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Now. On with the show. The Tampa Bay Rays are headed to the World Series. This is the Rich Eisen show. You don't throw the ball away on fourth down.
It's just a focus thing, right? I have to be better. No, I definitely knew it was fourth down. The Rich Eisen show. Today's guests: Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, Bills tackle Dion Dawkins, Steelers defensive tackle Kim Hayward.
Writer and producer Chuck Lorre, and now it's Rich Eisen.
Well, hey everybody! Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM channel eighty eight, four four two zero four. Rich is the number to dial. Even though nobody dials anything anymore, that's an old school phrase, isn't it? You still the number.
It's the number to call. Dial in the number button. Yeah. Anyway, that's the way to connect with us. If you have a rotary phone, call us today.
Oh my god! Oh my god! I do have one. Let me tell you something, and I didn't think I'd start the show this way. The NFL needs to put the helmet phones back in the NFL draft.
Oh, yes, for sure. I'm going to keep pounding the table on that. For sure. At any rate, hi everybody. Hey, good to see over there, Chris Brockman.
What's going on? I'm great. There's nothing like waking up on Tuesday knowing that you won your fantasy league the week, or you didn't get chopped in your gear. You didn't get chopped. You won your league.
I'm back at 500. Hey, McCaffrey, let's go. Mike Del Tufo, good to see you, buddy. Rich. TJ Jefferson, candles lit, huh?
Candles lit. O'Shea and I took a trip to San Diego. Monday Night Raw. Watch Monday Night Raw. Got back late, so I'm a little tired right now.
I understand that. It was fun. I can get that because you were on auto pick during the Rich Eisen show, fantasy basketball draft, and congrats on having Chris Taps Porzingis because of it. I was sleeping off a headache on the ride home.
Sorry. Auto pick. You know what? You should. There should be some sort of commission.
His dispensation. You should be. You should allow him to swap him out.
Well, I can't do that. You could do that.
Well, Porzingis. Not any rate. Good to see everybody right here on the Rich Eisen Show. The San Francisco Forty Nineers are the best team in the NFC, and they could be the best team in football. Albeit last night, I think they they were right for the for the plucking, but they they didn't get plucked.
How does that sound? This week was all about good teams winning in ugly fashion. It started with the Broncos on Thursday night against the Seahawks. We came on the air after they went to four and two, saying, "What's the mat? Like, what is Bo Nix's malfunction?" And had the Seahawks pulled that off, we would have been like.
As Sam Darnold had a body swap with the seeing ghosts version of him, like that's the way things are going in the NFL. But you are what you are. It doesn't matter that, for say, teams like Arizona or Carolina or New Orleans or Cleveland, no pictures in the standings.
Okay, Pittsburgh. Cam Hayward's going to join us in hour three. They were around sixteen to three in Tampa and needed. Four and a half quarters to basically pull it out, the it being a win. And this is the way the NFL works, which is why after last night's twenty three seventeen win for the Niners over the Commanders, despite leading this game twenty three to three, this is why.
This was the reaction of Kyle Shanahan at the podium after the game when his team survived a fumble from Christian McCaffrey, three three and outs in the fourth quarter by Brock Purdy and an offense that was otherwise humming in the first half and for the first five plus weeks of the season. This is why Kyle Shanahan had this to say. How do you feel at six and O? Um, I feel good that we just won a game. I mean, six and O is better than any other options in your record, but definitely.
I mean, I feel good when the year's over and you're the last team to win the last game of the year.
So I'll wait till that moment. Yeah, they're not handing out any ski goggles like they're doing in the baseball world. And congrats to Tampa Bay Ray fans out there. Dick Vital and everybody else. Dick, great to see Dicky V.
Yeah, you know.
So they're not doing that. But what this team has is obviously grit, determination, and you know enough stars of the game mixed up with third day draft choices. That man can Raheem Morris and Kyle Shannon and the rest of the staff coach up. Mike Evans goes down with an Achilles injury, with a catch that almost had him go over a hundred yards because of how he's not going to run away from people once yards after the catch much anymore. Certainly when he's got an Achilles injury and a rib injury, but the fact that he's out there doing Mike Evans things.
So obviously the offense wasn't the same after he left. There was a long third quarter drive that led led to a field goal, and then a bunch of three and outs that kept the Commanders in this game. But what they have is also the guy that is playing the best quarterbacking. Kyle Shanahan has seen in front of him. Since maybe Matt Ryan in the Super Bowl year that he was an MVP, and you know led him to San Francisco, being the head coach now for ten years, Brock Purdy is something else.
Because when he uses his feet, and Steve Young was the first guy to come on this show and say he's got to use his legs more, he is. Very difficult to stop. The number of third downs he kept converting against this commander's defense. The number of times he used his legs. The number of times he would make perfect passes.
He is exactly who Kyle Shannon is looking for for his defense to threaten the middle and not throw to the other team like Jimmy G did quite often. To be deadly accurate, like he was on his first touchdown pass in the night. I mean, the ESPN cameras, Monday night cameras, perfectly captured how perfect that ball was over the Commanders' defender, right into the arms of a wide open George Kittle. He's accurate. He is a two-way threat, and he's a self-made guy.
That now has 14 touchdown passes on the season, which is tied for the most with Kirk Cousins and Trevor Lawrence in the league. And he's also a guy that knows, in a game like last night, they could have gotten beat, and they have to get better in order to avoid the dreaded loss, like say one that the Rams or the Seahawks had in their division this past week. Just with the lead that we had and stuff, it's like you know, put your foot on the gas pedal and and go make plays and put the game away, kind of thing. And not put our defense in that kind of situation. You know that's that's where my mind goes.
But you know, at the same time, you know it's the NFL, man. Every single Sunday, today, Monday, it's you know it's a competitive game. You got the best players in the world in the sport playing, and you just never know what can happen.
So yeah, I'm obviously a little upset with how I finished the game and stuff. But I know that moving forward, like it's every single game matters when it comes down to playoffs and getting in and all the things.
So. We'll take this dub as a team. Watch the film, and you know we got to be happy with it, man. All right, put up the graphic. Brock Purdy's passer rating is the best in NFL history at present.
Look at that. There are five active players too on this this list: Mahomes, Burrow, Rogers, Lamar, and there's Brock. With a passer rating akin to a soft rock station there in the San Jose area, one hundred five point six, the Bay. Here we go, the fever. That's right.
Here is Christopher Cross, sailing. Minimum fifteen hundred career attempts. There it is on the screen. That's what Brock Purdy has turned himself into. Holy crap.
We'll talk about it with another number thirteen, Kurt Warner, in a moment, and just you also have to give it up to McCaffrey too. He put the ball in the ground last night, and you saw he went up to his teammates and apologized. Talk about taking it hard, and then having the coach look at that and say, "Okay, give him the ball, and let's watch him." Run and play with such a determination. I mean, that is what leadership is all about, and that permeates a locker room. It permeates a huddle.
It permeates absolutely everything.
So they got it all working. And you know, I know Evans goes down, and the latest. I mean, it's just again one big mad lib for the Niners every week. The Forty Niners have now lost. Fill in the name of star player, proper noun, and we'll see what happens with Evans moving forward.
George Kittle was asked about the injuries and how it might cast a cloud over the Niners' six and O record. Are some of these wins kind of bittersweet because of all the injuries, though? No, winning's fun. Yeah, winning's fantastic. You know, I hope Mike will be fine.
It's just my gut intuition. I think he'll be great. Deeb will be back in a sec. Nick Bose will be back in a sec.
So I mean, I mean, every year you deal with injuries, and it's like, I mean, yeah, it sucks that guys get hurt because I love them, but. The league just rolls on. Hey, next Sunday you have another game.
Next Sunday you have another game.
So, just about doing what we can with the guys that are available and making plays. Last year, the the Forty Niners were dreadful sacking the quarterback. Last year, they could not put any pressure on anybody. Twenty seven sacks last year in the entirety of the season. Terrible.
This year, this defense has been sacking people left, right, up, and down, including last night Jaden Daniels quite a bit, and they are flipping everything around. Third game with four more sacks this season. They didn't have a single such game last year. The third game is tied for the most in the NFL. Raheem Morris.
This is why. Kyle Shanahan's wondering if he could be so lucky to get Raheem Morris to be his defensive coordinator for as long as Kyle's the head coach in San Francisco. That's how you get a six and O team. I think I just broke it all down. Yeah, talking about McCaffrey too.
Was it last week or the week before? We had the graphic about how he's not getting as much work. Correct. Last week, twenty five touches.
So full workload back. We saw it on display, and they needed him in the second half. Yeah, two touchdowns to get things started.
So that's how a team becomes six and zero, right there. As for the Washington Commanders, it took all of. Let's get this proper here. Seventeen minutes—the thirteen-minute mark of the second quarter. It took all of seventeen minutes for us to revisit last week's.
What the hell was that moment in overtime where you're wondering how in the world do they not know quarterback, offensive coordinator, rest of team, head coach? How do they not know it's fourth down? That's how long it took for us to talk about it again. And just in case folks need a setup a little bit more, it's fourth and two. The commanders are down in this game thirteen three, and they can go for the field goal and go thirteen to six.
But I don't blame them for going for it. You're seeing McCaffrey going off here. It's only thirteen three because they missed an extra point.
So makes sense. Go for it. The analytics say go. You see the green go on the screen. Go for it.
They went for it, and Daniels rolls to his right, flag flying in the air, and um, and he throws it out of bounds. And you are like, what the hell was that? How do you not throw it in the end zone and give anybody an opportunity? Maybe you get a pass interference, you get a hold, you get a circus catch. Maybe that's what you do.
You don't throw it away. And then he goes back to the sidelines, and the ESPN cameras catch Dan Quinn saying into his headset. If you're a lip reader, you know field goal. The words "field goal" are coming out of his mouth, and it's like field goal. Your quarterback just threw it into the you know stands practically, and it doesn't matter what the flag.
I mean, the only way you could get a field goal out of this is if it's a fresh set of downs on the flag that's in the air, because if it's Offsides or defensive penalty? You got your first down, and then it looked like he was saying, "Oh, is it fourth down?" That's what it looks like. That's what it looked like to me. Jason McCourty. I mean, they had this whole thing on halftime.
Jason McCourty went all in on this subject matter at halftime. All in, and the good news for Dan Quinn here.
Okay, the good news is that the team rallied after this.
Okay, the second half was excellent without Terry McLaurin and with what looked like to me. Half a digs with his hand all jacked up from the first hit. Yeah, first play from Mustafa. I mean, so they're down. People, they're down.
Bill Kraske, Merritt. And they damn near won the football game, so that's good news. They rallied; they didn't fall completely apart. But moral victories don't matter when you're one-four and one and one win through the first six games of this season is tied for the fewest such wins this century for the Commanders. Pardon me, this yeah, this century they had one win in twenty twenty.
2019, 2014, and 2001, but at least they rallied. But what the hell was that again? Dan Quinn was asked about it after the game. No, I definitely knew it was fourth down. We're going for it, and I was, I think, it was referring to.
I was probably saying like, with the illegal shift, there's not a penalty to go for a field goal. Like it doesn't go like it's the turn on downs. Like I think somebody asked me, can we kick a field goal?
So no, we were going for it. We we knew we had to go for some fourth downs to be bold in the game. I didn't think it was going to be a seventeen fourteen game. I probably thought it was going to need twenty eight thirty to to score, you know, to go win it. And so it was by design that we were going to go.
But no, I knew what happened. I think I was probably just commenting that I remember at least on the headset somebody asking me after an illegal shift, like it was turnover on downs. Jaden saw the foul too. I think he he also came out saw the penalty.
Okay, let's take it one at a time here. Whoever's on the headset saying, "Can we kick a field goal?" Like the only way you can kick a field goal in this instance is if the penalties were offsetting and they got to replay fourth down. You're like, "Screw it, let's just kick the field goal." Unless whoever was in the headset thought it wasn't fourth down.
Now, this one, I can't believe Dan Quinn didn't know it's fourth down because you have to say, "Are we going for it or not?" Okay, this is an instance where the head coach somebody's got to check. I imagine the head coach: Are we going forward on fourth down? Jaden Daniels throwing the ball away is such a lack of awareness of the moment. Again, that you got to wonder: Is his head in the game? Quite frankly.
I love this kid. He's great for the league. I want him to be great. I want to be great for the DC fans in my life that I know, and many of them from the Mid Atlantic. This is not anything but just wondering what the hell happened, because the only way you can kick a field goal is if that penalty it offset.
Because if it's on the defense, you got a fresh set of downs, and if it's on you, as it was, there's no field goal. It's over. Over. You just flipped the possession to them, and so I understand. In the fog of the moment, somebody's getting in his headset, and he's just trying to wonder what the heck happened.
Yeah, it's fourth down. That was fourth down. Jaden Daniels was asked about it. Nah, I just got to execute better in that situation, regardless of a flag or not. You know, fourth down, we gotta don't die with the ball, stuff like that.
So just be better. I have to be better. You know, in that spot. Yeah, it's okay.
Okay, that's it. That's what a quarterback needs to say. But how about let's be more? I don't know. What do you do?
Do you go? If you're head coach, do you call everyone together, the OC, whoever was in the headset, asking these questions, yourself, Jaden Daniels, and and sit down and and go through a situational awareness boot camp? I'm serious, because you're an HC, you've got to drill down to what is the communication problem happening because. You know, if they don't flip it out of bounds, if the quarterback doesn't do that, who knows what could happen? You're taking a look at the way the game went down.
You could have won it. Could have won last week in this wide open division where Jalen Hurts is out for the season. Gotti is six feet under right now. They can try to unearth. It's still two and four, but they're they're not running away with it.
And the Giants are probably on their next quarterback. Their third start of the year coming up. Situational awareness boot camp can R E S Consulting help with that? We can try. We can try.
But the good news is they they rallied because if they fell apart, I don't know if Dan Quinn's job would be. His this morning, yeah. I think if that's thirty-five to ten or something, then you know he's probably out this morning. If I'm Josh Harris, I want a name of the person who's asking, "Can we kick a field goal?" Because your head's not in the game, right? I mean, can you kick a field goal?
Unless you thought the penalties offset, you're either getting a first down due to a defensive penalty. Or you've coughed up the football because your quarterback just threw it away, like you're trying to live for another play, which doesn't exist. I think I've made my point. Eight four four two zero four Rich number to dial here on the program. Kurt Warner is going to join us next year on the Rich Eisen Show.
Everybody. What should the Giants do? Should they start JJ McCarthy, the Kurt Warner experience, on the other side? Rich Eisen here. At Hyundai, the SUV trophy shelf is getting a little out of hand because U.S.
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Subject to availability. Order select in-stock items by 4 p.m. Restrictions and fees apply. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. In that moment, not that we were a great football team, but I think we've all know that.
Hey, you get into the dance, and you're playing your best football. You never know what can happen, and so that was kind of the mindset of of all the players when they made that move. And of course, they were making that move for the future. But so many players are like, "Hey, I'm worried about the future right now. I'm worried about now.
If we've got a chance to be competitive right now, I want to be competitive right now." And that was when the Giants made that move to Eli Manning with you, Kurt Warner. Here's here on the show, our radio audience joined in the middle of. That answer right there, and the reason why I'm bringing it up again is, you know, the Raiders once upon a time three and O now O and three. You said how well Kirk Cousins is playing, and they got the Rams coming up this week. And I guess it is important when you're building a team, building a franchise with a new head coach that you learn how to close games and be competitive, as opposed to getting your brains beaten in like it's been happening the last few years, right?
Yeah, I mean, no question. And again, it's being competitive, and then. Learning, you know, when you're in an organization, and I can go back to my time in Arizona. You know, a lot of people look at those first couple years when I was in Arizona in '05 and '06, where I don't even know how many games we won five, six games. Those first couple years, and everybody looks at it like lost years, and Kurt wasn't any good, and blah blah blah.
There's a part of of learning and growing as a team, and starting to believe that you can win, and what that means. On a week to week basis, a practice basis, when you're in games, finding ways and guys believing that they're going to make the play in the moment. And so, I looked at those two years as you know, it's kind of preparation period and growing as an organization for what would come later in '07 and '08 and '09 and you know, playoffs and the Super Bowl and things. That there's a growing process that you have to go through to get guys in an organization to believe. You can be successful, and where some people look at and go, "Oh, you know, they're losing again." I look at the competitive piece and go, "Okay, they haven't figured it all out yet.
They don't have all the pieces there. They need to find some more game changers, but." Learning how to be competitive, and when you fall behind in the game, to be able to fight back and give yourself a chance, those are real things that don't just come because you have a good football team. It comes with understanding and believing when you walk in the building, we are going to have a chance every time we kick the football off. Yeah, and next up again for the Raiders is a Rams team that prior to the season we thought, okay, this is going to be homecoming, but the Rams are two and four and struggling, and now. Without Devonte Adams and Puna Ford, they got banged up in that loss at home to the Cardinals.
Why are the Rams two and four? Kurt Warner.
Well, I think it starts with the fact that you know again, you're looking for things that can close out games and ways that you can really you know solidify yourself in this league. Is yes, they can throw the football, and yes, they've got good weapons on the outside and reigning MVP at quarterback. But you know what made them so good in the past and and even last year was their ability to run the football, especially when you get down in the red zone to finish drives by running. The football and having that physicality up front. I don't see that right now.
I see them trying to throw the ball all over, not you know hanging their hat on the run game. And then defensively, it's the ability to get after the quarterback and you know and finish games and get huge stops with the guys like Aaron Donald and you know why you brought in a Miles Garrett. But even in you know past years, they've had that front four that have been able to get after the quarterback and cause stress. And right now, I just don't see. At the same level with this team, and so even though they're throwing for a lot of yards, that physicality with their offensive and defensive line to me is where they're lacking, and it's not allowing them to finish drives and finish games the way they have in past years.
And to me, that's what's got to change if they're going to get you know come back from this two and four start. But you know, you get competitive and you do certain things, but if you don't have those finishers. You know, on either side of the ball, that's where you end up losing games, like they lost this past weekend. And now the Seahawks, now at three and three, what are you seeing from Sam Darnold since he's come back from that injury with the new offensive coordinator there that that can be fixed or needs fixing, Kurt? I would probably lean into the same thing.
Is that I think Sam is a good starting quarterback. I don't believe Sam is an elite starting quarterback or a franchise guy from from you know my definition. And my definition of that is a guy that I believe when all else fails can carry you with the right arm with their right arm and make you competitive every single timeout. And I think Sam is better as a complementary piece. And doesn't mean he can't make plays.
And it doesn't mean he can't carry you for a game here or there. But I don't. Don't know if he can be that guy. That's the central piece of your offense, and right now that's how they're playing. No Kenneth Walker, no Zach Charbonnet.
Their one-two punch that really is what they hung their hat on last year was run the football, run the football, play action, and then get it to JSN. They don't have that this year, and so more is falling on Sam to have to throw, throw, throw to make the plays that they need on offense to have to feed JSN because they don't have great complementary pieces. The pass pieces in the passing game, and that's hard too to think that you're going to get JSN as great as he's been. You know, to be that central piece every single game when teams are focusing on him and stopping him, it's just a different team offensively. And you know, I could go into the pure progression stuff that I think hurts quarterbacks and is affecting them as well.
But I just think their offense is is different this year because they lost those central pieces. In the in the power physical run game is what made them what they were offensively last year. Allowing Sam to be complimentary, and then this year they just don't have that. Quite the take there, Kurt Warner. Because my, you know, I mean, but but I appreciate the unvarnished opinion.
Certainly, since I think, guys, did you hear that Kurt says left-handers cannot be elite because he says it's always your you have to rely on the right arm. You know, you know what I mean? I did okay. Steve Young is on line one, Kurt. I mean, you know, okay.
But in all seriousness, when you're watching the Chiefs and and Kenneth Walker do what he's doing there, I was saying yesterday, like one of the most valuable. Aspects of Kenneth Walker is we don't we have yet to really have to see over and over again Mahomes do it himself while he's coming back from this knee injury, which is always usually first month or two. There they still need to get up to speed. They're not their same. They basically have gotten a mulligan on that because of Kenneth Walker.
You know, a mulligan. And if I have one questions about one question about the Chiefs moving forward, because I think that they may be the best team in football across the board right now. But the one question to me is their wide receivers. That if they have to throw the ball continually and win that way, do they have the guys on the outside that consistently make plays for Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes? And you know that's the beautiful thing about this offense is that they don't have to rely on that.
Patrick Mahomes in the pass game can be complementary to what they're doing running the football. I never saw that coming. I you know. Walker, good player. I didn't see him being this guy.
I didn't see Andy Reid committing to the run like they have through the first six weeks. I did not see that coming, and so I still felt like it was going to have to go through Patrick Mahomes in the pass game. And I worry about those weapons on the outside now to have those guys being complementary pieces. To have you know the the Worthy's and companies have to make you know four or five plays a game and and and use that speed to make big plays instead of. Having to throw thirty-five or forty times a game to win, I think is huge for this football team, and so that's the thing to me that's jumped out is that if they had to throw the football, I don't believe they're six and zero right now, you know, or even close to that.
Being that their pass game can be complimentary, not just because Patrick's coming off the knee, but because of the weapons they have on the outside, man, I think that's where why they are where they are, and that's what's going to make them so dangerous. And I think you just drilled down on. On this week's game for the Chiefs, because their next opponent is not only equipped to stop Kenneth Walker and try and see if they can throw their way to victory, the Chiefs, but they're also highly motivated to make sure Kenneth Walker doesn't beat them. It's Seattle. You know what I mean?
Like that is that has got to be like rule one because not only is it a way to beat the Chiefs, they do not want Kenneth Walker going into that stadium on Sunday night in front of the whole country and doing what Kenneth Walker has done for the first five games this year. It's just that simple. Just don't want that. You know. I mean, no, no doubt because it's it's twofold.
You know, not only did he leave you and he's having this kind of year in Kansas City, but you've got nobody that's been able to replace him as well, and so it gets exempt. Amplified on both sides of the ball, so no doubt about it. And and again, if you are playing the Chiefs, that's what you've got to say right now. Is it's scary as it's always a proposition, but say, hey, Patrick Mahomes, beat us. You know, show us that you can beat us with the pass game.
And to me, that's going to be the true test for this Kansas City team. When somebody can stop Kenneth Walker, that nobody's really done it yet. But when somebody can do that, can they beat you in other ways? I think they can beat you with their defense. Their defense is playing.
Great, but I'm just talking. If they have to rely on that pass game, can they do it? Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen show.
So after missing three weeks of football, it's too bad Caleb Williams looked so rusty. Hold on a minute. I'm being told he's better than ever. Wow, huh? Like wow.
Wow is the only word you could say. I'd imagine that the the the tape film says the same thing. It does, and you know. Again, you know, I had people you talking to me this week because there was a lot of talk about Bonics and and you know getting fast to his checkdowns and only throwing checkdowns. And then Caleb plays this game, and I thought it was the best game that I've seen him play.
But people go back and like, oh, all he did was throw checkdowns. But there's a difference in why you're throwing checkdowns. You know, if you're throwing checkdowns because you're playing fast and you're not seeing what's down the field, and there's opportunities that you're passing up and you're throwing checkdowns. Completely different than going through your progressions, playing the game, and throwing it to the right guy. If the right guy is a checkdown, and that's what I saw from Caleb Williams is you know you come back from an injury, and a lot of times guys are a little bit impatient, a little bit frantic, trying to get the pace of the game back.
I thought this was the most poised and calm that I've seen Caleb Williams in the pocket in his career. He didn't try to force things with his legs. He didn't get impatient. He was reading things out. He was Getting the ball to the right guy at the right time when there were shots down the field, he took them and he made them.
But he didn't force the shots; he didn't, you know, want to scramble and get out and and try to do those special throws. He just played the position really, really well, and and you see the results. What thirty of thirty five, thirty six in the game? You know, started out ten, eleven straight. I just thought he was in full control of playing the position.
Was accurate. Throwing the football, I didn't know what to expect with him coming back, and you know everything that had been made. You know after the injury, I thought he played unbelievably, and and really just with his mind playing the football game, you know because we know the physical stuff will be there and and can happen. You we saw it one time in the game on the touchdown pass, but he played the game mentally the right way, and that's what was so impressive to me. Yeah, I I hear you.
He was remarkable, and obviously that makes the Bears a very Very dangerous team. Certainly, if their defense plays the way they did in the first three quarters of that game in Atlanta, before the game got out of hand. At any rate, last one for you. What happened to Gotti? Should we should we put up you know posters to see if somebody sees him, or like what's happened the last two weeks?
Just ran into good defenses, or or they've been. Sniffed out, Kurt. What are you seeing on film about the Cowboys' offense, Kurt? Yeah, I think the tough thing about this offense is that they're not dominating up front, and so they're not really running the football very well. And to me, that was always a key cog in what they did, even last year.
I knew they could throw the football with the weapons on the outside and with Dak, and we know they could put up a lot of yards. But they had great balance running the football, which makes everything easier on the outside. And right now, they're not running the football very well at all. They're not winning that physicality up front, and so now you're just forced to have to drop back and throw it. And I think it's really put a lot of pressure on this offense.
I I think going out and calling yourself Gaddy puts a lot of pressure on your offense, right? You feel like you got to make every play, and you got to make big plays, and you got to throw for three hundred yards. And I don't think Dak's playing really good football. I think their their offense at times can you know, and again, it's it's always a tough one, you know, because you can go back. And look at Peyton Manning when he played, and and they would run the same concepts over and over again, and they would have an offense where it was like, "Hey, I'm really comfortable with these concepts.
We're just going to keep running them over and over again. We're going to be really good at it." Um, and and they were, and I see the Cowboys' offense very similar to that. Is where they run, you know, good, solid, basic concepts, but they don't change it up a lot. They don't do a lot of formations and motions. A lot of times, they're just going to line up and say, "We're better than you.
We're going to beat you." Um, and again, at times. That can be really good at times. It can get stagnant, be hard on your offense, and make it easier on the defense. And that's what I see right now is you know not a lot of changing up on the outside, expecting guys to win one on one and and to make those plays over and over again. Instead of scheming some some simple or easy opportunities for your offense and for your quarterback.
And so when everything gets accentuated on that passing game, and you've got some of those things going on, it's looked like a struggle. Like it, like it has the last few weeks for this football team, and now it comes the point where you start to press and you start to you know want to make every throw and every read, and and usually when you do that, it leads in the wrong direction, and I think that's what I'm seeing right now with the Cowboys. Just a quick nitpick here it's it's not, Kurt, it's not gotta make every play, gotta make every throw, it's Gotti make every throw. Gotti make it was right there, Kurt. Gotta be better.
I know it was. I I just don't like to do that. I just don't. Oh, so you know, yeah, yeah. I'm dragging you down on that.
Like that, and you just, you know, you just.
So is it fixable? Is it fixable, Kurt? What you're seeing? Can we? Can because this division's wide open, right?
It's wide open. It is wide open, but I don't know if it's fixable. Just because their defense—I mean, I'm watching that game, and there's guys running wide open all over the place.
So that's the first part. Like, you know, you can be really good offensively, but if you can't ever stop anybody and you make it so easy defensively, I don't know. And then the second part is, yeah, you know, it can be fixable from the standpoint is our pass game can look better because we've got these weapons and a good quarterback. But fixable to me means can we get back to win? The line of scrimmage, running the football, having success that way.
When we get into the red zone, finishing it by being physical, and then you know all the big plays on the outside. I just don't see this team, you know, again winning in the trenches. Kind of like I talked about the Rams. That to me is how you get back to being a great. Offense is you win in the trenches.
Even if you're throwing the football, you win in the trenches. And this team is losing in the trenches on both sides of the ball right now. And so I don't care how good you are on the outside; it's going to be a struggle if you can't do those two things. All right, last one for you in the two minutes I have here. Should the Giants start JJ McCarthy, Kurt Warner?
Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's, you know, I don't think there's anywhere to go. And you know, I've always been a big Jameis fan. You know that. I don't think Jameis is playing very well. Jameis has really struggled since he's got inserted as the starter since Jackson went down.
So he's not giving you. The things that that you know that I've always believed made Jameis special. You know, I know that you know he's always had the interception problems, but he would give you so many plays to be competitive outside of that. And right now, he's not doing that. He's not playing very good football.
You know, JJ came in, and again, I know the numbers were great. I don't think he played great necessarily in the game, but he gave you something, and he gave you a spark, and he brought you back, and you made this trade for him. You know, Jameis isn't your guy moving. Forward, so I just don't see a scenario where you say, "Well, James is playing, you know, really good, so we'll keep him in there." You know, while we're kind of leading the division right now, James isn't playing well. This young kid's brought in.
Let's see what you got in this guy because you made the trade. I think it makes sense if you feel, you know, offensively he's up to speed. He can do what you need him to do. You know, from an entire offensive playbook, I do think you make that move and see what you have in. The young guy, Kurt.
Thanks for the time. Travel safe. Be safe, and I'll chat with you on Sunday. I'll be in the studio while you and the rest of the crew are in Paris. Enjoy it, Kurt.
All right, I miss you guys.
So look forward to getting back in studio. But talk to you then. Abiento, as the French would say.
Okay, you can look that up. Kurt Warner.
There he goes. He's going to go for a workout. Quite the flex, literal and figurative. Right there, that occurred. All right, we take a break.
Eight four four two zero four. Rich, number to dial. When we come back, we'll talk baseball. The World Series is set. Hiring for a small business is hard.
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We are going to get a first-time World Series champion. That is one reason to watch the World Series. I love that. Yep. Another is you damn near have two 100 win baseball teams that play the game right.
They hit the ball, they pitch the ball, they catch the ball. They have productive outs. They come up with big hits, and they are good. Yep. Brewers versus Rays.
Crazy thing is, by the way, the off days because it's two in Milwaukee, three in Tampa, two in Milwaukee. The off days of the of this series, Packers games.
So Brewers fans, whoa, go get your brewskies. Oh yeah, fun. Look it up. Green Bay Packers are going to be in Detroit, and then the Thursday night football game, the kickoff week eight, right in between games five and six.
So it's Brewers and Packers, two Packers games in the off days of the World Series. Reminds me of the Subway Series. Yes, game three before game three, the off day on that Monday night was that famed Dolphins Jets Monday nighter, where Jumbo Elliott scored the touch. Oh, yeah, never forget that. But anyway, try not to make about New York.
I'm making about these two teams. Although I'll make it about New York any split second. But this is what's great, man. The Brewers are 100 a team to root for, and the Tampa Bay Rays have this guy Junior Caminero, who is so himself, like he is as uniquely himself. All right, this is moment when they're I think he's just finally touched home plate.
Well, he had a 38 second trip around the bases, where before he got to first, he looks at his dugout and he starts giving them all sorts of. You know, screaming love, and then he stops before home plate. This is in a tip of the cap to Randy Rose Arena, who was at the game.
Okay, so that's and he stopped before home plate.
So I'd imagine the Guardians knew that's what he was doing, otherwise, okay. And then Yandy Diaz in his ninth inning home run, pardon me, eighth inning home run to give them an extra run support. He jumps out of the dugout. And he hits Diaz. He daps him up before Diaz hits first.
So the Brewers fans just know he backs it up as well at the plate. And if you don't want to see it, don't let him do it. Because he's going to do it. Yeah, he's going to do it.
Okay, he's going to do it. Maybe I don't know. I mean, Contreras as well. I think he just hit home plate as well from one of his home runs. They're really good.
Yeah, Brewers don't have much standing. They are stars of the game, man, all over the place. And I understand a lot of people don't know the Brewers or the Rays, but it's going to be great baseball. And I and I do hope I'm not shilling for Fox. I'm shilling for the sport.
So it's it's gonna be fun, and somebody's gonna win it for the first time, which is a perfect way to follow up a team that's won it back to back, and everybody thinks that this thing is all rigged towards the rich Dodgers. Here come the Brewers and the Rays, and congratulations to Freddie Peralta. He won the ALCS MVP. Won two games in this series, and I don't know who Jerry Beach is, but sir. Two salud, put up the post, please.
Only the Mets could acquire a guy from the eventual NL pennant winner and trade him to the eventual AL pennant winner. Yeah, baby. And then, oh, by the way, in between, finish last in the American National League East. Tough way to back up being a Mets town, which it still is, even with the Knicks raising a banner tonight, right? I live in Los Angeles.
Okay, wow, wow, I love it. Think about it. The Brewers tell the Mets, "Here you go," and they have him while they poop the bed, and then give him to the Rays, and they're going to the World Series.
So they're with the with the guy who they acquired being the ALCS MVP. They meet the Mets, baby. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to three Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
