The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Ian Eagle Discusses Texans v Ravens on The Matt Thomas Show

Episode Date: November 13, 2019

Ian Eagle will be calling the Texans at the Ravens, and he joins Matt and Ross to give his take on the game.

is the Matt Thomas show. Sounds of the NFL on CBS. I would have to say, though, and I think Iron Eagle's going to agree with me, this might be the second best theme that CBS has ever had, because I was in Chicago last Sunday, getting ready to hit in New Orleans for the Rockets, and the Detroit Chicago game was on, and Ion Eagle promoted the NFL at the half,

and he mentioned Phyllis, Irv, and Brent Musburger, I and it was such a choice move by your part. I don't know if anybody caught it, but as a 47 year old man watching the NFL on CBS I caught every second. I meant for that. I appreciate that. Oh, yeah. No, we are definitely the demographic

for that line, Matt, that 45 to 60 plus year old that lived off the NFL on CBS with Summer Rollin Madden and Brent and Irv Cross and Phyllis George and Jimmy the Greek at Jane Kennedy. So it just struck

me in the moment when I'm promoting the halftime that in a Lions Bears game for a faction of the audience, this is what they knew. This is the only thing they knew. They knew that and they knew murder. She wrote. Yeah. Frankly, if it's Detroit and Chicago, it should have been Tim Ryan and Johnny Morris doing the game. If you're really going to go deep into the CBS archives, you're going to think about it. Oh, wow. Now you're really showing your depth of knowledge. All right. By the way, I can't believe I'm talking to you when an eagle is actually in Houston, in Texas right now. That's right. You're going to get a chance, I believe, I hope, to meet my son tonight who's been working with the Clippers and the fact that I have a son old enough that would

be allowed into an NBA arena and meet and greet other media members is kind of mind-boggling ended up itself. Well, I just want to make sure he knows that he's got worked ahead of him. You got the Alberts. You've got the Brennamons. You've got the Bucks. And now you have the Eagles. So congratulations to you and your son and his success. Hey, thank you. Thank you. There you go. Thank you for joining us. I know you've been bouncing all over the country here.

Let me get a thought about how you probably should point out to the officiating crew that there should be no under any circumstance in the grasp calls in this Sunday's game. Would you agree with that? Yeah, that's a great way to put it. You've got two dynamic talents and their highlights waiting to happen. So from a play-by-playman's point of view, you have to be ready for the unexpected. that what would normally be a quarterback going down or a play falling apart or a QB that would just toss it away. That's not the norm.

That's not the MO of these two guys. Legitimate MVP candidates. I know there's a lot of hyperbole. There's a lot of hype when it comes to the NFL week in and week out. This is legit. These two guys are very much in the conversation with Russell Wilson. And they're both very unique talents. And the other part that I would say, just from a personal point of view,

when you meet with these guys, there is a presence. There is a little extra something. There is an it factor. We're really fortunate on the TV side to sit down with the head coach and the QB and another playmaker on offense and a defensive player. And when they walk in the room, there's a difference. you can sense it. There's an aura. There's a presence. You've done a handful of Baltimore games the last couple of years. Lamar Jackson, when first drafted, they were saying, okay, guy can run a little bit,

but can he throw in the NFL and can a running quarterback survive? He goes from that when he gets first drafted to, oh, my goodness, he's a top three contender for an MVP. So through your eyes and the limited times you've seen him either in person or on tape, what's changing his game from at that point to where he is right now? Yeah, I think the perception was that we've seen quarterbacks that can run, come to the NFL, and all of a sudden the speed doesn't translate. Michael Vick stood out as someone that just was faster than everybody else and had some innate abilities to make guys miss. The questions with Lamar had nothing to do with his ability as a runner,

but whether or not he would be able to adapt to NFL style of offense where, They're going to take something away from you. And what he's done is develop as a passer, and he is better. He's better today than he was when I first saw him last year, and he's probably better today than he was when I saw him earlier this season. There's just a comfort zone that he's found as a passer. Now, that hasn't changed anything about the way that he runs the football when he needs to run the football.

He'll be the first to tell you. That's not his goal. He doesn't go into the game thinking, I need to rush for 100 yards. He wants to be a complete quarterback. He wants to be known as just a quarterback, not a running quarterback. But the highlight from last week, which was video game-like and dazzling and broke the Internet, that's just a special quality. That's a different level from other players that we've talked about that have made the NFL

with a shot of maybe becoming an all-around QB. This guy just has some other level of. talent that you just don't see. It's one of those things that stands out. You just have to watch and play. You see him in person. You walk away saying, all right, he's just different. He's different. The great Ian Eagle with his son's from CBS here on the Matt Thomas show.

He'll be on the Texans Baltimore call. You can catch him on T&T coming up with some NBA broadcast down the road. Of course, you see him on NCAA football and is one of the voices of the Brooklyn Nets. Ian, you called the Texans Chiefs game a few weeks ago. And granted, that was Pat Mahomes at less than 100%. but I thought Arrowhead nobody won in there except Chiefs games. So let me ask you this.

Is Kansas City more vulnerable than even if Pat Mahomes is 100%. What's your portrayal of them so far this year? Yeah, I think they are. I think we've seen some of their faults. We were expecting them to be better defensively just based on a new scheme, a new mentality, new coach, new voice. And it hasn't happened. It's basically the same issues of anything.

They're not getting to the quarterback as often. as they did a year ago. And it's not seemingly getting better. So they've still got time to fix it. They've still got time to try to polish it up. But those same questions are going to be popping up. They're starting to find a little bit more balanced. That was a huge problem early in the season offensively.

They were not running the ball. In fact, they weren't even trying. It got to that point where Andy Regis wasn't calling for running plays. It's funny. I think the injury to Mahomes, and I was in Denver, when he went down with that injury, and it certainly felt like it was going to be more serious than it turned out to be his reaction, the reaction from the team, and then some positive news later that night that carried over into the next couple of weeks that he's going to be able to come back.

But it may have strengthened them in a way that Matt Moore came in, and it was a little bit of that circle of wagons. We don't have Mahomes in his arm strength and his innate ability to just rely on. And I think they benefited from it. So when the smoke clears, they might be in better shape just based on the individuals now understanding that, hey, this is a collective effort. We just can't sit back and watch the MVP do his thing anymore. To wrap things up, we feel like the Texans' next three games here, Ion are super important. Not only the Baltimore game, the home game against Indianapolis on the short week and then the New England home game.

We feel like the bottom four games are a very winnable contest. So as you see them, as you talk to Bill O'Brien, you will be this Saturday as compared to maybe five or six, seven weeks ago. Has his demeanor change in your visits? What's it like visiting with them with now a team that has been beset by injuries in the secondary? No JJ Watt, but yet to London a couple weeks ago and put together an amazing performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yeah, Matt, I'm curious with Bill. Bill is very good in those meetings, by the way.

My experience with him from his first year as a head coach now that he's honest, he looks in the eye. He has a very clear philosophy on how he does things, but it's not one of those approaches where he won't listen to any of the outside chatter. I think he's aware. He's aware of what's said. He's aware of how it's being said. But he's a fighter. He does have a belief in how he does things. but he's open to other ways to do them if it might be better.

Look, he's got a lot of responsibility. There's no doubt. But when I look at their talent and I view it through the prism of a head coach slash GM, I like what I see. I like the Hyde acquisition. I like the Duke Johnson acquisition. Obviously going out and picking Deshaun Watson, believing in him as the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft, when I just came off the Chicago game where they're still trawl.

trying to take that round peg and shove it into a different sized hole with Mitch Trubisky. You understand. Houston is set up here. Deshawn is the real deal, the Tunsel acquisition, which got so much scrutiny around the league based on what they gave up. I think it's turning out to be the right thing. They realized that that was a serious need. They needed to shore it up.

They needed to give Watson some confidence up front. And then defensively, they just seem to figure out a way. They lose one of the great players in the game, and they get by. The numbers aren't going to blow you away. What they do against the run does blow you away. That's still been very consistent. But the secondary, as you mentioned, very much banged up, yet they figure it out. They problem solve.

Week in and week out. And sometimes it's not pretty. And I know there have been drops with the Texans where people react, but you look up right now, and they're in really good position at six and three, but you said that the next three weeks are going to go a long way in determining whether or not they're going to be taken seriously for January football. I think they're going to be a playoff team. I'm just reading the Peelees and looking at the schedule.

But there's that next category of are you a serious threat? That's the part we don't have the answer yet. Very last question. When you and Dan are calling games, past interference has been, I mean, clearly a topic of conversation just about any NFL game. do you even get into a deep, that should be overturned, that shouldn't be because we've seen so many of them even frequently changed? Is that still a conversation as you guys are before the game, during the game, or is it just a level of frustration not only with yourself but other folks trying to figure out what indeed should be a reversal of calls if it should be the case?

Yeah, it's a great question, Matt. On a individual level, I've taken on more of the latter of what you just laid out of, hey, look, we don't know anymore. and to speculate and to jump the gun with a very strong opinion, it would probably be fruitless for a play-by-playman. Dan has not taken on that philosophy. Dan is still resolute in what he believes, having played in this league at the highest level, going to the Hall of Fame as one of the great quarterbacks of his time,

having broadcast forever and ever, and he knows what he sees. And he is not shy about sharing that opinion. He never has been in regards to those kind of calls, and even with the rule adjustments, that hasn't changed him. So if something pops up in this game, Houston, Baltimore, Dan is not going to shy away from it when it comes to PI. He usually reacts very quickly, and his instincts tell him things that only he could really know because of his true life experience. And I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. And I applaud him for it. That's real stuff. That is absolutely visceral for him still to this day because I think he still sees it through the eyes of someone that was competing and had to deal with these things even back in his day. But now as a broadcaster, no, he's not going to look the other way. He's just going to say it like he sees it.

Well, I proclaimed you the nicest Syracuse grad on the history of sports broadcasting. I'll keep it with that. I want to see your rankings, Matt. You just throw it out there. But unless you produce a top 10, it really doesn't hold any weight. Oh, my gosh. Well, you know what? When you come to do a Rockets Nets game, you better all pass it to Noah tonight when I'm introduced to myself.

I'll do it that way. Oh, now we got something. Thanks. I'm looking forward to you guys meeting all that. That'll be great. Thanks, Ian. I am very much. I really appreciate it.

Take care yourself. Ion Eagle, joining us here on the show. Ian Eagle, again, seriously, one of the nicest people in sports broadcasting, period, end of story. And we thank him so much for joining us here on Sports Talk 790.