The Rich Eisen Show Hour 1: Rich’s Top 5 NFL Preseason Week 2 Storylines, plus NFL Insider Mike Garafolo

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1:04Rich Eisen:Snap to love has time. Describe for me if you would mind your relationship. From The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Matt is great. We're talking the same language all week. We're in each other's ear. Today's gasps. NFL Network insider Mike Garofalo. ESPN NFL analyst Jason McCourty. And now it's Rich Eisen. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We are live in Los Angeles, California, where tonight on NFL Network, you can see the Chargers hosting the San Francisco 49ers. Then you got the Raiders and Texans on ESPN this evening coming down the pike. First up, that's the first two games, ESPN, NFL Network.

1:52Rich Eisen:That can all be seen on the ESPN app, which, by the way, so can we. We say hello to everybody who might be watching us there right now. disney plus audience hello hello hello 844-204-rich is the number to dial on all fronts uh whether you're watching us or listening to us and then there's a um you know um where you can chat with us always through uh social media because we're social people good to see over there chris brockman what's going on man what's up man dj mikey d good to see mike deltufo right there tj jefferson light that candle oh the candle heard the click of the lighter good to see everybody out there well preseason week number two rubbers meet in the road we'll talk about uh everything going down mike garofalo my colleague from nfl network will be joining us in the first slot of this program to talk all about what he knows i'm gonna pick his brain uh on so many fronts because again preseason week number two used to be preseason week number three because it used to be four was when rubbers meet in the road this is the one where we're basically having the biggest dress rehearsal for the real deal coming up in the week after Labor Day.

2:58Rich Eisen:Jason McCourty, new to Monday Night Countdown's crew, he is going to be joining us in hour number three on all that. I've got a Buffalo Bills season preview, and I mentioned again, 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Preseason week number two, as I just said, is the time when rubbers meet in the road. and there's not going to be a single guy who means such significance to their team's outlook or chances this season that's going to be playing in preseason week number three. So this is it. This is your last chance to break a sweat, I think. You never know. Some coach might have the temerity to start somebody significant in the final preseason week and have that person sit out there to be a sitting duck for somebody who wants to put a pelt on their wall so they can make the final 53-man roster.

3:47Rich Eisen:but instead of just picking one and just honing in on it, there's, as I mentioned, 16 preseason games to get to starting tonight on the ESPN NFL Network doubleheader. So I've got a five, top five. Ooh. Sorry to the Washington Commanders. Top five burning. Well, I guess there's one more, so it's six. Burning issues of preseason week number two brought to you by Hyundai. Hit it. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's Top 5. All right, here's my five burning issues for preseason week number two. This is what I'm looking to find out over the next few days about the upcoming National Football League season.

4:30Rich Eisen:Number five, simple question. You can say this about every preseason week, but who's playing and who isn't? Who's playing and for how long as well? And who is not? Because if you don't play this week, we're not going to see you until week one of the NFL season. And if you didn't play last week, that means your first live action will be when it really counts in the standings. So who is playing and who isn't? The Houston Texans for tonight's game were going to play most of their starters until I don't know if Jaden Higgins goes down and practice. If this is what caused Amico Ryan's to reverse, he said the Tuesday practice, the scrimmage, if you will, between both sides, The joint practice between the Texans and the Raiders was enough.

5:19Rich Eisen:Okay. That was enough. I guess Jaden Higgins going out for the seasons was enough. Not going to put anyone else out there. Who's playing? Justin Herbert is expected to get some time tonight. Carson Beck is supposed to not play, which means the Hall of Fame game might be the only action he sees all preseason, which kind of stinks for him. Who's playing and who isn't? It's a general question, but more than not. This is the one because it's the final preseason week in which real time starters might actually get out there. Number four on my top five list of burning issues of preseason week. Number two.

5:59Rich Eisen:Is it possible that when the Minnesota Vikings get out there at home coming up on? Let me get this correct. On Saturday, right up straight up at noontime when the Baltimore Ravens come in. Is it possible that J.J. McCarthy is now fighting for the backup job? Wow. I mean, you're already hearing, you know, hey, Carson Wentz this, Carson Wentz that, and he might be the best guy to back up the man who J.J. McCarthy lost the starter's job to. And Kyler Murray is the starter, and J.J. McCarthy's going to be the backup, unless Carson Wentz beats him out. Is it possible that he's fighting for this gig now to be the third string guy?

6:47Rich Eisen:To be the guy to actually be the emergency quarterback? Is that entirely possible? As you know, I hope not. I don't think he deserves that. But I'm not the guy evaluating. And Kevin O 'Connell is that guy. Keep an eye on that one for that game that goes down straight up noontime on Saturday. You can catch that on the ESPN Unlimited package. Third down. Third down. Pardon me. Number three on the list. I keep mixing up my downs in my segments. The Atlanta Falcons, while the Ravens and the Vikings are playing each other, are in Indianapolis. Number three on my top five burning issues for the weekend is, can Tua get more than just one first down this time?

7:34Rich Eisen:Come on. I'm sorry. It's a reasonable question. I know, but it's just so disrespectful. It's not disrespectful. Can we see more than one first down? I mean, I would like to see that too. Can we get more than just coming out of this game, Michael Penick's pointing it to on the sideline, and everybody thinks that it's a new meme saying this guy. You know, I still have not seen this picture yet. Oh, my gosh, it's incredible. So you want, I want two first downs. I do. At least. Minimum. Is Bijan going to get any run either? Nah, no. I don't think so, right? What's the point? I said to him! First downs.

8:16Rich Eisen:Otherwise, if that doesn't happen, then it'll be like, Oh my gosh, sky's falling. Well, I mean, sky's falling, but then he could go to Pittsburgh and light it up, and it should be like, that's preseason. Yeah. Do you remember when the Lions went 4-0 in preseason? They did. They didn't win a regular season game that year? That's right. That's true. That happened. So, who knows? But I'd like to see more than one first down. Okay, that's fine. I don't think it's disrespectful. It's just, you know, caught me off guard. All right. Number two on the list. It's go time for Shador. This is it. Again, this is another Saturday game.

8:51Rich Eisen:Bills and Browns. Shador's getting the start. This is it, right? It's go time, baby. Let's go, Shador. Because didn't look all that great. Watson didn't light it up either, but he did play well enough. They did get two scoring drives. And let's go. I mean, Shador, if he wants to still get snaps with the ones, not just in practice, but obviously when it's for real, this is it. And I'm rooting for you, Shador. I'm rooting for you. I want to see you. He goes out there. And you know the Browns faithful are going to be rooting hard, those who come to this game. They love them. And that's number two, is the Browns quarterback battle, front and center.

9:43Rich Eisen:And it's Shador's, I guess, last stand, one would think. The third preseason game might not sway whatever's going on between Todd Munkin's temples. Sure. And number one on the list, I mean, you know what it is. I know what it is. You know what it is. Fernando Mania. Oh. Wow, brother. Mania. Fernando Mania. What you gonna do? Can we get t-shirts like that? That's Thursday night. Put it on a t-shirt which is sell it in the shop. Sell it in the shop. Oh yeah, brother. I'll send a text during the commercial. Let's go. Fernando Mania. It's running wild. Let's go. How much time is he gonna get? What's he gonna do with that time?

10:25Rich Eisen:And then when it's time to talk afterwards, what's he gonna say? Next slide, please. Here's my presentation. You know? I had a great time running the football and passing the football and you know I earned a lot and then I really respected my opponent tonight and I was there for my teammates until I wasn't there for my teammates which means I let my teammates down but then my teammates and I have just like a love for football that I love to you see where I'm going playing talking being Fernando Mania for the Las Vegas Raiders and then of course is there any way, shape, or form that whatever happens tonight factors in to a week one decision?

11:10Rich Eisen:That's what I'm talking about. You know what I mean? I don't know. Get ready. Only one man has that answer, and it's Clint Kubiak. I don't want to front load a Monday overreaction podcast topic, but if Fernando lights it up, get ready, Rich Eisen. Get ready for what, though? He's not going to start. You never know, man. I'm so confused about this because for months we heard Fernando's the number one pick he's going to start so I'd lock that in and then I hear Kirk Cousins on the team now Fernando's not going to start okay cool now I lock that in now I'm hearing that hey there's a chance Fernando could start I'm very confused until he doesn't start there's a chance that he can start I've always been team start yeah me too until I was told when Cousins got there listen nope he's going to start the season on the bench one word for you Fernando Manning you have one more I did not know this that's my boy my youngest son right there that's Coop so the young QB class is my one more Malik Willis gonna get the start against the Giants he had a nice scoring drive last week there's Willis as an actual starter what if Ty Simpson goes 21 of 24 again as the Rams are are you guys going to this game?

12:26Rich Eisen:Cage and I will be there. Oh, boy. Yeah. Mike, are you working? You're working? Oh, no, you gave your tickets to Don. Rich Eisen show, resident Saints fan, Don Bui. Exactly. I got it. Because you're such a giving man. You gave him or you sold him? And let's see Ty Simpson, right? Drew Aller and Will Howard. Yeah, they're going to play the whole game. They're going to play the whole game against the Jets. Right. Okay. And what does that mean? is there because this is it this is the this is it because they're their time getting snaps their time showing what they could do is running out through the hourglass the only way that they get more is if an unmitigated disaster happens to their their team with all due respect to everyone else and that's my five burning issues of preseason week number two my top five is brought to you by Hyundai.

13:24Rich Eisen:Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right, it almost feels wrong. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. Did I miss anything, gents? What else are you looking forward to seeing? Aaron Donald playing. That's not him. He's still not back yet. Is he back yet? He's trying out, guys. There's a process when you try out for a squad. I guess we're about to play that with Mike Garofalo, the latest, to play, is he back yet? I think we should add Judge Smels to the end of this and be like, well, we're waiting. That's a good one. That's pretty good. That's not bad. Yeah, I'm just kind of scanning the matchups.

14:08Rich Eisen:Bengals, Bears. That falls into the who's playing and who's not. Sure. You know, I want to see Jackson Dart. Has he learned anything in the last week? Come on. What does it mean, has he learned anything? What needs to happen is the Giants blocking scheme needs to learn how to actually execute. He needs to protect himself. I mean, again, I'm not an all-22 guy. I guess I should have asked Daniel Jeremiah. Was it the fact that he didn't have the protection right? He didn't see it. He should have seen it. He was staring his receiver down. Whatever. I want to see the Giants offense. You know, Skititi Bowe is on tomorrow.

14:43Rich Eisen:I want to see if he keeps looking like a top 10 running back in the league. How about the Titans and the Seahawks? That's a Sunday nighter on your friends at Fox, Mike. That's fun, yeah. I think this is a big game for Cam Ward. He kind of needs some positive momentum going into the season. He had a good night against the Niners. Well, I need that relationship with Carnell Tate to kind of show me something. And look, I've been following this closely just because it's my team, but Patriots-Eagles practices this week have been intense, and I want to see how that carries over to the game on Saturday.

15:18Rich Eisen:We've got A.J. Brown spoke yesterday as well. He has been having a week. And, well, the Patriots, you know, let's see how they can rebound from their 0-0-1 preseason record that they're bringing. Big tie last week, yeah. Not great for the unit. All right, let's take a break. Your phone calls, I see the phone lines are already lighting, which delights me. It lights me up. Your phone lines lighting up light me up. A lot of win-loss. Turn on, well, I mean, this is it. This is it, yeah. They light up your life, Rich. Turn on your win-loss heart light, everybody. Let it shine. 844-204-RICH, number to dial Mike Garofalo when we return.

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17:45Rich Eisen:the rich eyes and show podcast the audience has returned my friend from uh nfl network mike garifolo is joining us here live now mike send that text who's who was that who was that was that an agent oh is that what is it uh what do you got no unfortunately just one of my idiot friends okay we can relate seriously your your idiot friends are blowing your phone up and you're you're trying to do uh an interview here good to see you man how are you doing How are you doing? I'm great. I'm going to say goodbye to my idiot friends and hang out with my smartphone. I appreciate you saying that, Mike Garofalo.

18:18Rich Eisen:I appreciate it. I have a list here. I just started the show of my five burning issues of preseason week number two. I'm going to go down the list here with you and what information you can possibly give. Number five was who's playing and who isn't. What do we have on starting quarterbacks? Are there going to be any big name guys? Justin Herbert, just as an example, who's playing and who isn't, best you can tell this week. Yeah, Justin Herbert, the last, I just saw the Texans change their plans. Guys, early in the week, we're going to play our starters, and then we're not going to wind up playing their starters.

18:56I saw the Browns had a good plan this week, Todd Munkin telling the team, basically, if I get what I want out of the practices, then you're not going to play in the preseason game, right? It's the old, like you tell your kid, if you behave well and you get good grades, we'll go out and buy you a toy, basically. So, yeah, I don't know. I'm honestly just brushing up myself, Rich, so I'm just catching up on a lot of these. So I'd be lying if I said I had the entire league locked down and what's going to happen when it comes to the starters.

19:27Rich Eisen:All right, so then let's get to number four. Is it possible that J.J. McCarthy is now fighting for the backup job in Minnesota? I mean, well, at some point, if you're J.J. McCarthy in his camp, do you want a fresh start elsewhere, right? Do you want to press the issue and say, OK, well, we weren't a starter here. We're upset about it. And we want to give us I mean, he had a clear path to the starting job last year. I thought the Vikings made a mistake when they did that. I mean, they had interest from veteran quarterbacks that wanted to go there because honestly, those veteran quarterbacks saw a quarterback that they felt like they could beat out.

20:01And a great system, great weapons, playing indoors. And the Vikings made it clear that they didn't want anybody breathing over his shoulder. This year was the opposite. This year was, okay, we gave it an opportunity last year. Now you've got to go out and win the job. So he didn't do that. And I guess we'll watch it as we get closer to week one. But, yeah, I mean, it's something where he's going to have to show them, I can handle this role, I can do the best I can, and I can continue to push Kyler Murray as we get into the season. If he doesn't play well, then I'll get the chance to play again.

20:31Rich Eisen:But Carson Wentz is there, right? Yeah, and playing well. That's the whole, you know, that's the question of is the number two job up for grabs when the Vikings take on the Colts this weekend, you know? I just don't know how much clamoring there would be from other teams saying, hey, I want to bring this guy. I mean, you're not bringing him in as your number two. If he's not the number two in Minnesota, that's the best shot to be a backup. So I don't anticipate that there would be a whole lot of that. it would have to be a Vikings decision to just, hey. And maybe it'll be with how he plays over the last two games that'll help them make their decision.

21:05Rich Eisen:All right. Meanwhile, now in Atlanta, I was wondering if Tua can get more than just one first down, which is, I guess, Chris, you called it disrespectful. I thought it was a little disrespectful, Mike. What do we take out of last week going into this week and into the season, Mike? What do you take? Which part do we think was disrespectful? Me saying, you know, can he get more than just one first down? Oh, that part just right there. Yeah, you want to be able to, at some point, before you get into the regular season, have something on tape, on the field, in your own head that makes you feel good about moving into the season.

21:43I know that Kevin Stefanski has a lot of faith in Tuatango Bailoa, and he believes in him, and that there have been moments in practice. That was not one of my stops that I was able to make during training camp. But I've spoken to folks down there who say, you know, maybe that's all being a little bit too overblown. And there's been a lot of good work for us down here in training camp, even back into the spring with Tua. And they feel good about that. They feel good about his health. We'll see. I mean, you know, I know what we saw. And I know there's pre-formulated opinions in a lot of people's heads about Tua and the course of his career to this point.

22:20Rich Eisen:When we find out if Penix starts on Pup, when do we find something like that out? What's the timeline here between now and the beginning of the season? Well, for Michael Penix, coming back from that knee issue, they're going to have to make their decisions as we get closer to the cut-down day, which is, if I'm not mistaken, we're only 10 days away. I think it's August 30th. Is that cut-down day? Yeah. They moved it up. It used to be the last couple of years was the middle of the week. Now they moved it right up to that Labor Day, or it's not even Labor Day weekend. It's the weekend before, if I'm not mistaken.

22:54So they're going to have to make their decisions as they get down to 53, how they want to play this from a quarterback depth chart standpoint with Michael Penix and with Tua. I know Penix has been pushing to say, hey, I'm healthy. I feel good. I feel great. I've done a great job in my recovery and forced the issue for them. So we'll see how they handle it in the next 10 days.

23:17Rich Eisen:And then it's go time for Shador, Mike. right? Like this is it. And is there any way that he can light it up against the bills and force the issue or, or you think Monken has already made his mind up and he's just saying, let's, let's split it up. What do you think? What's the general sense? We were at the combine in February and, uh, someone that I trust explicitly when it comes to NFL Matters. Not a member of the Cleveland Browns, not someone in either quarterback's camp, but when this person says something, I go, okay. And he said, Deshaun Watson is going to start for the Browns. You can say that for the next seven months, and I'm confident you're going to feel.

24:01Now, at the time, we were still on Jimmy Haslam saying, hey, we took a big swing and a miss with the quarterback. And everybody thought, well, that's it. It's over, right? And they started to lay the groundwork for, no, he'll be given a chance to compete. and uh he's been in the pole position i called it the pole position back in the spring i still believe that to be the case i mean he got reps with the starters in the preseason if what todd munkin is saying is going to hold firm with you know we're not going to play the starters then shador sanders gets preseason action without the starters which you if you're going to then go with deshaun watson prepare yourself for the blowback from folks who are going to say well he never got a fair shake even though munkin would say no he got his reps with the starters all camp long, and I made the decision based on the whole body of work.

24:49I still think it's going to be Watson. I've always thought it's going to be Watson. Until I see something different or hear something different, it's going to be Watson.

24:56Rich Eisen:All right, and then the last subject matter for the preseason week, number two, is Fernando Mania, man. I just love this kid. I love all of it. I just love his sense of competition, just his post-game press conferences. I just love watching him. is there a shot he's the week one starter or we're we're sticking with the Kirk Cousins you know um storyline in the same way you said somebody told you back in February it's going to be Deshaun Watson for the Browns no matter what Mike the consistent communication that I've received out of Las Vegas has been that Kirk Cousins going to be the week one starting however i've been lied to before so i my own eyes and my own brain and my own ears is never going to close that door now if you ask me who's going to start i would say based on that i only have it one way via information so i would have to say it's still kirk cousins but i do know for a fact that fernando mendoza closing the gap i mean making them think about it however however you want to phrase it he's doing a fantastic job he really is he had a throw uh in the game the other night where he got to the top of his drop uh set his feet ripped it between three defenders um off of a play action turning his back to the defense the things that oh he wasn't asked to do in college that he's going to ask to be uh done as a part of the Clint Kubiak system.

26:34Perfect execution. It was absolutely the way that you need to do it in this offense. And there's been more of that. And there's been reps with him with the starters when Cousins was sidelined. So, you know, if he plays well again, he's going to get extensive time, right? He's going to get a chance to show in a live game, the preseason, the rest of the way, make his statement. I still believe it'll be Kirk Cousins, But I've got – that's a cool picture.