NFL's Biggest Preseason Week 1 Storylines

0:00Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here for Gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job, but they still have to be handled right. That's where Gusto comes in. 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 and it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters onboarding docs direct deposit, and more.

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1:25Rich Eisen:All right. The first preseason week is in the books. Overreaction Monday is back. Presented by Gusto. Gusto is your small business partner for payroll benefits and so much more. Get started for free at gusto.com. Rich Eisen along with Chris Brockman back in the chair. We actually have games to react to. Oh, baby. Yes, sir. Not just storylines, not just headlines. actual games and results and games were played and i have words written on a paper okay all right let's hit it go for it that was terrible that was crap that was garbage this play sucks overreaction mondays monday one pre-season week in its entirety in the books chris i uh it was awesome can i guess what we're gonna start with sure okay it's gonna be a quarterback related thing.

2:18Rich Eisen:Sure is. It's a quarterback-driven league. Absolutely. This is a quarterback-driven show. Got many quarterback topics. The question is, do you go Cleveland where should Jordan look all that great? Interesting. Neither did Deshaun Watson, or do you go Tua, who looked absolutely dreadful in his two dry, well, you can't call it dry possessions. I think we have the meme of the summer, too, where Peck's just kind of like this guy. Yeah, but he was pointing, he could have been pointing it like the Gatorade jug. Do you want that? Do you want that water bottle? You want that thing right here? Doesn't matter.

2:48Rich Eisen:You want that piece? You want the tape roll that's there? That is not how it was interpreted by everyone. I understand that. But that's so, that's an overreaction. A meme is an overreaction. Okay. I'm going to say you're going to go with Cleveland first. I'm not. I'm going to go with the first overall pick, Rich Eisen. All the way back to the first preseason game. Mendoza. That's all two of the top three picks. Yeah. And we're going to get to both of them. But let's start with the Raiders. Fernando Mendoza will be the Raiders starting quarterback by Halloween. By Halloween By Halloween Meaning Through the first Let's get this straight here So Is that seven games I think The Raiders Should be playing the Rams by then Or at the Jets At the Jets is just after Halloween There we go I think that counts You wanna Now that you're seeing the schedule Well I didn't know it was a November 1st game Watch what I'm saying to you Do you wanna Do you wanna Well we'll amend it too We'll put it by November.

3:46Rich Eisen:Yeah, we'll put it by November. By November, because the last thing they're going to do is throw Mendoza in there just because Cousins hasn't performed well enough. Because this is what we're talking about. You're talking about four performance, right? I'm talking about the Raiders being 0-7. Okay, because they do from their October schedule is home for Kansas City at New England, home for Buffalo, home for the Rams. Yeah, they're not going to win a single one of those. Which means they'll be home for Martin Luther King Day, right? Yeah, and then now we're going to the Jets. Because the season goes all the way to the 9th or 10th.

4:21Rich Eisen:And we're like, okay, let's go. So, yeah, listen. I like what I saw from him last week. I don't think that's an overreaction. I don't think that is. The only question is how ready does he look? At this point in time, all that you're seeing from him is an aw shucks. I'm the rookie. I'm just one of 53. three. I'm here to serve my teammates. I'm here to just get better. I'm just a, I'm just a national champion Heisman trophy winner and an oven undefeated team. Just like, you know, Cam Newton was like, you know, Joe Burrow was, um, I'm number one overall, just like those guys were also, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just, I'm just a backup right now.

5:04Rich Eisen:You know, I'm just a kid trying to learn the ropes. Every single time I see that, I can't wait to see what he will look like as the owner of the ship yeah you know of the guy who is in charge large and in charge at one point in his career are we going to see him with like you know five o 'clock shadow we're going to see him with long hair you know like all these quarterbacks go through their long hair phase that's true like is he gonna is he gonna do all that or is he just gonna be like matt ryan president of the united states the entire time right or kirk cousins who is why there because i think he is you know an older version of him he's like you know as i said last week i forget it was here or on the show it's like big like the movie big right he's just the littler kid version of the bigger kid when he grows up and he starts playing you know chopsticks and fao schwartz on a on an electric piano um listen i don't think this is out of the realm i don't think this is at all and and you did see him on that thursday night make some nice throws his first drive was nice his second and Third drive, not so much.

6:07Rich Eisen:He took an unnecessary hit at one point, and at one point, it's going to get, obviously, he gets in there. It's going to get faster. It's going to get more difficult. That's why Cousins is there. You're basically saying they're going to poop the bed so considerably. And, you know, you also hear that Cousins' arm is good, but not great, that he doesn't move around as well. And then the first drive that they had against the Arizona Cardinals, knife-hot through butter, five of six, right down the field, found Michael Mayer, the backup tight end because Brock Bowers isn't going to sniff the field until it's week one time against Miami.

6:40Rich Eisen:So I don't think this is an overreaction at all. Will it happen? I don't know. Would they like to just keep him sat the entire year? I doubt it. I mean, I really do. Like, you don't really want to go in a year or two saying, all right, it's not time, kid. You know, you sat. And I do want to see him have ownership of it. Like, you're QB1. You are the man. Like, you are the full-time leader. let's let's see it you know i think that that would be um necessary basically you know get some football hair on his chest professionally because this guy took hits upon hits upon hits for indiana kept getting up and then kept winning games and being a winner he's a dude man correct so i'd like to see it um and we saw enough in pre-season action week one to know why he was clearly the best quarterback in this draft.

7:33Rich Eisen:Agree. So I don't think this is an overreaction. All right, I want to stay in this game. And by the way, kudos to Mike Hoskins for switching the graphic on the fly. I mean, we're a professional. We're already in mid-season form on overreaction Monday. Great job, Mike. Let's stay with the other awesome rookie in this game. Dealing with the dreaded high ankle sprain, doesn't matter. It will be shocking if Jeremiah Love is an offensive rookie of the year.

8:05Rich Eisen:What a great, great statement for an overreaction Monday coming off of a preseason contest. Yeah, buddy. Certainly, since you know how I was glowing about him. We were calling him Adrian Peterson last week. Well, look at him. I mean, for those who are listening to the podcast right now, we're showing the shot of him. There were two runs. There was the one that we just saw a photograph of leaping over somebody, right? Where he ran between the tackles and then just gashed and then jumped. Okay. This is the one where he went to his left and got outside fast enough that two guys that were essentially unblocked and, you know, blitzed or ran blitzed or whatever, got in the backfield.

8:46Rich Eisen:He ran around and past them. And then he got down the sideline and then he spun around and jumped in the air. and both of the guys I was sitting on the set with at the time, Michael Robinson and Maurice Jones drew on NFL network, both running backs are like, kid, keep your feet in the NFL. You're going to get, you leave your feet. You're going to get your ass handed to you, which is just, again, the only reason why I'm hedging right now is he plays a position where he takes so many hits that I need to, I need to, I need to get them all 17. Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, look, one preseason game, he's already a little bit banged up, not going to play the rest of the preseason, but look, We're going to see him week one, and we got a glimpse of what he can do while he's out there.

9:25I know it's a crowded backfield, but my God, you're not going to give this guy 20 touches a game? Oh, absolutely you are.

9:31Rich Eisen:You're absolutely going to do it. He's equipped, and he's set up, and he's got a coach that knows what to do with him. Those are the three things that one needs to be an offensive rookie of the year. You got to be equipped physically and mentally, and be lion-hearted, which you know he is. you need to be set up where you have other weapons that allow you the latitude to not be just keyed on. And then you've got to have a coach that knows what the hell to do with you. And he's got all three of those things. I mean, we could start, we could sit here and choose, you know, some handful of wide receivers that could have a season like Ted Roa McMillan last year.

10:18Rich Eisen:Let me talk about them later. I don't think this is an overreaction. Yeah, buddy. Let's go. You're two for two right now. How about it? All right, Rich Eisen. I kind of wrote these in order, so we'll get to Cleveland after this one. But I want to stay in the AFC North. You know, the Steelers' young quarterbacks looked really good. Talking about Drew Aller and Will Howard. These young QBs balling means they should have a short leash with Aaron Rodgers this season. Oh, that's absurd. That's just not going to happen. That's not going to happen. What we saw in the preseason doesn't, like, what do you mean?

10:52Rich Eisen:Like, they're going to, Rogers is going to come back at age 42 and perform not like he did in age 41, where his returns have diminished, and thus we have to see, they're going to turn to Rogers and his eye coming back for one more year for you guys with Mike McCarthy and say to him, performance-wise, just not up to snuff, sorry your career now ends with you being benched by mike mccarthy because we need to see who we have in will howard and drew allure he will be his final season will be sacrificed on the altar of evaluation for the future that's what you're that's what you're saying or or yeah or it's just not there the cliff came for aaron rogers yeah and he's selling his malibu house so yeah the cliff came for that and look these kids just are better and i think that's not out of the realm of possibility with how they looked over the weekend and mike mccarthy did a great job developing these guys in the off season that was why he was brought in to be the head coach and it just isn't there and they give pittsburgh the best chance to win i don't think that's impossible did you use erosion as a dual metaphor here yep like a literal one about a like beach erosion yeah i mean it's estate erosion there real estate selling and then and then his actual talent and then his play eroding right uh i would bet against that uh i i i think his arm is still spectacular and his neck up uh is still a diamond between the temples i'm not saying it's likely i'm saying it's not impossible i got it but i just so you saying born out of seeing how well will howard and drew allard did in their first run at it yeah that that's the launching off point for your theory is an overreaction so listen here's what we should take out of um the performances of will howard and drew allar when when mike mccarthy was on the radar screen for the steelers at first and everyone's like really we're gonna go there because i thought you're gonna go young hotshot coordinator that's never done it before who could be there for 25 years not somebody in his early 60s who's done it for two other franchises equally as blue-blooded in dallas and green bay but um it was thrown out there that he's he's known for bringing quarterbacks along okay and the quarterbacks that he brought along you know were in san francisco and green bay and you know kind of And Dak, right.

13:22Rich Eisen:And Dak, right. Well, in the case of Rodgers, you know, you forget that McCarthy did get him ready while Favre was there. And then when he was, then he came out of the box and he knew what to do with him. So it was kind of like, oh, yeah, I guess if Rodgers is going to come back around, but I thought they didn't get along. And then we find out, oh, yeah, no, they pretty much get along. Yeah, they talk all the time. Right. And then Dak, you're like, oh, did he really bring Dak along? I mean, Dak was already his rookie season under Garrett was spectacular. That's true. But the answer does appear to be he knows what he's doing with young quarterbacks.

13:58Rich Eisen:Like they both looked like they had a clue. And Aller after the game even said, I think I performed well because I had the confidence of my practicing and my preparation. And so they got the right guy for a franchise that's after Rogers done churning through to find next big man or at least a bridge quarterback and a bridge quarterback. they're done with that so mccarthy's gonna be the right guy for that that's based on what we see here from howard and aller the question is will it be howard or aller when it comes down to 2027 when rogers is definitely gone and the draft will be chock full of quarterbacks and the steelers might be you know in their usual realm of picking 19 to 23 on the draft order when many of these surefire quarterbacks could be off the board so this is an overreaction mccarthy got those two kids ready that's encouraging certainly if he's going to be the guy to choose the next one that's my two cents on it what if it's thanksgiving and they're neck and neck with baltimore or cincinnati for the division and the one thing holding them back is the quarterback position but if they're going to be in position with the ravens and the bangles for the division the quarterback won't have held them back.

15:15Rich Eisen:They'll be in the position. Maybe not. Or they're doing a defense. That one would be a surprise. A pleasant one. A pleasant one. So down the stretch, you need the experience at the position. You're going to go with the kids who have never done it before? They're not benching Rodgers. Crazier things have happened. They're not benching Rodgers. Just not gonna. All right. I'm just... Okay. 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.

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16:32Rich Eisen:There's a reason Gusto is ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026 and trusted by over 500 ,000 small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash overreaction and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash overreaction. One more time, gusto.com slash overreaction. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly.

17:12Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. That's all right out there. What else? All right, here's the deal. We're going to get to Cleveland here, but I'm combining it with another aspect, okay? Because this other rookie quarterback looked really good over the weekend in his first game. Talking about Ty Simpson, Rich Eisen. Yes, sir. If the Browns had just drafted Ty Simpson, they'd have a franchise quarterback right now.

17:49Rich Eisen:Or Sean McVay knows what the hell he's doing. And everybody just looks great in his system because he's got them prepared. And he knows who's best for it. Maybe Ty Simpson was the right choice. How about that? Yeah, but I'm saying if Cleveland took him. Nature versus nurture. You think if Cleveland throws him out there, he looks like the way that he did against the Chiefs on Saturday. You think the Brown starting quarterback is on the roster for 2027 right now? I don't. Yeah. Based on this past weekend. Sure. Like you just, that's why we're talking about this on a podcast called, a show called Overreaction Monday.

18:25Rich Eisen:But I don't know. I mean, Todd Munkin's a really good coach, but Sean McVay is the platinum standard. Yep. You know, and that's why every quarterback would like to get to Los Angeles, not just because of the talent around, but because of the coaching and the system and the way that it's coached and the way that it's executed and the way that the program is run. Everything soup to nuts. Did it surprise you that he looked that efficient? I don't know. Maybe a little bit. A little bit. Okay. I mean, I know the analytics kind of people have been kind of ripping it a little bit. Like his depth of target was like four yards and it was a lot of bootlegs and rollouts.

19:05Rich Eisen:Does it matter if the results are there? Not particularly. I mean, he was finding guys. Let me ask you this question. How many times did Brady throw deeper than 10 yards sometimes? Just dink and dunk? Yeah. He wasn't dinking and dunking. He was just finding his guys. And, you know, there was Yak. There was also running the offense. He's not taking. Exactly. You're not going broke, taking a profit. So who cares if it's just, oh, it's the only four air yards. He made the right decision. I think this was pretty encouraging. I mean. Sure is. Is he going to be named the backup? I know he's kind of neck and neck with Stetson Bennett.

19:34Rich Eisen:That's the story now is that, okay, the Rams are completely set up. By the way, is he back yet? As of right now, he's not back yet. No, we're going to get that in a minute. Okay. So the Rams are set this just in, and their backup is Stetson Bennett. With all due respect, I should have said that at first. Well, two-time Natty, Jim. I got you, but the entire system, the entire program, the entire hopes and dreams of Aaron Donald coming back to join Miles Garrett and to join everyone else, if a push comes to shove and you need to win four to six weeks or even a couple of weeks, you're going to do that with a guy who's never done it before, Stetson Bennett or Ty Simpson.

20:19Rich Eisen:Or you call Jimmy G and say, what are you up to, man? You sure you want to sit? That seems safer. Unless they, unless, and everybody else there looks at these two guys and goes, just because they've never done it before doesn't mean we're screwed if they're in there because we have the system. In the same way, Coach Dale waved his game plan and his leather satchel at all the fans who were screaming and yelling, what are you thinking? They're like, our quarterback room is our quarterback room, and it's as elite as it comes. Everybody wants in there. anybody who's in there can can run this offense and and we trust it and we trust in us that may be you know um pie in the sky but they know what the hell they're doing that said um nature and nurture man I I just don't know if he would look like oh the Browns now suddenly have their guy um no and if they drafted i mean the one thing that you can't complain about with the browns the way they've drafted the last two years they've got some stallions they have got some really good players every other position except quarterback no i gotcha i mean all three of them look terrible ty simpson wasn't going to be the answer for cleveland i don't think in the top 10 you know i mean 13 was kind of surprising what what was a few more draft picks higher than you if you're the reason why he goes 13th is because the rams had the ability to do it's a luxury pick yeah exactly i get it not many people you know water skiing behind the same yachts the los angeles rams are in the national football league but ty simpson is already better than deshaun watson after one pre-season weekend yes i agree he looked way better than any of those quarterbacks which which may prove my point here is that that's the way things are being run there in Cleveland.

22:14Rich Eisen:Potentially. I don't know. They do seem to have a really good roster in my estimation. And all they got to do is get some, you know, slightly above average quarterback play. And they're going to be the sleeper team that I threw them in that mix for. So what else you got? All right, Rich, here we go. Let's talk. Let's talk. Who's who's. So a report of a second Aaron Donald workout. Yes. So that on the trial, Tryout. Sorry, tryout. Technically, it's a tryout. Here's the thing. What are we doing? What are we doing? Aaron Donald's indecision is an indication he thinks the Rams are not as good as the media and public think.

22:51Rich Eisen:This may be your wildest and most off-base overreaction Monday subject matter in a while. I'm going to ask you a question. Is he back yet? What does Aaron Donald know that we don't know? Why isn't he back yet? I don't know. I have no idea. What's the holdup? I don't know. You didn't want to play in a preseason game? Yeah, he was going to play anyway. No, I don't know. He'd take it a spot. I have no idea what the hell it is. Does he know something? He doesn't know. I'm not coming back to finish second in the West again. Okay. You know what I mean? All right. No, I don't know what you mean. I don't know what you mean at all.

23:28Rich Eisen:Like, what could it possibly mean? So you're saying the way that it's, wow, this is really off the wall. I don't even know how to respond to this other than the fact that you're out of your mind. Certainly as a season ticket holder. No, this is not coming from the season ticket holder. No, you're not. Yeah, of course. Because you're psyched about it. This is coming from the... Because you know you've got season tickets for the Super Bowl favorites. And you know it's going to be silly and off the charts. But is he inside and he's seeing things and he's being like... Like what? What is he seeing?

23:58We're not a Super Bowl team. No. So why am I coming back if we don't have it? Or he's just... I don't know. a second really you need a second tryout it's not a try it's it's workout it he's doing his work on

24:13Rich Eisen:the field you know in a manner in which um the rams are allowed to do it with him and he's allowed to do it the rams which allow you know which pops him on a certain report the fact that he hasn't come back yet has nothing to do i don't think at all with his assessment of the rams viability to win it all you i don't know have lost your mind until he speaks we have no idea we're just speculating by the way his actions you say are speaking right now they're his his inaction is look at you look at you uh you're off that is that is the most overreactiony overreaction maybe in the history of this show really yeah history of the show that's a top five okay that's a top Or I should say top four because I don't want to get.

25:03Rich Eisen:We don't want to. Yeah. Do you like all those memes? I mean, Cooper loves them all. I mean, the Mets started it. He showed me all of them. The Mets kicked it off and then everyone just kept piling on it. High fives and now high fours. Five guys. Yeah. Five below. Yeah. All of it. Abraham Lincoln's put, they're putting Jaden Daniels on the$5 bill. Just perfect. Cooper shows me all of them. They're so good. All right. We're on the second half. Second half. Here we go. What else you got? Not sure if you saw this piece of transaction news on Sunday. Von Miller. Oh, baby. Jerry Jones got his pass rusher.

25:36Rich Eisen:In ESPN's wild world of college football, every Saturday begins with a ritual. And then the migration turns to mayhem. Predators hunt. Territories are defended. Rivals clash. In this wild world, legends are unleashed on Saturdays. No one brings you closer to the wild than ESPN. College football and ESPN kicks off August 28th. Witness the wild and ABC ESPN and the ESPN app. He already had one. I said to Cooper because Cooper told I don't even. So I'm sorry. I jumped in there. No, what are you saying? No, no. I'm saying Von Miller is the last piece of what's going to be a top 10 Cowboys. I don't think that is off the charts at all.

26:21Rich Eisen:I think that he is indeed a smart, brilliant hire by the Dallas Cowboys. You bring in somebody who is a first ballot Hall of Famer. No doubt. You're bringing in a lead pipe wielding professional who's going to walk around that locker room like the OG that he is. You're bringing in somebody from the state of Texas. You're bringing in somebody who is a Texas A &M legend. and you are getting somebody who knows what his role is. He knows he's not the guy who must come up with a Micah Parsons amount of sacks. And he's somebody that will give a blow to Gary or Aziraku or anybody else that is going to be rushing the passer from the edge.

27:08Rich Eisen:He's somebody who can go up to Overshown and Barham and all the youngsters and say, you know, follow me to freedom, you know, like, let's go. And so when this news crossed on Sunday, I said to Cooper, I'm like, five sacks, six sacks. That's it. That's on top of anything more than that. Oh, yeah. Absolute gravy. What a brilliant hire to just bring him in, throw him in there, get him up to speed, and tell Von Miller, one of the greats of all time. Hunt, baby. Go and hunt and go and walk around the locker room and help spread the word, spread, you know, be the guy who can also help with Christian Parker.

27:53Rich Eisen:You know, they just hired somebody who's older than the defensive coordinator. Little tips here and there. Hey, what about this? Try this. Brian Schottenheimer's guy in the locker room. It was a, I mean, I know mixing metaphors, home run, home run. And I thought they had a chance to be top 10 in defense before he got signed. So all he's got to do is just go top five. It's entirely possible. I mean, the only reason why I'm hedging is just because they're coming from so DFL and so many of the categories that it's tough to just flip it around from one season to the next. It's unlikely when those things happen.

28:36Rich Eisen:Right. But this is not called What's More Likely. No. It's called Overreaction Monday, and 1 ,000%, I'm with you on this. Okay, great. Yeah. What else? That was fun. I like seeing that. I like seeing Vaughn in the mix. In the mix. All right, how about this one? Haven't seen this dude in a minute, and, you know, you keep looking at the headlines, and it's tightness, Rich Eisen. It's officially time for the 49ers to be worried about Christian McCaffrey. Nope. Nope. Over reaction. Over reaction. I don't know. Guy can't get on the field? I have no idea if this is. Is this a hold-in? You think this is a hold-in?

29:15Rich Eisen:I don't think McCaffrey's going to say it. But I'm thinking he's, you know, even though they gave him a contract extension and now he's just on it, right? Yeah, this is the first year. When you hear about contract extensions, you think they start immediately. They don't. No. What they do is they. Tacked on. Right. It's tacked on. And then it's also, you know, when that's when it happens with the signing and all that sort of stuff, you get some extra scratch, you know, on the spot. And he's now seeing. What everyone else is making and, you know, cash in what he's like, oh, my arm. No, I'm not saying that he's saying that I don't know if it is tightness.