Hour 1: Seahawks’ ‘Dark Side’ Defense, Darnold’s Journey, Patriots’ Aftermath

0:00Rich 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. Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL playoffs are here. First, Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then, Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger's Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts.

0:42Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. only on ESPN and the ESPN app. 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. Man. Ball comes out. Going the other way with it. Touchdown! This is the Rich Eisen Show.

1:26Take it back to Seattle. Your Super Bowl champ. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. We did it. And now we're world champions. Today's guests, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young, comedian Bert Kreischer. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:49Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. Back here in the Los Angeles studios of the Rich Eisen Show here on this post Super Bowl 60 Monday edition of the program. Happy to have you with us here today. Whether you're watching us on Disney Plus or the ESPN app, Hour 3 is going to be on ESPN 2 later today. Just a heads up to those who might be listening, walking around, listening to us, driving around on ESPN Radio or Sirius XM Channel 8844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Our phone lines are already lit. Thrilled to be sitting here in this neighborhood. Steve Young, who was introduced prior to the game, hanging out with Green Day on the pregame stage last night with all the returning Super Bowl MVPs like Joe Montana and Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and Jalen Hurts, just to name four.

2:38Rich Eisen:He is going to be joining us in about an hour's time. And then hour three, why not? We break down Super Bowl 60 on ESPN2 with Burt Kreischer. So that's the way we're rolling here on this day. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. What's going on? We could have used Burt on the offensive line last night. That's possible. We'll ask him what he was doing. Could have used a machine. The Bad Bunny of the Rich Eisen Show. Mike DelTufo is here, everybody. From the fields. Buenos dias, Miguel. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. How are you? Don't ever compare Benito to DelTufo, man. Come on, please.

3:12Rich Eisen:Please don't do that. It's Benito. That's Bad Bunny. My bad, sir. My Bad Bunny. How are you doing, man? Man, because you put in work yesterday. I had a bunch of hours on TV and then watched the game with Suze and Cooper and brother-in-law and nephews and then got back here so I could be sitting here chopping up Super Bowl 60 with you. Why not? How's the back of your head? Because I know you said the sun was eating you up. I appreciate that. I am face forward and happy today and thrilled to be covered. So thank you for joining us on this program. The Seattle Seahawks, the best team in the National Football League, and they earned that moniker.

3:52Rich Eisen:They earned it with a team effort. Every phase of football is necessary to be a championship team, and they nailed it. You have to also have outstanding coaching. You also have to have outstanding grocery shopping. That part. And they nailed it. they nailed it they got a team together that got better as the season went along and faced whatever adversity they faced and faced it down and then beat down the opponent that they had placed in front of them every single step of the way with the exception of the Rams who they went ahead and just got through by being the better executing team at the end of the day.

4:51Rich Eisen:They got some breaks too along the way. You got to have those to be straight up honest with you. They got some breaks like New York City chiming in in a week 16 game saying that two point conversion that was an incomplete pass. Hold on a second. But you also have to have somebody smart enough like Zach Charbonnet to pick up a loose football and having no idea he just converted a two point play. that the Seahawks utilized with their stellar, stellar quarterback, who will never, ever look you in the eye and say, I can't, which is why we follow sports. Somebody like Sam Darnold put it all together, and you had a 29-13 score that wasn't really even that close.

5:38Rich Eisen:I was there in that building. It felt over from jump. It really did. because once again, that Seattle defense jumped all over the opponent in front of them. And they were all over that New England offensive line. They dominated the trenches. They dominated the trenches. Kenneth Walker III dominated the running game. Their place kicker dominated the place kicking. And Mike McDonald dominated the coaching. He dominated this team. The minute he took over and he's an unassuming character who has this burning desire and fire. And he's got this totem pole in his locker and in his meeting room where he is placing one helmet on top of the other on top of the other of every team that they have beaten.

6:31Which is a chest thumping way that he does not give off externally of coaching this team.

6:39Rich Eisen:And they respond. honestly last night the um the Seahawks get the ball first they marched down the field they got a little bit of a break I don't know again I'm in the stadium I thought Cooper Cup bobbled that ball a little bit certainly when he went out of bounds but they were on it they got a little bit of a break there they got right on the football and they matriculated a little bit further just enough to get the first three points on the board and then say Drake May Youngen with whatever you got going on on that left side of your offensive line and then whatever you got going on on that right side of your shoulder see what you can do and he couldn't do anything I was sitting um uh in the stands behind the um end zone that Seattle was first trying to score into they were heading towards me to start the game and Drake May was heading away from me in the first quarter and it's one of those game tape views that coaches have from the end zone.

7:39Rich Eisen:I mean, I could see it all. The Seahawks could not do anything but blanket everybody. And thus the Patriots could not do a damn thing. Drake may holding on the ball a little bit too long. Well, for good reason. Yeah. They couldn't get open. Nope. Those defenders were plastering. They were all over what new England was cooking up. and then that offensive line just couldn't hold up. There had to be times this week where Mike Vrabel knew it. Had to be times this week where he's just like, we got our hands full. I just hope we get this break, that break, and that Sam Darnold makes a mistake. After the game, Mike Vrabel was talking about what happened in the middle of this game and what went wrong in this game.

8:28Rich Eisen:and what you're about to hear is a soliloquy of sorts for him where the short answer is what went wrong in this game? Everything. We couldn't gain any rhythm, field position. We got to get into drives better offensively. Defensively, we've been really good against the run lately, and we weren't. And, you know, again, we were just playing catch-up, and we did a great job in the red zone and we competed. But unfortunately, I think the turnovers ultimately costed us, and I appreciate the way that the guys offensively battled and competed, but just not enough consistent execution. Everything. Field position.

9:18Rich Eisen:That's the special teams part of it. Oh, man. They could have made a case that Dixon should have been MVP in the game. Well, at some point, Jason Myers, we were wondering, could you even make a kicker the MVP of the Super Bowl? He was just making the kicks. Yeah. Because Seattle was doing just enough. And Michael Dixon, the punter. Unreal. That he, a couple times, he kicked it straight down the middle to Marcus Jones. And any Jet fan will tell you, that's a mistake. and there were times though when New England was potentially getting like hey we're still in this thing we're just a one touchdown away from leading this game hey it's only nine nothing we're one touchdown away from just getting back in this thing and flipping the entire script and Dixon would cough and corner him there was that one time you know when it was 19-7 and Marcus Jones for whatever reason did not fair catch it and he ran up the field and then the ball got down inside the two-yard line and when I saw that I thought to myself this thing is a wrap again you know May did matriculate the ball well enough but then he threw the interception to Julian Love right over the middle that's another unkind cut for a New York sports fan former giant that the Seattle Seahawks just scooped up and said thank you very much he will we will make him part of a defense that is not only great, but potentially, at the end of the day, generationally great.

10:52I don't know if we have that defensive board at the ready,

10:57Rich Eisen:but I will just read these off for you. The Seattle defense last night, just to give more statistics to what Mike Vrabel basically just said, couldn't get any rhythm, couldn't get any special, we couldn't get any field position, we couldn't do anything. Six sacks for the Seattle defense. 11 quarterback hits. Eight tackles for loss. Three takeaways. One, a pick six. They scored. They got home. They created havoc. They got May off the spot. They got May on the ground. They got May potentially sped up. They got May potentially flustered. And dare I say it, seeing ghosts. that's what they did to new england in super bowl 60 mike mcdonald in victory talking about the process there's always some part of your team that you're trying to attack and improve on but if you stick to the process and um and the process is right you know then then the results will get to where you want but i think what you saw today is just the the end point of a team that has been dedicated to become this team since we walked in the door in April.

12:09It started with our off-season program. Then it went to training camp and how they handled the off-season. And we just did it week by week.

12:20It's coach speak in a way, but it's also because we're all looking for

12:26Rich Eisen:why did this happen? How did a team that wasn't really on many people's radars coming into the season do what they just did? and how can we copy it? How can we as a fan say, look at Seattle, we can do that. Or front offices around the league saying, how did that happen? We have a plan. We have a process. What have they got going on? And I don't know what the answer is because if I did, RES Consulting would be in a lot of other businesses, okay? But again, when you've got a general manager like John Schneider, who is now the first general manager in the history of this great Super Bowl era game.

13:16Rich Eisen:First one to win two Super Bowls with a different head coach and a different quarterback in each of the Super Bowls. and because Howie Roseman's done that and Ozzie Newsom's done that, win two different Super Bowls with a different coach and a different quarterback, okay? And they both did it. But both of them had members of that second Super Bowl win of that team be part of the roster from the first. John Schneider's the first to do it with two completely different rosters. There's not a soul that was on that team in the 53 men in Super Bowl 60 that won Super Bowl 48. Not one. Two different rosters.

14:07Rich Eisen:You got to have that guy have a plan connected to a coach like Mike McDonald who can then send it out into a locker room and connect all of them together in a way. That makes everyone believe and makes everyone execute and makes everyone look at the other man and hold them accountable. And then maraud with every snap of the football with speed and intelligence and grit and determination. And I think I just described the 2025 Seattle Seahawks. You could say that about many champions, obviously, every single year. but this one is quarterbacked by a guy that I think can also personify what I've just said about belief and accountability and excellence in the face of where did this come from and that's Sam Darnold I cannot believe he is a Super Bowl champion Now, again, that's my, you know, perspective of growing up a Jet fan and having a T-shirt that says not the same darn old Jets.

15:35Rich Eisen:Putting belief in Broadway, Sam. Okay. Right. Having that guy go from the Jets to the Panthers and sit there and go, absolutely. Let's see what Zach Wilson's got. Because Sam ain't it. I didn't see anything. He's the guy that couldn't beat the Patriots. He's the guy that couldn't play clean football games. He's the guy that 100 % the new head coach in Robert Sala should not have to own whatever his deficiencies are. He should start something new. Send him to Carolina where he wins three games and he's 3-0 and we were joking here on the Rich Eisen show, hey, it's MVP Sam Darnold. Isn't that funny?

16:30Rich Eisen:We thought we were funny. Well, you know what? Screw it. We were funny.

16:38Rich Eisen:But we were just part of the chorus, really, to be honest. Like, really? Sam Darnold is going to go to Carolina and be the MVP? And then it all fell to crap there. As they got Baker Mayfield as well. two guys from the 2018 class that were asked to leave their place of business that drafted him. Then he goes to San Francisco where he grabs a clipboard. And Christian McCaffrey, who was a guest on our show last week, teammate in both spots, said the thing about Sam Darnold in both spots where he had just been excommunicated by the team that drafted him and then wound up because that was so bad as a backup quarterback.

17:23Rich Eisen:He said that Sam Darnold was the same guy in both spots. Now I'm wondering, when you heard him say that the other day, did you believe it? Not saying that Christian McCaffrey is a liar. I'm just sitting there going, that's tough to believe, right? Really? Same guy? Like he's not getting down or he's not bitter. He's not cynical. He's just putting his nose to the grindstone. really and Christian McCaffrey's like yeah all right okay all right picked up a few things in Camp Shanahan and goes to Minnesota where he gets a slight door open just a slight door open because he's there and they're gonna draft somebody from this 2024 draft class one would think because again Sam Donald's on team four what were we expecting from him and the kid who they drafted and J.J.

18:21Rich Eisen:McCarthy doesn't make it out of preseason healthy out for the season all right Sam it's you we're gonna rally around Sam Donald and we're gonna win essentially what Kevin O 'Connell said and he wins 14 games and his teammates love him and they hoist him on his shoulders after he beats the Packers. Only for us to start believing once again, who is Sam Darnold anyway? Because he hit his head on the ceiling the next week against the Lions and the week after that against the Rams in the playoffs. And it's now time to see what the kids got in J.J. McCarthy. And Darnold is now a free agent, decides to not stay in Minnesota, doesn't look over his shoulder and see J.J.

19:05Rich Eisen:McCarthy standing there. Other options weren't good enough for him, I guess, or welcoming enough for him or comfortable enough for him, and he goes to Seattle, I'll join your group. I'll be your guy. And he's a Super Bowl champion today. It's crazy. This is why we watch sports. Journeys like this. Yeah, but even Seattle wasn't sold. That was essentially a one-year deal. Well, this is what happens in the NFL. When you have opportunity knocking, as I wrote and voiced for our opening tease at the NFL Network for Game Day Morning yesterday, when opportunity knocks on Super Sunday, it's best to answer the door.

19:59Rich Eisen:And you know what? it's not going to be hung in the football louve. But what Sam Darnold did on Super Sunday was exactly what he needed to do. That's it. He got enough field position for Jason Myers to set a Super Bowl record with five field goals. And guess what? But those five field goals on its own would have been enough to win Super Bowl 60 with the Patriots coming up with only 13 because of that defense. And Darnold knows that. Guess what I'm not going to do, said Sam Darnold. I'm not going to pull the pin on the grenade like C.J. Stroud and flip it up into the middle of the Patriots defense when we're up 10-7 in the second quarter of the divisional playoff round in New England.

20:53Rich Eisen:when we've got Drake made down and on the run and seemingly struggling to get first downs. I'm not going to do what Jarrett Stidham did, which is be up 7-0 in an AFC championship game and chest pass one like I'm a member of the Denver Nuggets rather than the Broncos. I'm not going to do that. And the Patriots tried to bait him into that. You saw that. A couple times, he was deep down and back in his own end, and the Patriots were trying to bait him into it. a couple times he did put the ball up for grabs,

21:29Rich Eisen:but he didn't put it essentially in harm's way, didn't make the mistakes. I heard something from my sweet 14-year-old boy, Cooper, who is needing a hug today, diehard Patriot fan. He said words to me during the game that I couldn't believe I was hearing, and it was spot-on true. when the Patriots started having a pulse in that fourth quarter and the Seahawks get the ball back. He goes, man, Sam Donald's just not going to make the mistake. And I thought to myself, when the hell has anybody said that with conviction? And you can 100 % believe it. Probably when he was in high school. Maybe in USC.

22:18Rich Eisen:but it's the truth he didn't make the mistake and then he finds AJ Barner on a beautifully designed and called play by the newest head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders and Clint Kubiak let Kenneth Walker do the rest let his defense do the rest let his punter do the rest and then be Super Bowl champ Sam Darnold is the first from the 2018 class to win a Super Bowl. Not Baker chosen before him. Not Josh Allen chosen after him. Not Lamar Jackson was chosen last in the first round. Allen and Lamar have beaten Sam Darnold to the MVP podium. But Sam Darnold has beaten everyone in that draft class in the first round to the ultimate podium and had this to say about being that guy last night i didn't not believe that i would be the you know it's uh it's just it's special man and it's not you know it's not about that um to me it's never been about that um you know i'm just i'm just doing the best that i can every single day every single day to be the best quarterback for the seattle seahawks that's really what it comes down to and um you know again i didn't have my best stuff today but uh team had my back um our defense our special teams had our back and you know we uh we just played how we always played you know resilient and you know we're uh came out on top so it was pretty special so as you know here on the rich eisen show we we talk amongst ourselves in studio right we talk with you at 844-204-rich number to dial i see the phone lines lit And we talk to guests like Steve Young joining us in a little over half an hour.

24:13Rich Eisen:And we put information in front of you to make you smarter, make you laugh, to just have a conversation, right? But as I like to say, we weave a tapestry around here as well. We like to pull strings from one conversation to the other. and um jordan palmer who's known darnold forever told us a couple weeks ago that darnold is internally motivated he's not externally motivated that he's not a guy who hears what you're saying what we're saying he goes i'll prove these people wrong and that's the way he can do what he just did on his fifth team become the first quarterback in the history of the nfl to win a Super Bowl having played for five teams.

25:00Rich Eisen:The other two quarterbacks who were in a position to be that first couldn't do it. Chris Chandler in Super Bowl 33 and Earl Morrill in Super Bowl three. And here he is Super Bowl 60 champion Sam Darnold. Coaches like that too. They're kind of perfect for each other. Mike McDonald doesn't appear to be externally motivated either. And so that's maybe why Darnold isn't like you know effusive somebody even pointed out to him hey you're smiling you're emotional here's his answer to that it's special I mean you know I shared a great moment with my parents and my fiancee Katie after the game and I think that's what kind of got me a little bit um you know I just I told my me and my dad don't really cry very often and you I told my dad and my mom, but I'm here because of their belief in me.

25:54They believed in me throughout my entire career, and I think that's why I was able to believe in myself almost ad nauseum. Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence, but it was because of my parents, because of the way that they believed in me throughout my entire career. And it allowed me to go out there and play free and have a ton of confidence.

26:19Rich Eisen:Man, talking about mom and dad, believing him on a Super Bowl night where he's a Super Bowl champion and all he does is clear his throat once. He's an assassin. Okay, right. I'd be a puddled mess, but I'm the dad who cries with the son. Does he know that he won the Super Bowl and is going to Disneyland tomorrow? Actually, well, I mean, Kenneth Walker is on his way to Disney. I would imagine they're all going, right? Or Disney, you know, today. Maybe so. Yeah. But because Kenneth Walker's the MVP, and we'll talk about his journey later on because, as you know, I'm all about the journeys. Sam Donald is a Super Bowl champ, and part of that is because he doesn't listen to the Jackals.

26:54You know?

26:56Rich Eisen:I think it was super important, man, because now it shows that you've got to give these guys a chance, you know? Oh, it's all about opportunity knocking and busting down the door when you can, and this entire team soup to nuts from the front office all the way down to, I'm sure, the staffs who don't get the credit that McDonald's put together and the rest of the front office put together. A++, congratulations, Seattle Seahawks fans. You have a team to be proud of and a championship to boast about. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. We'll talk about the Patriots, Kenneth Walker III, and then at the end of the day, me being right about the MVP choice.

27:39Rich Eisen:don't go anywhere we're off and running here on a post super bowl 60 show the rich isa show podcast

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