Pete Fiutak: Everybody Loves Arch Manning

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0:39DeWalt. Guaranteed tough. Available at the Home Depot. How doers get more done. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18+. I'm living my best life. Yeah, yeah.

1:15This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part. With guest host, Brian Weber. Yeah, big shoes to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television. I have my own show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. It is the final hour of the program. Always a blast to sit in for Rich and the guys. Think about the pressure I'm under. Rich, the face of NFL Network. And he's got plenty of support from the crew. I'm a lonely man clutching this microphone. So if you want to provide assistance on social media, B.W.

1:58Weber, Weber with two B's last call for phone calls, probably filed the number away for tomorrow. It's a better opportunity at that point. 844-204-7424. We've gone wall-to-wall football other than a brief NBA conversation that was insightful. As always, in the previous hour of the program, Kurt Heelan was our guest from NBCSports.com. If you missed that, be sure to check out the show at your leisure. On demand, whenever you want, the podcast will be posted shortly after the conclusion of the show. But we still have 60 minutes in front of us together. In 20 minutes, we return to college football.

2:38We have talked a lot about how things could develop on campus this fall because Big 12 media days got underway today in Texas. Some strong comments from the commissioner, Brett Yormark, about the future of the college football playoff with expansion. Feeling like it's a done deal for next year to go to 16 teams. We'll relay what the commish had to say and put it in context when we're joined by an old friend, Pete Futek of collegefootballnews.com. In 45 minutes, a little bit of NBA. I went heavy on the NBA yesterday, justifiably because of the news cycle. We are now weaning off of it. I'm going to use the continuation of summer league play in San Francisco and Salt Lake City leading up to the Vegas Summer League with Cooper Flagg, the headliner, making his debut on Thursday.

3:35All of those events as a pivot point to think about how the regular season could play out. Why have we not heard anything from Giannis if Milwaukee, and they did, came up with a very creative accounting procedure? It had never happened before to that extent to pay a future Hall of Famer in Damian Lillard over$100 million to go away and absorb all of the salary cap pain that came with it. Because if you add up the hit they're taking financially against the cap to what they're paying, Miles Turner coming up, Miles Turner becomes a$50 million player. My observation is, okay, but what? What's it mean on the floor?

4:27Even in the wide open East, I still think Milwaukee is no better than a play-in team. And maybe that's why the silence from Team Giannis continues to echo throughout the NBA. Because you can say nothing and have the ramifications still land with the party you're looking for. as we get cryptic to start the final hour of the program. Organic radio is the best radio. Now, I do prepare, not to be self-promotional, but my process is I like to have everything mapped out mentally, and then it should be clear by now I do not have writers. There is no teleprompter. This is free-form conversation, and it's authentic when you stumble across something that wasn't planned.

5:13So when I was talking about Cal Raleigh and the big dumper and what he's doing in Seattle. The goal of that segment was not to meander into what happened to sports nicknames as a subject. It happened on the fly. I appreciate some thoughts on the X platform, B.W. Weber, Weber with 2Bs, the best one from WMY Water Cooler. Simply two words, Big Hurt. Good call, although I think you're making my point for me. It's been a minute since Frank Thomas played in the bigs. In fact, if we're doing word association, you say Frank Thomas. Now, what do I think about? A commercial for male enhancement, which tells you he's not in his prime.

5:56I'll just leave it there. Back to the NFL. We open the show with a monologue about the evolution of Aaron Rodgers' personality, opinions, and how he chooses to express himself. And then we made the transition to what it's going to mean on the field for Pittsburgh. And I'm not trying to be a cynic by trade. I just need to see it when the games start. Week one against the Jets because so much of professional sport is about fit. How's it going to look with Aaron Rodgers playing for Arthur Smith, who is demanding? Taskmaster, both as a play caller and the former head coach of the Falcons, if you care at all.

6:42You know why Arthur doesn't play around? his father, who recently passed away, founded FedEx. You talk about the concept of, I'll choose my words carefully here, goodbye money. You can wave goodbye. I'm walking out the door. There are other letters you could use there. Arthur's got it. It could work, but Arthur's got a strong personality, and so does Aaron, especially in his remaining days in the NFL. Aaron, critical of the Jets' ground game, made those remarks to Mark Schlereth. that Mark articulated on his podcast. Okay, well, Pittsburgh didn't want to pay Najee Harris, so he joined the Chargers.

7:22Another reason why I think the Bolts will be improved year two this season under Jim Harbaugh. I understand you can get it done by committee. I just want to see it. So I am not intentionally bashing Aaron Rodgers because I have found him to be more distasteful as he's moved along in his career. You're entitled to your opinion. I don't have to like it. Plus, I find it odd that the man who told Pat McAfee that when he retires, he effectively, and these are my words, not his, is going to be a Kaiser Soze. He's gone. Okay. If that's the goal, Why do you show up on national TV every week in season?

8:07If you want to be left alone, don't go on the show. So you can't have it both ways, but that's the predicament with Aaron because while he is bright by my assessment from a distance, it feels like he has the need to be the smartest guy in every room he walks into. And let's just tell it like it is. He has declined. mind clearly this is not breaking news we saw it at the end of his tenure in Green Bay the Jets season and four snaps is hard to evaluate because of the Achilles rupture that occurred in his debut so let's find out what he has to offer and I am not convinced in any way he is better than the combination of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields and that is not saying much but let's use that now as a way to move forward.

9:03Quarterbacks landing in new situations. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich. College football talk 15 minutes away when we're joined by Pete Futek of collegefootballnews.com. I keep leaning into the West Coast bias, so let's keep that going. And apparently now I'm the voice of reason defending Seattle. I love Seattle. Spent a lot of time calling games at the University of Washington before the Pac-12 got murdered by TV executives, Sam Darnold has something to prove. I think he's got to prove it to himself because unfortunately, as we talked about the redemption story of Jared Goff, the implosion of Sam Darnold in his final two games for the Vikings cost him millions of dollars and a chance to stay with that team.

9:51And you can talk about the quality of opponents, and yes, even with all of the attrition defensively for Detroit because of the injuries, still a good team with a good scheme run by Aaron Glenn, who's now become the head coach of the New York Jets. So I am not overlooking the caliber of opponent of Detroit, followed by the Rams, but it felt like Sam Darnold had a moment of clarity and realized I'm Sam Darnold. What am I doing being this efficient and just was god-awful? So if you're thinking about how the dominoes have fallen around the league, Sam, other than being younger and cheaper to a degree, depending on how you align the money for cap reasons, I don't think he's an upgrade over Geno Smith, but he is younger, and at least he created the notion of hope, and every coach feels like, okay, I've seen enough positive tape.

10:52He did it for 95 % of last season. He can do it again here. My pushback would be he doesn't have Justin Jefferson to throw the ball to and he's not going to be coached by Kevin O 'Connell. So I don't know that that's a net positive, but we'll find out. How about Gino to Vegas? Yes. As I said about the Cincinnati defense, whether they pay Trey Hendrickson or not, statistically they cannot be worse than last year that's how abysmal they were and points out how superhuman Joe Burrow was to have that team even in playoff contention down the stretch so whatever your perception of Geno is this is again not breaking news the Raider quarterback room was so grisly and so underachieving if you have a functioning serviceable quarterback in Geno Smith you got a chance Cam Ward what a wonderful story and I realize now with highlights available on the supercomputer that's in your hand and nobody uses the phone anymore we don't think about the athlete's odyssey as much as we used to.

12:11For example, I'm 55. I should not be throwing out my age because ageism is real and I will not be invited back on Labor Day. But when I was getting my sports fandom developed, Sports Illustrated still was the premier magazine and you read about Guy's journey and how they made it to the NFL. Cam Ward was so lightly recruited, the only school that offered him a scholarship coming out of high school, Incarnate Word in Texas. Now, some of it came down to the fact of the system he was playing on the high school level, and also he was a late bloomer. He grew into his body. He went from that tiny school to Washington State, balled out, parlayed that into a ton of NIL money, and you saw what he did at the U.

13:03Instant impact certainly on the way for Tennessee, but the question is how many more wins based on the lack of talent around him. And Will Levis can say whatever he wants to about, quote-unquote, it's sucking that he has to compete for that job, but Will Levis has no business even being mentioned as a full-time starting QB anymore. We have seen enough. I use the word grizzly to describe. the Raiders quarterback room prior to Geno getting at it this year. What's the right adjective to sum up what's going on in Indy? If you're thinking about Daniel Jones versus Anthony Richardson coming back from injury, not exactly Steve Young and Joe Montana competing for the job.

13:48Now, maybe Danny Dimes, which I did not count as a sports nickname just because it was so inaccurate. If you're going for the better moniker, it's Danny Giveaways. The guy just had no ball security, but I should have thought of that on the fly. Maybe, based on the brief amount of time he spent in Minnesota, he got some of the positive rub from Kevin O 'Connell to get the stench of his absolute implosion with the New York football giants off of him. Still, I can't defend Anthony Richardson, who's proven to be the quintessential workout warrior and never should have been taken that high by the Colts.

14:33And if you track college football, you know he only made something like 13 starts for the Gators. So he had a big question mark surrounding him coming out of the performance in which he broke the internet. And unfortunately, he's been unable to stay healthy. If I'm using negative words like grizzly for some quarterback situations, how should we sum up what's going on in New Orleans? I would do Jim Ross, and we're all happy, those of us who support professional wrestling, that he is cancer-free as of now. I want to pace myself. I've been doing a lot of radio as of late. But the term that would come to mind for New Orleans would be rock bottom, rock bottom.

15:15And I'm not screaming like Stone Cold is on the receiving end of Dwayne The Rock Johnson pulling off the best maneuver in recent memory. They are a muddled mess. Now, we'll find out how good of a coach Kellen Moore is, but you can only do so much when you have nothing to work with. And we'll find out about Derek Carr. I don't know if he is necessarily done. We know he's emotional. Maybe he was just spent and dealing with the injury and feeling unwanted, and he's young enough to come back. But that's not really that relevant heading into the season. As we continue to bop around the NFL, the Giants are always interesting because they're so poorly run.

16:02And if you think about someone lucky to have a job, it's GM Joe Shane after, and he just followed conventional wisdom. Remember, running backs are interchangeable. Running backs don't deserve getting paid. But you can give Daniel Jones all that guaranteed money, and to see Saquon Barkley, Lee Big Blue, stay in the division and play a leading role in that team winning the Super Bowl was just another kick in the junk for suffering Giants fans who have to endure at least one more year of the current regime. I think Brian Dayball is a good coach so long as he has something to work with. Because remember, the primary reason why he got that job was what he did with Josh Allen.

16:50The dilemma was he couldn't bring Josh with him from Buffalo. Although he coached up Daniel Jones to an extent, Giants had that one positive year with the turnaround and then fell apart last year. To me, Russell Wilson is just a guy. He is just a placeholder. You could argue it would have been cheaper and far more entertaining to go with Jameis Winston as the QB1, bridging to get to Jackson Dart. Here is the challenge for Dayball. He's got to win. He's got to win now. Now, the positive is the Giants were so putrid last year. when you bottom out to three wins. If you go to six or seven, you can go back to the Marrow family and say, well, we've doubled our output.

17:35Can't fire me now, boss. How are you going to get to even five or six wins if you look at the Giants' schedule? I'm not going to go game by game, but context matters. It's why I'm so high on the 49ers in addition to at least being healthy to start the year. I can't, nor can any of us have a guarantee, that Christian McCaffrey, based on all of the wear and tear going back to his run in Carolina and how he's used by Kyle Shanahan, will play all 17 games. But we saw by his absence, along with other injuries that bogged down the Niners, what he meant last year. Well, the Niners have, on paper, a series of winnable games.

18:18The schedule broke that way because they were the last place team in the FC West, and you're rewarded for your mediocrity in a league built on parity by having a much more manageable schedule. Flip that with the Giants, even though they were terrible and should have the benefit of a straightforward schedule based on the rotation of what divisions the NFC East is playing. It is going to be, let's just say, a stretch of logic to think New York is doing anything that is significant this year. And if that's the case, how long does it take for Jackson Dart to take over? the conundrum on a big word Tuesday for Dayball is he's gotta at least trot out Wilson for a handful of games to appease the veterans who are always cognizant that they're auditioning for their next job but they see in practice who the real talented players are and I don't think it's going to take them long to realize that Russ is just hanging around because his identity is caught up in being a starting quarterback and beyond being the QB one of the future the future is now when it comes to Jackson Dart I think if we're just going to set the under over I think the Giants will be mathematically eliminated by week seven week eight somewhere towards the middle of the season and the Dart era will get underway I'm Brian Weber in for Rich my era is comprised of the rest of this program tomorrow and Thursday.

19:57Dan Schwartzman in Friday, then Rich and the fellas back with you on Monday. So hang with us. Let's keep the conversation going on the X platform. B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs. Up next, we return to college football. Spicy rhetoric coming out of today's first day of the Big 12 media days underway in Texas, and we will focus on matters on the field. What is the Arch Manning era going to look like in Texas? We'll cover it all when we're joined by Pete Futek of collegefootballnews.com. I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you whenever I'm in for Rich here on the Rich Eisen Show.

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21:17Taking a quick break to tell you how Saturday's game time can get a little messy. Your crew just came over to watch. Snacks on the table, drinks in hand, and somebody celebrating like they just won the whole season and beyond. And when that energy gets going, your walls can end up taking the hit. Whether it's a big spill or a noticeable scuff, that's where Bare Ultra Interior Paint comes in. It adds an extra durable, stain-blocking finish that helps your walls hold up for the whole season. It also delivers outstanding coverage and hide in fewer coats. with easy application and a smooth, even finish that goes on clean from the first pass.

21:51Plus, that easy, clean finish helps walls stay looking new longer. So before the next kickoff, give your space game-ready defense and coverage that goes the distance. Bear Ultra, only at the Home Depot. 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. 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.

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23:08That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash rich. One more time, gusto.com slash rich. Let's get back to the college football conversation with a good friend, Pete Futek. Check out his outstanding work at collegefootballnews.com. Pete, did you schlep your way in person to Big 12 Media Days at the Star in Frisco, Texas? Or are we speaking from your castle in the Midwest? You are speaking as I wander around the Midwest. And I'm just going to be honest. If your media days aren't in Las Vegas, don't bother or not. Don't even ask. There's no point. There is no reason for anyone's media days or really any event to be in anywhere but like Southern California.

23:55or Las Vegas at this point, like the Big Ten media days are. But I digress. No, I am not there. But you know what? Why go? Because they wussed out. Last year, they biffed their preseason rankings and polls so badly that they're not even doing it. They had Arizona State last year in last, and they're like, oh, no, well, we can't have that again. So they're just not doing it. So if you're not even going to try Big 12, then what's the point? Now, people are trying to turn that into consequential takeaways like the selection committee has such a degree of distrust from the powers that be that conferences don't want to have a preseason media poll.

24:36Do you think that's all nonsense? Yeah, whatever. Win the Big 12 title and win the college football playoff and you're all good. So we're a little bit done with that. But look, I mean, like last year at this time, you were nuts if you tried to say anybody but Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma State, and all three of them face-planted. You know, so like, and what did we get? We got Arizona State, which I didn't think they were going to do that. But they were certainly gettable because that was a team that was a young coach, young team, lots of talent. They fought their way through a bad season. You could tell that there was a fight there.

25:11I didn't think, again, I didn't think they were going to do that. And now the Big 12, though, it's not the Big Ten. It's not the SEC. They don't have the talent there. They don't have the top-end teams. But that's the most interesting conference in college football because every team is better or good, except for BYU loses its quarterback. But, you know, Houston's a lot better. Why? The transfer portal. Cincinnati's a lot better. They've been building itself. Texas Tech, and you can say this now, bought itself a team. Oh, yeah. Oh, in every sport. Hey, Pete, that's how they wound up in the Women's College World Series.

25:44hey welcome you know this is you know hate the game and the players if you want but like that's that's the game now and texas tech bought itself a good and this is a football program they've never won anything i think the last uh outright conference title was like in the border conference in 1948 ish i mean they never went even got to a big 12 title game under mike leach you know this is this is a program that you think oh they're really good no they're not it's a it's It's a completely mediocre program, which now might bust through. But, again, every team. Iowa State's awesome. Kansas State's awesome.

26:20Kansas is going to be better. Every single team in this conference is good enough to beat anyone else. It's going to make for a fantastic season, I hope. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, spotlighting the college game with my pal Pete Futak from collegefootballnews.com. By now, you have read the money quote from Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormack in his address to the media, quote, we continue to believe the 5 plus 11 model, that's five automatic qualifiers, is the right playoff format. We want to earn it on the field. We do not need a professional model. We are not the NFL, close quote. I like the substance.

27:00Is that going to matter at all when we get to the expanded playoff field? It's kind of a silly thing. Like you said, expanded now from 12 to 16. But it's a silly debate. This whole thing, like, you know, if the Big Ten and SEC are crying, oh, we want four teams, then we want that team. Well, you're going to have that no matter what in a 16-team field. I mean, you almost had it last year. You got three teams and everyone's without a problem, you know, before. You're going to have 12 teams. You're going to have your 14 teams. Well, Pete, let me jump in. Then why is Tony Petiti, who runs the Big Ten, demanding this proposal get jammed through?

27:40I don't know. I think it's because they want the absolute guarantee. I think they want it to be locked in. Because you do need to take the thing out of the hands of the panel, the judges, as much as possible. Because they blow it. You're like, no, I don't like this any better than you do. SMU should not have been in. Alabama deserved to be in the college football playoff last year. I can go through why, but I'm right. Florida State, you know, they got that right two years ago. But you want to be able to win your way in. And as long as you have a way to do that, it's just fine. So it's kind of a barrier like, oh, great, let's throw this fourth Big Ten team a cookie and get it in there if it doesn't deserve it.

28:24But again, you're always going to have – I mean, the Big Ten has more money than everybody else. Then there's about a 100-foot drop. Then there's the SEC. Then there's about a 98 ,000-foot drop. And then there's everyone else. So you're always going to have the Big Ten is going to make its money and be just fine in this little thing. And don't forget the newly reconfigured Pac-12 with Texas State. And I don't want to talk about that because I'm still grieving. I'm Brian Info Rich, heading around the nation with Pete Futek of collegefootballnews.com. Pete, some people are not as enthralled with realignment and college football playoff expansion talk as I am.

29:00So let me focus on a colossal matchup. Week one, Texas and Ohio State. Before we talk about the game itself, what are your expectations for Arch Manning this year after what we saw last year in the small sample size? I have yet to find anybody who has a negative word about him. There is no, I mean, you always have something. You know, or else you have the people who say stuff and then behind the scenes are like, yeah, this guy's kind of a jerk. or those guys. Everybody loves this kid. He is, he's talent-wise, he's gotten way more mobility than Peyton or Eli ever had, which isn't saying much, but he can run.

29:41He's been coached up since birth in the Manning world. He has got all the tools, but he's humble. He's just kind of one of those guys who just everybody loves. He's just, again, I have yet to find a negative anything, even, you know, off the record or anything about him. He's the guy that everyone's going to want to root for for a program that's kind of hard to root for because it's the, you know, it's got everything. It's got more money than everyone we've ever met combined. But, like, Texas is good, but it's Steve Sarkisian. You know, he's blew it the last two years. They should have beaten Washington with ease against that bad pass defense.