Hour 1:  Guest Host Colleen Wolfe, plus NFL Network Analyst Kurt Warnerx

19:32A.J. Brown doesn't get a target until the second drive. You're kind of like, what are we doing here? And now with him out, and Romeo Dobbs was atrocious. It's like, bro, you're in here. we brought you in to make plays you know matt collins we can't really be relying on you know this guy you need to step up and so trevion back in practice maybe he gets back out there adds another explosive element like i said really looking forward to see you know how the pats

19:57Colleen Wolfe:bounce back yeah if new england if they drop their home opener to the steelers and go brutal oh and two and you know their schedule you know much has been made about their schedule really difficult It's tough. Really difficult run kind of coming up here in the first four and with AJ being out at Jacksonville, at Buffalo, you're looking at 0-4 if you kind of drop this. We're like doom and gloom. That should be our nickname. Because even before the show, the conversation's got really dark. Really dark. We played 60 minutes of football. I know, TJ, but come on. What are we doing here? Okay, you're the slow down guy.

20:35Colleen Wolfe:You're like, come on. It's only one week. Marathon, not a sprint. I don't know this. I feel like it's a sprinting marathon. I mean, we have to react in a way, but yes, it's not. Tranquilo, everyone, tranquilo. Yeah, yeah. Hey, what do you guys think that are listening? Call in with teams that cannot afford to lose. How do you feel about your team right now? I don't feel great about them. If you're stressing, let's go. Give us a call. We'll talk you down. Yeah, I thought you were asking me that. I know you were asking that. You were 1-0. You're fine. But I would answer. Yeah, but still, it didn't really feel, I know that they won, but it didn't feel like a win.

21:09Colleen Wolfe:Got it. Anyway, maybe you guys feel the same way about your team. Give us a call, 844-204-RICH, and we will be right back as we continue on here. The Rich Eisen Show. We're going to have Kurt Warner join the show. Talking quarterbacks next. The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

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22:14Join our fight at HyundaiWarriors.com. Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high-interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an Audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast. Call an audible on your debt today at SoFi.com slash debt play. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Fast funds terms apply at SoFi.com slash debt play. Obviously, is there was so much expectation for this Chargers team.

22:52You know, being a playoff team, Mike McDaniel coming in and how he's going to unlock Justin Herbert and Justin Herbert's going to unlock Mike McDaniels and his offense. So much unlocking. Yeah, all that stuff going on. And it just didn't play to what everybody had talked about. And I had some concerns going in simply from the standpoint, if you watch Mike McDaniels offense in Miami with Tua, I thought Tua was the perfect quarterback for what they wanted to do. It was very much an anticipation type offense where you're really throwing to windows or throwing if you can make the throw to a receiver as opposed to reading defenders.

23:26And, hey, if this guy's not open, that guy's open. It's about getting back, hitting that back foot, being able to recognize that stuff and get the ball out on time in different ways. And I'm not sure that's exactly who Justin Herbert has been throughout his career. So I felt like this was at least going to be a process for him to learn and get comfortable in that. And then the second question is, is that what he does well? When we talk about unlocking, will that unlock either part of this? Because does it play perfectly to the skill set of the quarterback within this offense and vice versa? So it didn't show up in week one.

24:03And so it's something that I'm going to keep my eye on moving forward. Yeah.

24:07Colleen Wolfe:And we're talking to Hall of Famer Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen show. And when I watch Justin Herbert with this offensive line and part of me doesn't want to make excuses for Justin Herbert because it's always about the offensive line with the Chargers since like before the dawn of time. It just is. That is one of the guarantees of the year is that the offensive line for the Chargers is going to be an issue. It was like for years it was that with the Falcons, but it was a pass rush and they couldn't find one. But then they did. So I'm like still waiting for the Chargers to do that. But it almost makes me think that Justin Herbert is going to end this season with a career high in rushing yards just out of self-preservation because of the offensive line.

24:53Colleen Wolfe:But let's get to the Falcons, as I mentioned before when I brought you in, because head coach Kevin Stefanski, he has not named a starter yet for their week two opener against the Panthers. Let's hear what he had to say. He was asked about it today. You have a QB yet for this week? We will have a quarterback. Yes, I'd say we're working through it. I'm not ruling anyone out. Tua is not going to practice today, but he's getting better. Cooper and Mike will practice today so we will work through it all right so they're working through it right now Kevin Stefanski just always with quarterback questions and never he just never has had a guaranteed I feel like winning quarterback at that position and when I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Cooper Rush considering this oblique injury with Tua seems to be lingering.

25:49Colleen Wolfe:And it seems like with Michael Penix, they're really, they want him to be the starter, but they also don't want to rush him back. What are your feelings about the quarterback situation there? Yeah, I feel that same way. Michael Penix, to me, has to become the starter sooner rather than later. And you've got to figure out, do you believe he can be the guy you drafted him to be? And we have to know that. We have to know that when the season's over, is that Tua is not going to be there next year. I mean, they're just not going to sign him to a starting quarterback contract, you know, after the history that he's had.

26:25And obviously what we saw last week, starter and then gets hurt. It's just not going to happen. And so the longer you prolong this Michael Penix thing, the less opportunity you get to see if he can be that guy. And so I kind of read into that. Hey, we're working through it. If Michael is ready, if we feel he is ready, he will be our starter. If he's not, if we don't feel we can put him out there yet because of the injury, then we'll work through these other two guys and figure it out until Michael is ready. But nothing else really makes sense to me in this situation, simply because this to me, and again, we all want to win this year and have success, and of course.

27:02But you're trying to figure out that position for the long haul, and the only true option here of those three guys is going to be Michael Penix. And so that to me is basically what Kevin Stefanski is saying. We're working through it just to see, is Michael ready this week? He's not? Okay. We'll start one of those other guys. And then is Michael ready next week? Okay. Well, you know, that to me is how they've got to go about this.

27:24Colleen Wolfe:Yeah. And when you think about Michael Penix, this is his third ACL reconstruction. So I think that there is a huge mental component of this too in trying to get back. But Cooper Rush, he didn't complete a pass when he was pressured. He particularly struggled when holding onto the ball for longer than two and a half seconds. It was just completing six of 14 attempts, 83 yards, two interceptions. And Kurt, TNF week three, that's the Falcons. So even if Michael Penix is ready to go, is that really going to be the best time to throw him out there? Maybe it is to reacclimate him. Well, and maybe it's just, hey, we're thinking about playing him this week, but we don't want him to turn around and have to play on a short week.

28:13So maybe we go with one of those other guys this week and maybe it is Thursday night as he's getting closer where you kind of make that debut and then he's got 10 days, so to speak, until the next game to recover and see where that knee is and how. Yeah. So again, I think there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we probably don't know about. But back to my point, I think it's all about when do we feel is the right time that Michael Penix can get on the field and protect himself and be ready to go. And as soon as that time comes, I believe he's going to be the starter.

28:44Colleen Wolfe:OK, so let's go from Kevin Stefanski to Kevin O 'Connell with the Vikings, where we saw Kyler Murray go down early in the game. He's in concussion protocol. arson wentz he played really well and i don't know if that was a product of him really playing well in the system or the defense that he was playing but he sets up pretty well for week two against the bears because chicago just allowed 361 passing yards to bryce young what are your thoughts on the vikings yeah um i mean obviously they're in a similar boat is you know they're at the point now where they need to find that guy. And that's obviously why they brought in Kyler Murray to see if he could be that guy, not just this year, but he could be the guy.

29:30And then maybe they pay him and move forward with him. And unfortunate with the injury there, you know, Carson, I think is what Carson is at this point. And Minnesota has seen it. He's a guy that can definitely come in and make some plays for you. You know, there's going to be some inconsistencies. There's going going to be some mistakes along the way. And you've got to figure out how to have a game plan to be able to overcome some of those things and still win. And they did it last week. Obviously, they were down big and they got a whole bunch of breaks late in that game to get a victory. But Carson made some big time plays for sure.

30:04And then there's the question of J.J. McCarthy. And where is he? And do you want to see him right now? Is he ready? Because the bottom line with J.J. to me is next time you put him in is going to be what you determine the future on. Next time you put him in, if he does not succeed in that situation, I believe you're almost forced to have to move on. You know, that it's going to be hard for an organization and a fan base to get behind a guy that's gotten two shots and has shown that he isn't that guy. So that's where, to me, it gets sticky. If Kyler's out a period of time, how does Carson play?

30:43Obviously, if he's winning And that's easy. But if they're not winning and they're struggling, that to me is a huge decision that the organization is going to have to make with a guy that they drafted. Is he truly ready? Because I think he was thrown in last year before he was ready and it showed that way. You don't want to do that again if you've got hopes of this guy being on your roster for the long term.

31:06Colleen Wolfe:All right. So I'm also thinking about the fact that you were in Kansas City. You had a front row seat to Patrick Mahomes. And I can't let you get out of here without talking about some of the other quarterbacks here that did not get hurt, but maybe are returning from an injury. So Patrick Mahomes, what was your assessment of his performance? Because he obviously wasn't his pre-ACL self. So what were the limitations and how do you see him projecting for the rest of the season? Coming into that game, you know, the fact that he was back nine months after the injury and I know he hadn't missed any time, but, you know, I talked to him before the game and he just said, you know, I've done everything except get hit.

31:52And that is a big thing. That is a real thing to get hit and to get hit in certain ways and to be able to to run and move. And then when you move to do the things that you've done in the past and, you know, as we're seeing right here to go for the touchdown and then to dive and to go between defenders and do those sorts of things. So I believe they're, you know, as cool as he is as a customer, there was some nervousness and some anxiousness about, OK, where am I really for a real game? What can I do? And, you know, we saw the movement and the movement actually looked fairly decent for everything that you could expect.

32:28But the throwing wasn't quite what we expect from Patrick Mahomes. He started, I think, 2 of 12 in the game. Then he settled in and made some throws. But it just felt like he was a little bit off throwing the football. And to me, all that is expected. The beautiful thing is we saw the emergence of a run game and Kenneth Walker III, who both looked incredible. And if you add that to what I believe Patrick will be as he gets more comfortable and becomes more of himself, man this team is going to be a tough team to beat I was questioning whether Andy Reid would actually you know commit to the run game after you know signing the big deal with Kenneth Walker because

33:07Colleen Wolfe:it's not really what he does it's not really his tail as old as time yeah but but he did and from the get-go from the first drive five six straight carries to start the game so I loved that part of it and if you have that you can allow Patrick Mahomes to come along and you can allow him to to struggle and not be fully comfortable, you know, for a few weeks into the season as he goes through the whole process. But I was, you know, obviously excited about what I saw from that team missing the playoffs last year, Patrick, you know, again, got better throughout the game, which is a great sign, but to find ways to win and really dominate that football game without him is, is exciting for the league and exciting for the Kansas city chiefs and their fans, because I think it bodes really well for them this year.

33:51Colleen Wolfe:As far as getting over the mental hurdle of coming back from an ACL, what do you think of Andy Reid maybe doing what John Harbaugh did? But John Harbaugh tackled Malik Nabors so he could get over his whole mental thing coming back, returning from the torn ACL. What would you do? What did you think of that, by the way? Well, a little more weight from Andy coming than Coach Harbaugh. But yeah, that was crazy. But I kind of get it because, again, like I said, I was talking to Patrick before the game, and that's the one thing he mentioned to me was, man, I've done everything. I feel good. I haven't gotten hit yet.

34:33And even if you aren't coming off an injury and you're starting a season as a quarterback and you haven't got hit, there's part of you that kind of wants to get hit. You want to know that you can take that hit, you can bounce up, and you can move on. And so, you know, when Coach Harbaugh and I heard that story, it fully makes sense because, you know, a player going into a game. And again, it's not the same kind of hit you're going to take in a game, but there's that tentativeness. Like you get the ball and it's like, OK, here comes some bodies. What do I do? Do I play slower? And the one thing you don't want a player to do is play slower, is play tentative when they're out there, because I often feel that's when guys get hurt is when they're doing that sort of thing and thinking about it as opposed to just playing.

35:14And so to try to get, you know, that out of his mind, you know, I love the sentiment by Coach Harbaugh and really having the pulse of his players and his team and being able to do little things like that to kind of ease their mind. And, you know, not necessarily for Malik, but man, the team looked really good on Sunday night. It looked like, you know, that they were ready to go and they were confident in what coach had brought to the table. And, you know, and I bet Malik felt a little more confident after that as well.

35:41Colleen Wolfe:Yeah, I think so, too. But it is an interesting strategy for sure, to be clear. What about, let's go down to Houston quickly with C.J. Stroud and the turnover issues that we saw week one against the Bills clearly happening during crucial moments of the game, a potential game-winning drive. And now he's going into this contract year. Do you see this being an issue that is going to linger or was that just a product of week one, could be a little bit of everything, Bill's defense? What were your thoughts on that? Well, I mean, I think we've seen it a little bit. You know, when he was so good as a rookie, that was one of the things he did so well is he protected the football, you know, that he didn't have turnovers.

36:29And he played right into what they were doing on top of making plays. And then we've seen the last couple years, the turnovers kind of creep in, specifically playoffs, and then at the crucial moment, as you said, against Buffalo. This one is very interesting to me because we've seen a really good C.J. Stroud. And there's no question if you watch him in practice every day, he is physically talented. He is a gifted, gifted thrower. So everything you see says franchise quarterback, franchise quarterback, sign him to a big deal, sign him to a big deal. But it's about production. And you've got to be able to produce and produce in the big moments and be the complement that they need to their defense and be more of what we saw as a rookie, somebody that we can believe.

37:12We can put the ball in your hands in games like that when our defense gives up 30 points. We don't expect it very often, but it happened. We have to trust that we can put the ball in your hands in those situations and win games for us. We go on the road in the playoffs and we put the ball in your hands, and you've got to be able to win games for us. That's what the franchise quarterback has to do. And they've said all the right things, and because of the talent, I think it's going to be hard for them to let him go. but we're seeing this play out as we've seen with other quarterbacks that have signed the big deals is that they're not showing the production and consistency that you need from that position and if you pay that position 60 65 million dollars it limits what you can do with the rest of your you know rest of your roster so you have to find one um is CJ that guy I really believe he's got to answer that question and uh you know maybe the Texans sign him whether he answers that question or not because they've seen some things.

38:07But I think it's really important for any organization to know, to know that is the guy and that guy can carry you and win games for you with his right arm when need be before you sign them to one of these monster deals.

38:20Colleen Wolfe:Kurt, I could sit here for hours, days maybe, and ask you about every single player, quarterback for sure. But we only have time for one more question. And so I'm sitting here debating, do I want to ask you about Drake May, Caleb Williams. But honestly, the real question I need to know, who played better than you expected week one? Who played better than I expected? Was there anyone that impressed you? Yes, there was. No, no. There's a lot of guys that impressed me. But like, I put my top five quarterbacks together. Trevor Lawrence, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and I thought Caleb Williams were my top four on the week.

38:57I expected them to play well. So you said unexpected. My fifth is the guy that probably unexpected how well he played and that was Jackson Dart I thought he played unbelievable you know he got back he made quick decisions what I saw last year as a rookie he was a guy that oftentimes would be unsure in the pocket he'd want to run around and be an athlete and create as opposed to playing the position in the pocket seeing it and getting it out I thought he was fabulous on Sunday night I thought they had a great plan for him but he was definitive with his reads. He got back. He threw the ball extremely well, made some great reads, even though Dallas missed some assignments on defense.

39:34So what? You still have to see it, read it, and make those plays as a quarterback. He was probably the guy of everybody in the league that surprised me the most at how well he played in week one. Yeah.

39:45Colleen Wolfe:All of the vibes around the Giants, it was just on full display in prime time for everyone to see. And it just looked like they were loose they were having fun and they all bought into everything that john harbaugh is selling so we'll see if that's the case the rest of the year but kurt thank you so much for being so generous with your time uh we'll let you go so you can go win another award um thank you again for coming on my friend you got it good to see you see you on sunday see you sunday joining us here on the rich eisen show we have plenty more to come your way more guests, more everything.

40:25Colleen Wolfe:We're back after this. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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41:50Colleen Wolfe:So, everybody, hey, when you run a small business, you don't just do the job. You're also the hiring manager, the payroll department, and the benefits team, usually all before lunch. Gusto takes a few of those off your plate quickly and seamlessly. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. Unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price, no hidden fees, no surprises. Save time with built-in, automatic, automated tools, offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more.

42:33Colleen Wolfe:That's great. It's quick and simple to switch to Gusto. Just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast. Plus, don't pay a cent until you run your first payroll. Try Gusto today at Gusto.com slash rich and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at Gusto.com slash rich. One more time, just because three times is the charm. Gusto.com slash rich. All right. It's been a fun morning so far on the show. Kurt Warner had some really interesting insight there. I loved that the player that impressed him, that maybe he wasn't expecting to impress him, was Jackson Dart.

43:16Colleen Wolfe:And I think that a lot of people were in the same boat with that. Maybe not TJ, but I don't know. TJ. Wow. You. A2, Wolf. A2. Go, Birds. All right. Hey. Just a little bit. Let's take a call. This is my favorite. I started sports and sports talk radio. So taking a call is like a kind of a dream. So let's go to, let's see, is Josh still here? Josh in Idaho Falls wants to talk about the Rams, whether or not they're good. Josh, what's up, man? Hey, buddy. Hey, how you guys doing? First off, I use Gusto, so they're fantastic. Hey! As a small business owner, and my best for Rich, I've had my appendix out, it sucks.

43:57Colleen Wolfe:So, speedy recovery. So, I have two things for you if there's time. Glad you're feeling better, though, buddy. Australia game, that night I was like in full burn down, crash it, crash out test with my brother in my fantasy league. Strolling the unknown Aaron Donald timeline, the lack of wide receiver depth, and now Miles Garrett, given that you were there and have seen those sidelines before, should I just turn in my week five bills and week 13 Chiefs tickets because there's nothing good anymore or do I have hope? No. Oh, my God. Okay, Josh, back away. Let's just like, let's take a deep breath.

44:29Colleen Wolfe:Maybe light some candles. I don't know if you have a tub. maybe take a bath or like an ice plunge one week. It's one week. And the Rams are, you should know this better than anyone else. If this is your team, the Rams are a team that they always take a little while to get warmed up. They play better as the season progresses. And yeah, I mean, it just, the way that the schedule kind of lined up for them, it's not great having to start so far away from home and then have to have their first four games in four different time zones. So I can understand a little bit here what the Rams were going for in trying to mitigate some of the jet lag on the way back, considering they have really tough games here coming up, what they play the Broncos, they play Philadelphia, and then I think they have the Bills.

45:23Colleen Wolfe:Is that correct? So this is, It's a gauntlet, but I think that they're going to be okay. It's not great that Miles Garrett is on IR right now, and I don't think that Aaron Donald is regretting coming back, but I think you're going to be okay because this team, it has too much talent for them to be stuck in the mud. That's not what they do. They're going to be exciting. They're going to bounce back, but I think that it was just a really tough week one matchup. I don't know. What do you guys think? I'm wondering. I'm not concerned right now, which is always the key two-word phrase. How many losses will it take before you're like, oh, man, they're screwed?

46:09If they lose on Monday, 0-2, you think they're screwed? And the Giants look good, but if the Giants beat them. I mean, the first five games are very difficult. If they're 2-3, are you really freaking out? Yeah. Or is it a 1-4 situation?

46:24Colleen Wolfe:Well, that's, I mean, we are panicking. We are turning in the chips, the tickets, all of the things. I mean, because the Broncos looked like the worst team in football on Monday, right? Yeah. So, yeah, maybe, but at Philly, not an easy place to play. You know, they lost there in the playoffs. Buffalo, you know, in a month on Monday night, Buffalo looked like the best team in the league. I'm just saying. Yeah. When do we get really worried? That's true. Thank you for the call, Josh. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app.

47:05The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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