Hour 1: Micah Parsons vs Cowboys, Top 5 Revenge Games, plus Kurt Warner

0:00As soccer takes center stage this summer, Comcast helps bring the experience home to America. As the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the U.S., Telemundo is set to present its most expansive coverage ever. 700 hours of programming, live on-site presence at all 104 matches, and with multi-view and real-time 4K, Xfinity will deliver the most innovative and immersive sports viewing experience for fans watching on Telemundo, Peacock, Fox, and FS1. Learn more at ComcastCorporation.com. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new.

0:36It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+.

0:56Rich Eisen: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. Now, on with the show. Initiating startup sequence. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Ready, TJ Jefferson? You ready? Micah Parsons is coming to town. It's going to be painful. I wish him well except this weekend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guests, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner, Syracuse head coach, Fran Brown, Grammy Award winning artist, Zach Brown, and now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:56Rich Eisen:Well, hey everybody. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show, live on Disney +, the ESPN app everywhere, ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. Hello to everyone, Sirius XM Channel 80 listening to us. Hello to our podcast listeners through the ESPN PodCenter. Wherever you get such things, all three hours available there. There's our YouTube channel for a backstop as well. closing in on 990 ,000 followers slash subscribers there. We're very proud of that caper that we've been cultivating for darn near 11 years. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. My buddy Kurt Warner from NFL Game Day Morning NFL Network, NFL Game Day Compadre, getting ready to do that at 4 in the morning on Sunday, Pacific time, getting you ready for Steelers and Vikings in Ireland.

2:47Rich Eisen:we're excited to do that hey um and um uh hour number two uh of this program i'll be getting in my nap no no no in all seriousness uh we've got zach brown in studio nice as well and then fran brown uh chris that's for you my coach i'm not gonna lie thanks rich do we mention what happened the last time we had one of your coaches on here nope why why would we because uh i don't know why you would do that kind of went south so i'll be honest with you that's not my fault well you you play in that excuse me excuse me i did that to surprise you for your birth and i was very appreciative and it was great it was right and then great and then everything that was going on with the program went right down the tubes we accused you of being a cooler south so when our booking staff reached out and said hey fresh off of syracuse beating clemson uh do you want fran brown brown on the program i literally thought to myself do i want to do this or not and i said yes for you.

3:46Rich Eisen:Yeah, thank you. And so Fran's going to join. I thought, should we get a Cleveland Brown? Anybody named Brown? Zach Brown? Fran Brown? Okay. Good to see you over there, Jay Feli. How are you, sir? What's up, Rich? Good to see you. And good to see you, TJ Jefferson, as well. Your Mets came out with the dub last night. Back in the wildcard position. Everyone in my apartment building knew that last night. So, by the way, are we getting, like, Chris Brown, Bobby Brown, Shador Sanders? You said the famous Browns? No, this is, as I mentioned, that's our guest list. But thank you for following up. Kurt Warner's favorite color is brown.

4:22Rich Eisen:I don't know if that's true. Oh, all right. Just me and sure. So I've been saying over and over and over again, hey, listen, at some point we will stop talking about Micah Parsons not being on the Dallas Cowboys, but that isn't happening at present because he's showing up in Dallas on Sunday night. We're page turning to week number four that starts on Prime Video. uh with al michaels and the gang presenting to you uh seahawks and cardinals pretty big two and one versus two and one game i like it um and uh we've got the packers licking their wounds coming off of the loss to the cleveland browns that nobody saw coming including some people that might have gotten bounced from their survivor pools this past week based on that um but uh hey uh the cowboys at one and two feeling like they gotta they gotta stop somebody they gotta stop this slide that they're on.

5:12Rich Eisen:And I know that they've only lost one in a row, but it feels like two losses coming out of Chicago. Been very generous with the points given up this year. On the defensive side of the football, Warren Sapp, my friend, who's currently on the Deion Sanders staff in Colorado, always told us on NFL game day morning, the front and the back end of the defense must play together. And the defensive backfield right now, trevon diggs just does not look like himself anymore and they're not stopping anybody back there and they're also not getting much pressure on anybody up front so the back end is a bit more exposed and we all know why the cowboys might be struggling to get some pass rush and mike parsons is coming back to town and his first comments on the subject matter uh were made public i believe he spoke to the Associated Press.

6:04Rich Eisen:An interesting choice here. But Micah Parson said this to say about facing his former team on Sunday night. It's going to be painful. You know what I mean? That's my guy. He was always a good mentor for me. But you know what it is. I always tell him if I ever face him that it'll be a great matchup, so I'm excited to see what Sunday brings us. okay not any fire and brimstone just yet but i can guarantee you there's gonna be well there was already wording of that that said micah says it's going to be painful when he when i first read that tj i thought to myself i need to see the context because i thought is he going to be you know um coming for dak and i'll tell you dak it's going to be painful oh i didn't when i see you i took it i i'm like i i don't know yeah i took it like probably what he means is it's going to be painful to him to sack a guy yeah exactly yeah and that's the manner in which he he said it but you know when it's on a news stack like at our friends at espn somebody's going to see it and think that he is now turning full heel.

7:23Rich Eisen:Yeah, trying to bring the ball. But when it all comes down to it, he might, you know, he sees everybody on that field on Sunday night, and he goes back there wearing the road uniform, and he goes to the road locker room. It's going to feel really weird for him. Absolutely. It's going to feel like out of body, out of place. his usual pregame warm-ups that he goes through to get in his lion readiness, because that's a Penn State Nittany lion. He refers to himself as a lion, ready for him to show his teeth and roar. It's not going to be the same. Certainly if one particular owner and general manager of the opposition is standing on the field.

8:11Rich Eisen:now i i'm sure nbc cameras the minute that micah's on the field or the minute that jerry jones steps on the field there will be every camera trained on both of them just to see what what may happen and if they do see each other um i'm sure jerry will be extending a hand i'm just wondering if there's a little bit of baker mayfield in in micah parsons but this is all going to like Like, again, to use your point, TJ, seeing like it's going to be painful as the headline pull quote, to use the phrase, folks are going to be thinking, oh, he's locked in. He's ready to grow. He's he's he's going to he's just going to tear him to pieces.

8:54Rich Eisen:And that may happen. That may happen once it all starts. And it may happen that, again, he's going to show up. Ready to show out. but when he steps in there and he gets all and he pulls up to the stadium you know it's just gonna feel weird to him and he's gonna have to fight through all that and prepare himself and i'm sure he's gonna be reaching out to some people this week about how to prepare for it and um the human element is going to be um kicking in taking a bus to the stadium probably for the first time he's ever that's true too done that to this particular city yeah yeah oh yeah whereas he was driving to his car oh yeah but then when rubber meets road and it's now time and i'm just wondering if there's anything that might trigger him to get into that mindset for him to just go ahead and crush it find the zone and go kill it and um i just wanted to kind of add the gray area here that's kind of what we like to do here because i'm sure folks are just going to think he's going to show up and he's going to tear him to pieces he may do that but it's going to be a process it's going to be a process i do think he's going to have a big night because when it's all said and done an athlete when they put on the eye black and the helmet and everything else you know brian dawkins hall of famer once referred to himself as the idiot man a very mild-mannered god-fearing you know family man and he puts on the eye black and he turns into the idiot man um he's gonna he's gonna start thinking to himself what happened over the previous months and it's gonna piss him off and i think he's going to say i don't care if i love Dak or not, I'm going to go get him.

10:49Rich Eisen:Certainly since this team needs the win. So. Yeah, Rich, I'm afraid we're going to get Jefferson against Lincoln. You know, when Ridgemont High played Lincoln, and fast times Ridgemont High and Jefferson just destroyed Lincoln because his car got trashed. I think that that's... McCauley can't save us. Yeah, the NFL record for sacks in a single game is seven from Derek Thomas. That's back in the day. Now you're bold predicting right there. That's a lot, bro. That's not happening. Just saying.

11:21Rich Eisen:So that's my two cents on what may happen on Sunday night. And just to give you an idea of how it ain't easy, there's really only a handful of revenge games where it went particularly well for one individual in returning or playing against his former team. And that's how I lead this show off with a top five NFL revenge game performances of all time presented by Hyundai. Hit it, please. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five. And just to illustrate the point that it's you don't just roll out the footballs and it's just like a revenge game that you're all expecting someone to go kill it and crush it.

12:04Rich Eisen:And they do. And they come away with a win. Tom Brady's return to Gillette. he didn't throw a touchdown pass right and it's still on my top five because of who he was and how anticipated it was and it was him coming back with a super bowl ring on his finger and it was a big night for him and belichick to have a conversation apparently after the game to start maybe burying some hatchets but in the new england rain brady coming back and he did lead the team down the field for a go-ahead field goal in a game that Matt Jones was winning and almost had a chance to win if Nick Folk had actually made the field goal at the end but Ryan Suckup is the one that made the game-winning field goal and Tom Brady led that seven play 45-yard drive and you knew everybody in Gillette was like oh Tommy's got the ball in the fourth quarter we know what's gonna happen and yada yada yada it happened but he didn't have a great statistical game unlike some of the other people i'm about to mention number four on my top nfl revenge game performances of all time joe montana cooled off the 49ers joe cool uh in two years after he left the 49ers in 1994 it was week two of the 94 season and montana and the uh chiefs welcomed in the niners into arrowhead and um steve young took a 14-7 lead and then montana and the chiefs scored the last 17 unanswered and 203 yards and two touchdowns for Joe Montana.

13:36Rich Eisen:It was only one of three times these 49ers were beaten this year. If you remember 1994, they won the Super Bowl. That was when Young famously got the monkey off his back, and the monkey was still on it because he lost to Joe Montana in week two, and they two faced one another for the first time. That was revenge game number four on the list. Number three on the list, five weeks after Montana beat the 49ers. The 49ers went into Atlanta, and Deion Sanders high-stepped all over his former team. Remember, he spent five seasons in Atlanta. They didn't keep him. He goes to the 49ers, and he picked off in the second quarter Jeff George deep in his own end and took it 93 yards to the house.

14:24Rich Eisen:And 63 yards into his pick six, he began high-stepping. it's the famous moment where he puts his hand behind his head and he high-stepped looking at the Atlanta sideline for the last 30 yards and it was one of three pick sixes for prime that year he was defensive player of the year and as a matter of fact he wound up tied for third in the MVP voting with teammate Jerry Rice behind fellow draft classmate Barry Sanders and eventually Steve Young won the MVP that year they did win the Super Bowl that was when Deion went back into the Georgia home and proclaimed it his house. Number two on this list, another Hall of Famer, Randy Moss, gobbled up the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

15:05Rich Eisen:We all know Dallas did not draft him in the draft eighth overall. He wanted to come. He did. He basically said, take me. He thought that the Cowboys were going to take him. They took Greg Ellis out of North Carolina instead. Great, great, great, great Cowboys. And then he was still on the board for the 21st overall pick. The Vikings took him, and then on Thanksgiving Day, three catches, three touchdowns, 163 yards, and Mossing was born. Do you know, Chris, had Moss been on the board, you know who was picking 22nd overall in that draft? Your Patriots. Really? They took to Bucky Jones. Ooh. One of four Hall of Famers in that draft class, Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Randy Moss, and then 26th overall, Alan Fanica went off the board.

15:49Rich Eisen:Nice. So Randy was pissed on that day in Dallas on Thanksgiving and dominated. So we're Cowboy fans, Rich. And then the number one revenge game performance of all time was Brett Favre going back to Lambeau Field. You want to talk about highly anticipated. This made Brady's return to New England at that. That's what this was in 2009. Now, he had already played the Packers earlier in the season in week four in Minnesota. and he threw for three touchdowns and 271 yards and no interceptions in that one and then in week eight he goes to lambeau and throws for four touchdowns and no interceptions 17 of 28 as green bay and the packers uh saw farve come into his that house and dominate and and he sweeps the packers in his first season playing for the vikings and in that week four victory became the first player in nfl history to beat all 32 franchises in the history of the sport he was great that year farve back in green bay doing what he did seven touchdowns overall uh the greatest revenge game performances of all time do you think we need one more sure all right we'll get I got one more, and it's a very simple headline.

17:10Rich Eisen:Very simple headline. Don't ever piss off Steve Smith. Seriously. Words to live by. Yes. Oh, that's so funny. 13 years with Carolina, the Panthers released him. He signs with the Ravens. And before signing with the Ravens, he basically said, if I ever play Carolina again, and I have the quote here, there would be, quote, unquote, blood and guts everywhere. And in week four in Baltimore, Carolina strolled in, And he went 7 for 139 and two touchdowns, including taking a tipped pass from Joe Flacco, 61 yards to the house in the 38 to 10 final. Again, headline, don't ever piss off Steve Smith. That is the top five NFL revenge game performances of all time in advance of Micah Parsons showing up in the Metroplex on Sunday night football.

18:02I'm watching this Dion pick six. Me too. He turns around at the 50 and starts yelling at the Falcons bench.

18:11Rich Eisen:It is unbelievable. And when did he start high step? He didn't high step to like the 10. The 10? I thought it was the 30. No, because he was turned around the whole time. He was running, turning around, yelling at the Falcons bench. Oh, my gosh. That was a 42-3 win, too. By the way, in a divisional contest, yes, kids, the Falcons used to, for some geographic unsound reason, play in the NFC West. And so they were rivals, the Niners and the Falcons, division rivals, and he 42-3 went, stepped in front of Ricky Sanders to pick off Jeff George to go 93 yards to the house. So those are all things for Micah to shoot for on Sunday night.

18:53Rich Eisen:I've got my power rankings still to come, but let's take a break. My friend Kurt Warner joins us next here in his usual Wednesday Warner spot on the Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

19:13Rich Eisen:While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup this summer, Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent. Future stars who are already turning heads at age 14. Because next doesn't wait for an invitation and neither do we. Hyundai has always moved the future within reach. We did it when we made advanced safety standard on every vehicle. And engineered EVs with ultra-fast charging capability. because the future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters.

19:47Rich Eisen:A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. 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.

20:22Rich Eisen: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. Back on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. For the radio audience, we were just in chit-chatting with Kurt Warner in our TV-only segment about returning to St. Louis as a member of the Cardinals, just sort of giving us an idea of what Micah Parsons was going to be dealing with on Sunday night.

21:00Rich Eisen:What were the numbers of Kurt's return, Christopher? All right, Kurt, week 11, November 20th, 2005. Cardinals win 38-28. Kurt, 27 for 39, 285 yards, three tutties. Yeah, take that. Yeah, take that. Take that. Take that. Because again, you know, I mean, Micah is going to, you know, walk in there where TJ was pointing out first time he's ever taken a bus to the stadium, right, like at that stadium. and he's just going to be looking around and seeing everybody and it's still fresh. I mean, these were all, he was part of this organization six weeks ago. You know? All I would say about this is that, you know, this obviously wasn't a situation where maybe more like mine, hey, we think, you know, you're kind of, you know, best years are past you.

21:50We're going to let you go and we're going to take the next guy. I think everybody in that building is going to know that, you know, So far, you know, he's won the trade, so to speak. But they know he's a great player. I mean, that was not in question, you know. And so it's not as if he's got to go necessarily prove anything to everybody else. I just think this puts a bigger spotlight on it if he goes in and has a big game. And we've already seen the impact that he's had with Green Bay and the struggles that Dallas has had without him. So I think everybody already knows that part of it. this would just add fuel to the fire or insult to injury if he goes in there and just dominates this football game in front of everybody.

22:32Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen Show. For those listening, Kurt's wearing a QB confidential hat. You should check out Kurt's channel on YouTube. Makes you smarter. Right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's start with the Giants' decision to start Jackson Dart over Russ. What have you been seeing on film that leads you to believe why this happened? And do you agree with the move, Kurt? Yeah, well, I think why this happened is it's a big picture thing to me more than it's a Russell Wilson thing. And, again, you know, I've got my thoughts on Russell Wilson. I don't necessarily think he's a great pocket passer.

23:10You know, I think his best years in terms of creating are behind him. So, yeah, I think we all understand that. But if you just break down the tape, and I actually put out a piece this morning just about, you know, in the red zone. So, you know, this team has been in the tight red zone. So 10-yard line are in seven times this year, which ranks eighth in the National Football League. They've scored one touchdown in those drives inside the 10-yard line. And, you know, I broke down basically every throw. Russell Wilson is, I think, two for 16 on throws inside the red zone. And so automatically that would make you say, oh, well, that's a problem.

23:49They're getting there. They're just not scoring. It's all about the quarterback. but there are very limited opportunities for Russell Wilson or this offense to score. There's not easy opportunities. There's not guys open all over the place. And that to me, and it goes even beyond this year. If you look back over last year, the struggles with this Giants team, Brian Dayball, the offense has been putting points on the board, finishing drives. And so as much as it's, you know, you can say it's about the quarterback or maybe Jackson Dart gives you, you know, a little more versatility or something in your offense that you're going to do different.

24:22You know, this is about creating better opportunities in the red zone. So when you get down there, you score. And when you score, you have opportunities to win some of these games that they haven't won the last couple of years because they can't put points on the board. And so, you know, so this is interesting to me. I've seen this a million times. You know, I saw this happen in Arizona. I was actually benched in a situation like this where, you know, sometimes you start to feel that the coach is starting to feel that the seat is getting a little bit hotter and that, you know, you have to make some kind of move and change to try to spark something inside the locker room because what's going on on the football field just hasn't been good enough.

25:04And I just hope that's not the case here, that you're, you know, throwing Jackson Dart out there with a tough schedule and with all the issues you have offensively, and he's not quite ready or – and even if he's ready, and you're not ready as a team to allow him to have success early and you're just making the move because you have to do something. I don't like when moves are made that way. They don't normally work out really well when moves are made that way. But maybe there is just something that we don't get to see that they're seeing in practice that says, hey, we get an upgrade or we get the ability to open up our offense in a different way with Jackson Dart that we didn't have with Russell Wilson.

25:45and that's what I'll be paying attention to as they move forward is, is there something that looks different that he brings to the table that we didn't get a chance to see from the practice take?

25:57Rich Eisen:Yeah, it could be something in the locker room as well that he's taking a pulse check of his locker room. We just don't know, fair or not. But you and I both saw the Chargers defense. That's no joke, man. That's why I was kind of surprised. Like maybe one more week than you get New Orleans before two out of three weeks against Philadelphia wrapped around a visit to Denver. You know, like that is a tall order. The Chargers are marauding right now. I mean, you could make the case they're one of the best – they are the best team in the NFL right now. Yeah, I mean, and then, you know, you're talking basically four out of five if you're looking at that.

26:33You know, Chargers defense, Philly's defense is really good. We all know Denver's defense. Niners are improved. Yeah, and the Niners defense is playing great. So, yeah, four out of five there. But again, you know, we can look at it from all those different perspectives. Like you said, maybe this is simply just we're not good enough. We need a spark, you know, and fortunately or unfortunately, you know, that's the position that you see change more than any others. You know, you don't pull out your left guard. You know, you don't pull out a linebacker and spark your team, so to speak. It starts and ends oftentimes with that position.

27:12fair or unfair you know to Russell Wilson or Jackson Dart that's the most natural position to go okay we want to make a change and we want to try to you know change things up or like you said you know something different in the locker room or the fan base or whatever that is the quarterback position is the move that's made you know most of the time and let's just hope that it it works out for everybody involved because I hate seeing young guys thrown in too soon, you know, and not having success early. And now they've got to face a whole nother battle of people wondering, are they the guy, you know, or can they save you?

27:51Are they a boss? Like, you know, when they're just getting thrown in to me too early and not quite ready for what the NFL has in store.

27:58Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about the Eagles offense. a lot of conversation about it being simple or overly simple or boom or bust right where uh hurts just finally uh started winging it around i mean i don't know if they took the governor off of anything i i have no idea kurt you you're seeing it your your opinion of the eagles offense and uh and and it's um its effectiveness moving forward is what yeah and we do talk about it being simple and the concepts that they run in their past game are fairly simple but if you know if you're going to take any coach in the world and say okay how would you want to play football okay here's what we're going to do we're going to run the football and when a defense decides that they have to put extra guys in the box to stop us then we get one-on-one on the outside then we'll throw the football and we don't have to get complicated we don't have to fool anybody with our scheme and be all fancy and be one of these gurus.

28:53I got AJ Brown out there one-on-one. So if you want to stop Saquon and add an extra guy, I'm just going to run a simple concept over here to this guy and I'm going to throw it to him one-on-one. Oh, and then you're going to drop into coverage. Okay. Now we'll go back to running the football and doing what we do. And then when you want to change it up again, Hey, we got Devante Smith over there. You go one-on-one, we'll throw it to him. And so I understand, you know, I'm a quarterback. I love the X's and O's. I love design and plays and the new thing. But I think if any coach out there, you know, could say, this is how we want to play.