Hour 3: Titans ‘4-Downs’ Season Preview, plus ‘The Odyssey’ Star Matt Damon In-Studio

0:00Rich Eisen:MLB.tv on ESPN is your home for every out-of-market game, live or on demand. Catch your favorite teams and players, plus MLB Network and ESPN app features like Multiview, syncing your stats, key plays, bets, and fantasy, all in one place. Sign up now for MLB.tv in the ESPN app. Separate subscriptions required, blackouts and other terms apply. Visit stream.espn.com slash MLB TV for more information. 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?

0:44Rich Eisen: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. If LeBron decides to drag it on into August. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What is the timeline on getting an answer? I wish I knew, man. I want to go on vacation. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr. Apple TV lead MLS analyst Taylor Twellman. Coming up, Academy Award winner Matt Damon. And now, it's Rich Eisen. We already had our first two hours that we truly enjoyed, whether it was chatting with Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr or with Taylor Twelman reviewing the semifinal contests of this year's World Cup that will come on Sunday in the New York-New Jersey stadium between Spain and Argentina.

1:53Rich Eisen:Taylor Twelman, it's a great chat. If you missed any of it, there's our podcast. If you missed any of it, you can go back to our Disney Plus page when everything's over. Or we chop up our show, as you know, on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. You can also check out our reels or our videos on Instagram and TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Shorts, the whole business. You can't miss us unless you really want to. And why would you? And if you want to hear people publicly speaking nice about us, tune in to Fanatics Fest. Yes, you can. We're talking about some of us. LeBron James, apparently.

2:29Rich Eisen:Did he actually name-check the show? That's what we're hoping. Unclear. Did he go somebody? Okay, we're looking. Searching for video. Say the name. All right. Say my name. Say my name. Yeah, Tyrese Halliburton directly asked LeBron where he's going, and then he crowdsourced the audience. Where do you want me to go? Warriors? And then he also mentioned the Yankees as a team as well. A big round of applause. So he's having his fun. And Rich, you were very aggressive, the young CJ Carr. No, I was not at all. You were very, wasn't he? I was not at all. Questioning his life's choices. I'm just getting it all out of my system so I can be on my best behavior for Matt Damon in about 15 minutes time.

3:11Rich Eisen:Come out of our green room to talk about this movie. What's it called? I wrote it to him. The Odyssey. Right. I went back a few more pages. And he plays? Oh, God. What's his name? I don't know. He's in some wood horse. There's a lot of boat. There's a lot of rowing. A lot of rowing. It's going to be a long movie, man. I don't care. However long it is, it could be double. And I would just say, we got 20 years to cover. Christopher Nolan is going to be a long movie. Oppenheimer not only won all the awards, but it was a box office hit. The guy makes a massive amount of box office. Tickets went on sale for this movie last summer.

3:53and it's sold out everywhere.

3:55Rich Eisen:Can't get seats around this down. You can't. You can't. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. I've been doing this four-down series. We're going to keep doing it all the way until toe meets ball for games that matter because it takes a while to get through all 32 teams. We go one-by-one previewing the season with the storylines, question marks about each team going down the draft order, which means this is the fourth four-down that we have done. we've already gone through the Raiders and the Jets and the Cardinals. Now fourth, it's four downs with yours truly, presented by LinkedIn on the Tennessee Titans.

4:32Rich Eisen:Hit it. Four downs with Rich. Here we go. All right, here we go. Here we go. Presented by LinkedIn, four downs on the Tennessee Titans. First down, everybody. Did the Titans turn Nashville into the new New York South and we just totally missed it? Good one. Okay. The head coach is the former Jets coach. The offensive coordinator is the former Giants coach. So you got Salah, you got Dable. And then if you take a look at their major offseason moves, they spent$78 million on Wondell Robinson. He used to play for which team? Giants. And then they flipped to Vondre Sweat for Jermaine Johnson III, and he's a former Jet.

5:16Rich Eisen:Then they signed John Franklin Myers, who's a former Jet. And then they get Cordell Flott, who's a former Giant. Okay. I mean, listen, I'll just tell everybody down in Nashville, things haven't been going well in New York football for a while. But you can cherry-pick some really good players, and the Titans believe that they have, or cherry-pick really good coaches. And Robert Sala and Brian Dable are two terrific coaches. One who didn't get really, I think, a fair shot. Although he, Robert Sala, along with the general manager at the time for the Jets, I can't recall because it's probably a handful of people ago.

6:06Rich Eisen:But, you know, obviously Zach Wilson was a choice. Didn't work out. They go Aaron Rodgers, excellent choice until the football gods said, no, we're going to tear his hamstring up. Achilles up for you. So we'll see how it all goes. But it's just interesting to me that a lot of New York, New Jersey, to use a World Cup phrase, names are down there in Nashville. That's first down. Here's second down. Will the Titans coaching staff writ large, will their first season be as smooth as their hairline?

6:38Rich Eisen:Baldest staff ever. Old brotherhood. BSE, man. Baldest staff ever. And it's interestingly enough, of all of them that I'll pick out here, we just mentioned Salah and Dable already. Gus Bradley is the defensive coordinator. And don't forget, Gus Bradley was the choice originally, reportedly, of the 49ers to replace Robert Salah when he got the job in Tennessee. until the Atlanta Falcons bounced Raheem Morris and Raheem and Kyle Shanahan go back like, you know, a car seat. And then Gus Bradley was then free to be hired by Robert Sala. So clearly Gus Bradley knows how to run a system that Sala likes because he was chosen to run the Niners after Sala leaves and then Sala chooses him to run his system.

7:37Rich Eisen:and the rest of the coaching staff, I can't wait to see what Sala 2.0 is. All the things that happened to him in Jets land clearly is going to inform his decision-making and the way that he goes about his business with the Titans. I can't wait to see how the all-gas, no-breaks system works down there in Tennessee. Third down. Go ahead. How will their Carnell Tate decision work out? Let's not forget fourth overall pick. They go and take the kid out of the Ohio State to play wide receiver. And this is for a team tied for 30th in sacks last year with just 32. That's it. And Arvel Reese was sitting there.

8:28Rich Eisen:And Sonny Stiles was sitting there. And then you want to look at pass rushes. We'll see how Reuben Bain does in Tampa. A lot of teams passed on Reuben Bain. Caleb Downs, if you want to go just any other defender from the Ohio State, they decided instead to add another wide receiver to Calvin Ridley in that dynamic wide receiver room position. We'll see how it does work out, but how it works out brings me to fourth down for the Tennessee Titans. And it's simple. It's simple. It's all about Cam Ward, and everybody knows it. Everyone knows it. Coaching staff knows it. Front office knows it. Cam Ward knows it.

9:09Rich Eisen:The offensive line knows it. The whole system knows it. The whole league knows it. The whole league knows it. First overall pick two years ago now has a new team, basically, that's their roster somewhat similar. But in terms of new team, new look logo, new look coach, Brian Dayball has been brought in, a guy who you just ask anybody who's been coached by him, certainly in this position. From what, Jalen Hurts in Alabama to Josh Allen in Buffalo. I mean, maybe not ask Daniel Jones about it, but Daniel Jones, when Dayball showed up there, Dayball was coach of the year, and Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.

9:55Rich Eisen:Yeah, they won a playoff game. Won a playoff game. So what will Cam Ward do with this new opportunity? What will the coaching staff do to coach him up? Can we get some of those last-second moments out of Cam Ward in the pros that we got in Miami to get him to be the first overall pick? And can he be Caleb Williams like that sort of thing, to be honest with you? You know what I mean? Like, can he do that sort of thing for the Tennessee Titans? And if not, we might be talking about a hairy beginning for the coaching staff as opposed to smooth. Thank you. Hi, right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro.

10:39Rich Eisen:Get started by posting a free job at LinkedIn.com slash eisen. LinkedIn presents this four downs on the Tennessee Titans. 844-204. Did I miss anything? no i i i think this ward to tate connection could be sneaky special this season okay i think that's huge all right yeah yeah before matt damon comes out here matt damon's about to join us um in studio before matt damon comes out here to promote the odyssey what else you want to know we have the soundbiting question from lebron james from fanatics fest his first public appearance of his free agency period his first public appearance apparently of four this week and his first public appearance since popping 22 laughing my ass off emojis in the direction of Chris Brockman by reposting the video of Chris saying on this show that if LeBron joins the Miami Heat, have fun in the play-in tournament, and that we should all begin to ready ourselves for LeBron to be a non-factor this season.

11:53Rich Eisen:Oh, baby. This is going to be... How do you feel right now, Chris? A little nervous. Are you... Why? No, it's fine. Okay. I mean, I said it. I believe it. All right. Roll it. something on social media the other day that wherever I go that maybe in a plane or something like that and I'm not a factor anymore so I get that as well too. So that's just a little motivation as well.

12:21Rich Eisen:Not exactly what I said. No, but perfect. Essentially though. Yeah. I said Miami would be a plan. Yeah. It's wherever I go would be a plan. Yeah, that's not what I think. See? Okay. That's not what I think. All right. So let's be accurate here. If he goes there enjoy the plan. Right. Yep. Cleveland, they could go to the finals. Okay. Or win it all. Yeah. Because LeBron is that good. But he never would have said that. So what are we talking about? But you also said, get ready for him to be a non-factor. Yeah. And I think he couldn't get past that. So what this confirms is that he wasn't saying with the 22 emoji salute, oh, the Miami Heat, where I'm going, is I'm laughing about that.

13:05Rich Eisen:Miami Heat fans were seeing these emojis as confirmation. He's going to Miami because you mentioned Miami in the play-in tournament specifically. Let's remove that from the table. And let's go ahead and say you were right too, TJ. He wasn't sitting there saying, oh, and the other guys in the video were pushing back on that notion. He's not, he couldn't get past a lot of that to the point where he felt the need to amplify it. which we appreciate it. LeBron, thank you. At Rich Eisen Show for the next time, if you don't mind. Maybe he'll want to zoom in here and give his decision. Since Jim Gray's not available.

13:42Rich Eisen:Brockman and him can sit. I'll be the Jim Gray. Yeah. Why would he come to you? You're negative towards him. I think, listen, I will always say, hey, if it's not obnoxious or rude or profane you have the floor to say what you believe on this program right i've never really okay i mean and i just i don't i don't think lebron's gonna sit in this chair if if he knows this is the show and you're the guy that has that non-factor thing maybe you will i don't know i don't think i was it was just my opinion we'll invite him we'll invite him it'll be great yeah maybe he just doesn't like the chairs that we have sort of like arnold schwarzenegger well he's going to take your chair even though he doesn't mind the chair he just wants to remove you from the set could be that i could be out that day if he wants to stop by all right that's great but there you have it there we go there you have it you sir let's put it this way you might be the cause for your take to be wrong right because you have offered motivation yeah he said it motivated you are motivating lebron thus your take may not prove to be right it might be a freezing cold take because you've heated up LeBron, who might go to the heat, just to prove you wrong.

15:10Rich Eisen:That would be great. All things aside, Brockman is a factor. Yes. You are a factor. Either way. Either way. Attaboy. He might be a non-factor. 22 emojis for you. 22 emojis for you. Brockman. All right. Matt, meanwhile, Matt Damon's like, what have I got myself in? When it comes to you and 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. 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.

15:51Rich Eisen: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. Suze is here to chop up Caitlin Clark and last night's affair against Golden State for the W and getting ready for Women's Sports Now later on today on the Disney family of platforms. And Flava Flav's going to be a guest. Just like he's going to be on Friday's show here. But first up on Women's Sports Now later on. but that's after the conversation we're about to have with Matt Damon, the star of the Odyssey, who is here.

16:35Rich Eisen:That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup this summer, Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent, future stars who are already turning heads at age 14, because next doesn't wait for an invitation, and neither do we. Hyundai has always moved the future within reach. We did it when we made advanced safety standard on every vehicle and engineered EVs with ultra-fast charging capability. Because the future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Rich Eisen here for gusto.

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18:57So they built a miniature cave, right, for Bill. And then we shot in the real cave with all of our guys playing opposite this giant, giant puppet. And then there's obviously effects work that goes in post, but it's remarkable how it looks. Dude, that's unbelievable.

19:22Rich Eisen:Matt Damon is here on The Rich Eisen Show. Our radio audience has returned in the middle of our conversation about the Odyssey and theaters nationwide tomorrow, July 17th, and we're just talking about Christopher Nolan, who is, is it true that you told your wife that you were going to slow down from acting unless Christopher Nolan called? That's true. That was before Oppenheimer. And then you hear from him? Guess who called? and how quick is the yes though oh right yeah yeah yeah right yeah yeah i think but that doesn't i mean i think that's probably for any actor pretty much right yeah damn yeah i mean i just love his movies i mean i'm a genuine fan of his movies right like all the ones i'm not in i love them i saw interstellar late okay um and and like years after it was in the theaters and i saw it on a plane and i'm a girl dad now okay since since it came out yeah i was a puddle i know i was a mess i was a puddle when i read that script dude i read you know he's very secretive right so the scripts so when when they contacted me i was shooting a movie in germany with george clooney called the monuments men we were in rural germany right and they said chris nolan's got a part for you in a movie he's doing.

20:38And I said, can I read the script? They said, sure. They sent a guy, a PA, to Germany to hand carrying the script because they wouldn't send it in the mail, right? No, I'm telling you. And so this kid shows up and it's nine o 'clock at night and he goes, here's the script. And I said, well, I got to shoot at five in the morning. I'm going to bed right now like uh but and he goes oh like it hadn't occurred to him and i go but i go do you have to stay here and he goes yeah he goes i can't leave the script and i go oh got it i go okay well i'm gonna be home at you know 6 p.m tomorrow night i will sit down immediately and read the script then but i i can't read it before then because i gotta i really gotta work in the morning and it turned out the kid had never been out of the country he had the best day he he he went around and yeah yeah he's ferris bueller yeah he went he went around rural germany you know i mean yeah but anyway so but the the point of the story was when i finally read the script the following day right i had that react because my kids were little i was away from my kids that week because i was in germany and i was a puddle reading that script i've never reacted to a script that way um until I read this one.

21:57This one is pretty darn good.

21:59Rich Eisen:I can't imagine. How does one adapt this? I don't, well, you know, the book that Oppenheimer was adapted from is even bigger than this. Yeah. Yeah. It was a Pulitzer prize. Held Homer's beer. That's what I'm, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he, but he, he like that, that's what I mean. He's a, he's a, he's a phenomenal writer and he's really gifted at these adaptations. And, and I think people who, you know, know the story are going to be are going to be happy with what we did and um you know i'll be honest with that i never really talk about this sort of stuff certainly since you're sitting here but you looked ripped buddy you look i what he gave me that he told me in september and and i was i was in pretty good shape when he told me but i had six months and it was a full lifestyle change because he wanted me to lose some weight because he wanted him to look lean like but yeah you're battle 10 years right battle hardened but but wouldn't pass up a meal was kind of right and so um and so that was a whole yeah there was a whole bunch of you know i mean just a complete lifestyle change for for for that year right and then you said toughest thing you've done by far without a doubt i mean not even a not even a question i mean it just every location because it was almost like doing six or seven different movies because every location was difficult but challenging in a different way and so it was like you were on the water or you were on a mountain or you you know uh you know in iceland we were we were on you know we we shot nights in iceland to do the haiti sequence on these black sand like planes and i you know that were and it was just raining free i mean it was just it was one of those you just said by the way can you believe what a sentence you just said about where you were i mean the location shooting you're for scotland and morocco Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

23:44Rich Eisen:Dude! Yeah, no, it was nuts. But the thing was, like, everyone was working so hard. Like, no matter what direction you looked in, you were looking at somebody who was absolutely giving everything they had for the movie. And the first AD said to me early on, it was really a great thing. He kind of sidled up next to me, and he's an old, like, he's been around. He's seen everything. He's great. And nothing surprises him. He's just completely unflappable. but I was watching the grips do something, something amazing. Again, they're probably building a platform off the side of a cliff or something, you know, that a techno crane was going to go on.

24:23Um, and I was just kind of gawking and he's, and he sidled up next to me and he goes, you know, it's funny when you realize that every single person here could be working on an easier movie for more money. And the minute he said it, I, I, I, that was the absolute truth. And, and every single person there, all the department heads were repeat customers. You know, they, they'd worked with Chris before they knew exactly what they were signing up for. And that was the great feeling was just that this is really hard for everybody here and everybody's exactly where they want to be.

25:00Rich Eisen:Sounds like a championship sports team, right? That's what it felt like, But that's honestly what it felt like. And I've never at the end of that experience, I like it gets me emotional because I'm like, I have never been more proud to be a part of a team. Like it was a real hundreds of people just giving everything they had. And and, you know, because we had somebody at the head of a very like a somebody with a vision who was leading us. wow i cannot wait to see this movie it's the odyssey in theater it's okay

25:31Rich Eisen:tomorrow matt damon is here on the program all right let's talk some sports um you were telling me as you're sitting down you were locked into the world cup i love it i love it how great is it you know like it's great yeah i got into it 20 years ago because in 2006 my my daughter isabella was born yes she was born on june 11th and that was right when the when it was starting and so those first four six weeks of her life when we're just at home i think i watched every game so you're you're being a newborn dad right being a newborn dad and i'm walking around with this baby and just and i just have the you know with the sound i'm watching and and i got into every you know it's just it's it's it's it's awesome i love it and it's so great when it first starts that there's like three four matches every day and then when it gets to the knockout rounds you're like where did the three where did i know i know i gotta wait another day for one of these things you know i know it's so cool it's like it's like the it's like the the the football playoffs when you start whittling it down and you're just like i only have you know two games this weekend what's going on with that you know i'm used to having 12 games on sunday now there's just one what the hell it's called the super bowl what the hell uh how'd you like the patriots season last season oh they were phenomenal right and they were great i mean the super bowl was that was rough but um but but look i mean nobody picked them to get there i mean they were you know and They're young.

26:48Vrabel is awesome. Yeah. Drake may. We got AJ coming in. This is, I mean, I can't wait.

26:53Rich Eisen:I know Brockman is a fellow Patriot fan over there. How are you feeling? Let's go. Outstanding. Super Bowl. We're back. That's your new Englander right there. There's a, you know, there are a couple other teams in the AFC. No, there's not. We've got to get through. Nope. AJ Brown's going to have a Randy Moss type season and we're going to have a duck boat parade because we're back. Yeah. And Drake May is the new, you know, new Brady generation. great he's fantastic he just seems to have a way about him where he doesn't know what he doesn't know and it doesn't matter you know i don't know if it's that he doesn't know it i think it's that he's got that brady thing where he just you know those guys it's such a fascinating thing to me those athletes who just the pressure just does not it's like they it's it's actually like michael jordan wanted just lived for that right you know what i mean and it's and if it's either i think in you or it's not you know and you can see guys kind of tighten up and um especially you know with high def cameras now are so great you can look and you can really see right like i love the you know the baseball like the world series you know when when i mean i hate this pitch clock they they put you don't like oh i like it in the regular season i think in the i think in the playoffs okay i i like the drama in the building up yes i like by the way and i i i like a guy i like a guy you know threatening him you remember that remember the uh the the clip of vince coleman like they the pitcher throws back 17 times to first base and then he steals second base yeah i'd love that to hell with you now not in the regular season the regular season it's like let's let's go but but i think let's let the drama build i think i that's my personal that's my hot take do you like the uh the you know the the the abs system where you're telling umpires let's take a look at your ball and strike.

28:38Rich Eisen:Do you like that? I mean, it looks like it's everywhere now, and I don't think it's going backwards. It's never going backwards. But look, there are guys who threw perfect games. I mean, that one a few years ago. That would be good to replay that. I agree with you. That poor guy. Did you just channel your inner Sonny Vaccaro when you talked about Jordan right there? Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, obviously, after that whole experience. Did you ever contact Jordan, reach out to him, have a conversation? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, before, in fact, Ben went down to see him. I was supposed to go. My kids had something that day, so I couldn't go.

29:10But Ben went down to Florida to talk to him before we decided to do the movie because we just wanted his blessing. We said, look, this is what we're thinking of doing. But if you're not, you know, because that's the end of the movie. If he comes out and goes, nah, they shouldn't have done it. So, but Ben kind of pitched him the script that we had bought. And Jordan actually gave him some great ideas. What do you know? Well, number one, Ben was trying to figure out, he goes, so your dad? And Jordan said, my dad's a great guy. My dad was a great guy. And he goes, and your mom? And Jordan goes, my mom runs.

29:55And Ben goes, really? And Michael said, yes, yes. she, she, and, and Ben said the way he said it, he goes, it was the first time I'd ever seen, you know, he looked like, don't I, and, and Ben goes, well, should I talk to her? He goes, you want to talk to my mother? Like Ben was like, oh, it's like that. Like she really is, Dolores is, right. And Ben goes, oh, well that's because she wasn't in the script very much in the one that we had. And, uh, and, and Ben said, um, you know, uh, uh, well, so is there an actress that and before he could get the sentence out, Michael goes, Viola Davis. And Ben goes, and so Ben called me and he goes, great news.