Hour 1: Penix Surgery, Shedeur QB1, LeBron Returns, plus NFL Network’s Kurt Warner

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1:00Rich 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 richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. He's a poet. Rich Eisen. My God, he is so funny. He is a brilliant, brilliant creator. But you know, he is also so serious. He's in charge of every detail. The Rich Eisen Show.

1:44Rich Eisen:Today's guests. Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner. Dodgers catcher, Will Smith. Host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

2:06Rich Eisen:hey everybody what's happening welcome to the rich eisen show yeah and uh it's just me and tj because rich's mic is not working it's a wednesday how are you guys doing today chris brockman how you doing everybody welcome to this edition of the rich eisen show there we go everybody hey i'm working buttons we were here on the program good to see everybody here on Disney Plus, the ESPN app and ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance. Good to chat with everybody here on the program. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial on this show. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockley. Hey, Rich, what's up, man?

2:41Rich Eisen:You put you to work already? Yeah, ready to go. You got to get into a heart attack. Good to see you, Mike. We just want to scramble. I was going to run over there. CJ Jefferson candles lit over there. Good to see you. We stay ready, Rich, so we ain't got to get ready. I appreciate you saying all of that. What I do, baby. Hey, there's lots to talk about on this program. LeBron James tipped off season number 23 for him last night here in Los Angeles, California. He looked good. Lakers look great. They're 11-4. We'll talk about that on this program. Kurt Warner is going to be first up talking about everything that we saw in week number 11.

3:09Rich Eisen:We'll turn the page a little bit to week number 12. Hey, Los Angeles fans, certainly listening out there on ESPN 710 here in Los Angeles. Will Smith, the Dodgers catcher who hit the World Series, essentially winning home run, and also gave everyone here in Los Angeles a heart attack by lifting his foot up off the plate for a split second as IKF was coming in with his foot of his own in that legendary Game 7 moment. He's going to join us. And I have questions. I have questions for him. Could you imagine the entire World Series was inside a replay machine for a split moment involving his foot and he had to wonder what's going to come out of it?

3:52Rich Eisen:I mean, I don't have to imagine. come out happened yeah no i i understood it was happening what i'm saying he had to wonder you know did i did i get it back down in time right and for how long how long was that moment for him um for instance and what did it look like from him to watch andy pa has run all over kike and bulldoze him to keep the game alive yeah from that point of view from all the way back there what's it like to to catch shohei what's it like to catch uh yamamoto i mean you know what i mean like he caught every inning of that world series he did and he was coming back from injury too late in the year does that i mean this involve a cold tub and you know why did he slap um chris rock okay no wait a minute i want to talk about independence being told no different will smith and how many times have you heard that joke uh 844-204-H number to dial mike florio as well and everything going on in the national football league and here's what's going on when michael Penix Jr.

4:48Rich Eisen:got drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. Everyone was sitting right there at that draft saying what's up with that? Because Kirk Cousins just left Minnesota to be your starting quarterback and you just paid in gajillions of dollars and you went ahead and used a draft choice instead of to support this veteran quarterback in his final dotage years in the National Football League to try and go all in on that basket in the same way the Jets were doing with Aaron Rodgers at the time not knowing that the Steelers were going to do the same thing with Rodgers in a couple years. But I got ahead of myself. We were all sitting there going what are the falcons thinking by taking a quarterback at all let alone one who is you know arguably coming into this draft that has since as we've seen put drake may drake may into the ether and we see what he's doing now jayden daniels was the unicorn last year and we see what bo nicks has become there and we're waiting for jj mccarthy to still show up regularly like he did in michigan winning a national championship there and caleb williams my goodness gracious now is a seven and three nfc north leading into week 12 quarterback yeah finally finally looks like the number one overall pick um but penix out of all of them was believed to be the most pro ready because he's also you know uh what a brandon whedon uh you know uh age a little older okay he's 24 and he also boy does he have that gorgeous spiral like an nfl film spiral and a rocket arm, but also a surgically repaired knee multiple times over, having suffered not one, not two, not three, but four season-ending injuries in his college career where he was all over the map.

6:24Rich Eisen:But that's not his fault. It's part and parcel of the way things are going in college football now. So you're drafting somebody that a lot of people thought they didn't need, and then they drafted somebody whose availability wasn't always his best ability. and sure enough they needed him last year because kirk cousins started falling apart at the seams coming off of an achilles injury of his own right and um they turned to peddicks save the season kid he couldn't he tried then he gets the starting job this year and everyone's wondering are you going to get rid of kirk cousins now and the answer was no it doesn't matter how expensive of he is we may need him and we were all like wink wink all right that's just uh you trying to cover the fact and cover some tracks of drafting pennix and having a a bad signing and you're definitely gonna offload him at some point nobody knocked on the door to their liking with an offer they held on to him pennix missed one game with a bone bruise on the knee this year didn't look great for cousins in that game tua and the dolphins started planting their feet and pirouetting on their season we'll see how much more winning they can do but here we are now on this week 12 wednesday with the atlanta falcons having lost in overtime at home to the carolina panthers in a game where they not only lost drake london with any injury but lost panics with one to and we find out today season ending knee surgery from michael pennix jr and it's yet another acl injury partially torn thank goodness but this was the concern about him and it's not fair to bring up his injury history at this moment except for the fact that the falcons have a season on the line and unbelievably the person they're turning to to save it is the guy they turned away from last year and turned to Penix to save it, and Kirk Cousins, who's still there.

8:32Rich Eisen:And it's a much bigger hole from which the Falcons are asking Cousins to dig out of, rather than the one that Cousins handed to Penix last year. Dire straits for the Atlanta Falcons, who are now looking up in the standings at a Carolina Panthers team that has already swept them this year for the first time since 2013. Atlanta 3-7 they're not even in the sniffing it category when we show you the NFC standings here and we're very lenient on the sniffing it portion we're generous we expand the circle to 4-5-1 teams but after that we've got to turn our back on you they're not even in the mix right now and Atlanta's next game is at New Orleans before they visit the Jets and then they're home for Seattle at Tampa on a Thursday night, mid-December.

9:27Rich Eisen:And even more damning, they do not own their first-round pick next year. That belongs to the Rams because they traded back into it for more defensive pass rush help, which has been an improvement this year. An improvement this year.

9:43Rich Eisen:So, it looks like the Falcons are in a position where they couldn't even have imagined they'd be in right now. or certainly they hoped they wouldn't be in with panics not there because he hurt a knee that a lot of red flags were flying about. I mean, do we all have them in the playoffs this year or did you choose them to win the division? I think I might have. Their offense is stacked and improved defense. It's all right there. By the way, Drake London might not play this week either. It looks like he's not because of that aforementioned knee injury. Meanwhile, in the Cleveland Ranch, Berea, Ohio, Kevin Stefanski, the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, said the words that we thought he would eventually say this year.

10:30Rich Eisen:It just wouldn't be because they traded away both their veterans and the rookie drafted in front of him can't go because he's got a concussion. Finally, the words have been said. Hit it. Shador's going to start at quarterback. Dylan is still in the concussion protocol. He is improving. But obviously, we've got to put a plan together for all of our players, all of our offense, our defense, our special teams, plan of attack and give our guys a chance to go execute and play fast. That's the goal. Okay. So just to interpret that for you, play fast. Just to go ahead and play fast. And offense, defense, special teams, it's not just about one guy but nice try to play fast meaning we're not going to have somebody back there thinking we're not going to have somebody back there unfamiliar with x y and z maybe simplify the playbook play fast not think instincts kid has instincts that's for darn sure and um we will see what it looks like that interpretation is like simplify the playbook and we're going to put stuff in specifically for him so he can play fast we can all play fast obviously the most uh successful thing would be for him to turn to quinchon judkins and say go run and run away from 99 because they're playing max crosby that's number one you want to play fast run away from him sort of full-on monty python run away and that means they're going to surround him with support yes take a listen to how kevin stefanski uh answered the question about the reps they're going to give any is it bailey zappy who's next is he is he i think he is uh next in line just get him ready in case what's gonna happen what's gonna happen here pretty much like the vast majority of those no he'll get every rep he'll get every rep so i guess for those out there who thought they were uh uh sabotaging him or i guess what sabotaging the system i don't say sabotage you say sabotage i say sabotage okay that's right Who is that?

12:59Rich Eisen:That's William Shatner. That's like a 60-year-old quarterback. All right. Sabotage system. You say sabotage. No, I don't say sabotage. You say sabotage. I say sabotage. I mean, he's the starting quarterback. He better be getting every rep. That's the whole point, though, is they weren't sabotaging him by not giving him every rep. Yeah. Okay? All right? And perfect example. And again, Shador is not the first backup quarterback to get in there without a single rep with the ones all season long. Right? Most backup quarterbacks? Not most. All of them don't get them. I don't get any. Here's a story.

13:39Rich Eisen:I was going to tell it yesterday. I'll tell it now. As the story goes, Tom Moore, the great Tom Moore, old man football, right? He was on, you know, honestly, he makes Wilford Brimley look like Benjamin Button, right? And so good old Tom Moore when he was with the Peyton Manning Colts. He's 87 right now. God bless him. If you ever have the chance to talk football with him, you got to do it. Because at some point, I mean, you know that Lou Duva commercial I used to be in on SportsCenter? you know where these bleeped out in the commercial because they couldn't put five continuous words that were safe for work together in the edit bay to exclude we'll just bleep them out in a commercial where we could edit things out um tom moore would be just like that he's still coaching he's a senior offensive system with the bucks yeah oh yeah wow so um as the story goes somebody asked him if the Colts give Peyton Manning's backup any reps in practice with the ones and his answer was no why not well because if Peyton's not playing we're effed and we don't practice effed that was his answer wow great answer right it kind of just tough if if he doesn't play we're effed And that's not in the playbook.

15:10Rich Eisen:You know, so I get it. But the question is, is it took so damn long to get to this point? What does that mean for their thoughts about Shador? And guess what? That is now all out the window because they are all in the same boat. It could be the USS F. You know what I mean? It could. but Shador is going to have an NFL start on Sunday in Las Vegas against a wins challenge Raiders team. He is going to have a full week of you're the starter preparation. He can walk around the building in the manner in which he's probably been dreaming of walking around an NFL building. I am the starting quarterback of fill in the blank.

16:05Rich Eisen:I am the guy who's going to be leading the huddle. I am leading the team this week. I am the team leader. I am the guy who's in the playbook. I am the guy talking to the OC and the HC about what I'm comfortable with. And they are setting me up to succeed. And no matter what happened on draft weekend, and no matter the way you read, the way he's handling his business, or the way the Browns were handling their business at the position, they are all in the same boat. And it's either Shador Sanders, captain of the USS Browns,

16:47Rich Eisen:or they are on the USS F'd, and the Raiders are going to have a lot to do with it. But I can't wait to see it. browns at raiders where by the way you know you know one-on-one may be effed the most don't worry disney plus i'll stop using that word or espn radio presented by progressive insurance um it could be geno smith because miles garrett is bringing his tombstones to vegas and they can't protect geno Browns can win this game but I can't wait to see it. That was higher register. Nope. That's tomorrow's show. Do you think anyone will score a touchdown in this game? Yes, of course. Absolutely.

17:35Rich Eisen:Of course? Yes. Absolutely. You've watched them both play football before, right? I have. A few times. Have we watched Jador play football in a week in which I've talked about the preparation? Have we seen that yet? It may not matter. Okay. Have we seen Chip Kelly maybe coordinate this thing in a way that's going to dial it up? No, he has not proven. You've seen it a couple times? I'm just saying. I don't know. Never say never. I think the under is a great play this week. That's all I'm saying. What is it? What's that number? 36, which seems kind of high. Hmm. Okay. Do you pick up what I'm putting down?

18:10Rich Eisen:Absolutely. All that business of, like, why didn't they draft him? Why wasn't he drafted? Why did he have to jump in the pool after the fifth round finally? Do they want him? Why are they not playing him, you know, in preseason more? even though he got hurt after the performance that he had against, by the way, a Carolina Panthers team that turned out to be better than expected. Although, that was back in August against twos and threes and guys who aren't in the league anymore. And why wasn't he this? Why weren't they giving him that? Why were they going to Dylan Gabriel? Why weren't they giving him any this or that?

18:42Rich Eisen:Was he being sabotaged? Is that the proper way to say it, Mike? I don't know. I don't say sabotage. Oh. You say sabotage. I say sabotage. Okay, exactly. I mean, listen to James T. Kirk. William Shiner. I think funny enough, too, him getting the start against the team most people thought he was going to be drafted by. Right. And still could by next year. Listen, I can't wait. We can only hope. That's all out the window. They're now on the USS fill in the blank. We'll find out. I can't wait. Fun week 12 stuff. One thing you said, Rich, real quick about him going in there and walking around like he's the captain of the ship.

19:20I think he should just do what he's been.

19:23Rich Eisen:Stay humble, learn, know that the defense has got to carry you. I'm not saying he's going to do that chest out. There are ways to do that in the manner in which you're describing. And I'm sure he's been dreaming of that. Now he can. He truly can do this in Berea, Ohio for the next few days. What's he going to do on Sunday? Will he force the hand of Stefanski saying, all right, I saw that. You saw that. You saw that in Las Vegas. Next up, we'll see it at home against San Francisco. And then against Cam Ward, a guy who was drafted a gajillion miles in front of him. And then against Caleb. Then against Josh Allen.

20:07Rich Eisen:Then against Aaron Rodgers. And then against Joe Flacco. Isn't Dylan Gabriel the starter when he's healthy? I don't know. I'm just saying he can play the hot hand. Let's go. We'll know by Monday. That's what happens in Vegas. You play hot hands, correct, Christopher? All right. That's true. I think I've hit the point. Speaking of that, let's take a break. Kurt Warner's going to join us next. This is the Rich Eisen Show on a busy Wednesday.

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22:57Rich Eisen:Back on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance, my Hall of Fame friend Kurt Warner is here. All right, you don't have the x-ray in front of you. you you you're not uh right there to talk to aaron rogers but i'm just wondering if he does have that fracture in his wrist and his non-throwing hand off hand i guess um yeah what what what are the challenges do you think that present his ability to play in a game that you know he wants to play in soldier field you know he wants to do that he's already voiced that to tomlin what what are your thoughts on the challenges that face him to get out there yeah i mean i think the biggest his challenge just from a playing standpoint would be, of course, handoffs.

23:42You know, what are they going to do to that risk? Do they have to cast it up, which would probably, you know, go into part of the hand. And so, you know, would he be able to grip the ball? You know, we've talked about it, you know, when I dislocated my left elbow, you know, back in, in 07, you know, I handed off with my right hand in both directions. And so, I mean, And without a doubt, that's something Aaron Rodgers could do and I think get comfortable with. It didn't take long to figure that out. You know, so that's that's a possibility, you know, and then just, you know, security of the football, you know, with both hands.

24:18Obviously, you know, what does that mean for that? But again, when it's your offhand, you know, and I would assume they do something to help with the pain part of it. you know there's not a whole lot that that's going to you know throw you off with you know outside of those those little things that I'm talking about.

24:37Rich Eisen:Okay and then obviously Caleb Williams where do you stand on his development now 11 weeks into the season Kurt? Yeah I a he's developing which is to me the exciting part is that you just want to see growth and I've seen growth in a lot of different areas with with Caleb in in this offense is you know growth in And, you know, him fighting to stay in the pocket and go through his progressions. You know, growth in what I love, you know, this past week is that the stats weren't necessarily great. It wasn't a great offensive performance. But I thought he made a bunch of positive plays when there wasn't a whole lot there to be had.

25:15And that positive play might just be throwing the ball away instead of, you know, running around and taking a big sack or trying to, you know, wing some 40-yard throw down the field. or maybe that's just getting to a check down because, you know, it's not clear to him. And so I thought he made a lot of positive plays in this game. And that to me is a sign of maturity is that it's not, man, every play has to be a home run. Every play I have to, you know, whirl around and run around and try to make a big throw. I think he's growing in all of those areas. There's still room to grow, being more comfortable with the progression part of it and being more fluid with that.

25:52You know, to me, learning how to take something off the football, you know, so many of his balls are fastballs and they're hard to catch. And, you know, if they're off just a little bit, it's really tough on his receiver. So there's some growth I want to see in some of those other areas. But just, you know, from where he was last year and how he would get stuck on his reads and get stuck in the pocket and take sacks and not able to work through things. And I think he's made a whole bunch of progress. And the beautiful thing is that they're winning while he's making progress, that he's not a finished product yet, and neither is his team, but they're still winning.

26:26They're finding ways to win, and he's competing his butt off, and he's making plays when they need him to make plays. And that's half the battle as you're going through this process of learning how to win and building the Ben Johnson culture.

26:39Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen Show. As you know, in our years on NFL Game Day Morning, We have a lot of fun with you asking if this is the most complete Chiefs team of the Mahomes era over and over and over and over again. I don't think we'll be asking that of you this coming week. Now the Chiefs are in that other barrel that we've been asking over the last couple of years is what's wrong with the Chiefs? What's up with the Chiefs? Is there anything wrong with the Chiefs? I know I just asked you three different questions, but it's all part and parcel of the same, you know, I guess, pew, right?

27:10Rich Eisen:So what is wrong with the Chiefs, Rittler? Well, I mean, what's wrong, first of all, is that they're not dominant in any area. And, you know, for a while there, they were dominant on offense and their defense was middle of the pack and they had to bring their defense along. And then for a while, it was the defense is really good. And the offense is kind of just picks its moments and it's got 15 and they find a way on offense. But they were dominant on defense. Now, when you watch them, they're not dominant in any area. You know, there is nothing to me that they do really, really well. And so they've got nothing to hang their hat on on either side of the ball.