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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The Patriots, this team destroying everyone in front of them. How far can they go? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Today's guests, Prime Video TNF analyst Andrew Whitworth, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, Savannah Bananas left fielder Robert Anthony Cruz. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Uh Well, hey everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance Sirius XM Channel 80. Those are the four. There's our podcast listeners.
Hello, whenever you're listening and wherever you're listening, stop doing that. No, I can't see you. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial to have a conversation with us today. We've got not one, but two, Walter Payton. Men of the year.
I have no idea if Coach Rack from the Savannah Bananas is a good, great human through and through, we assume. Very possible. Because the Savannah Bananas are an absolute international delight. They bring joy. But basically, he better do well in the community because when you got Kurt Warner and you got Andrew Whitworth on the program, we're all banana peels basically around them.
So 844-204 Richigan is the number to dial here in the program. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. What's up, man? Good to see you. The least sufferable member of the Rich Eisen Show, Jay Felly, is here.
He's not sitting in judgment of any of us. Oh, wait till the Raiders get good again. Oh, that's good. Then you'll start acting like Brockman right now with the Patriots being the only 11-win team in the national football. And then Mike can jump to my ship.
There you go. I don't understand him. But good to see you, Joe Starling. How are you, TJ Jefferson? What's going on, sir?
Killing, man. How are you guys doing? We're doing great. I'll be honest with you. I'm a little confused.
Maybe you can help me. You know, I I sat here on this program the other day. And I thought, had a very, if I may, salient point. And pointing out that Ole Miss did the right thing in telling Lane Kiffen: you cannot have it both ways, you cannot be the head coach of Ole Miss football. Getting root.
ready to take The reins of LSU football. You certainly can't do that in this day and age. when there's transfer portals to talk about. and signing periods and You know. And and Rivalries.
You can't tell us here in Oxford we're done. Right on the outset of the college football playoffs. And expect to stay around here. The analogy I was going to make, but there were just too many other things going on. Fans showing up at private aviation um gates and Barbed wire fences and screaming obscenities at coaches getting on planes.
Trying to run them off the road.
Well, I mean, that's what Lane Kiffen said. By the way, the greatest responses: Elon Manning re- posting that Portion of Lane Kiffin's press conference talking about how fans of Ole Miss football were running him off the road on the way to the airport. He reposted that with the word oops. Eli being Eli. Eli.
Very fatting. Yeah.
So. Unless he's saying that was Chad Powers. I don't know. Listen. I totally understood it.
Oh, why would you give the head coach of LSU football unfettered access to your players as a transfer portal window eventually opens up the second day of January for a couple of weeks? Why would you do such a thing? And Doors closed. Yeah.
Makes sense. Unless you need an offensive coordinator.
Okay. I mean, you could knock me over with a feather. Because A goblin. Is is this Charlie Weiss Junior getting on a a private jet the other day. Sure, it looks like it.
I mean, and I thought the report was like: either you're on the plane that LSU sent or you're off the plane. In the same way that old Miss was saying, either you're with us here in Oxford or you're over there in Baton Rouge. And So We heard yesterday, and it was confirmed by Lane himself in a statement. Saying Yeah. Charlie Weiss Jr., I'm fine with him staying in Oxford for the duration of the college football playoffs.
And of course, Lane put in the in the um In the announcement that this was in advance of the College Football Playoff Committee making its final. announcement of the playing season, the regular playing season. And it's a very crucial Penultimate. Arranging of seeds. Because This is the way.
This is the rest of these college football playoff committee releases of what this. The brackets look like is all window dressing just to get us to talk about it. But the one before conference championship weekend is crucial. Because It does kind of pen the committee into making certain decisions based on ultimate results. of the weekend.
Even though the committee will do whatever it wants, which is, you know, say put Alabama above Notre Dame when they have the same record, even though Alabama just had a. Uh An almost loss, a pull-it-out of your orifice win at Auburn, which hadn't been doing anything of note. And Notre Dame's above Miami, even though Miami's beaten Notre Dame. I mean, they could do whatever the heck they want. But Lane's like in advance of this, hey.
College Football Playoff Committee, don't penalize The kids that I just left. Because I just left. And I read that and I thought two things. One. Um Why in the hell would a college football playoff committee filled with athletic directors and Others There, but for the grace of the football buyout gods, go you.
Penalize players for losing a head coach. Why would we do that? Because the analogy I wanted to make back on the other day that I Neglected to. I was sitting on the campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1989. When I've been waiting for you to bring this up, Bill Frieder says, I'm going to Arizona State.
to coach basketball. But I'm sticking around here to find out what the seeds it Going to be for the 1989 Michigan National Championship, eventual national championship winners. They're good enough. The 1989 Michigan Wolverines. I'm trying to find out what seed we're going to be.
And Bo Schembeckler, the athletic director, says, no, you're not. And he said, I want a Michigan man to coach a Michigan team. And He found Steve Fisher, who had really no ties to Michigan except being just freshly hired by Bill Freeder. The only reason that he was a Michigan man is because. Yeah.
Bill Frieder wasn't anymore. And I don't know if the Committee that seated Michigan sixth in that. Tournament? Knocked them down a peg or two because who the hell was Steve Fisher? I don't know.
But Michigan won six in a row and won it all and cut down the Nets.
So why would they penalize Oh, Miss? for losing their coach. And they didn't, by the way, to their credit. And I have no idea if they kept him at six because Charlie Wise Jr. was going back to Oxford.
And I thought to myself also.
Well, I read this from Lane. If you tell Lane Kiffin get out. Why is it fine for Charlie Weiss, Junior to come back? I mean, he might have handled the departure behind the scenes completely different than Lane did. There may have been a bridge that wasn't blown up like it was over the River Kwai.
That may be he may have a better relationship with the New head coach there, a better relationship with the athletic director. He may have handled it differently. I don't know, but at the end of the day, if you don't want these coachings around your player is in advance of a transfer portal. Because they're now going to be coaching for LSU. Does it matter?
Like, now, now. There is technically a fox in the hen house. There's a baton rouche fox there.
So, what are we doing? That's a sabotage. I don't know. September. What are they doing?
except maybe trying to win a college football playoff game. And if I'm lane kiffin. It makes me look beneficent that there's no hard feelings here. You may be trying to run me off the road, but I haven't quit you yet. And yes, and you know, I'm also.
Showing everybody, I can be an adult. You think I'm not an adult here. Take 'em! Take them. I don't need them yet.
I'm cool here. I'll build my program here You know, and I I still have some old myths. You know, love in my heart. Take the guy. And it also, you know.
Might improve The mailbox money having an extra comma in it by the end of the day, because my Contract, the terms of which apparently I'm not familiar with completely in terms of the money on it, does still have my college. Football playoff bonuses from Ole Miss in my contract. That's called a win-win. I come across looking cool, and I'm helping old Miss. You're still pissed at me.
You want to run me off the road? I'll still keep you. Down the path. Take my eye. Hmm.
I don't understand it. I don't get it anymore. And maybe Ole Miss. Did they run a couple practices and go, yeah, we could use the offensive coordinator better? Yeah, right, right.
Who called who? Who called who and said, can we have Charlie? Did somebody. Are you up text? Yeah, like, are you up?
Text. Yeah, exactly, Chris. And also. Did Charlie have to fly commercial back or did Ole Miss send a plane for him? And nobody noticed because nobody was there with a torch and a pitchfork at the FBO in Baton Rouge.
You know, like, how does this work? And interestingly enough, Pete Golding, the head coach there, did not cancel his press conference today there. Saying we wanted to be about the players, and we'll talk about it on Sunday after the. Playoffs come out, so it'll be all about not lane being gone, and I've got the job, and why did I have the offensive coordinator back? How is he here?
Even though those questions I think are still germane on Sunday when he speaks.
Okay. I just don't get it. No.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, thank you.
I feel better. Because I know I should ask questions I already know the answer to. That's so weird. Like, how the hell does that happen? We're only taking one more time.
We have we can't play the sound on this because of the nonstop curse words coming from the fans yelling at Charlie Weiss Jr. getting on the plane. Hmm. I thought I was messing up. No, it is not Disney safe.
It would sound like a truck backing up rather than a plane ready to take off. But hey, welcome back if you can You know, coordinate is a dub. Hmm. Against the 11th seed, if that's what we're going to wind up being the sixth seed at home, by the way. Home game.
So the LSU, the future LSU coach, not allowed back. He's got to go. The LSU, future LSU offensive coordinator, here's your old, old, ole miss shirt back.
Okay. I've made my point. And one last thing, too. On the whole. And another thing, Vonnegut.
Hoo-ha. Yeah.
And another thing, Vonnegut. Talk about going back. Talk about going back to school. Yeah.
The whole hoo-ha going on about, whoa. These seatings and standings and the athletic director from Arkansas doing bad six seven jokes with Rich Davis one week and then the next week talking about results that matter here. For this team being seated above that team. And then that reasoning makes no sense when you're saying it. Doesn't matter.
Between this team and that team about this result and that one. And you're seeing all these columns and all this process. Print going back and forth about what's right and what's wrong, and whether BYU deserves it, or Miami deserves it, or Notre Dame deserves it, or Alabama doesn't deserve it. All of this. Where are the adults?
In the room to fix all of this. Because you know what's next, as I was saying, with this whole business with Lane leaving, and you're allowed to just get some tech bro, or we'll ask Andrew Whitworth later: did he put some Whitworth dollars in to get Lane free to go back to Coach LSU as Alma Mater, or whoever's slicing these checks? You know, In a situation where the governor of Louisiana says Brian Kelly's contract. Is an abomination.
So the athletic director's got to go, and I'm now in charge only to hire somebody whose contract makes the other one look like it's a beer holder. You know? And All of this stuff, the NIL, the portal opening up, and the signing period opening up. The college football playoffs are going down, and the conference championships between undefeated teams that are playing for a conference championship just for seating purposes, only to maybe beat each other up, put stuff on film, to have a Big Ten team have less of a chance to win it all. Is a for instance.
You know what's next? Is somebody's got to step in the room and say contracts for everybody, and you're not allowed to talk to anybody until the last down is played in college football, and the season is over. There's a new league year, just like the National Football League.
Somebody's also got to come in and fix the scheduling, too. Because this next thing is, if Texas doesn't make it when it's not gonna, they'll be like, why didn't we play Slappy University instead of Ohio State? Yep. Why do we play Ohio State? What purpose does it serve?
Bingo. to play Ohio State. When we should just take somebody that is dying to come play. Here We'll pay you to come play us. We'll pay you seven figures to lose to us because that is what's not going to reek to high heaven to a college football playoff committee.
When they're sitting in a room with their coffee breath and B.O., that's a. Midnight Run Reference. And all of that. Add that to the list. of you can't pay to have a coach Break his contract or hers in college sports.
Because you can't do that in the NFL. It's crazy. It's crazy. Giants have an opening. You know what they're going to do?
They're going to find out. 'Cause he was an offensive coordinator there once. You know? Um Does Sean Payton want to come back and coach the Giants? What's his buy out there in Denver?
Let's find out. Oh, is it is it fifty million bucks? Probably more. Whatever, let's pay it. Let's pay it.
You know what we'll do? We'll get somebody who's a massive sponsor of the New York Giants. to scratch that check for us. And then Sean Payton, oh, right in the middle of the season? Right on the cuts for the playoffs?
Yeah.
They'll just leave to go to the New York Giants. And it'll be Denver. Fans showing up at the FBO, flipping the bird at Sean Payton. Oh, but you know what will happen? Is the offensive coordinator will be allowed to stay there to finish the season.
After all. Does any of this sound absurd to you? Because it should. And then the seeding of the Broncos is going to be dependent on whether the offensive coordinator stays or not. And in terms of a team that is right there on the cusp in the hunt, sniffing it, What they're going to do next year.
Is they're going to wind up playing Um a UFL team. with all due respect. First week of the season, they're going to basically tell, you know, hey, we're the Denver Broncos. We are slated right now to have on our schedule next year the Atlanta Falcons. We don't want to put our.
Potential problem on the line against them or the Bills. You know what? Let's cancel the Bills game and let's schedule somebody from. The UFL. And then, in front of the committee, deciding where that.
Team makes the playoffs or not. It'll be better. It'll be one win more, and we'll pay that money to them. And as a matter of fact, we'll get a sponsor, another sponsor of the Giants to do that. Or the Broncos to do that.
Does that make any sense to you? Of course it doesn't. But in college football, it's like, let's write columns about it. NFL Playoff Committee, not a terrible idea.
Okay, thanks. You're ruining my point, Chris. Either you're on the plane or you're not. I'm on the plane.
Well, I'm on the plane. Until two days from now, and I'll let you go back on that take. Appreciate that. Yeah.
Yeah.
Let's take a break. Kurt Warner is going to join us next to bring some sanity to the situation. And an Andrew Whitworth. 844-2040 number. And I got my power rankings as well.
That's when things will go haywire again around here. It sounds kind of cool. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. The radio audience just returned ESPN presented by Progressive Insurance. Kurt Warner is here explaining what answers to the test Josh McDaniels is giving Drake May.
I give you the floor back, sir.
So, again, it's full-field concepts where they're giving you a concept to the right, a concept to the left. Quarterback's job is to read pre-snap, read post-snap, and then get to the side that fits the coverage that you're seeing. And then once you get there, it simplifies it knowing, oh, I got an inside-out over here, I got a high-low over here. And so you can find the guy, the defender that you need to read with your eyes, and you can play the game very quickly. The pure progression type offenses say, okay, we're going to start over here, and it's going to be one, two, and three over here, and four over five over here.
And so the whole process to me takes longer. And it's not as definitive because we're not basing it off of if the defense does this, you throw here. We're just saying, oh, if this guy's covered, then move to the next guy and see if he's open, and then see if he's open. And so, It speeds the game up if the quarterback can see it and understand what he's seeing. It speeds the game up.
It makes the game easier, quicker, because I know definitively where my read is. And if I don't like that read off of that defender, then just find your check down or take off and run. And so it becomes a very simplified game, and you can play the game faster. Whereas I think the other. Forces a quarterback to play slower.
And, you know, the argument is: okay, it's easier for a quarterback to go pure progression because they don't really have to see anything. They just have to read it one, two, three, four, five and see if their guy's open and throw it to them. Whereas, you know, the full field is: okay, my quarterback's got to know what he's seeing on the snap and what the coverage is or what his keys are to make him go to the right or to the left and change his progression. But, you know, I've been a proponent that I still believe at this level, no matter how good of an athlete that you are, you have to play the game mentally first if you want to be a championship type quarterback or a championship type team. And I see that show up over and over and over again.
The quarterbacks that play the best. Mentally inside the pocket, being able to see their progressions and go through them, are the quarterbacks that are the best quarterbacks in the league. And the other ones is touch and go. Their first or second guy might be open on the progression. Great, it looks really good one week, but then doesn't look as good the next week.
It's all about consistency, seeing the field, making quick decisions. And the faster you can do that, the more successful you can be. And Drake May is doing that with the help of Josh McDaniel, who is simplifying those things. And again, I don't want to say it's simpler because. Seeing the field and reading it and deciphering these coverages isn't easy to do.
But if you can do that, then the concepts make the game simpler, in my opinion. And of course, Drake May is just making it look easy, I think, in terms of what you're saying. And clearly, it makes sense that you want a quarterback who can play quicker when you keep seeing, and we see it every year at the Combine, defensive players getting bigger, stronger, faster, and they're getting home. You know, we saw multiple times on Sunday night football, you know, Chris Collinsworth pointing out that if you're going to be playing games at the mesh point in the backfield against the Denver Broncos, they're so damn fast. You can't play slow.
You know, if you play slow, you're finished.
So I'm kind of leading our conversation down a certain path, and then we're going to get to the ultimate question about what to do with the quarterback play in this league in 2025. Caleb Williams Is he playing faster? What has Ben Johnson done? To change things around there. Obviously, the win-loss record is different, but we're also seeing, I think, Caleb more confident.
He's not making mistakes. He still has trouble with accuracy, but it does feel like he's more in control here. Yeah, I mean, he definitely seems more comfortable. With what they're asking him to do.
Now, Ben Johnson does run a number of what I would call pure progressions. But I think he ties it in really well because within his peer progressions, a lot of times he has good, solid, what I call defender read type plays.
So he's still trying to tell his quarterback to kind of read through that progression, but he's trying to still put somebody in conflict with, say, you know, read one and two or read two and three. If we get there and this guy's covered, this next guy, based on the design of the play, should be open.
So I think that the scheme helps Caleb Williams to play a little bit more fast, or I guess more comfortable, I would say. He's still got room to grow. There's times his eyes start on the wrong spot. For me, there's times that he hesitates too much. You mentioned it.
He's missing too many layups still. But we were talking about it on game day morning, me and Daniel Jeremiah. And Daniel was saying that at the NFL level, you need one of two things with your starting quarterback. You either need great efficiency. Or you need explosive plays.
Now, if you can have both, obviously that's the pick of the litter right there. But you need one of the two. And right now, Caleb's not playing extremely efficiently. He's missing a lot of throws that you just have to make. But He has the explosive part of it, whether that's a scramble, big play, whether that's, you know, four or five big throws inside the pocket.
You know, I'm seeing him when he's really definitive on certain things. He's making some really special throws to his number one reads that maybe a lot of guys in the league don't make. And so he's got that explosiveness. They've got turnovers on defense and they're running the football well. That's why they're winning.
Now they just need to find a way to get him more efficient in making more of those layups to go along with a few of those explosive plays. And then I think you see the trajectory go like this and why Ben Johnson was saying, you know, we're kind of winning in spite of our pass game right now. It's not as efficient as we want it to be. But Caleb is doing enough to go along with the other things to obviously keep them on the winning path. What's happening to the Colts offense?
You know, by the way, I think I'm done with the Eagles question with you, right? I mean, because I mean, I'm just. Unless you're not. I mean, I mean, but. It's the same stuff there.
So, yeah, let's go to the Colts. The Colts are, I mean, the AFC South is wide open now, sir. It is wide open. You and I both know it. And this offense that was cooking over the first two months that helped lead them to that eight.
And one record, or seven and one record, they're now eight and four. Has something changed? I think. I think the natural Thing for most people is to point right at Daniel Jones and say, well, Daniel Jones isn't that top-tier. Quarterback.
And maybe true. I mean, we haven't seen anything to say that he's, you know, top tier, like best. In the league. But we saw him play really good football, obviously, through the first half. Of the year, and it hasn't been as good these last couple of weeks.
And what I believe the biggest issue is, is that first, it's a run-first team. Like they were having success throwing the football, no question, but it was really about balance and it was about teams, you know, having to really focus on Jonathan Taylor first and then the pass game second. And within that, Daniel Jones was playing great football and he was very, he was a perfect complement. To what they were doing.
Okay, they haven't been running the football quite as effectively, getting as many big plays. In the run game. And so now it falls a little bit more to their past game to be a little bit more dynamic and a little bit more efficient there. And as much as we can point to Daniel Jones, that obviously he's got to play better. You know, and we also have to kind of figure out what is His ceiling, but I also don't know if you look at this past game and the pieces on the outside.
that they're going to be a great. Pass team. I mean, Michael Pittman, a good receiver. He's not the most dynamic guy in terms of giving you big plays and catch a short pass and go long distance. Pierce, again, a good player, but more of a down-the-field guy, not a guy that's going to win with all of his route running and be dynamic there.
And so I don't know if you know. Again, we're going to point at Daniel Jones and say, Well, I don't know if he can be the quarterback to lead a pass game when you have to throw the ball 40 times. I'm not sure this is a pass game that's built to be able to carry a team when you have to throw 40 times. It's kind of the same conversation we've had with the Steelers for a number of weeks on game day morning: I'm just not sure they have the pieces to be a pass team. And so they have to be able to run the football and allow that to be the complimentary part of it.
Good players, and Daniel Jones has played good, but there's a difference between being good and being a unit that can carry a team against. Good defenses like the Houston Texans and so forth, you know, going through the season.
So, that to me is what I see: they still have to be a run-first team, and they've got to win and get some big plays there. And then, I believe Daniel Jones and their complimentary pass game is definitely good enough to make a run in the AFC. I just don't know if it is. If they're not able to run the football down the stretch, and it's going to fall all to passing game having to be consistently good and consistently explosive. In the few minutes I have left with you, Kurt Warner, week 14 is just huge.
I can't wait for our game day morning show. I mean, it's just, there's so many different directions we can go in as we're now in the entire. League is in the December football schedule as opposed to just that first Monday night game of the month.
So let's do some somewhat quick hitters. The uh the Cowboys Lions game will come down to what? I mean, I think it's really going to come down to if Detroit can run the football. They've got some injuries. Amon Ra probably isn't going to play based on what we're hearing.
They're going to have to win. Running the football and getting back to making some big plays there. And then on the flip side, obviously, the Cowboys made these moves to stop the run. Can they stop the run and force the past game of Detroit to beat them? I think will be the key.
Okay. The Packers and Bears playing for the first of two times over the next three weeks with the division completely up in the air right now will come down to what in Lambeau Field on Sunday? Man. Um I think it's two things. I think it's Jordan loved taking care of the football because The Bears, albeit not great on defense, they've been great at getting turnovers, and that's been the difference.
For them. And then I think, like we saw last week, is: can the Packers stop the run? The Bears were awesome running the football against the Eagles. And we talked earlier about Caleb just being explosive but not efficient. If you can force it into Caleb Williams' hands and force him to have to be efficient, I think that's the best formula for the Packers to get the win.
Okay. And now. The Steelers and the Ravens, both at 6-6, leaking oil. Coming off of last week. What do you have for that will come down to what there?
I really feel it's going to come down to the Ravens offense. What is wrong with it? What is happening with the Ravens offense right now? Does Lamar look the same to you? Does he look.
What's happening? He doesn't look the same. He doesn't look as comfortable. And it's both running. I actually thought.
It looked like he added that gear this past week running the football, which I felt like he was still a little slow in that area before, but I thought he added that gear. But I still feel like he's uncomfortable in the pocket right now. And so he makes some great throws without question, but he's missing some throws and he's missing them badly, which isn't normal for Lamar Jackson. And so there's something going on there since he's came back where he just hasn't looked and felt as comfortable to me. But he's still, again, he's a guy kind of like Caleb that is always going to give you some explosive.
And so he usually does enough. For them to win, but he hasn't been the efficient and explosive Lamar Jackson that we've seen.
So he's missed some opportunities that normally he makes and are difference makers. And so, you know, this past, I think it really just comes down to that offense. How efficient is that offense? You know, they should have won against Cincinnati last week, but they just turned the ball over and made a bunch of fluky, weird plays in that game that just gave Cincinnati opportunity after opportunity. And that to me is this game.
I'm not sure the Steelers are better in any facet unless. The Ravens helped them out. And so to me, it's going to come down to Lamar Jackson and the efficiency of that Ravens offense. But I definitely think the Ravens are the better team. And at the same time, in the eight game one Eastern window, Eight games going on at once.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals in Buffalo. Man, that will come down to... What? It's a good question. I I think it'll probably come down to Cincinnati's defense stopping the run more than anything else.
Um, you know, can they bow up and give Joe some opportunities? I think Joe's gonna. find ways to score the football as he always does. But if you can, you know, the slow death of Buffalo running the football, as we saw last week, I think is going to be key. If you can force Josh and that group to have to throw it continually, I think there'll be some mistakes.
Josh is at times playing really fast this year, faster than he needs to in the past game.
So they settle it down by running the football.
So that to me is going to be the key facet, I believe, of this game. And then Sunday night football, I think I know what the answer is, but I'll say it anyway because the Chiefs. Are at six and six. The Texans and the Chiefs come down to what on Sunday night? Oh, man.
You know, as crazy as it sounds, because I know we want to probably talk about Mahomes against that defense, which is obviously going to be a critical factor. I'm going the other side. I thought C.J. Stroud played one of his best games. A little worried coming out back off the three games out with the concussion.
I thought he played one of his best games of the year last year or last week. And so I believe it could come down to that side because early in the year, it was more about the defense holding things down. And the offense really couldn't get anything going. The offense got some things going and looked pretty good last week at times. And so if they can take that next step offensively with some of the struggles against the Chiefs that we've seen from the Chiefs' defense, I believe that could be the key factor because Mahomes is going to win some.
The Texans' defense is going to win some. You know, that's going to be a great matchup and a fun matchup to watch. But I think it could fall on the other side. How efficient is C.J. Stroud?
And if he makes a step from what they did last week, that could go a long way in getting. Them this win. I mean, I would ask you about the Eagles Chargers game, what it comes down to, but we just don't know the state of Justin Herbert's non-throwing hand. We don't know is it going to be Trey Lance? All I know is, I think the Eagles are going to get what they need the most.
right now, which is a home game on the road. you know, where if the the stadium is filled with their fans, Yeah. Because they're at home. I'm serious. I'm not being facetious.
Like you know how it is on the uh at home for chargers. Um home games. And, you know, and I'm not, this is not being, I'm not denigrating. I was there when another Pennsylvania team was there for a Sunday night. And it was Steelers and the Chargers crushed him.
They killed him. But I just I don't know the Eagles going in here Maybe being on the road, bonding together. I don't know. I have it's a big question, Mark. It's such a what the hell's going on?
Yeah, it is. And I don't think anybody can put their finger on it outside of just the fact that. I really believe they came into the season as they have the last few years saying this is. who we are. We've got the same pieces that won a championship last year.
We're going to play the same way. We're going to run the football and we're going to dominate the run game, and that's going to be the centerpiece of things. And then we'll throw as a compliment. And it hasn't played out that way. Injuries up front, for whatever reason, even with the guys healthy, they're not running the football.
They're not getting big plays. It's stagnant in the run game. And now they're trying to figure out: okay, how do we change this, or what can we become in the middle of a season? To get back to playing really good football. And it's a hard thing to do when you come into the season going, We really believe this is what we're going to be.
And so everything went into building it that way. And it's not working. It's not working running the football. And I know it's easy to say, well, let's just keep doing it and we'll get some guys healthy, and we'll get there. You know, you hear me all the time on, you know, on Sundays talk about we want to believe that all the time with these teams that we've seen be there before and the Chiefs.
Okay, you know, they're going to flip the switch because they've been there before. And, you know, oftentimes in this league, we have to believe what people show us they are, what teams show us they are in the course of that season. And right now, this Eagles offense is a struggle. It's a struggle across the board to figure out what their identity is, what they can be good at. And they haven't figured it out.
And so until they do, I think this is what we're going to see. We're going to see every game muddled up. And they hope they keep it close, and they've got enough playmakers to win a lot of those games as we've seen that way. But they're not doing anything really well right now. And it's why it's showing up every week that it's just, you know, it's just their offense is just kind of muddled up and it doesn't look pretty.
Kurt, thanks very much for the time. We've got to step out of bounds because the heartbreak's coming like the Patriots' defense, okay? All right, buddy. We got to avoid this. Take care.
That's Kurt Warner, everybody, right here. He's going to be on NFL Game Day morning on Sunday. He's on the Rich Eisen Show every Wednesday. Check out QB Confidential. It is.
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So the Hall of Fame has got different ways of going about its business these days. They changed some rules around over the last couple of years about how you can get in and what committees can get you in and how many votes you need to get. And so the committee that chooses. Um head coaches To be placed as a finalist in front of the voters to get 80% of the votes. Along with the committee that puts together a list of contributors.
To be placed as the one finalist from that category. To be placed in front of the category, the voters to get 80% of the votes. Also has a pool of candidates from a Veterans Committee, right? Essentially. And they have three finalists.
And from that group. One coach. One owner. Three others who are placed in front of the voters. That pool of five Whoever gets 80% with the maximum of three of the five are coming out.
I think I've set this up properly, correct? Yes, sir. All right.
So, and then there's the other pool of just people who are eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame through. Regular, you're still eligible after your playing days means. That's a different category of Yeah, that's at a semifinal list right now. Correct.
Well, there's a list of finalists for the veteran players. L. C. Greenwood. Folks remember him back in the day from the Steelers.
Those yellow shoes were iconic.
Okay. Ken Anderson. Yeah.
The uh quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals. And Roger Craig. Who is long overdue for the San Francisco 49ers? Long overdue.
Okay. See him when he's crying, he met Christian McCaffrey the other day, right? Remember, see you saw that he got all teary? I can see that. Yeah, it was really nice.
Because before there was McCaffrey, there was Craig. Before there was Marshall Falk, before there was many of these people, indeed, sir. Yeah, for sure. The coach, no surprise, is Bill Belichick, because now you're allowed to, you don't have to wait all these years. You can get it.
Any uh contributor slash owner. It's Robert Kraft. And that is long overdue as well. This man's 84 years old. Sure is.
Okay, and like, come on. He should have been in our name. Please. All right.
And it's not just the trophies, it's everything that he stood for: broadcast, NFL network, ending the lockout. The lockout. Him and Jeff Saturday sat down and got the lawyers out of the room to figure the thing out.
So If You get 80% of the vote.
Okay. And Belichick gets 80% of the vote, and Kraft gets 80% of the vote. Then Kraft and Belichick are going to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame together, which is fitting for all the trophies and all the winnings. But for their current relationship, Might be one of those Congratulations, congratulations. Boom!
Or This is what both of these guys need if you're Looking at a glass half full, and you want everybody to get along in the world. Going to the Hall of Fame together is truly a bonding experience, unlike any that I've seen up close. I mean, I'd have to imagine. It is. Families hang out and even the, you know.
They all know each other. And right now it's not pretty. But It would be immensely fitting. Kraft and Belichick in the same Hall of Fame class would be wild. And it looks like it, you know.
It could be one over the other. It could be neither. That would be ridiculous, though. They should both get in. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
Mm-hmm.
