Hour 1: Live from Super Bowl LX with Kurt Warner & WWE Superstar Seth Rollins

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0:30Rich Eisen:So good, so good, so good. New markdowns up to 70 % off are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. And that means so many new reasons to rack. Because I always find something amazing. There's so many good brands. Because there's always something new. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. 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.

1:13Miss 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 richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Live from San Francisco, home of Super Bowl 60, it's the Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner. Cowboys wide receiver, C.D. Lamb. 49ers running back, Christian McCaffrey. WWE superstar, Seth Rollins. NFL Network analyst, Steve Smith Sr. Comedian, Adam Ray. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

2:01Rich Eisen:Yes, day number two of our three-day residency in downtown San Francisco is on the air. The Rich Eisen Show on Disney +, the ESPN app, ESPN radio, Sirius XM, Channel 80. It is another beautiful day by the bay here in the home of the San Francisco 49ers. and Christian McCaffrey is going to be stopping by this set. One of our six guests. We are six wide today here on this program, getting you set or just basically with you, biding our time until somebody starts playing football in the field of jeans in Santa Clara, California on Sunday. Kurt Warner is here. He's going to be our first guest. But first, I want to say hello to my friends and colleagues.

2:46Rich Eisen:Christopher Brockman, good to see you, sir. tj jefferson fresh off of uh chatting with cm punk on this stage for no contest wrestling that's out there oh you have a little plastic mini candle do you the candle we spare no production expense here on the rich eisen show mike del tufo good to see you good morning how are you i'm doing very well we're fired up oh yeah it's great it's now the super bowl's coming it's close it is well i mean we're what 72 90 hours away can't figure that out no we're not We got NFL honors tonight, which means we're going to find out who's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

3:20Rich Eisen:Seth Rollins is joining us in our number two. So I can't wait to ask him if he had any advice for Bill Pelichick to maybe show up tonight on crutches, throw them away. It's all been one big charade. He would be the one to an architect. I'm not going to lie. That would be cool if that happened. Who would know better than Seth? No, nobody. Because he lied to us. But we're still friends with him, and he's on this program in hour number two. And obviously there's a big night tonight, which we'll be talking about all day tomorrow. One of the storylines of Super Bowl 60 I want to address right here.

3:58Rich Eisen:And I think it's only you tell me, because you're the one who focuses on a town in a state that attaches, connects to California where Mo Green does not have a signpost or a plaque to honor him, creating the town of Las Vegas, Nevada, you know, when Mo Green and the Godfather used to run molasses when Michael was a child. I'll stop. No sugar. Okay. At any rate, what's the line on this game? Rich, it hasn't moved. It's still four and a half. Okay. Total still at 45. Okay. But there is a contingent, and I do believe it's significant, that believes that this is going to be a blowout win for the Seattle Seahawks, that you look at the way that they played defensively, you look at their roster, you look at the way it's all played out this year and that they're going to take the patriots and spank them in super bowl 60 and all i have to say about that it's number one is our first guest kurt warner uh is here he can basically tell you you know about being a quarterback of an nfc west team that was supposed to beat a new england patriot team quarterback by a second year quarterback coached by a guy in his second time around as a coach in the nfl what what happened in that super That's one way to put it.

5:10Rich Eisen:And it's the kindest way I can put it with Kurt listening to every word that I'm saying. But there's another reason why I want to point out that this is most likely. And I know Friday is a what's more likely show. It's more than not, it's going to be a close game. And the reason why is these two teams, for some reason, only play tight, close games. and I want to recount to you the last 10 times they've played against each other. What has happened? And then when it's all over, you tell me if you think Super Bowl 60 is going to be a close game or not. Do I have my music, Mike Del Tufo? Do we have some sort of NFL Films music?

5:53Rich Eisen:Hit his music. Okay, give me my music here. These are the last 10 times that these teams have played against each other. The last time they played against each other was September 15th of last season, week two. This is prior to Drake May becoming the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots. And this game was a 23-20 Seattle Seahawks win because with only four minutes left in overtime, Mr. Jason Myers is the one who split the uprights. And the Seattle Seahawks won in a walk-off overtime win that happened in New England last year. And then the time before that was week two of the 2020 NFL season when the Seahawks were and the Patriots were in Seattle.

6:42Rich Eisen:Seattle was up by five points with only one play left on the clock. That's all that was left. And guess what happened? Cam Newton from the one yard line with no time left. Have you heard about being on the one yard line with these teams taking on one another? Do you remember this on Sunday Night Football? I do remember this game. They decide to run it with Cam Newton. And instead of him scoring and doing the Superman thing, he gets upended, and with no time left, Seattle walks off with a defensive stop victory. That was Cam's probably best game for the Patriots. In 2020, the time before that was four years before that.

7:23Rich Eisen:In week number 10, when it was another Sunday night football game, this game taking place in New England, Tom Brady looks for Rob Gronkowski fourth and goal from the one with 11 seconds to go and Seattle's up 31-24 and you're sitting here thinking if they score do they go for two in the wind and instead of Brady finding Gronk Cam Chancellor is all over Gronk who's left staring at the refs wears the flag no flag on the play and that's the way the game ended with 11 seconds to go Seattle winning in New England with just 11 seconds left. And that was, as we all know, a little bit of revenge taken on New England because the time before that, four games ago between these teams, was in fact the matchup in Super Bowl XLIX that we're all talking about.

8:18Rich Eisen:And we all know the way that this ended with Malcolm Butler picking off Russell Wilson on the goal line with 20 seconds to go. Those are the last four times that they've played against each other. Let's go back now to the time prior to Super Bowl XLIX, week six of 2012. And everyone kind of remembers the way this game ended after the game. It was a 23-17 lead for Seattle, pardon me, by New England. And with a minute 20 to go, with New England up on an upstart Seattle team with the Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson fades back and finds Sidney Rice for 46 yards for a touchdown with a minute 20 to go.

9:05Rich Eisen:And then Seattle's defense protected that one point lead. Tom Brady deep in his own end on fourth and 17. Couldn't make the first down. Game over. And that's when Richard Sherman famously went up to Tom Brady and said, you mad, bro. And that's the way the Legion of Boom and Richard Sherman was essentially introducing themselves to the world. Beating New England and Tom Brady in Seattle was a pelt on the Seahawks wall. The audacity to say the least. I think he was mad, though. Those are the last five times that they played against each other. Let's now get to the back half of the 10 that I'm referring to.

9:43Rich Eisen:Week 14 of 2008. You betcha we're going back to this one. Patriots are up 24-21 on the Seattle Seahawks. And what ended up happening was Seneca Wallace at midfield gets sacked. Ball is down on the ground. Future Hall of Famer Richard Seymour recovers. And this is the way they backed up Matt Castle getting the win against the Seattle Seahawks with a two-point conversion on top of it. 24-21 in Seattle. And we all know this was the year New England won enough games normally to make the playoffs, but didn't make it. This is when Tom Brady had a knee injury in the beginning of the season. But again, this is a tight game that went down to a sack fumble on Seneca Wallace recovered by Richard Seymour to end the game with 154 to go.

10:35Rich Eisen:Before that was week six of 2004 when Corey Dillon took a three-point Patriot lead with the first play after the two-minute warning, turned a 23-20 Patriot lead into a 30 -20 Patriot lead. So a nine-yard run right after the two-minute warning. New England wraps that game up. That was close. and it's the only time you're going to see right here that it's a double-digit point margin of victory for anybody in this series week eight 1993 it's the patriots in seattle in bill parcells's first season at the helm it's 9-3 new england with 28 seconds to go third and goal from the, you betcha, one-yard line.

11:25Rich Eisen:Rick Meyer finds Brian Blades in the end zone as Bill Parcells falls to one and six in his first season as head coach in New England. And believe it or not, but due to a scheduling anomaly in the 1993 season, the Seahawks and Patriots played each other twice and five weeks before that week eight game in 1993. The Seahawks were in New England, and that's when Chris Warren of Seattle gave the Seahawks a 17-point lead that Drew Bledsoe started to come back on, finding Ben Wintercoach. And Sam Gash runs one in the end zone to make it a 17-14 game. Scott Sisson, with 30 seconds to go for New England, sets up for a 54-yard game-tying field goal.

12:20Rich Eisen:It's up, hits the crossbar, and bounces back into the field of play. That was nine times ago that they played each other. And again, ten games ago between these two teams in Super Bowl 60, 1992, the week three game between the Seahawks and the Patriots in New England, Hugh Millen found Irving Fryer for a 36-yard touchdown, But Charlie Bauman missed the extra point, meaning it's a 10-6 game with 45 seconds to go. New England's got to score a touchdown. Hugh Millen throws it into the end zone, and it's intercepted by Patrick Hunter, who is a Seahawk defensive back who wound up playing for the Seahawks for nine years.

13:09Rich Eisen:And he is originally from San Francisco, California, where we're getting set to see a Super Bowl 60 between these two teams. You tell me if this game's not going to come down to the wire and it's going to be a tight game because that's all these two teams somehow, some way, for whatever football god's reason, they play these tight games. So Super Bowl 60 is either going to be the 11th in a row between these two teams where something happens in the final two minutes to either win the game or force overtime or go to overtime. if you think that this is just going to be another such game, good. Or you think they're due for a blowout.

13:54Rich Eisen:I say history says tight ballgame in Super Bowl 60. And interestingly enough, as we just wrap this thing and put it in a bow, talk about scheduling anomalies. That last game that I mentioned where Hugh Millen could not lead the full comeback. Hugh Millen. And obviously, you know, that was Dick McPherson's last year. They bring in Bill Parcells. They draft Drew Bledsoe and off they go. That was a week three game, but it was just the second game of the season for New England. The Patriots had a week one bye in 1992. What? Could you imagine in this day and age if they tell a fan base of a team, hey, everybody's playing kickoff weekend, but we'll see you in week two.

14:38Rich Eisen:Could you imagine if that happened in this day and age? Why? Well, there were two bye weeks back in the day. I have no idea. A week won bye. So their week three game was dropped them to 0-2. Oh. At any rate, a little history lesson for everybody to start our six-wide show. Look who's here as our first guest. Coming up next, one of our favorites. And I'm not just saying that because he's here in the flesh. Kurt Warner, good to see you, sir. Good to see you. Good to see you. Kurt Warner is going to start us off on this Super Bowl Thursday from San Francisco when we come right back.

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17:32Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner here on The Rich Eisen Show. Our radio audience has just returned. So, you know, you are the personification, as we all know, of magic carpet rides. And I always love to talk. I don't talk with you about this enough, but it is that week. What were you thinking on the day of the Super Bowl at the end of your journey of your first year? What were you thinking, Kurt? You know, the interesting thing is you always wonder when it's going to hit you. You know, we talked about that first year, and it was such a whirlwind. You know, you get in, and the season is, you know, magical season. Everything goes like, you know, you can't imagine it going any better.

18:12You know, my first playoff game, we always talk about the first pass I threw as a touch. Yeah, like it's just, you know, so many different things. You're like, how does this even happen? But the moment I remember it really sinking in, now don't judge me and my wife for this because we had purchased this home, But after the NFC championship game, we were in our bedroom and whoever built the home before us, not us, put a mirror up above the bed. OK, so again, don't don't hold this against us. Don't hold this against us. But I remember we were so exhausted and we were just laying on the bed and we didn't even look over at each other.

18:46We just looked at each other through the mirror and we're kind of like, we're going to the Super Bowl. Like that was the moment where it really, you know, the whole journey just kind of sunk in like, oh, my gosh, this is this is real. You know, because that was the moment you just had a chance to take a deep breath before, you know, all the craziness of of the Super Bowl. And then the Super Bowl again was a whirlwind because it's so different. You know, like tonight we get to go to honors and they celebrate everybody at honors. That first Super Bowl of mine, they did like all the the MVP and the players of the year and all that.

19:19throughout the week. And so they would have, you know, luncheons or breakfast. And so I just remember every day I was in a car, you know, rolling to someplace and then doing media. And then I remember when I got to the game, I was like, can we just get this game over with? Like I was exhausted after the week. So I love the way they do it now, but that's kind of what I remember about the Superbowl week was like, man, can we just get through this game? Because it was just so much hype that I was just kind of worn out and kind of done with all the stuff at that point, which is kind of a bummer. You know, it's the biggest game of your life.

19:49You don't want it to just be over. But, I mean, it was just a lot of things different. But my moment was really after the NFC Championship game when we were going and me and my wife just kind of looked at each other like, wow. Yeah. Is the mayor still there, Kurt? What's that? I don't know. We don't own that house anymore. I do not know. How dare you? What has happened to the mayor? How dare you? What's that? How dare you? Everybody was stinking it. Yeah.

20:13Rich Eisen:His movie was rated G. Okay. Exactly. I did not put the mirror there, people. I did not do it. How dare you? How dare you, TJ? Sorry for that visual. Courtesy cars and ceiling mirrors. That's what was his Super Bowl experience. I didn't see that coming. So listen, Sam Darnold's journey, your journey is so unique, but his is now five teams and your journey was international also, right? So what do you think is going to sink into Sam Darnold's head Saturday night in his hotel, Sunday morning, waking up, Kurt Warner? I think it'll be very similar. You know, just to whenever that moment is where it really hits him, like, wow, you know, look where I've been over the last, you know, five years and five different teams and bouncing around.

21:06And, you know, I had a chance to interview him for game day morning and just asking him, you know, what was the toughest moment, you know? And so reflecting on those moments along the way where you just think, my gosh, I got drafted by New York and it's over in New York. What does this mean for me? And then bouncing around and then becoming a backup and just, I'm sure at numerous times wondering, will I just be a career backup? And so I think all that stuff at some point, whether that's before the game, the week leading up, maybe even after the game, all kind of comes into focus and you appreciate it.

21:40And what I love about even this Super Bowl, just looking at the quarterbacks is like we've got drake may who's like the golden boy you know second year uh you know drafted third overall he's to the super bowl already which is what we want for everybody but then we have sam on the other side which is a journeyman and you know it took him some time and he didn't just you know come right out of being drafted and find a perfect situation and have success and so it just shows us that there's so many different ways to get here to get to the mountaintop and you know finding the right spot and maturing and growing as a player is that two different ways of doing it and finding yourself on the biggest stage.

22:17So I think it'll be a great storyline as we get into this.

22:20Rich Eisen:And even making that better is two different ways, but from the same position in the draft, third overall. Exactly, right. Both third overall picks in the AFC East. One got drafted by the Jets and one got drafted by New England. And now here they meet in Super Bowl 60. And, you know, early on this season, Kurt, when we were talking to you every single Wednesday, QB Confidential is how everybody can see what you're basically, we're about to talk about here on your YouTube channel, that you were saying, I'm like, who looked the best on film this week? Who did this better than most? And you said Drake May a couple of times, and you pointed out how his deep passing game are like the longest handoffs in the NFL.

23:05Rich Eisen:You were saying that in September, in October. What are you seeing out of him now, though? Yeah. You're seeing him going against tougher defenses and hitting a rookie wall, if you will, in his second year? Is his first time going through being a quarterback all this time? Or are you just seeing a gamer man who's just getting it done however he can? I think the thing about Drake is, like you said, his season was incredible. I mean, I think Matthew Stafford's going to win the MVP. I think Drake is going to be the runner-up there. But it was incredible. And like you said, the best deep ball thrower in the league this year.

23:37playoffs they have played really good defenses i just don't feel he's played very well though i feel like he's played faster he's missed a lot of things that he made during the regular season but the one caveat is when they've needed big plays to be made you know he's made them you know against uh the chargers they only scored one touchdown but it was late in the game a third down situation he buys time and throws it against the texans they got a fourth down situation hits the slant touchdown and then obviously the late go route and then you know against Denver it was more running than it was throwing but a couple key throws in that game and so that's kind of been his MO I feel like he's going to have to do more they're going to have to do more in this game to win it than they have throughout the playoffs why do you think that I just you know I feel like Seattle has ramped it up and is playing their best football now so as good as New England's defense is, I feel like Seattle's going to score some points.

24:36And so I don't think they're going to win this thing 10 to 7, you know, or low scoring game. I think they're just going to have to do more offensively if they're going to win.

24:45Rich Eisen:Did that start, do you think, in the week 16 Thursday night kickoff between the Rams and Seattle? I know Seattle's played excellent football throughout the season. I know they had some boat race wins that the defense against Arizona at home, against Washington on the road, basically told Sam Darnold, take the rest of the afternoon off. But do you think that that comeback, Sam Darnold, that comeback win in overtime over the Rams was this? I do believe it was a catalyst, and specifically for their offense. Like you said, their defense has played good all year. Offense has been solid, but that was when they just started the takeoff.

25:20And again, interviewing a couple of the guys this week, just asking them when was that moment for their team. And they all kind of mentioned that game, week 16, coming back, beating the Rams was really what catapulted them and made them think, hey, we got a shot at this thing. But I do believe that's where their offense and just Sam's confidence, because there was all the questions about Sam going into that, and they're down two touchdowns in the fourth, and can he win in these kind of moments? I do believe that gave him a sense of confidence that he's carried through, and the championship game, it was unbelievable.

25:51Rich Eisen:The recipe for a Patriots win then is what? Drake puts him on his back? Is that what you're saying? I believe the recipe is like they've been winning defense, defense, defense. But then just what we talked about, Drake may going to have to make some big plays. You know, if there's one thing that you saw, like in the when the Rams played against this Seattle team is Seattle didn't give up a lot of big plays. But the Rams found ways to get big plays. You know, the championship game, there was a number of double moves that they used to get big plays against the Seattle defense. I think if New England is going to win, they've got to generate some of those big plays.

26:26What Drake's done good all year long, he's going to have to do that well in the Super Bowl. And they're going to have to steal, you know, some big plays, some big play touchdowns, or steal some drives, you know, with big plays in them if they're going to win.