Kurt Warner, Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback

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It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Kurt Warner, how you been? I'm good, Zach. How are you, man?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. It's been a while since P.J. Walker was the quarterback at Temple, and now we have a quarterback again. And Elijah Warner, the kid's looking great!

Thank you. It's been a fun start. They're in the process of trying to build something there or rebuild something there. It's been fun to see E.J.

get out there. I think he's brought a spark and he's played really, really well early on. I think things are exciting there.

Like I said, it's a process and they all know that with the first-year head coach. I like the way they're doing things and it's been fun for E.J. to be a part of it. Well, it must be awesome for you not only to see your son play the quarterback position, but then you also have Cade Warner at Kansas State who just had a big-time victory up against Oklahoma. It's got to be neat for you.

It's awesome. I obviously have a passion and love for the game and been able to coach my boys and help them chase after their passion as it's developed over the years. To have two kids playing Division I college football and fulfilling their dream and having a chance to be on the field and having an impact on a program, it's so cool. It makes weekends busy and it makes Saturdays tough to try to make sure that we see both of them play and split our time between the two of them. But it's awesome because, again, they enjoy the heck out of it. All you can ask for when your high school kid is dreaming about playing is having an opportunity to have an impact and both of them have done that, albeit early for E.J.

in their careers. It's been cool as mom and dad to sit back and enjoy that. I felt like I was your PR person this past weekend at Lincoln Financial Field even though you weren't there because everyone keeps on asking me, when is Kirk coming to a game? And I go, guys, he's got a very busy schedule with the NFL Network. It's tough because our older son Kade at K-State is in his last year and so coming into the season it was kind of like, okay, we're going to go to Kade's games or most of Kade's games. We kind of assume E.J. probably won't play a lot as a freshman, maybe be red shirted, all that stuff that you kind of think. And so our schedule was really designed around K-State games. And then E.J. being inserted there as the starter in week three, that kind of changed things. And now we're kind of bouncing back and forth and going, you've got to remember, I've got to get to L.A. for a 6 a.m. show on Sunday mornings.

And so some of the scheduling has a lot to do with that. We're excited. We're going to get a chance to go down to Memphis this week and watch E.J. play down there. But it's going to kind of be back and forth. I still assume we'll probably get to more K-State games this year and then we'll be spending a lot more time in Philly in the coming years. That sounds good to me.

Kurt Warner here with us on the Zach Gelb show. You get more nervous for your kids' games than you did when you were a player? You don't even have to finish the question.

It's not even close. And it's even harder. Your wife probably too, right? Yeah, I think a little bit, but not quite like Dad. I can't eat.

We've gone to a couple sports bars to watch some of the games and I can't eat until the game's about over or it's out of the balance of what's going on. And probably more so for E.J. than Kade. With Kade being a wide receiver and E.J. being a quarterback, you kind of hang on every drop back and every throw. Just because you know how volatile the position is and how every play you can go from being a GOAT with a capital G to a GOAT with a little g on one throw.

And people hang on everything. So it's hard on both of them. I'm always nervous because you just want your kids to be able to put their best foot forward and have an impact. And the plays that are there to be made, you want them to make them. Even though you know that nobody plays this game perfect, you want that for your kids. So yes, I'm way, way more nervous in those situations where I have absolutely no control and I just have to watch them do their thing. But at the same time, it's more rewarding to know that they're out there doing their thing and having success.

And it has nothing to do with me or us. It's just them going out and thriving. So it's got its highs and lows.

But like I said, it's just so much fun to watch them succeed. Talking to the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner, do you think Davante Adams right now is saying, man, I miss Aaron Rodgers? Well, I don't think it's as much as, oh, I miss Aaron because Derek's not playing well. I think they're going through some growing pains and I think they're trying to figure this out. And it's a tough transition to go to a new offense and to have a new coach and trying to fit all of that stuff together.

And so I believe they're going to work it out. With that being said, I think it's like most things. We always think the grass is greener for some reason when we go somewhere else. And very seldom does it get greener than Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers. He's that good and he makes guys better and he can do so many things with the football. I think there's always a little bit of remorse.

Man, I was playing with one of the greatest to ever play. You don't really appreciate the little things that he can do that other guys can't do. Even with other great players like a Derek Carr. I'm sure there's a little bit more appreciation for Aaron Rodgers.

Every day you're not with him. But I do believe that Derek Carr is a really good quarterback and I think they're going to find their success over the next few years. They're just going through some of those growing pains right now. If they end up being really bad this year and they're 0-3 and they can't regroup and they're picking in the top 10, the top 15, I'm thinking maybe they do draft a quarterback, Kurt. I know they just gave him a new contract but that dead cap is so low and you know how it is when a new regime comes in.

I don't know. I think we always have to be careful because there's the one thing that we have to look at when we look at franchise quarterbacks and we have to understand there's only one Tom Brady, there's only one Aaron Rodgers, there's only one Lamar Jackson. There's certain guys that are just rare beasts and they separate themselves from everybody else and then everybody else is kind of fighting for seconds. We need to find a guy that's at least right below that because there's very few that are in that category. I think we always have to be careful when you have a guy, let's use this example like Derek Carr, who's a really good starting quarterback in the National Football League. You've got to decide, is there another Aaron Rodgers or another Lamar Jackson out there? Is there a guy that's better than Derek Carr out there that we can get or is it simply that Derek's a good quarterback? Maybe he's not that top tier and now it's more important for us to build around him so he's got the pieces that he can maximize his talent. We put a better team around him and now we've got a chance to succeed.

Those are the questions that are really tough and I always use the Cincinnati example. Cincinnati had Andy Dalton for a decade and Andy Dalton was a really, really good starting quarterback. A quarterback that changed the culture in Cincinnati and got them to the playoffs numerous times over his time there just didn't win a lot of playoff games.

So he was great for the time being as they were building it and then at one point they said, okay, but Andy can only take us this far. We believe we're in a position to get us another guy that can take us that step further and now we let Andy go and we go get Joe and now Joe takes us to a Super Bowl and that's the dilemma that a lot of these teams face. Is there a Joe Burrow out there and has this with our quarterback run its course and got us to where we want to be? At this point we've rebuilt this thing and we've got to the playoffs and we're right on the cusp but we don't believe this guy can take us there and we've got to find a guy to do that. And so I think there's a lot of teams out there that kind of teeter back and forth with that situation and have to at some point pull the plug and think that if there's another guy that's out there that they think is better.

But in the meantime say, hey, we're willing to have this level of success right now as we're rebuilding this thing and building this culture. Kurt Warner here with Dust. Jalen Hurts and Tuatunga Vailoa are both off to really impressive starts at 3-0. At the end of this season, how do you think we're talking about the Eagles and the Dolphins? I think we're talking about the Eagles in that mix of teams that can win the NFC. I just think they're too talented across the board, have so many ways that they can beat you. I look around the NFC and everybody else has got their issues that I think we're talking about them in the mix. Ultimately it will come down to Jalen Hurts continuing to play the way that he's played up to this point.

And that's primarily through the air. We know what he's going to be as a playmaker. We know what he's going to be as a quarterback. They're going to run their zone, read and do that sort of thing. It always comes to the point where they force you to stay in the pocket and you have to beat teams in the pocket usually when you get to the playoffs. Will he make that progression where he can win some games in the pocket against really good teams? That'll be the ultimate question because I think they're talented enough and good enough on both sides of the ball to be in the mix.

On the other side, I still have some questions about where Miami will be at the end of the year. We've seen some great moments. We saw the great second half against the Ravens where they scored 35 points. But the first three halves of football they played in the season, they scored 27 points. Last week they scored 21 points. We've seen some really explosive and great moments, but I don't know if we've seen it as consistently as we need to for them to be in the mix, especially in the AFC come playoff time. It doesn't mean they can't beat anybody, but playoff time you've got to beat good teams three weeks in a row and you've got to be able to outscore them as well as outdefense them at different times. Although we've seen some good things and we've seen progress, I'm just one of those guys that goes, I want to see what you did in that second half against the Ravens on a weekly basis. I want to see you have the ability to be explosive and put two or three touchdowns on the board in a quarter numerous times.

We haven't seen that. So we can't just hang on that one half and say that's who they are, which I feel like we're kind of doing that right now. They've got room to grow in terms of efficiency and explosiveness on a consistent half to half, week to week basis. How about the Jaguars?

That division's not good. You have a competent coach there on the professional level with Doug Peterson now. Can that team win the AFC South this year? I think they can.

I think they can. As good as Trevor's been at times, I still need more consistency there. I still look at this Indianapolis Colts team and I know they very easily could be 0-3 right now. Matt Ryan isn't playing great football. They're offensive lines, not playing as well as I thought they would.

But I do believe they're going to settle in. They've got a really good defense. If that offensive line comes together, they're going to be a really formidable team. As much as I like what Doug Peterson has done down there and I like the way Trevor Lawrence has made that jump from year one to year two, I still just need to see a little bit more consistency from him.

Making the layups, making the throws that he's supposed to make. But I do believe they're going to be in the mix. They've got guys flying around. They've got guys making plays. Their offense seems to really fit Trevor and simplify things for him.

He's a very talented quarterback. I don't think this is a fluke, what we've seen early in the season. Again, I just need to see the quarterback play be consistent one week to the next week to the next week, which we've kind of seen some ups and downs in that regard to this point. Matthew Stafford, Kurt Warner, has not played great to start off the year.

They are 2-1. I know he was dealing with that elbow injury in the offseason. Is that a concern for you at all or do you think as the season goes on, he'll find his groove? I have to believe he's going to find his groove. It's the same offense.

They've still got some of the similar pieces. I think he's going to get better and better. I think he's going to be a guy that can be around in the end. You always wonder when guys have these great runs and Super Bowl runs as a quarterback that we haven't necessarily seen throughout their career. You sit back and go, was that one of those special, magical seasons? Matt Ryan when they went to the Super Bowl? Cam Newton when they went to the Super Bowl? Or is that guy the guy we're going to see every single year and every single game moving forward? I think that's still the question with Matthew Stafford. We still see the great moments. We saw those in Detroit, but we need to see the consistency of play like he showed especially during the playoffs last year. I'm still kind of waiting to see. Was that just the turn of the corner and I need to be in a different place and now I become that quarterback that we thought I could become? Or was that just, hey, everything played out and we played really well and the team came together and we made a run, but then he kind of levels out a little bit with some of the things we've seen and kind of the ups and downs that we've seen in the past.

Two more for Kurt Warner, the Pro Football Hall of Famer before we let you run. Curious, it hasn't been great through the first three weeks of the season for the Broncos and the Cardinals. What do you expect out of Denver and Arizona the rest of the way? I don't really know. It's looked so ugly at times for both of those teams, especially offensively, that I don't really know. I don't know what they're building off of right now. A lot of teams when you get to week three you kind of say, okay, this is who they are, this is what they're going to kind of hang on to, and this is what they're going to be able to build around.

And I really haven't seen that. Obviously the Cardinals can build around Kyler doing Kyler stuff, but it's just hard to win expecting Kyler to just have to run around and make every play for you. You've got to find a way to make the game easier and develop an offense that he feels comfortable with, that you can go out and execute on a weekly basis, and I haven't seen that. And then I watched Denver, and Denver's kind of all over the place to me.

I just got done watching the tape and I questioned some of the concepts they have. Russell doesn't look comfortable with what he's seeing. He's moving out of the pocket a little bit too fast in a lot of situations. And again, I don't think he's at a stage in his career where you can just expect him to make those 15 plays a game that he made in Seattle, and that to be what carries you along with that good defense.

They're just going to have to get more efficient offensively, but I just don't see where it's coming from or a path in these first three games that excite me. Kurt Warner, last one for you. We got a bunch of great matchups this weekend, but everyone loves to talk about the quarterbacks, as you know. Lamar going up against Josh Allen, Brady going up against Mahomes.

How do you see those two games playing on out? The first one we talked about, Lamar and Josh Allen. Both of those guys are so explosive. They're so built on the big play.

I think that's going to dictate a lot of it. It's who makes the most big plays in this game. And then maybe the flip side of it is that both of them at times can get a little bit loose with their technique. We saw that last week, Josh Allen and that two-point conversion. That's a throw that he normally makes, but his technique got away from it and he misses one of those easy throws. Lamar against Miami had a couple opportunities that I think kind of put that game away and missed some things technique-wise late.

I think those are going to be the two factors. Who makes the most big plays? Are there times when they get away from things to the point where they miss an opportunity to maybe win this football game? On the other side of it, I think the Chiefs are a team offensively that seems more in rhythm to me than the Bucks. Bucks are kind of up and down and all over and Brady's good when things kind of play out like he wants them to. But a lot of things seem really hard for their offense right now. I think this is going to be a tight football game. The Bucks defense is really good and gives you some different looks. I believe this is one of those games that's going to come down to more Patrick Mahomes and that offense.

They kind of hit their rhythm as we've seen at times this year, although they didn't last week against that Bucks defense. Whoever really wins that battle I think wins this game. He is the Pro Football Hall of Famer in Kurt Warner. Make sure you check him out. NFL Network does a great job as an analyst. You can see Kurt Sunday at NFL Game Day kickoff at 7 a.m. Eastern leading up to Viking Saints at 930 a.m. Eastern on NFL Network. Kurt, good luck on the calls this week and also to your two boys. Appreciate the time.

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