Hour 3: Panthers ‘4-Downs’ Season Preview, plus ‘Ted Lasso’ Star Brendan Hunt In-Studio

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0:46Rich Eisen:Find 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. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

1:32Rich Eisen:So please, welcome the greatest performer ever to have graced this earth. Rich Eisen. Is he back yet? If Aaron Donald comes back. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer, Rams cornerback, Trent McDuffie. Still to come, writer and actor, Brendan Hunt. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Brendan Hunt, the man who plays Coach Beard on Ted Lasso, is in our green room. He's been here before. We're welcoming him back as season four is out there for everybody to take in on Apple TV.

2:17Rich Eisen:Coop has never seen Ted Lasso. Susie and I started from scratch with him. Whoa. Zan's all caught up to speed. Oh, that's fun. He's been watched it. It's been fun watching season one again while season four is back. Cool. It just makes you wake up the next morning. Still good. You do. You're like, why do I feel so good? And that's why. It's awesome. He's coming out here shortly. The news broke in hour number one while we were talking with Albert Brewer of Sports Illustrated that the Minnesota Vikings told the team it's Kyler Murray's gig. So we've been talking about that throughout the show. Hour number two, great chat with Trent McDuffie.

2:53Rich Eisen:we asked him, is he back yet? And he confirmed he is not back yet. So we all know who the he is. Okay? We don't have to keep repeating it. It's Aaron Donald. Okay. And then we made a mistake in the middle of Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday that everybody listening to us on ESPN LA is like, what's your malfunction? Because you were talking about how Tarek School got a no decision last night. They lost. They didn't. They won. They won. They actually won. Edwin Diaz. Hey, the trumpets are back. Although they've been more trombones. Yeah, he was a little, he'd been struggling too. But at any rate, that's what has been going on.

3:27Rich Eisen:If you missed any of it, there's our podcast, all three hours. There's our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. Our Disney Plus page has got all three hours as soon as we're done. So that's, you have no excuse to miss any of this, is what I'm basically saying to all of you. Again, 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program. let's go to Martin in Colorado has been hanging on since we started the program what's up Martin how are you hey fellas Rich pleasure to speak with you as always thank you what's going on Martin hey I usually call in when I have to air a grievance against you guys but this time I'm going to do it in the form of the win-loss game for the Broncos because the Bo Nix is disrespect to being left off your quarterback power rankings okay alright so it's time to put the Broncos schedule up.

4:17Rich Eisen:Let me get it here. I need to get my papers a little bit more in order. I'm a bit of a mess. Alright, I have it. The Denver Broncos win-loss game with Martin in Colorado has got a bone to pick and is communicating it through saying the words win and loss. Starting with the Monday nighter at Kansas City, what happens? Win. Then they're home for the Jaguars. Win. Now you're home for the Rams. Loss. Now it's a 2-1 at the 49er visit. Win. 3-1 at the Chargers. Loss. 3-2 Thursday night home against the defending champs. Win. That's a 4-2 record visiting Arizona. Win. That's a 5-2 record finishing up your series with the Chiefs at home.

5:06Rich Eisen:Sweep. Win. Wow. 6-2 at the Panthers. Win. 7-2 home Home for Vegas. It might be one of Mendoza's first games. 8-2. Now you've got the day after Thanksgiving against the Steelers. Lost. All right. Home for the Dolphins. Win. All right. That's 9-3 at the Jets. That's a win. 10-3 at the Raiders. Sweeping the Raiders win. 11-3. You've got a Christmas game. Home for the Bills. Brutal, but lost. Good game. Okay, yeah, I hear you. Now you're at the Patriots. I think we get you, Brockman. Win. 12-4, home for the Chargers. I'm going to say win, though. It may not matter at that point. Okay, so your point is 13-4, and Bo Nix should be in my top 10 quarterbacks in the league list?

6:05He should be maybe in the potential MVP conversation at some point, maybe. Okay. Call that shot. and yeah, I mean, three of his classmates were in there and I think deservingly so, but I believe he's performed just as well. He did take out Josh Allen in the playoffs.

6:21Rich Eisen:Did he? Did he, though, take out Josh Allen in the playoffs, Martin? That was the interception. Okay, very good. There goes Martin in Colorado, everybody. Okay. Listen, I'm a big Bo Nix fan. I think what he's done there with Denver is remarkable. there are times where they had a fourth quarter he and Caleb were the fourth quarter magicians right? Bo Nix played well in that playoff game he did 283 touchdowns he played well and it was an interception I hear you listen and Bo Nix should have gone just to be completely straight up here Bo Nix should have gone into the Super Bowl fully healthy or gone into the AFC championship game fully healthy, had the referees called a clear hold in the end zone for a safety.

7:17Rich Eisen:They didn't. But for another day, another day, 844-204-RICH, number to dial right there on the program. Do you think Bo Nix should be a top 10 quarterback? Or that's just fandom? I do not. That is fandom. I forgot what my top 10 list was. Yeah, I was looking. I had it. off that list for Bo Nix. It would have to be somebody obviously 8 through 10. But, alright, I've got the Carolina Panthers in the 4 downs barrel today. Hit it. 4 downs with Rich. Here we go. Why did he stop the man? Okay, 4 downs right here with yours truly on the Carolina Panthers. The GM, by the way, was in Canton. Dan Morgan was there to run into him, but I heard he was there for Luke Kuechly.

8:11Rich Eisen:Everybody was continuing to pound.

8:16Rich Eisen:First down, how much better did the defense get? Because Dan Morgan hit the heck out of that in free agency. Jalen Phillips, Devin Lloyd. Let's add somebody up front. Let's add somebody in the back. Let's make sure this front seven is a lot better this time around. The Carolina Panthers last year, right there in the middle of the pack, and points per game given up, yards given up. I mean, they didn't light a lot of fires, but they also weren't terrible either, and they want to get in that top ten. You get in the top ten and you start scoring more points and off you go. And in terms of scoring more points, the offensive line at the tackle position, second down right here.

8:54Rich Eisen:It's just, you know, they got the interior guard play. They got that going for them. but um equon who just can't stay healthy that their tackles have just been a problem staying healthy and let's get the guys up front healthy protecting rico darrell's gone is jonathan brooks going to be able to run the football right is he can he stay healthy you know let's not forget chuba hubbard got a nice deal a couple of years ago um but it's really about protecting Bryce Young blowing open the running game and get to the second level. Because if Carolina can stiffen up the defense and get healthier on the offensive line, now you got something cooking.

9:38Rich Eisen:And boy do they have the horses to cook at the receiver position. And that's third down here. Third down. Nobody's talking about the Carolina Panthers receivers very much. Nobody's talking about the Carolina Panthers offense very much, period. or the Carolina Panthers overall. I mean, it's the NFC South. They're right there in the, you know, the mid-Atlantic. Listen, can Ted Haroah McMillan and Jalen Coker take a step up and create a new dynamic deal and say, you know what? We've got two guys here for Bryce Young, too. And that kid Coker was torching people in the latter part of the season. And then McMillan, as we all know, had an offensive rookie of the year campaign.

10:24Rich Eisen:so you got the reigning offensive rookie of the year in year two a thousand yards receiving in his first year can he pop it 1200 1300 yards can he start showing up and showing out pro bowl style and then can coker be the the the number two they got some it's talented there man so can they step it up and take it to another level. So that's third down right there. And then fourth down, we all know what the drill is here. Bryce Young, year four. Is it getting late early for him or never too late? It's kind of crazy, man. We're here in year four. He's got a fifth-year option picked up. Nobody's talking about a long-term deal for him right now.

11:12Rich Eisen:I'm sure his agent is asking for it, and I'm sure there's something maybe going on that we just don't know. Unless nothing's going on. I don't know, but he sure has come a heck of a long way from Dave Canales just a couple weeks into his tenure there in the regular season as a head coach, sitting him down and putting Andy Dalton in. And all of us sitting here echoing what everybody else in the national media was saying, which is he's got to get the hell out of it. Like this isn't for him. You know, they just hired, you know, a first time head coach after his first year calling plays in Tampa. he did really well for for Baker but really we're hiring him giving him a monster long you know deal and now the first thing he's going to do is bench him and bring in Andy Dalton remember that and he's come a long way from he needs to get the hell out of there and last year I know they didn't get above 500 but they did win the division that's all that matters It's about what happens in your neighborhood.

12:17Rich Eisen:And it's Bryce Young time. It's never too late to show what you can do and then get your long-term deal. And if not, maybe it's getting late early for him. I don't know. Chris, you're always looking for a team that's going to ditch the guy that they draft. It's going to happen someday. You're not worth the market value deal. It's going to happen. So we're just going to go start from scratch again. you're always looking for that one and i keep telling you keep looking for it because it's never going to happen searching somewhere somebody's gonna but it's funny right now it's bryce young and cj stroud where we're like are you going to get a new deal entering year four still they have not gotten it yet but the carolina panthers i mean jalen phillips and devin lloyd had terrific seasons last year you add them to the mix of what they already have You pop the defense up a little bit.

13:13Rich Eisen:Your receivers pop themselves up a little bit. Bryce Young gets protected. Brooks can finally stay healthy and show Carolina what they drafted him for. And then they win the division. For a second straight year, they're above.500, and they're getting better every year. I just gave you the Panthers' four downs outlook in a very bright, sunshiny way. and also as a fan like Xavier Leggett is one of the we're not him too but he's just someone that you root for right he's just a positive kid and you're just hoping man that he can turn that corner if you can understand a word he's saying well Bryce Young once told me he didn't understand a word doesn't make him any less I think it helps to his endearing I'm obviously having a little bit of fun but I'll never forget Remember, he got drafted.

14:09Rich Eisen:They traded up into the first round to go get him because he said something along the lines of, you know, yeah, Carolina's already told me they're going to draft me to the top of the second round. I'm like, come on, man. So they had to make a trade to go get him. Hey, he earned himself a fifth year of contractual control for the team. I remember that happened. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Let's go to Liam in Las Vegas. L.I.M. L.I.M. Hey, guys. Sorry, I was eating something. Oh, what's lunchtime? When I called into the show, I didn't know that they had already named the Vikings quarterback.

14:49I was thinking this will be a perfect time to see who is better against these good defenses, especially this weekend against my New York Giants. so then like a minute after I

15:05Rich Eisen:call in, it's announced and I'm like, well, dang and that's when you got something to eat, Liam might as well just make a sandwich I was having some chips let's make better choices Liam, let's make better choices from here on better choices for you I will listen but for your Giants, let's see Jackson Dart against this top five defense. You know, Flores is not going to just... That's the other thing I was thinking about. Brian Flores is a really good DC. I want to see what packages they run because I believe they're playing one of their divisional Lions around right after Christmas. So maybe we'll see something like with something with the Vikings going into the Lions game three days after Christmas.

15:58Rich Eisen:Liam, thanks for the call. What's your beverage of choice to wash down your lunch? Oh, no, Mike bad-fingered him. Dude, what is going on? I'm like the ABS. You know, boom, it's quick. It's like the ABS. Or do we tap the helmet? The question is. You should have tapped the helmet. He didn't. Too quick. I found your top 10 QBs real quick. Okay. I'm sorry. Not sure who you're taking off. You had Caleb Williams, 10. I had Caleb Williams, 10. Justin Herbert, 9. This is from July 15th. Yeah. Jalen Hurts, 8. Dak, 7. Drake May, 6. And then the top 5. Go for the top five again? Burrow, Lamar, Stafford, Mahomes, and Allen.

16:33Rich Eisen:So I'm not sure where Bo Nix sneaks in there, honestly. Instead of Caleb, you could make that case? Yeah, I guess so. Because Bo has been more consistent since being drafted. You know? The thing that Bo Nix does really well, first of all, is he can take hard coaching. That's number one. Number two, he's tough. and number three, he doesn't throw interceptions. You want to look that up? How many interceptions is he thrown? He had 11 last year. So that's a decent amount. He had 11 last year, huh? Okay. And 12 his rookie year. That's 23 in two years. Let's put it this way then, I guess. He's not careless with the football.

17:19Rich Eisen:You don't look at him the same way you look at Drake May and go, come on, man. Drake made some head-scratching things, you know, sometimes. Caleb has 13 in two years. He takes care of the football, man. Takes care of the football, yeah. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. We'll maybe sneak in a phone call at the very end of our program. But let's take a break right now. And coming back, Brendan Hunt, the man who plays Coach Beard and is a producer and writer, co-creator as well of Ted Lasso, coming up right here on the Rich Eisen Show. But before we do, just want to remind you what's going on right now at your local Hyundai dealer.

18:00Rich Eisen:It's called the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, where you can get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong. And right now, you can get great deals on our most popular models. There's the bold and stylish Elantra that's loaded with the latest tech, all electric. You can go that way on the Ioniq 5 or the Ioniq 9. You want adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid. The Tucson also has a Tucson Hybrid for you as well. Get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. Brendan Hunt when we come back here on The Rich Eisen Show.

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19:14Rich Eisen:Pick up select Royal Purple Fuel System additives. Buy one, get one free. Plus receive four times O rewards points. Stop by your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts store or shop online at OReillyAuto.com. Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles in sports. Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. They're kids fighting cancer. They're families standing beside them. Doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than$303 million and supporting over 40 ,000 children.

19:52Rich Eisen:Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash Hope on Wheels. The Rich Isis Show Podcast. Our radio audience has returned. Brendan Hunt, the co-creator, co-writer, and actor who plays Coach Beard on Ted Lasso, is here on the show. Does Coach Beard have a name? Has that ever been revealed? Yes, in the final moments of season three. That's right. And it's not like a secret anymore, but for those who might be discovering the first three series, I'll refrain from saying it is Easter egged early. It is Easter egged early. Okay, very good. I kind of forget that, sort of like Kramer. And Seinfeld, we found out his first name was Cosmo.

20:40Rich Eisen:So were you involved in the originals bit that was done for NBC Sports? Yeah. Walk me through how this idea of Ted Lasso was born. Yeah. So NBC goes to Jason. They had just gotten the rights to cover the English Premier League in a big way. Like, you know, we forget now, but like soccer fandom at that time was kind of a wasteland. Like you really had to work to find your shows. But they were going to have it like on network TV on weekend mornings. and for a soccer fan, like moi. Like, very, very exciting. So they go to Jason. Jason asks, can I hire anyone I want? And they're like, sure. And they're like, okay, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly because all three of us were guys who were big sports fans who then moved to Amsterdam to do comedy out there for different lengths of time.

21:22Yes. And discovered like, oh, soccer actually doesn't suck. We've been lied to for all our lives. So we were all in the same boat for that. Now, mind you, I had just shot a scene for We're the Millers. Yes. That was the first movie I'd done. It was really an exciting time. But Jason calls me and says, good news, bad news. Bad news is you got cut from Werther Millers. I'm like, ah, dang it. Good news, there's this soccer thing. And that becomes, we make a commercial where there's a coach named Ted Lasso, who's an American college football coach who knows nothing about soccer, but is for some reason the coach of a Premier League team.

21:57In this case, Tottenham Hotspur. And we make fun of Americans. We make fun of Americans' ignorance towards soccer. and it was basically just a sketch like we got six minutes out of it it's still on youtube and it holds up pretty well but there wasn't anything like a show there i'd say but the next year like it had gone well enough as a campaign and like some of the people who like put it together like won like ad awards and stuff like please come back and do it again and like okay sure um and that time we found a slightly different angle on the character like he missed london because he'd been fired at the end of the first commercial and now he's coaching a girls team and like we find his like sensitive side and after that jason's like okay there's something more here let's figure out what it can be um and the next year me and him and joe kelly hang out at jason's big ass brooklyn apartment and uh our house really let's call it a house because that's what it is and um and like we put together like we write a pilot and you know a couple seasons of an arc and um and like it's pretty exciting and then it just sits there doing nothing for a

23:00Rich Eisen:very long time is that right yeah collecting dirt for a few years so then how did you pitch it like how did it land at apple then eventually um bill lawrence wanted to meet with jason tv mogul creator of scrubs cougar town now shrinking and uh and now ted lasso as well um he calls up jason because he wants to work with him in general um they can't quite find the right thing but um jason's like well hey do you ever see the ted lasso commercials and bill's like yeah sure well we got some stuff and he shows him stuff and bill's like this is great let's do this and once bill lawrence gets involved well that's it things start happening yes they do they sure do and now yeah here we are but yeah they did the pitching at first when they did like no one bit except apple and apple did not yet exist um but it was like okay thanks apple and we had very humble hopes for what it might be and and now here we are with what it's been when did brett goldstein who plays roy kent get involved in this whole thing um brett was a last minute addition to the writing team the whole writing team except for the three of us had never worked together before but Bill had worked with Brett on I think Undateable was the show it was called and he talked to Jason, Jason liked him, he came on just as a writer he was going to be in the writer's room for I think three months though we were going to write for like five and when it came time for him to leave we were starting to cast Roy Kent and Roy Kent is loosely based on Roy Keane, this Irish football legend So we were mostly looking at Irish actors, a couple of Scottish guys, and not picturing anything London.

24:31And also, like, I knew Brett was a good stand-up, but I didn't know he was like a capital A actor. And on his last day, he leaves an audition video, and he's very humble about it. He shows it only to Bill Lawrence. And it's like, if this sucks, please don't tell anyone. It's fine. We don't have to speak of it ever again. and I get into the office a little later that day and I was like Brett turned in a video and it's really good and I'm like oh is it okay and it's one of those where you watch it and it's like well god damn it turns out Brett is Roy Kent okay here we go and yeah good on him like ballsy move and it worked out it sure did

25:11Rich Eisen:so what's the okay another one a rumor is Ted Lasso based on Jim Harbaugh in any way shape or form um because that yeah i hear that a lot you know just the khakis but even that's a sidebar because like they're not quite true because the khakis are really based on on Ditka when we were first doing the commercials he's he's very he's very Ditka you remember the short shorts Dickie used to wear the polo shirts and then and then sidelines you know for black tie events he'd put khakis on nice um and maybe that's where Harbaugh got his khakis too but um yeah you know So Ditka was his first coach? Yeah, yeah.

25:49Right. To ill effect at times, but yeah.

25:52Rich Eisen:So Ditka was the initial khaki inspiration. Yeah, and the mustache too. But other than that, there's no Harbaugh connection. No, but he did consult with Harbaugh about like, okay, what's your day-to-day on the khakis? Like, what's your actual process? And Harbaugh responded with like a three-page email. Like, okay, I've got two pairs. I want to keep in my office. I want to bring it on the road. and talked about his toothbrush habits. He kind of overdid it, frankly. But it was, yeah, so now we know the full khaki protocol. Brandon Hunt here on the Rich Eisen Show. So you mentioned that you did stand-up in Amsterdam.

26:28Rich Eisen:Is that why Amsterdam was chosen as a locale at one point for the show? Out of respect to our friends who are actual stand-ups, I must mildly correct, we were not stand-ups. We did sketch and improv out there. There's a company called Boom Chicago that a lot of good people who you've heard of have gone through their doors. Seth Meyers was there, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin, Ike Bernal, a lot of folks who folks know. And yeah, I did not give two squats about soccer before I got there, but this was in 99. So no streaming, no broadband. I can't keep up with Chicago sports. And Michael Jordan has just retired anyway, seemingly forever.

27:06So I was like, all right, soccer, I'll give you a shot. and like just caught the bug in a ridiculous way and became a bit of a bit of a zealot. And yeah, so when we finally had the budget and the leverage to to honor Amsterdam, which is a city that's very important to all of us, they were like, OK, you can do it. Apple's like, you can do it, but it has to connect to the story for some reason. And we're like, oh, yeah, we can do that. And so to go back to Amsterdam in that way was, yeah, it was pretty special.

27:31Rich Eisen:Well, the bike riding scene, we talked about that with Phil Dumpster when he was here about a month plus ago and he talked about that as one of his favorite scenes that he's done um with roy kent you know riding teaching him how to ride a bike and things of that nature and it it it's it's so moving what what's your favorite episode that you have that you're most proud of the amg episode it is yeah i um you know all of our scripts are a team effort of the writers room and all but um you know someone has to eventually go away and marshal the script and you know make it theirs and yeah I was put at the helm of that script and yeah it's just very very special most people who go to Boom Chicago go for a year or two I was there for five which is too long actually not really a great career move but your name's in Amsterdam long enough you're not really thinking career as much as you should and to be able to convey some of that experience was really very special And like most Amsterdam stuff you see in American media, you know, still is like very like weed heavy, you know.