Joe Theismann, Former NFL QB

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A Peanut Butter M&M's Production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's Peanut Butter.

But you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort. Coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Now joining us is Joe Theismann. Won at Super Bowl.

We all know the career of Joe Theismann. And he's kind enough to join us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Joe, I know it's been a while. How you been, my friend? I've been good, Zach.

Good afternoon to you. Hope all is well. Yeah, thanks so much for jumping on board with us. What was your initial reaction when the commanders ended up hiring Dan Quinn as their next head coach? I thought they made a good choice. I thought, obviously, they've taken their time.

We were the last ones assigned to head coach. So their search committee with Josh and his group took a lot of time to look at a lot of different people. And I respect and I actually like the, I like the, I like to hire. I think, you know, Dan brings a lot of experience. He's done terrific jobs where he's been. And to me, I think, I think it was a good hire. Yeah, I'm not saying it's a bad hire, Joe.

Like, I don't want this to get confused. I just thought it was underwhelming with all the energy, the excitement and the buzz, right? All those rumors that it was going to be Ben Johnson and for whatever reason, Ben Johnson wanted to stay in Detroit. I just thought the name would have elicited like more excitement, I think, nationally. Well, you know, I think, you know, if you look at Dan's history, I mean, he's been in three Super Bowls, been a top defensive coordinator, took Atlanta to the Super Bowl.

You know, that one, we all know the history there. You know, you don't, you know, names don't win football games. You know, Ben Johnson, I think most people said, OK, that's probably going to be who they're going to go after. Well, he's off the table. He wasn't available. And I think obviously the interviews had to go very well because Dan would be the head coach of the commanders if they did not.

And so from my perspective, it brings a lot of experience. Now, you know, like any head coach, any of the new head coaches and even any of the current coaches that have lost coordinators, that's a very important element to that football team. Who's going to coordinate the offense?

He can't coordinate the defense. He's a head coach. So who do you know who works with you?

Who has a philosophy and concepts that you're familiar with, that you feel comfortable with handling that side of the ball? There's been some speculation about maybe Chip Kelly leaving as the head coach of UCLA to be the commanders OC. Would that be a fine hire in your opinion? I don't. You know, I don't really know.

I think they're probably I don't think it'll take too long a process. Chip's done a heck of a job the places he's been very creative, very inventive. You know, I think I think, you know, coach, we have a lot of great coaches in the National Football League. And I'm sure there's a list as long as my arm to look at talking to Joe Theismann.

Joe Theismann. There is excitement, though, brewing with the commanders when you bring in Josh Harris, you get rid of Daniel Snyder. You made a good hire from all things that we hear with the young up and coming GM that's been around the winning organization with Adam Peters. When you look, though, at the the the prospects and what the commanders are building, it is bizarre to me, Joe, why Ben Johnson wouldn't want that job. Because, like, everyone thought that was going to be the case. It's like, what was wrong with the commanders? Why he wouldn't want that job? That was weird to me.

Well, Zach, see, I don't look at it that way. I think the Detroit Lions stepped up and said, listen, you're a really young football coach. We've started something here in Detroit. We think our offense is explosive. We think our offense can be better next year. We think we can get things done. We think we can get back to where we want to go.

If you want to leave, wish you a lot of luck. I'm sure they sweetened the pot for him to stay. I mean, you would think they would. But, you know, to me, Ben Stane was his choice. It was the Detroit Lions, I think, recognizing his talent as a lot of teams in the National Football League did. And so I, you know, I think it's great that he got something that made him happy, keeps him where he feels comfortable. And he's not finished with his name coming up in conversations for head coaches.

Zach, you know this. We change head coaches every year. Yeah, a lot of them. Yeah, we change about a half a dozen every year. So it's not like the merry-go-round is going to go around and he's going to miss a shot at the brass ring. If it's one more year and Detroit accomplishes what they feel like they can on offense and want to, he'll have that opportunity again. Talking to Joe Theismann right now, there's no doubt in your mind, right, that they're going to be taking a quarterback in the draft at number two, I would think, right?

I would be very surprised if they did not. And you made, you know, some good points, really good points. You've got new ownership. You've got a new general manager. You've got a new head coach. You've got energy and enthusiasm and excitement in the fans, evidence that the first game of the season against Arizona this past year was the first time that a game had been sold out in 18 years, the first game of the season. So the fans are all excited.

Yes, it didn't go the way they wanted, but, you know, you're continuing to do things with these splashes. You're continuing to send the message that we want to be special. We want to keep on going forward. And I think that the quarterback position is one where you bring somebody in and Sam competes. If he wins the job, he wins the job.

At least, you know, you've got a young guy with experience. But I would be very surprised if that first pick by the commanders is not one of the three quarterbacks. Let's say Caleb Williams goes one to Chicago. Do you have a preference between Jayden Daniels and Drake May for number two?

I really don't have a preference between any of them, even if he didn't go to one. And, you know, I think I think Chicago may wind up taking a quarterback as well, because, you know, you talk about draft capital, they've got a fair amount of it. But I think that every one of them is going to have to learn how to play in the National Football League. Every one of them will have to grow in the National Football League and everyone will have to go through the process. So all three of them will have things that they will need to work on to become professional quarterbacks. Talking to Joe Theismann right now.

I'm already sick of the conversation surrounding Brock Purdy and we haven't even got into Super Bowl week. Like, you want to call him a game manager? You want to call him a system quarterback? You want to call him a good quarterback?

I don't care. And he's winning right now with the 49ers. They're 60 minutes away from a Super Bowl. But I'll ask you the question, how do you view Brock Purdy as an NFL quarterback? I think he is a top flight NFL quarterback. I think he's smart. He makes good decisions with the ball in his hands. He showed us this last week that he has the ability to pick up key plays with his legs. And from my perspective, I think that, you know, all that's, you know, just because it doesn't matter where you were, where was Tom Brady drafted? I mean, come on. To me, I think he's done a terrific job the last couple of years.

I think San Francisco would probably be in the same situation they are now had Brock been healthy last year and not get knocked out of the game. So when you've got a quarterback who has done the things that he has done, put up the numbers that he has put up and run games like he has, you better have an awful lot of respect for him, in my opinion. And, you know, this whole thing about Mr.

Irrelevant, all this, it doesn't matter. He gets the ball out of his hands quickly. Like I said, makes good decisions with the ball in his hands. Has the ability to make plays with his legs. He's in an offense and gets the ball to the people that can make plays also.

So let's applaud him for what he is and what he's done, not what people think that he might be or might not have done. Do you lean San Francisco in this game over the Chiefs? I was afraid you were going to ask me, Zach. This is a tough one because I'll tell you, Joe, my brain says Kansas City, you can't bet against Patrick Mahomes. But my gut says the Niners are a better team. I tell you something.

I have felt the same way. How do you bet against Patrick and Andy? You can't forget that.

And Spags, I thought, I think Spags has done a great job adjusting to the personnel on the other side of the ball. San Francisco is a team. I don't believe that San Francisco could do what they did the last two playoff games. And that starts slow. I don't believe that they can get off to a slow start. I think they have to play, as you said, 60 minutes of football.

You can't play 45 or 30. I expect to get it done. Today, as I sit here, I say San Francisco. If you and I have this conversation tomorrow, I may have talked myself into Kansas City. Yeah, my gut and my brain have been having a fight ever since we've known this matchup. Exactly.

Mine too. And I wonder how I'm going to pick next Friday when we're at the Super Bowl. Alrighty, last thing I'll ask you. I don't care how you win, just as long as you win. Did you feel like in the AFC Championship game the Ravens were trying to win a specific way? Because it made no sense to me why they abandoned the run in that AFC title game.

I think they were trying to win the way they felt like they could win. I think Spags basically forced them out of the running game. Lamar didn't run as much as I thought he might.

And when he did, he sort of took care of either. He usually runs with a lot of reckless abandon, and in that particular game I felt like it wasn't quite the Lamar we had seen before. But again, I give a lot of credit to Kansas City and Spags on the defensive side. Basically said, we're going to put seven guys at the line of scrimmage.

You can't block everybody. We know that. And we feel like we'll put the pressure on Lamar to be able to throw the football against one-on-one coverage, man coverage. If you can do that and you beat us, then you win.

If not, we'll have a chance to be able to win. But you've got to remember how close, you know, people sort of forget how close games are when we get to this point. You know, foolish penalties by the Ravens, giving Kansas City opportunities. Lost fumble, which happens, unfortunately happens at a bad time at a bad place. But, you know, there's two or three plays in every game. Detroit not being able to convert on fourth downs. Even though the Coles might have been good, the execution wasn't there. So you can look at three or four plays in these championship games and say, if it had gone the other way, we'd probably see different teams in.

But I felt like what Kansas City did defensively to Baltimore's offense was force them basically out of a comfort zone of wanting to be able to just run the football. He's a Super Bowl champion, former league MVP. He is Joe Theismann. Joe, appreciate the time as always. Be well. Thanks, Zach. You too. See you in Vegas. You got it.

Will do. There he is. Joe Theismann joining us.

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you.

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