.

14:35Rich Eisen:I mean, that would be a surprise. Can the Texans protect CJ Stroud? Is there a run game anywhere? Nico Collins, you know, line one is yours. Let's see what's going on here. Um, this is, this is the early window Monday night football game on the ESPN family of networks. Can't wait for this one. Number two, Ben Johnson returning to Detroit where all nationalized and localized are on the lions wondering, do they miss Ben Johnson? Can Ben Johnson get things more on the same page with Caleb Williams in time for his return and leave the Lions 0-2, suffering both losses in division to start the season coming up with a win on the road in division.

15:21Rich Eisen:This is just massive. Early window on Fox. Can the Lions turn the page from the narrative that the Packers salted that they missed their coordinators and they're not the same team? What are we going to see when the Chicago Bears and Ben Johnson return to the spot where the Lions apparently miss him? I mean, number one is the obvious. It's the rematch of the Super Bowl. It's the Eagles and the Chiefs who have not been 0-2 since the 2014 season. That was Andy Reid's second of 13 years there and the only time in Andy Reid's tenure in Kansas City that they did not make the playoffs. And the Philadelphia Eagles, as we remember last year, even if they lose this one, they started 2-2 and then put the pedal to the metal and won the Super Bowl.

16:07Rich Eisen:So is A.J. Brown going to be left reading a book again until the final drive? Could Devontae Smith be targeted a bit more? Remember, the run defense of the Cowboys did keep Saquon Barkley to just 60 yards rushing, and we're going to see a bigger game from him. Will Xavier Worthy play? What will the Chiefs look like? That's a massive one-late window on Fox. One more. I did not notice. That's my boy Coop. Coop. And here we go. Here we go. One more. And it's the last game of the weekend. 10 p.m. Eastern kick. 7 local time in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two teams that started, of three, that started 1-0 in the AFC West.

17:00Rich Eisen:The Chargers at the Raiders. The Raiders, can they follow up that win in New England with another one at home against a Chargers team that looked like one of the best teams in the NFL in Brazil? They are on the road once again because Chris Brown's in SoFi is occupied. Honestly, the league told us when Mike North came on this program and said that we had to put them, we know they couldn't put them at home after Brazil. So we put them as close as they possibly can to their home for a road game as late as they possibly can be in the week. It's the last game 10 Eastern time, and we all know. It's the What's Your Deal, Bro?

17:36Rich Eisen:matchup that we all saw Stanford and USC back in the day, and then Seattle, San Francisco in Jim Harbaugh's first go-around as an HC in the NFL. And Pete Carroll was asked about seeing Jim Harbaugh once again in this big Monday nighter. I remember Jim. No, I don't. I have no fond memories. I'm not going to go there.

18:03They're great games. They've been great games, that's all. He said that you guys in a different life could have been great teammates. When he said something like that, what does that mean? Well, I think that would come from the, you know, he's seen my game. And so he would like me to help him win, you know, if I could. And so he'd like us to play together, I guess. But one thing we would certainly see eye to eye on is about competing. He's always been a great competitor. and he battled through so much in his playing days and his coaching days as well. So I appreciate him saying that because I'd like to play with him too.

18:36He said that you're not on each other's Christmas. He's not on your Christmas card list. Do you expect a birthday card from him then? Well, I'm surprised you would say that because he sends me a birthday card every year.

18:46Rich Eisen:So I don't know what to tell you. Oh, wow. Pete. Pete cracking jokes. Is he hanging out with Caratop now in Vegas? That is amazing. Moves to Vegas and he's suddenly two drink minimum, Pete. count? He was asked, by the way, the setup for the first soundbite, he was asked of his fondest memories coaching against Jim Harbaugh. And that was his response. He tried to make a jury's about it. And then he was honest. There are no fond memories. There were games. He turned 74 on Monday. What a legend. So it's his birthday that night? Yeah, his birthday's on Monday. I'm sure he'll love his age being discussed, but he's still the world's youngest teenager according to Jim Brockmire.

19:27Rich Eisen:Now that Dick Clark is no other. That's what he said back in the day. That's my top five list of the other matchups of week two. I'm looking forward to seeing the most. Now I look forward to seeing Michael Chiklis come out of our green room. Can't wait to see our friend Michael Chiklis back here and can't wait for you to see the senior in theaters near you nationwide next Friday, September 19th.

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21:09Rich Eisen:Terms and conditions apply. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. The senior available in theaters nationwide. Next Friday, one week from today, It's a true story. Go for it. I've got to correct you because most movies say based on a true story. This one should say this is a true story. Bingo. Because Mike Flint was right there off camera the whole time. On the set of this movie. On the set. And Mike Flint is who? Explain to people. Mike Flint is a guy from Texas who went to Odessa, Permian? Is that how you pronounce it? Permian, I think so. Permian, sorry. Friday Night Lights. Yeah, Friday Night Lights.

21:48He was the captain of that team, won that championship, went over to this big feeder of the Lobos, this team that he played for at Sol Ross State University. West Texas football is like a religion, right? So he went there, and he was the captain of the team in the first week of his senior year. They were supposed to go undefeated. And he saw a freshman outside of the dorm after curfew, told the kid to go in. The kid told him to F himself. He threw down with him, broke his nose. Next day, he not only gets thrown off the team, but thrown out of school. And he left with his tail between his legs.

22:26Like 35 years later, he receives a reunion invitation. He thought it was an error. His wife's like, no, I want you to go get this monkey off your back. You've got to exorcise these demons. And he went to do that, to apologize. And he gets there, and the boys, it's like no time passed. And they're like, hey, man, you look like you could. Because he was a strength trainer, you know. And he looked good. And they were like, hey, man, you look like you can still run with him. And joking. He was like, yeah, I probably could. And they were like, well, you're eligible. And he was like, I'm what? So he got it in his head.

22:57And right then they were doing trials for the new team. He calls his wife and he's like, honey, I'm having a great time with the boys down here. I'm going to just stay for the weekend. And she didn't know. And he tried out for the team and he made it. And she lost her mind. She was like, what are you doing? Age 59. 59. You're going to kill yourself. So they made a deal. She's like, if you're going to do this, then you're going to go back to school and get your degree. You're going to make good on it. And the thing is, look, like any great sports film, this is a redemption tale. Football is the backdrop for this movie, and it is a football movie.

23:37And I've got to tell you what, this looks like a$40 million movie. It doesn't look like the small independent that it is. It has scale, and we got it on the screen. And the great Mary Stewart Masterson plays my wife, and she's brilliant. but those boys they're fantastic and they all played football so they knew what they were doing um you know i man i gotta tell you to play football and slam into these 20 or something year olds again after all these years i was just terrified something was going to break that i was going to hear a snap and that would be it you know so the fact that i nothing the second to last shot of the movie i was finishing uh i was sprinting yeah i pull up and just as i'm pulling up pow my my right calf pops oh and i had one i had one shot left but fortunately it was a close up in here and we were all panicking i said i know what to do sit me on a dolly and push me fast and i'm gonna i'm gonna make like i'm running and that's how we we we got that last shot at 4 30

24:43Rich Eisen:in the morning just before the sun rose with your with your calf just throbbing just ripped just you know did you say to any of these kids i'm vic mackie man you couldn't you gotta be kidding me i got i got this come on that's why i was uh i was so psyched about that scene the rubber band man scene because when they first met me they were all afraid of me the boys they were like oh yes mr chick list yes and i'm like relax you know so it was a great scene where they got to mock me and I sort of tossed myself up for it. I was like, go ahead, mock me. And then that was it. We were a team at that point.