Hour 1: Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame Snub, plus NFL Network’s Kurt Warner

0:00Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card. Wreck your team with every tap and earn up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance. Just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. Select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max$100 cash back per month. 5 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink. Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work.

0:37Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down. Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live, fit, go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment.

1:21Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Show. Is Drake May under pressure for the Super Bowl? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Yeah, he's been terrible in the playoffs. Okay. May back the throw again. And it's intercepted in the end zone. Today's guests. Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner. Pro Football Hall of Famer, Jerry Rice. Prime Video TNF analyst, Andrew Whitworth. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:54Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. How's everybody doing today? Here on this hump day, the week before our trip to San Francisco to cover Super Bowl 60 for you right here on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM Channel 80, 844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the program. And good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you, sir? Hey, Rich. Good to see you, Jason Feller. What's going on? Hello, Rich Eisen. TJ Jefferson candles lit over there. Good to see you. Phone lines are lit. Phone lines are lit. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. I already see phone lines lighting. Jordan in Chapel Hill is calling in to the program right now.

2:38Rich Eisen:Wow. Listen, let's just jump right into it. There's no sense in beating around the bush. um i i've got to tell you that throughout this hall of fame voting process in which i am hoping to hear next thursday night when i'm part of the nfl honors show and it's one of my biggest honors being part of the announcement of the pro football hall of fame class and and i take this seriously You guys know that, right? Yeah. Obviously. NFL Network back in the day, we were the first to televise the announcement of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class nationally. We were the first to televise the press conference.

3:28Rich Eisen:We then turned it into our own show where I was hosting that press conference. It pissed off all the reporters and voters when we would drag it out like Jim Gray waiting to get an answer from LeBron James. You know, and then we turned it into its own show. outside of a press conference, which pissed off a lot of the voters that there were no questions to be asked. It was me asking the questions. We turned it into that, and then all of a sudden, the NFL Honors is like, we're taking it, and we're putting it into our show. And I'm still thrilled to be part of it. I take this very, very seriously.

4:01Rich Eisen:So I always thought Bob Kraft deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It has been long delayed. And I thought that, again, this delay should be over next Thursday when the announcement is made of the Canton class. I always thought Bob Kraft, Robert Kraft, was getting penalized by the voters because of the gates. And I don't mean Antonio. I mean the spy and the deflate, those gates, the spy gate and deflate gate. And I thought it was unfair that he was going to be the one bearing the brunt because I've said it multiple times here. You guys may recall it. You may all out there listening to my voice on ESPN radio or Sirius XM channel 80 or watching me on these new platforms for our show starting last September.

5:00Rich Eisen:You may be new. So I'll just repeat for you. I've always said Robert Kraft is being unfairly penalized in a way that neither Bill Belichick nor Tom Brady will when they get eligible for Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement. And lo and behold, last night comes the report from our friends of the program and outstanding reporters in their own rights. And when Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta get together, you know something's about to drop. Yeah, exactly. And they together dropped the bomb last night that Bill Belichick will not be part of this Canton class. He will not be a first ballot pro football Hall of Fame head coach.

5:49Rich Eisen:And to that, I say, get out of here. You've got to be kidding me on all of that. That even when Spygate was happening and how outrageous it was and brazen it was, Deflategate was absurd from jump. absurd from jump that even if you thought it wasn't absurd from jump going through it all and that sucked going through it i mean honestly the conversations we were having on this show when it was happening going through pages and pages of reports about it. I never once thought at the end of the day, Bill Belichick wasn't still a Hall of Fame head coach and a first ballot one at that.

6:53Rich Eisen:It's crazy that this guy is not going to go in the Pro Football Hall of Fame the first second he can. And I am not even going to, what's the word for it? I won't even dignify any of this by going through his resume. We all know it. To the point where Michael Irvin once said on NFL Network, and then repeated it over and over and over again, to the point where I said, you now need to go to the press conference that Bill Belichick is holding and ask him if he wants this. Oh, right, yeah. To rename the Lombardi trophy the Belichick trophy. Exactly. That's how many times this guy has won it. And to make it worse, because it makes it worse, for one of the voters in Bill Polian, I'm name-checking him now, for him to say to Sports Illustrated that it's a categorical lie if anybody said that he said in the voting room a couple of weeks ago that the cheating scandals should disqualify him from being a first ballot Hall of Famer.

8:22Rich Eisen:I'm paraphrasing apparently what was ascribed to him in that room based on the reporting from Seth Wickersham and Don Van Nadeau. For him to say that he not only didn't say that and that he told Sports Illustrated, I voted for Belichick, only to have Don Van Nadeau contact him later on and on the record him tell Don that he no longer can recall if he voted for Belichick or not. He did remember that somebody did mention in the room that these scandals should be on the table considering him for enshrinement right away. And that he didn't remember if he could vote for him. Just smacks of passing the buck especially since we all remember what happened back in the day when Belichick's teams were beaten up on the Colts and beaten Peyton Manning and beaten up on their receivers and Ty Law wasn't you know suddenly gets called for holding and who was in charge of the competition committee back in the day and maybe putting a thumb on the scale about the rules and how it's called and all of that stuff which by the way does not even raise to the level of the cheating scandals that were talked about okay and i understand there may be everybody out there saying yeah but what about spygate what about deflate gate and i will just say this about spygate it was brazen it was wild and at the end of the day the famous moment where bob craft once upon a time asked bill belichick according to many reports give me a percentage of how much this helped us you know the spy gate stuff and he said about one to two percent and Kraft apparently called Belichick a schmuck because the risk certainly wasn't worth the reward

10:35Rich Eisen:and then Jimmy Johnson himself I mean just just take a look at if you think I'm out of pocket look at the pro football hall of famers and hall of famers future and present from all the other sports that were tweeting out how crazy it was jimmy johnson's the first one up here calling it just wrong number two winning all time he he even went into the um you know resume a bit calling a lot of small jealous voters i would like to know the names of the you know expletive deleted who did not vote for him they are too cowardly to identify themselves there's a list of 50 and there had to be at least 11 who said no and if they're using the excuse of spygate that's ridiculous that jimmy johnson many teams including ourselves tried it howard mudd at kansas city who later coached for bill pollin and tony dungy who's another voter gave us the idea he was the best we didn't get anything and stopped but many teams gave it a try says jimmy johnson put up the all the other tweets to deon chimed in and, you know, call him best coach to ever coach the game.

11:45Rich Eisen:How quickly we forget the impact he made on all of us. Wow, says Hall of Famer. Patrick Mahomes, future Hall of Famer, don't even understand that could be possible. Called it insane. J.J. Watt can't be reading this right. He's going in the Hall of Fame. He's going to be a first ballot. There's not a single world whatsoever in which Belichick should not be a first ballot. Hall of Famer says a future first ballot Hall of Famer. Troy Aikman called it a disappointing day for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Again, I mentioned Bill Pullian by name because of the reporting surrounding it. But he and whomever else said no, there's 11 of 11.

12:36Rich Eisen:It was a group think moment. And even worse, there was a group of nine that forwards Belichick as a finalist. And then because he's denied, Shanahan didn't get a shot. And Holmgren didn't get a shot. And Coughlin didn't get a shot. And those guys are now going to have to wait another two years because next year, is his penalty over? Is Belichick's penalty over? And then just for my own personal two cents. Okay. And the times that have been around him and it's tough again. I don't know if some of the votes against him because he was rude, gruff in press conferences and some of the other voters were this, that, the other thing.

13:26Rich Eisen:I sure hope it's not his current state of personal affairs because that's stupid times 10. Also, you're not supposed to consider that. Correct. But being around this guy, he is football incarnate. Incarnate. He is a walking encyclopedia. He is a walking lover of the game and the sport. Historian. Historian is a perfect word for it, TJ. I saw it on the NFL 100 set. I saw one by one by one of every single member of that team that was kind enough to bestow us with their presence for that show. Every one of them kissed this man's ring and had not a single problem doing it. Not a single one from the old school to the current school.

14:30Rich Eisen:None of it. nobody sat there and went like, oh man, he's part of this team, the NFL 100 team, because, I don't know, the Spygate and the Flategate and the Gate this and the Gate that. At the end of the day, Bill Belichick is the first ballot Hall of Famer, except in the mind's eye of 11 of the 50 voters. and i don't know who's going to step forward and go this is why i did it because we're all talking about it and when he's not on that stage next thursday it's going to be weird and embarrassing but not for the people who are getting in yeah okay the people are getting in get in in their own rights it's not like he's would have taken one of their spots there's just a spot for the coach there's going to be a spot empty and i hope bob craft is on that stage because he deserves it.

15:28Rich Eisen:That's no guarantee now. Well, who knows? And are they going to make Tom and Gronk wait? There's no way. What do you mean? We said the same thing about Bill. There's not a chance. There shouldn't be. We need to show them a lesson. How about this? If Tom Brady is not a first ballot Hall of Famer because of all of this, I don't know. Maybe we should just close up shop. And I don't ever want to say that because I love the people of Canton. They are probably mortified right now that this process is being discussed in this manner right now with such disgust. Because all they want is for people to show in their awesome city and have the red carpet rolled out by thousands of awesome people in Stark County, Ohio, and please come.

16:17Rich Eisen:and they don't want this thing to be like well did i vote for him i don't remember oh the vote was two weeks ago yeah i may have voted for him it's not like you're voting for city council when you're voting right you just you go down you don't really know what how do you not remember if you voted for bill belichick or not But it just makes the whole process feel completely off center. And it tarnishes the other voters. It tarnishes the hall. Honestly, the hall should probably step in and take this upon themselves. They can't because the hall needs to be totally. I know it's their museum, but they cannot be part of it.

16:59Rich Eisen:What they need to what they do, what they do, which is roll out the red carpet for these folks who get in. and for everybody else who's kind enough to keep coming back and for everybody who's kind enough to show up because it's special to them. And they're awesome at it. And nothing should be directed in their direction at all about this. Zero. Please, folks, understand. The Hall of Fame has nothing to do with, nor does the NFL. Also, it's the 50 voters who have this right. Well, not for long. I don't know. I don't know. You're just proving you're unserious. I cannot. You're not equipped for the job.

17:42Rich Eisen:And again, I understand there's a lot of you out there. There should be some sort of penalty for what they were accused or caught of doing. And personally, I think it's time served. I fully again the the last Jimmy Johnson tweet about others doing it this was in response he retweeted a couple of radio hosts saying that they were proud of the voters for being the ones at the gate protecting the hall of fame from a cheater getting a first ballot status and his response was this that it's been done before and even by somebody was later hired by two of the voters one of whom was reported to be the one rousing the rabble and um and then denied it and then said he couldn't remember if he did it so so the whole thing the whole thing just stinks man it just stinks yeah and um but i guess due to the same if the same voters are voting when brady's in does he is he not first ballot that's what we were wondering tom brady has chimed in on all this that would be so absurd that would be off the charts absurd okay off the charts because they won all of these games and they won all of these super bowls and they did it all and belichick ask anybody who's coached by him how good he is and how unqualified anybody who says he's not a first ballot Hall of Famer appears to be.

19:46Rich Eisen:We'll take a break. What do you think? 844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the program. We have not one but two Hall of Famers, including the one coming up next. Jerry Rice is an hour two. Kurt Warner is an hour one. He's just in a couple minutes' time right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

20:06Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

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22:02Rich Eisen:Choose Rain-X Latitude Wiper Blades at your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts store or online at OReillyAuto.com. Kurt Warner in his usual Wednesday spot right here, Pro Football Hall of Famer. And Kurt, right? I mean, what are your thoughts on the fact that Bill Belichick is not going to be joining you and your colleagues in the bus gallery first, second he can. Yeah, I mean, I think we all feel it's crazy with what he's accomplished. I mean, you know, when you just look at what they've done and you look at, you know, I always talk about Tom Brady being the greatest of all time, you know, from a playing standpoint.

22:47I mean, you can't argue that Bill Belichick's the greatest of all time in terms of coaches and what he's accomplished in the NFL. And so to me, it's one of those no brainers. You know, as soon as he becomes eligible, he should be a Hall of Famer. And so I think we're all kind of dumbfounded by how this went down and why this went down. and what were the reasons behind him not getting in and are those reasons valid? I mean, we talk about the voting process now. Oh, did people pass up on him because they thought everybody else would vote for him and he would get in? Are people mad because coaches only have to wait one year and so maybe Bill Belichick comes back to the NFL so we don't want to make him a Hall of Famer and then have him come back to coach?

23:35Is that the thing? is it the scandals that he uh was a part of you know so we're gonna you know we're gonna hold him out for what is this a you know one year like hey can't be a first ballot guy is this he'll never get in because of those things uh i i'm fascinated like everybody else to know what were the factors um you know that made so many people choose not to put this guy in that uh that you know everybody that's watched the game and it's part of the game knows belongs in the hall of fame well i mean

24:06Rich Eisen:I think we all know why, Kurt, right? I mean, we don't know for sure because nobody's given voice, and it wasn't just a small smattering. It was 11 people. 11 people, at least, were the ones who decided. It can't be, you know, he could come back. His name hasn't been mentioned a couple of times through now coaching carousels. He's approaching his mid-70s. It can't be that. It is definitely the scandals and then people in the room who felt that they were wronged by it. Or they are the guardians at the gates of the Hall of Fame as if the Hall of Fame has never let somebody with a scandal or two into the hall.

24:53Rich Eisen:It's ridiculous. But I do have to ask you, you know, because there are many Rams fans that from back in the day when you lost the first Super Bowl to Brady that thought that Belichick might have seen something in a practice of yours that was private. Do you know so I should ask you, you're already shaking your head about it. Like, do you think these scandals, the cheating stuff should be held to account right now on Bill? Well, I mean, to your point about other guys being in that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like if anybody cheats the game or goes around the rules or does anything to gain an advantage over everyone else that, yeah, that should be taken into account.

25:36I mean, that to me is what's great about competition is it's about going out there on an even playing field and seeing who can win in that situation. So I do believe, you know, that if you have cheated in some form or fashion, that it should be taken into account at all times. But what does that mean? And as you said, how do we weigh that with all the different things that we've seen? You know, what's what's too much are, you know, but, you know, if we want to come out with a rule and say, hey, if you break a rule in terms of going above and beyond to get a competitive advantage, you can't ever be in the Hall of Fame.

26:15I could live with that. Like I could live with that. So everybody would know from this point forward, you get caught using performance enhancing drugs or, uh, you know, a cheating scandal that, that that's off the table for you. I could live with that. And now maybe, you know, that stuff disappears. And, um, and that's the choice that people make. I think what's hard now is how do you determine all of that, you know, and what's enough to keep somebody out of the Hall of Fame, what's the level of it? Because I mean, even with this, you know, with the Spygate, I've heard so many different things on so many different sides.

26:50I have no idea what really happened there. I have no idea the extent or, you know, how little was really done there and what it affected. I don't know. And so I don't have the facts to be able to determine, you know, what really went on, how much it did really help them. Did that have a huge impact on the success? all that stuff. And so without having any of that knowledge and knowing what you just said about the Hall of Fame and different people that are in the Hall of Fame, I think the bottom line is he has accomplished enough to be considered a first ballot Hall of Famer and should be in the Hall of Fame.

27:30And it doesn't make sense to me that he wasn't voted in yet.

27:34Rich Eisen:His accomplishments are so vast and absurd that you even laugh having the feel the need to account. Right. Right. To actually use them to to somehow some way support a case for him being a first ballot all famous. That's how insane they are. You know, you're exactly right. I mean, you look at, you know, you I think, again, Tom Brady coming up in a few years, like, you know, all you got to do is say the name. and it's like, yeah, he's in. Unless they ascribe the same standard. No, you're right. Yeah, that's why. But, I mean, the same thing with Bill Belichick. I mean, I think we all just thought, oh, you just say the name.

28:16He's a lock. Let's move on to the next guy type of thing. And so, yeah, it's crazy, I think, to all of us that are involved in the game that it went down this way.

28:25Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen Show. And next Thursday at NFL Honors, Robert Kraft could be and should be on that stage as well. Not obviously just for what happened in the past, but the Patriots appear to be set up again, Kurt, right? I mean, you take a look at this team, and where do you stand on the subject matter of easy, regular season? no Mahomes no Lamar no Josh um no starting quarterback in the AFC championship game for their opponent bunch of snow comes and their accomplishments of making Super Bowl 60 are less than where do you stand on that subject matter Kurt I mean I understand it like you you have to take all that into consideration you understand why people would say that but But at the end of the day, who cares?

29:17Like, I don't care. Like, it doesn't matter to me how you get there. And 10 years from now, we're not going to remember how somebody got there. You're there. And now the biggest thing is, can you win it? If you win it at this point, nobody cares how easy your regular season was. Nobody cares what the process was to get there in the playoffs. This is the moment. This is what it's all about. And so, you know, I think there's some valid points to that. But regardless, you have to win the game. You have to do what you have to do. I mean, everybody else had the same opportunity. Denver had just as good an opportunity to beat them on Sunday, didn't get it done.

29:53And you could say that along the way. And so when it comes time to play the games, you play the games. You play who's on your schedule and you play as well as you can. You know, same thing with Drake may not be in a, you know, the MVP because their schedule was too easy. I mean, whatever. All these guys are NFL players. Anybody can beat anybody on any given Sunday. and you still have to go out and play. It's not as if everybody's just running wide open out there and other teams stumbling and bumbling around. That to me is ridiculous, is that, yep, there's going to be times where somebody has an easier road to get there.

30:30I mean, I look back at our Super Bowl with the Cardinals, and we were 9-7 on the season. Like, we played in a terrible division. You know, that may be the only reason we got into the playoffs, but we got into the playoffs and we beat good teams and we had a chance to win the super bowl and that to me is is what it's all about you take care of what's in front of you that's all that matters at the end of the day no matter what anybody says you don't give them back you don't apologize for it uh you appreciate the moment and you go try to win it kurt warner here on the rich