Hour 3:  Steelers ‘4-Downs’ Season Preview, plus ‘Pluribus’ Star Karlina Wydra In-Studio

0:00Hey Chicago, class it up with Crocs. You know back to school is coming in fast. So why wait to find your new fave footwear? Step into a local Crocs store and step into your new look. Try it. Style it. Make it yours. Because the right pair doesn't just show up, it shows off. First day fits, handled. Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest Crocs store today. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So, you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist.

0:44The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. It's on Disney Plus from noon to three 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.

1:19Rich Eisen:One quarterback competition is settled. This is the Rich Eisen Show. And then in Cleveland. I'm just thankful to practice. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I just love the way Shador Sanders handles himself. Earlier on the show, NFL Network Insider Ian Rappaport, Pro Football Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas. Coming up, Emmy-nominated actor Carolina Weidra. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:57Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. First two hours, if you missed it, there's our podcast version. There's our Disney Plus page. It was a great conversation with Ian Rappaport telling us why the Vikings made their move with Kyler Murray when the Falcons and the Browns might make their moves at quarterback. We talked about is he back yet? Aaron Donald is still not back yet. And then in hour two, we spoke with Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas about everything going on with the Bills. And he said Bijan has got the best shot to win MVP. Is he running back like he did back in the day?

2:31Rich Eisen:Like I said, those are the ways for you to check on this show if you missed it. Fans of Pluribus, stay right where you are. The Emmy-nominated actor who plays Zosia is in our green room. Just had a very nice chat with Carolina Weedrup. We're going to have a fun chat with her. More of your phone calls, 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. The phone lines are completely lit. We'll get to you on all of that front. Um, George McCaskey, the, um, the, uh, owner of the Chicago bears came out and said, don't know where we're going to wind up with a new stadium. Could be Hammond, Indiana could be Arlington Heights, Illinois.

3:09Rich Eisen:A lot of people think it's going to wind up being Indiana. The only thing he would allow is that wherever the bears wind up, they will not be called the Indiana bears. Thank goodness. They will be called the Chicago bears. Can you imagine? And I understand, you know, hey, how could they be called the Chicago Bears if they're playing in Hammond, Indiana? That's a good question. The New York Jets and Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Now, I know that's much closer to the city of New York as the crow flies between even the most southern part of the city limits of Chicago and Hammond, Indiana.

3:41Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, it's right there. But it's still the Jets and the Giants play in a different state. Yeah, right. Okay? The 49ers play in a different state, it feels like. if you try to get down to santa clara from the southernmost part of the city limits of san francisco california but they they're closer to san jose yeah you fly to like it's easier to fly to san jose one thousand percent if you go to a san francisco 49ers game flying into san jose is much better geographically than flying in an sfo do you know the way i do actually know the way to san jose you weighs it couldn't say that back so listen uh i would love for the bears to stay in the state of illinois with all due respect to our friends in indiana okay i mean it would make complete sense certainly since the bears bought the set at arlington heights and raised a horse racetrack to the ground right they bought it three years ago what are they gonna do go to Hammond, Indiana and build pickleball courts?

4:44Rich Eisen:That's the way we're going to do. You know, maybe they will. I don't know. So, in the meantime, you see Ben Johnson made an interesting headline saying he wants to set the record for highest scoring offense in a season. Great feature in The Athletic right now about Ben Johnson where he made that quote, yeah. I love it. And people are taking offense. Why? He knows exactly what the 13 Broncos scored, how many exact number points per game. And he wants to, what did he say? I want blowouts and shutouts. Yeah, man. I mean, that's a team. So now all the other teams are like, ooh. It's great. He is unapologetically placing a target right there on his back and that of his team.

5:33Rich Eisen:What do you call these guys? Red? Red asses? Red asses. Oh, yeah. He takes it to a new level. Oh, yeah. I mean, whether it's playing for the Green Bay Packers or covering the team and forgetting to put your phone on Do Not Disturb on his podium right in front of his microphone, whatever it is, he's got a certain way of doing things, and he does not care what you think about the way he does things. And the Chicago Bears have got Caleb Williams. He said Luther Burden has got some Amon Ross, St. Brownish traits. Yep, Luther beast. Threw that out there about his guy. You want shutouts? I did see Dennis Allen in Canton.

6:20Rich Eisen:Nice. There, as you know, obviously for Drew Brees. Yeah, man. Oh, yeah. So he's putting it out there for the Chicago Bears who won their division last year and damn near made the NFC Championship game. And nobody expected him to do that. Certainly since they lost their opener against the Minnesota Vikings in division on a Monday night, damn near pitching a shutout, only to have J.J. McCarthy torch them in the fourth quarter and then go to Detroit where he left and had that team drop a 50-burger on him. And they're 0-2. And suddenly, you're thinking, Oh, gosh. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. Yeah, that's what you're thinking.

7:15Rich Eisen:And then good, better, best. Never let it rest. That's it. I love it. Put a target on there. Those Indiana Bears. Oh, those Chicago Bears. My bad. The Bears. Oh, baby. I just heard Adam scream from the back. They open at Carolina. Interesting week one game that I think will be under the radar for a lot of people. I thought they should have been in Seattle, man. End of story. That game's not until the first week of November. They put them on a Monday night. Vikings at Bears, Eagles at Bears. That's a Monday nighter. You know, the Eagles won a piece of Chicago. They would love to take this whole thing about shutouts and blowouts and 37 points a game and just say, okay, we're going to do to you what you did to us the day after Thanksgiving, which was punk us in front of our home crowd.

8:07Rich Eisen:You got punked. There's that game at Green Bay. Everybody in Wisconsin has got that thing circle. Come up the toll road and have Matt LaFleur give you the swim move after the game. There's that game against New England on a Thursday night. Kickoff week seven. The game against Seattle as well. Tampa. Oh, baby. I'm excited for the Chicago Bears season for you fans, but it won't be called the Indiana Bears no matter what.

8:40Rich Eisen:so by the way george mccaskey great job umpiring for the savannah to bananas did you see that one do you see that no yeah when they were in wrigley oh really yeah man that's cool he umpired good job he's got a great sense of humor uh i know bears fans were upset about the team moving in yeah i don't kind of want to hear that yeah but bears win total nine and a half i'll take the over on that. Oh, yeah. I'm with you. Shutouts? Blowouts. Blowouts. Shutouts and blowouts. Let's go. I've got a four downs on the Pittsburgh Steelers. All right. Hit it. Hit it. Four downs with Rich. Here we go. All righty, everybody.

9:23Rich Eisen:My four downs on the Pittsburgh Steelers, everybody. One and done against the Texans last year. and then big time changes and that is the first down what in the world do the post tomlin stealers look like 19 years i sound like the old lady at the end of uh or in titanic it's been 84 years what do you look like and everything else is based off of that there's been one way of doing things and the stealers fans are like i will many of them were like why you keep caping for this guy rich want him out. Let him go do the media, which he now is on NBC. What do they look like? Because it's pretty amazing.

10:06Rich Eisen:Mike McCarthy, former toll taker, right? Guy who would sweep up floors, mop up floors in a family establishment, right? Western PA there in Pittsburgh. How about this, man? He gets to say, I've coached the Packers, Cowboys, and Steelers. That's pretty good. It's kind of amazing. It is kind of amazing. I know. And he's back together with Aaron Rodgers. Dude, can you make it up? I'm going to win the Super Bowl for the Green Bay Packers with Aaron Rodgers and prevent the Steelers from winning another one with Mike Tomlin. And then one day, I'm going to be the one to take over for Tomlin after having coached the Cowboys.

10:45Rich Eisen:And then the guy who's going to be the quarterback is going to be Aaron Rodgers who decides that I don't want to retire. I'll play one more year because it's Mike McCarthy in part. and I have stuff I want to write. And I understand it's just like, wait a minute. Following up Tomlin without another 30-something coordinator that's never done it before somewhere else and just follow it up with, Noel was that guy, Cowher was that guy, Tomlin was that guy, and we're not going to find who that guy is. I thought like Jesse Minner, for instance, right? Like defensive coordinator who's never done it, head coach somewhere before, but is ready to just be there for another 20-year run.

11:28Rich Eisen:Marcus Freeman. Right. That's what you thought. But the bottom line is, if you're going to follow up Tomlin after 19 years, do you want to have somebody who's never done it before or somebody who's just like, I know the way you've done it here for 19 years, but I know how to do my way, and I'm going to bring that way here. So the whole idea of a culture change, you kind of take that off the table. It's like, how are you going to establish yourself? Well, McCarthy's going to be like, what are you talking about? I know. Here's my system. Here's the way I run things. I've proven it for two other Blue Blood franchises.

12:03Rich Eisen:Two of the greatest. Although one I won a title for, and the other one is still waiting on an NFC Championship game appearance still after 30 years. Sorry, I've got to keep bringing that up. It was unnecessary, though. What's it going to look like? So that brings up second down. Can the Steelers' offense be explosive? can they be explosive that's the question because it seems like how many times unless rogers throws one of his zingers to uh somebody who's wide ass open or a couple of times and he find friarmouth a bunch of times to gash defenses it's not like he didn't do it last year or couldn't do it last year i don't think the offense last year wasn't explosive because rogers's arm can't deliver the football.

12:48Rich Eisen:It just, they didn't have the explosive players. And the one guy that you could have called explosive on their team last year, right? Because we didn't see it enough from DK Metcalf was Kenneth Gainwell, and he's gone. So what are we going to do here? You brought in Pittman from Indianapolis. It's time for my guy, Roman Wilson, who was J.J. McCarthy's number one target in the national championship team in Michigan. You can, it's time for him to, to spark, you know, you got Jeremy Bernard in the, in the draft. You missed on Makai Lemon because the Eagles sniped them before you could go. If you remember that they were on the phone, welcoming him to the Steelers.

13:28Rich Eisen:Wait a minute. Why are the Eagles calling me? Right. They got an offensive lineman for Rogers in this offense instead, but can they be explosive? That's like, I don't know. Yeah. Note on that, Rich, 11 % explosive play rate on drop-back passes, 26 in the NFL. Third down, how fast can the defense return to steel curtain form? How fast can we get that? Patrick Graham's the D.C. now, okay? McCarthy brought him in after a four-year run with the Ray. The Ray. They had Jamel Dean to the back end. He had a super year for Tampa. Jaquan Brisker is a safety that they added. Sebastian Joseph Day as well on the defensive line you know could the draft have helped don't know they still have TJ right Cameron Hayward's back for year 93 and he's as dominant as ever and the rest of the defense you could say is a little bit longer in the tooth I don't know I mean Charlie Porter Jr.

14:38Rich Eisen:But they have some players, man, who can go hunt. Queen. Hunt if they are healthy. That's the third down. Fourth down is a simple question, and it's no offense. He would even say that he probably hears it and pisses him off or whatever, but how much does Aaron Rodgers have left in the tank? Three instances in NFL history of a quarterback at age 43 or older attempting at least 100 passes with a passer rating over 70. You want to guess where those three instances are? Paul Tom Brady. That's correct. Last year, he became just the fifth quarterback at age 42 or beyond to attempt at least 100 passes and post a passer rating above 76 and a half.

15:23Rich Eisen:So he took care of business there. And again, you know, he clearly isn't running like the old Rodgers, let's be honest. 42, right? The arm strength, though, that ball just flies out of his Hall of Fame arm. It just does. And if Pittman and DK Metcalf can get some help from a run game that really was not very – I mean, Gainwell did much of his damage through the air, right? Jalen Warren would gash every now and then. The kid from Iowa, they're running back. They're rookie running back. They need something from him this year. so and then let's see what they can do in the playoffs if they make it which they have a roster to do let's be honest it's not like this roster is completely empty and that's my four downs on the Pittsburgh Steelers I give you the floor if I've missed anything on this front yeah I think you hit it with the explosive plays you know they just don't scare you offensively and that's kind of where they're at right now they need something from Michael Pittman That was a huge addition.

16:34Rich Eisen:But you know who puts up points? Mike McCarthy's offense puts up points. Yeah, but there's... They do it. CD Lamb's not out there. You know, D.K. Metcalf and Pittman are out there. Is no slouch, man. I don't know, man. And Pittman was a great add. I thought that was a real smart play. It feels like D.K.'s best days are behind him. Why would you say that? I don't know. My eyes work. Come on. Come on. 59 catches, 850 yards, six tutties last year. I like the running backs. I like Warren. I like hit him with the Rico Dowdle. Yeah, Dowdle, by the way. Dowdle being added. Dowdle's nice. I missed. For a guy you gave all that money to, you need more than 59 catches.

17:18Rich Eisen:Who, DK, you're talking about? Yeah. Oh, I hear you. I hear you. And, again, it's not because Rodgers couldn't deliver it to him. I just don't think there was. I mean, he had that one game in Europe where he took one to the house, and I'm like, that's the DK. That was explosive. Look, he's only 28, DK Metcalf. I know. It's not like it's over. It's not like he isn't. It ain't. 200-yard games last year. I know. I had him in fantasy. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. When it comes to your home, Pella Windows and Doors are the experts at taking care of you and your home. At Pella, they find the products that meet your needs, and their experts install them.

18:06Rich Eisen:That means working with a company that builds and installs a quality product with real pricing, real simple, really beautiful. And when a trusted name like Pella chooses to partner with the Rich Eisen Show, that says a lot. 0 % financing options are available. Certain restrictions apply. Find your local Pella Windows and Doors showroom today at Pella.com slash Eisen for details. Make life brighter with Pella Windows and Doors. Sometimes you've got to make life brighter by having something from space just trying to make you happy. Trust me, as a Jet fan, I would love Pluribus to happen. Carolina Weidra coming up next.

18:43Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

18:51Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high-interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast. Call an audible on your debt today at SoFi.com slash debt play. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Fast Fund's terms apply at SoFi.com slash DebtPlay. Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow.

19:29Rich Eisen:The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so 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. Terms and conditions apply. Rich Eisen here for Gusto. After all these years talking to athletes, coaches, entertainers, and people at the top of what they do, one thing is pretty clear. Success usually depends on getting the details right.

20:03Rich Eisen:For small business owners, that includes payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, you know, the work that keeps everything moving, even if it's not the reason you started the business in the first place. That's why there's Gusto. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use. So you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers' comp, 401k, you name it. Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget.

20:36Rich Eisen:And it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more. Plus, you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. 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.

21:07pick up the memory and then share with her that's why oh sorry that's why the um that's where the pause is there which is really interesting and that's why you're emmy

21:16Rich Eisen:nominated our radio audience has returned carolina weidra of uh of pluribus which you can catch right now on apple tv the first season just absolutely remarkable it's already been renewed for season who probably was the minute Vince Gilligan said, I'll do it. And I'd love to get into that part of it. Because again, for those who may not know, there's coming from outer space, a virus essentially that gets loose on planet Earth that affects almost everyone on Earth, except for Ray Sehorne's character and a handful of others. And it becomes like a hive mentality where you lose your individuality.

22:02Rich Eisen:And it creates this question of like, would you like to be happy all the time, but you would lose your individuality if you do that. Yeah. And how was it explained to you, though, when you first received a script to play your character in Pluribus? Well, when I auditioned for it, I didn't know anything about the world that he created. I just had a description of Zosia, kind of. I didn't understand who Zosia really is. When I auditioned for it, I just had that she's pleasant. She's likable. That was my first audition. And then when I tested for it, I read the first two scripts. And so I got more of the world that he created.

22:40And then I would have to ask him so many questions. I was like, wait a second. Okay, let's break it down to me how you envision these people to be, how they move about the world. And we talked about there's one side of them that they are very pleasant, unhappy, content, they don't have the full spectrum of emotions as a regular person. They are fully fledged human beings, but they don't operate with, you know, with being able to be angry or they don't experience grief in their body. They have the memories of that, but they don't they don't have it in their body. They're just happy and they can perform anything and everything at the highest level of humanity.

23:19Right. Anybody on that that's been affected by this virus. so it was I mean the idea is so big and you know when I first read I was completely overwhelmed and excited and it's just so big the idea of like one person being everything kind of like Chad GPT kind of like you know it's a bit of it's you know what I mean

23:41Rich Eisen:I think he's but Vince was here when Pluribus came out and has he I don't think he he you know intended it to be an AI criticism but everyone kind of feels that it is well what's incredible is he had this idea 10 years prior to where you know ai was was there but it wasn't in the conversation yet right in the mainstream conversation to where it is today so it's just incredible i i what i find incredible is that vince gilligan is tapping into something so so otherworldly do you know what i mean that he had this idea and so relevant today yeah i and with everything that's happening right well the way that he does it too i mean the first episode of pluribus just it had me at hello first of all i'm just such a fan of breaking bad and better call saw that i'm i'm in on whatever he wants me to be in oh my god trust me i was the same way and and so when when um and and by the way for to be able to act in it has got to be remarkable and we'll get to that in a second but yeah i just loved how you know when the virus takes over yeah and ray seahorn's character to realize is that something awful is happening and she doesn't figure it out that um the collective i would say the high yeah for sure it's the collective calls her up or there's a phone number at the bottom of the screen like she turns on her television set and they're basically talking to her like the door the secretary of agriculture the united states is talking to her through yeah and if i'm not mistaken the phone number actually if you called it really exists Yep.

25:12Yeah. Yeah. Which is so cool. So you could you would get a recording and then you could actually interact with it, which is incredible. Which freaks me out. Right.

25:20Rich Eisen:So it gets me in. But then it's a slow burn that I don't quite understand what your character. Your character first is introduced is what you're you're naked flying a plane or something like that. Or did I get that? I'm I'm no, I'm not. I'm wearing a J-Hub. Okay, right. Yeah, and then I'm flying the airplane, the C-130, which I actually got to taxi for real. For real? For real, yes. Like, for real. I got to taxi the C-130 at the Albuquerque Airport, which is, I mean, it's so insane if you really think about it. Right. I'm still pinching myself with all the things I got to do. And originally, I wasn't going to do it because the pilots felt, for safety reasons, they were like, well, listen, like, she's not a pilot.

26:07we're not sure we can do it and then after the we spend the day talking and discussing how the plane operates and they saw how serious i am and how you know i'm taking this role very seriously and i was very curious and they felt safe enough where they they allowed me to do it and and again

26:23Rich Eisen:that indicates for those again um that again the fact that you are connected to every other being on planet earth who has been affected by this which is every being on planet earth with the exception of a handful there's a pilot in the hive who can download you with the best pilots right the best pilots that download you on how to fly one of those absolutely well every individual every every not but every person individually can perform open heart surgery as the greatest surgeon in the world everything i would perform will be at the highest level of humanity what an idea it's it's wild and so you know when i was i in episode nine i am on the helicopter so i would get lessons of how the helicopter works and um and she's the greatest pilot as a helicopter pilot she's the greatest you know airplane whatever it is she's the greatest at so whatever i do anything i have to do it that also lives in my muscle memory the croquet game when we play the croquette game you know i'm the greatest player so you know it's just so it's just so fascinating and so wild but i have to rehearse for every single thing so it lived in my body so it looked like i've done it millions of times.