NFL Week 3's Top Storylines

0:00Rich Eisen:Many people's first serious relationship didn't start with a kiss. It started with a kickoff. Or perhaps it was love at first hike. But unfortunately, many of these football lovers don't live in the same city as their team. Which is why Marriott Bonvoy has hotels close to nearly every NFL stadium. Bringing fans closer to the teams they love with over 30 different hotel brands. So if you want to stay closer to your team, check in for game day with Marriott Bonvoy, the official sponsor of the NFL. We'll see you there.

0:33Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. Time for another edition of Overreaction Monday. Presented by Marriott Bonvoy. Check in for game day with Marriott Bonvoy, the official sponsor of the NFL. Most of week three in the books. As of this recording of Overreaction Monday, Chris Brockman, Rich Eisen. What's up, Christopher? Man, oh man. Three weeks, what do we know? Nothing? I can't figure it this week. I do believe we know nothing. Yeah, it's wild. We know about some injuries that are crushers for certain teams that make one think that their season is kind of already over. Yeah. And we have some undefeated teams that look terrific, but on any given Sunday could be beatable.

1:18Rich Eisen:Yep. And that's the way we welcome you in to Overreaction Monday. Hit it. That was terrible. That was crap. That was garbage. This place sucks. Overreaction. Mondays. Monday. All right, Chris. I mean, we had some games ended at the final gun in Denver, in Rio, different hemispheres. It was awesome. In college football, my team. Oh. I know. I'm going to have to wear an Iowa Hawkeye helmet. I know. Here's the thing. When George Kittle sends it to me. Crazy bummer how that ended for you guys. Bummer for the people who bet the under. But I am excited to see you wear the Iowa helmet. It's all for content.

2:01Rich Eisen:Right. What do you got over there for overreaction Monday? Okay, we got to start in Denver. I'm not going to talk about the officiating. I'm sure we're going to hit that enough on the flagship show. But I think it's officially time to worry about the Rams as an NFC contender. That's an overreaction. I mean, they score 16 unanswered in the first half and left some points. yeah set up for field goals right yeah and um and and then the roof fell in um with a pick six from matthew stafford which is i guess par for his hall of fame course 33 of them in his career i didn't realize he was that high yeah i mean he he's uh he puts the ball in the air to the point where he's the first guy in the history of the nfl to have 20 000 passing yards for two different franchises he went over 20 000 for the rams last night so uh that said they almost beat the denver broncos in denver all right without puka nakua and miles garrett and you could see you could see aaron donald still human enough to have to get up to speed where he's working his way back in in the mile high elements um he's not out there for 60 snaps yet they're gonna get there they're just going to get there and the schedule right now is pretty darn brutal for them because now that they're done with this game they've got to go to philadelphia and then have buffalo come in on a monday night yeah and you know you would say that the schedule gets easier after that certainly when they have at las vegas on week seven but vegas right now is two games better than the rams just on a heater the chargers suddenly appear to be the softer part of the schedule and you'd sit here and go well the washington commanders are a soft part of the schedule but they just beat the defending super bowl champs who don't lose on the east coast under mike mcdonald very often with marcus mariota before they have to visit arizona again so look um i i'm saying there's winnable games out there including tough opponents they could easily go into Philadelphia win that game come home and on a Monday night outlast the Bills in a must see game that's going to be so fun to watch on that Monday night which by the way did happen the last time Buffalo visited SoFi they've got the ability to put points on the board they've got the ability to take the ball away they've got the ability to put pressure on you with just four guys and that's only going to improve.

4:47Rich Eisen:It's a marathon. We are marathoning. We are not sprinting with the Rams. I get it, but it could be a microcosm. You're not worried about the play-calling balance. Only 21 dialed-up runs last night. Matthew Stafford threw it 55 times. It didn't seem like the game script necessitated him to throw it that much. That frequently happens with the Rams and Sean McVay where you're wondering at the end of the game, what's he thinking? But at the end of the day, you know, you want him on that wall. You need him on that wall in this role. He is truly one of the best to do it. And, you know, at the end of the day, these things happen with the Rams where you're wondering about play calling or decision making.

5:28Rich Eisen:But I know you don't want to talk about the officiating on that on that call. But, you know, Josh Wallace did have his hands on Bryant. Yeah, of course. He did have his hands on him, but he couldn't remove his hands from him because Bryant was tugging him along from his right shoulder. It seemed to me like Bryant was trying to flop and kind of get a call. He totally flopped. But he's flopping because he's getting pushed in the back. He's not flopping because he's getting pushed in the back. The ball went by him and he flopped. And as a matter of fact, the official who is watching this action from behind is the one who threw the flag.

6:06Rich Eisen:the one who's watching it from the front didn't throw the flag and i don't understand why if the guy they both should have thrown who's watching the action who's watching that see the back end of this photograph right here this is where the flag came from he can't see that bryant is dragging his defender dragging him well he sees two hands in the back and he also So I don't know where the second hand you're talking about is. He can't get the second hand on him. That second hand was before this photo was taken. He can't get the second hand on him because it's being dragged by the right arm of Bryant.

6:42Rich Eisen:He's the one who's creating the contact. And as the ball's there, he absolutely made a flopping motion that the referee who was in front of it didn't call. I don't understand how there's not any communication from the referee who saw the action from the front to say, no, no, no. that's that's not what you're you're seeing you didn't see you were blocked out and made a call based on what you didn't see with hand play you based it on a body movement and that should have been a game-ending interception but but you have to play better than the refs ref I will always be consistent on that don't blow a 16 point don't give up 16 points in the third quarter right don't throw a pick six and you put yourself in that position where one play that would have ended it if it was officiated properly yeah see it's early but the rams are making a lot of mistakes i know september football in our day and age now appears to be an extended preseason that counts rich eisen put a pin in that thought it's a fact put a pin in that it's a fact offensive lines still need to figure out new blocking schemes offenses need to figure out new play calling schemes everybody needs to figure out new defensive schemes everybody's got to figure out how new coaches fit into your headset or into your locker room or into your meeting rooms there's a such an adjustment period that actual preseason does not create and i can't sit here and say with the exception of a handful of teams that are banged up and potentially winless with being banged up that everybody's got to have their head on a swivel for a turnaround and the rams being one and two right now are not a disqualifier for being nfc contenders what else you have that's an overreaction to start uh going back looking at the ram schedule to talk about all the tough games and working at the standings two or three weeks i think it's pretty clear there is no clear-cut Super Bowl favorite after September.

8:50Rich Eisen:I would agree with you. I mean, the Bills are 3-0. But they're giving up a lot of points. Right. They are Super Bowl contenders. Yeah, for sure. There's no one 3-0 in the AFC North, but the Ravens had a really nice game down in Rio. Yeah, but they have a lot of question marks too. Correct. The Bengals finally took one in the chops, and the Steelers are the ones who delivered it. And the Steelers, if they go into Cleveland in a short weekend in week four, although Cleveland beats Pittsburgh frequently in Cleveland. Yep. They could be three and one. And the Jaguars two and one, I think are potentially Super Bowl contenders.

9:30Rich Eisen:They've been eviscerated people at home. They've beat two bad teams. Well, the Patriots, I don't think in the mind's eye of people are a bad team just yet. Hey, and then in the AFC West, you've got the two and one Broncos. Nice wins back to back. The first time that they've ever won games back-to-back by being down by 10 or more points in both of them. And the Chiefs being 3-0. The Raiders are 3-0. We'll see how long that lasts. Oh. I mean, listen, you are what you are in the national football. That sounded a little dismissive of their 3-0. Well, because I need to see it a little bit more. Okay.

10:08Okay?

10:08Rich Eisen:I need to see it a little bit more right now. They look good. Well, they're going to have some opponents in front of them. They're going to test them. The schedule really toughens up. But you are what you are, and I can't dismiss a 3-0 team through the first three weeks, right? Philadelphia, Dallas, who knows with them. Yeah, we know who they are. No, hey, listen, the Bears are going to get Caleb Williams back at some point. Yeah. The AFC, the NFC South right now doesn't appear to have a Super Bowl contender residing within it, and the NFC West are chock full of Super Bowl contenders. Yeah, sure.

10:41Rich Eisen:So I just gave you any whole – I just gave you a rundown of the field through three weeks, and this is not an overreaction. I think this is anybody's ballgame, and even a team or two that might be under.500 right now. We just talked about the Rams being one of them. I mean, the Texans were 0-3 last year and made the playoffs. Can they do it two years in a row? They're the only franchise who have done it, and they've done it twice from 0-3. 2018 and last season, yeah. So this is 100 % spot on. All right. I wish we had a couch here because this is going to be a therapy segment, Rich Eisen. For who?

11:17For me. Okay. Drake May was a one-year wonder, and the Pats are going to be picking in the top five next year. We stink.

11:24Rich Eisen:Do you really believe that? Kind of. I'm not ready to throw Drake May on the trash. What is going on? I don't know. I don't know. By all accounts, the people who have played the position, the people who have played the position and are in a position in the media to tell you what they see, and then your own two eyes, it looks like he's just got a bad case of yips and a bad, bad dose of lack of confidence. He's just not the same guy. I don't know when it happened. I don't know when it happened. I mean, this is the guy who, wink, wink, called his own damn play to beat the Broncos in the UFC championship game in the snow.

12:09Rich Eisen:Had the confidence to basically say, I'm not going to tell anybody I'm going to pull this and run it. But I'm ending this thing. And we're going to the Super Bowl. Yeah, exactly. Right, that guy is gone. And I don't know if it was the Seahawks who did it and put him in the tank. Twice, broke him twice. Put him in the tank. Because he's in the tank right now. Hardcore. He's in the tank right now. He is just not hitting a back foot and letting it rip. the whole business of i don't know i don't want to make the mistake second guessing not trusting what he's seeing um again i'm not an all 22 person but that is what appears to be happening and you know it's on josh mcdaniels and mike vrabel to figure it out and i i don't know man um the the last quarterback we saw like this or i saw with my own two eyes because i called the game in frankfurt yep between the patriots and the colts where mac jones oh man prior to that game i told you in our pre-production meeting he was a kid who needed a hug and he had a head coach who wasn't going to really yeah i don't think drake's not getting the hug so so what i'm saying is it he does have the coaching staff that's there to embrace him and hug it out with him and he's going to the town different stadium where last year remember he went into buffalo and the nationally televised contest and let it rip let it rip and made plays where you're like oh that third of digs i still think oh man like wow he's going to go toe-to-toe with josh allen in buffalo oh yeah not only toe-to-toe he's going to make the throws to win the game yeah not just win the game but right now he's playing not to lose like a completely opposite mindset and um you know i was having a little bit of fun at your expense on our text chain over the weekend totally fine but he's he's killing the patriots like a red coat right now yeah and uh-huh and i i i know it's a team game i know you can't point fingers at just one person but it starts quarterback yeah exactly and unfortunately aj brown's not walking through that door yeah and training queshawn booty i don't understand why teams trade depth before season starts when you know you're a couple snaps away from attrition i mean just look at the niners how they're down man they're you know brutal right that they're down a wide receiver 19 it feels like the stat i heard with the pats is just they can't score any points they have the same uh or or similar points per drive as the 2021 jets through the first three games the first three games of zach wilson's career nothing i thought i would ever do is equate drake made as zach wilson but that's how bad it is right now it's six interceptions this season it's the most in the first three games by new england quarterback since bledsoe in 94 he led the league with 27 that year um he's been pressured on half he was pressured on half his dropbacks yesterday lowest uh qbr the ESPN stat by a Patriots starter since Bailey Zappi in the final week of 2023.

15:23Rich Eisen:But it's the Patriots six straight seasons starting exactly one and two. And from there they made the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, I don't know. It doesn't feel as optimistic as last year. Well, it's because Drake May is just playing like a quarterback who's had his confidence shattered. And I don't know how you build it back up because the Bills are definitely the proverbial offensive wagon and after that you know in comes vegas and the jets are definitely a better team you could definitely you could absolutely safely say that yeah gino's playing awesome uh with a thursday night visit to chicago in week seven yeah i mean i don't see a win there until week eight and by the way vegas is playing some really good defense too i know we're all focused on what Clint Kubiak's done offensively there.

16:12Rich Eisen:Brock Bader was now back. But defensively, they've been making some timely plays, although they did give up a lot of points in New Orleans. I don't see a get-right game on the schedule in the next month either. He's got to get himself right. But it's an overreaction right now that he's toast in their top five. They look like a bottom five team in the league, though, right now. They don't look good. I agree. But it's still just September. and they're not 0-3. What else? One of the surprises of the league, Rich Eisen, we got to do it. Let's go to Cleveland. Deshaun Watson is going to lead the Browns to the playoffs and get a new contract to stay with the Browns.

16:52Oh, that's a total overreaction. If he takes them to the playoffs, he will be their quarterback in 2027.

16:58Rich Eisen:I don't know about that either. Really? Really. I don't know about that either. I don't know. Hey, listen. There were cheers in the fourth quarter. there were some boos too um because it really didn't look all that great either i mean he did find fan in twice he's using his legs i i saw starting to look more and more like houston to sean that score to take the lead was a a uh an extended play um that uh he kept his his head down the field listen you it's all positive but for you to sit here and after three weeks two wins in a row back-to-back wins for his first time in forever and it happened in front of the Cleveland fan base, you know, and that they're going to, he's going to lead them to the playoffs and get a new contract right now is an overreaction.

17:45Rich Eisen:But what we do have to just, if you will, give it up for is one month ago when Todd Munkin named him the starter after he was booed in a preseason game, set up for him to succeed to the best of everybody's expectations. And then he did not and denigrated the fans and still got the job anyway. And then he apologized. We were all prophesying. We were all suits and looking in our crystal ball and say, they're going to get punked by the box. They're going to go on one two. And there's no chance for them to start Deshaun Watson. He is finished. And that is the exact opposite. Now, as he's going to get another start against the Steelers and a must see Thursday night game where they could go three and one.

18:26Rich Eisen:That's a fact. The other part is an overreaction. Okay. Christopher second half of this week, three edition, sir. Let's do it. Overreaction Monday? What do you got on your mind here? We've mentioned the Raiders a few times. 3-0. Chiefs, 3-0. Correct, sir. What do they have in common? They play this week. Oh, that's right. And they're undefeated. Winner of Chiefs, Raiders in week four is going to win the AFC West. I don't agree. The Broncos still have a say, sir. Many people's first serious relationship didn't start with a kiss. It started with a kickoff. Or perhaps it was love at first hike. But unfortunately, many of these football lovers don't live in the same city as their team, which is why Marriott Bonvoy has hotels close to nearly every NFL stadium, bringing fans closer to the teams they love with over 30 different hotel brands.

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19:54Rich Eisen:I mean, I don't know if I'd put too fine a point on it. They can't come back from 16 down to win every game. Who's that? Denver. Even Sean Payton said. That actually happened last year, it felt like. We're relying too much on miracle comebacks. That's what he said last year, and he almost made the Super Bowl. You know? Hufanga's all over the place like he's Polamalo, and I know it's his hair, but he's all over the place. He's all over the place. They're going to, I assume, get Jonathan Cooper off the commissioner's exempt list at some point, although that's a large assumption. Okay. Brock Bowers, man.

20:30Rich Eisen:You see what a difference that dude makes. They're going to go to San Francisco next, and I'll just say this. Trent Williams got carted off with a stinger. I don't know if he'll hopefully come back from that. You know, it was another cart off for Mike Evans as well. the San Francisco 49ers without their all world left tackle is a different team out of everybody that they lose that's the guy they can't five straight losses without them one in ten in their last 11 games without Trent Williams it's a winnable game for Denver next week okay even though San Francisco appears to look as terrific as anybody that's three you know right George killed me like sam it's like it looks like right now a san francisco buffalo let's throw it out there or san francisco uh uh kansas city rematch berman would always pick niners bills right everybody circles the wagons uh and then they're at the chargers who can't tie their own shoes um sometimes like it was a better game for the chargers but at the end of the game they they just couldn't shoot straight again um then listen there's that game against kansas city in week eight they win that one talking denver yes i'm so what i'm saying so to sit here and say the winner of this um is going to win the the division i'm just throwing kansas city in that mix and then listen vegas i understand where they're coming from they won three games last year they've already match that win total.

22:10Rich Eisen:They're a better team. They're a better team. They're not a homecoming. They're going to win. They're going to win games. And they're going to maybe come in your house and shock you and beat you. But winning the division, I still obviously need to see more. But Brock Bauer is coming back and looking like he didn't miss a snap is really a nice special pop to a team that's popping right now. But this is an overreaction. I'm excited for the Raiders, man. Everything's better when they're good. I agree with that. We saw an incredible game down in Rio. And in fact, Ravens Cowboys is the best international game that we've ever seen.

22:50Number one.

22:51Rich Eisen:I don't have the, you know, historical index in front of me. You would know. But I mean, a game that, you know. Two potentially winning tying field goals in the last 10 seconds. I think it's tough to argue because I will tell you this statistic that I will repeat on the flagship Rich Eisen show later on today. But do you know how many games in the Super Bowl era have featured each team scoring in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter in the history of the Super Bowl era? I think it's zero. That's correct. This was the first one. That's incredible. and it was in Rio and it was the Dallas Cowboys and only their second international series game ever they played in London in 2014 and that's the only time the NFL has exported America's team and it looked like they'd be South America's team so yeah I mean for sure I don't know if it's on this list here anymore on this game so I can unpack my thoughts a little bit here that's what I wanted to talk about this game I'm just saying that you know uh Zay Flowers makes is a big difference maker for this offense, with all due respect to everybody else who catches his asses for Lamar.

24:07Rich Eisen:He is lightning fast, and he can break 10-yarders, 12-yarders, 15-yarders into touchdowns. You could say he's up there with Pete Alonzo in terms of home run hitters in Baltimore, okay? I like that. And then Lamar is just on point, top of his game looks terrific um and derrick henry it's his 34th career game with at least two rushing touchdowns that's the 34th as i mentioned that's two behind emmett and four behind ladanian for most ever well he's gonna break that record he could break that record by Thanksgiving. By Thanksgiving. He now has

25:00Rich Eisen:13 ,319 career rush yards. We've been on this watching Derek Henry meter for a couple weeks since he appeared on our show. That's ninth most all time, as I mentioned. He just passed Eric Dickerson in that regard. And he will pass with 350 some odd more yards Jerome Bettis for eighth and he could get that by Halloween easy middle of October right exactly and he needs he has 38 rushing touchdowns with the Ravens alone he passed Ray Rice for second most in franchise history he needs eight more rushing touchdowns to pass Jamal Lewis he will have the most in the history of the Ravens and he just got there it felt correct So the Ravens have what it takes.

25:49Rich Eisen:Defensively, you could see how Kyle Hamilton is going to have a Hall of Fame career under this coach. Yeah. Right? He already started off. But you could see how he's got the right coach for the rest of his career. And he won't go anywhere. And neither will Minter, right? Nope. Okay. So, yes. The Ravens have what it takes if they stay healthy. and then defensively they're going to get better under Jesse Minter. You could also see how the charges are a little bit different on that side. They're giving up a lot of points though, the Ravens. But Minter's got some time here. He's got – give him some time.

26:28Rich Eisen:He's going to figure that out. He's the king of having his defenses give up 17, 18 points a game. He'll get that right. If not this year, DaCosta will get him the chips to push to the center of the table on that at some point. All right, I'm just talking about this year. Yeah. What can the Ravens do this year? They have with Zay Flowers an offense with Derrick Henry, too, that can score more than they're giving up. He can't go down, though. I mean, if he misses time, you see how different they look. Yeah. Well, I mean, they couldn't find the points to stave off the Saints at home in week two. And they also, you know, went down the road of the, you know, hardball era Ravens, which is not give the ball to Derrick Henry out of the blue.

27:11Rich Eisen:That happened in week two. And that was rectified here in Rio. As for Dallas, as for Dallas, I mean, defensively, they haven't fixed it. They just haven't. No. Okay. And, you know, the way that they lost was a massive crusher because, you know, you can't give up a damn near a 30-yarder over the middle. In seven seconds. Okay, you just can't do that. You can't do that. You also can't kick a deep. you gotta at least make them field it so burn some clock right you burn a couple of seconds then you then then the throw to zay flowers doesn't set you up for a field it ends the game okay you are running the risk of giving up a uh a gas but how many we don't see a game losing kickoff but we don't see long kickoff returns that's correct that's right in this format so you gotta do that but then the ultimate one was on a third down you've got Pickens you've got Lamb you've got also Jake Ferguson who is a touchdown maker of the first variety of tight ends where he was throwing it was throwing it away because apparently this is the coaching point from Brian Schottenheimer you call the play if he's if he's not open by the time you hit your back foot you're throwing it away he was after he hit his back foot and he was told He's taught to throw the ball away so at least we can get the game-tying field goal rather than lose it on an interception.

28:42Rich Eisen:And Dak in year 11 is that good of a soldier to follow his coaching instructions instead of going rogue and saying, screw it. I got pickings. I'm going to trust my throwing arm. I'm going to trust my guy. And I'm going to trust that the ref isn't going to throw the flag for OPI because he did kind of push off. I'm wondering if that's what have been the call if the ball wasn't air melt and then after the game Dak's like I'm not going to talk about it here like it's too raw after the game if you want we could talk about it the middle of the week which is um high class swallowing pride doing it for the team speak of saying I'm following coach's order speak to the coach and Brian Schottenheimer admitted I over coached Dak on that last play because instead of settling for the field goal you flew all the way down to Rio.

29:34Rich Eisen:You flew down half the world. You might as well just let it rip and see if Gotti can get you there. And instead, we're talking about that moment because they gave up a massive chunk play with hardly any time left. And yes, the Dallas Cowboys gifted the Ravens that at the end of the game. all in all the fact that we are still talking about it it was a big game it could be who the hell knows a super bowl 61 preview although a lot of people are looking at the cowboys is not worthy of that they just keep cowboying games away or they get better on defense and the offense doesn't give anything away and they can become unbeatable they can win a few in a row and get hot that's a fact we think that they don't because we've seen it for three decades that goes down the tubes.

30:29Rich Eisen:All I'm saying is the way that it ended, the way that it's reverberated, does make this a proper reaction. It's the greatest international game we've ever seen since we've never seen a game in the Super Bowl era end with both teams scoring in the last 10 seconds. You know who would have let that rip at the end? Of regulation. The guy who has the most pick sixes all time, a Super Bowl, and an MVP, and is going to the Hall of Fame. Well, I don't think his coach would coach him and throw it away. come on jack dude are you the dude or not the dude was following instructions well sometimes you got to go rogue what else speaking of not dudes joe burrow good one oh come on joe burrow is not the quarterback the media wants him to be he is relegated out of elite status i'll give you the floor to put more meat on the bones here if you wish these i saw the stat i I send it to you guys.

31:21He's something like one in 30 when trailing in the fourth quarter with eight minutes to go. Joe Burrow, like I said, going into this season, he's been dining off on that Superbowl appearance for quite some time. They had that game one yesterday. The defense had been playing great. They gave up some plays to Aaron Rogers, but they had the ball with a chance to win the game. And what happens? He fumbles. Joe Burrow is Joe Burrow is just, I don't know, man. You talk about needing to see it and see more all the time. We just assume that he's a top five quarterback. I don't know when he has been playing like one recently.

31:57I think Brock Purdy has stolen his spot. Brock Purdy is a top five quarterback playing like a top two quarterback. And I just don't think Joe Burrow's top five anymore. I don't think he's really that dude. He's really got to prove it to me.

32:10Rich Eisen:Okay. I hear you. I think he is definitely an elite quarterback. what has he done to to make you feel that way though well i mean he hasn't he hasn't gotten back to an afc championship game or a super bowl i get it i understand that he doesn't lead comebacks he just throws up some nice numbers when they're playing against you know less than opponents i just i don't know man the defense i don't know the defense the defense gave up um i don't know look at look at what the patriots did to aaron rogers aaron rogers shows up he He finds my guy, Roman Wilson, to start the game, and off they go. And then Jalen Warren at 176 yards from scrimmage.