Hour 1: Steelers-Lions Reactions, Bears’ Amazing Comeback, plus Hall of Famer John Elway

0:00Rich Eisen:This Father's Day, do more with dad and spend less with low prices guaranteed at The Home Depot. Get him fired up with a new grill and accessories, like the Nexgrill 5 Burner for just$299, so you can spend more time together while he becomes the grill master he was always meant to be. Or build memories with savings on top brand power tools, so you can tackle projects side by side. Gift more and do more together this Father's Day with help from The Home Depot. Exclusions apply. See homedepot.com slash price match for details. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds.

0:40Rich Eisen:Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. 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.

1:19Rich Eisen:Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles Today's guest Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner Full Week 16 Recap And now, it's Rich Eisen well hey everybody welcome this edition of the rich eisen show we have not one but two hall of famers on the program john elway first up kurt warner after that and then our number three you're the hall of famers we'll take your phone calls throughout 844-204-rich is the number to dial right here week 16 was off the hook drunk however you want to call it so much to talk about the college football playoffs was quite sober.

2:25Rich Eisen:And so there's lots to talk about in the football world with you. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial whether you're watching us on Disney Plus or the ESPN app or you're listening to us on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance or Sirius XM Channel 80. The Overreaction Monday podcast about the crazy Week 16 is already up for you to check out on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show or wherever you get your podcasts. Hopefully you're just already on our RSS feed for all three hours of this show every single day. And Chris Brockman and I already recorded it. So, Chris, we're in the second part of our doubleheader today.

3:03Rich Eisen:Yeah, buddy. Great to see you. Good to see you, DJ Mikey Diaz and D's Nuts back in this year. TJ Jefferson, the candle is lit. Good to see you, sir. What's up, fellas? Good to see all of you out there. So much to discuss. Monday Night Football between the 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts. if the Niners, who had their playoff ticket punched by the loss, if you will, of the Chicago Bears winning on Saturday night, and then the 49ers just chilling out the loss by the Detroit Lions. Aaron Rodgers punched two playoff tickets in beating the Detroit Lions. He punched the playoff tickets of, yes, the Chicago Bears, and also the 49ers, they're already in the playoffs.

3:44Rich Eisen:They could still win the one seed if they beat Phillip Rivers tonight. the Indianapolis Colts loss puts three AFC teams in it the Buffalo Bills the Los Angeles Chargers who are red hot but everybody's having their beer held by the smoking hot Jacksonville Jaguars all three of those teams get in the playoffs if the Indianapolis Colts lose tonight so that's what's at stake on Monday night football we'll get you ready for that game uh 844-204-RICH again the number to dial it's crazy man what's going on in week 16 we saw the way the thursday night football game between the rams and the seahawks ended then we saw the way the saturday night game between the bears and the packers ended both games in overtime both games with a walk-off score the first ever two-point conversion walk-off in overtime history with the Seahawks taking that and then Caleb Williams going up top to call ball game on the throw to DJ Moore and then comes the Steelers and the Lions and the way that game ended but before that the Pittsburgh Steelers were putting the bang thing on the Detroit Lions in the house where the Lions play much better football this year than not.

5:04Rich Eisen:And I know Pittsburgh Steelers fans on the western part of the great state of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It's not going to twist. It's a Commonwealth. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. On the eastern part of the Commonwealth, there's been a lot of hand wringing and craziness about the conversation in relation to the 2023 season coming back again in the form of the 2025 season for the eagles and i said relax the raiders and the commanders are coming up and those are winnable games get right games and the eagles have gotten right and they have now gone back to back as the nfc east champions the first repeat champions of that division since the eagles did it in the first two years of nfl network's creation and on the opposite end of the state i wasn't feeling so comfortable about telling the steelers fans to relax because aaron rogers had already said i'm not telling them to relax we're good tranquilo and he's the one who came up with the r-e-l-a-x business to begin with and i was i'll be honest with you with them going six and six and then beating the ravens i was wondering if this was going to turn out any different than the last handful of seasons in Pittsburgh where they limp into the playoffs and get one and done in the playoffs and just as a for instance two seasons ago they gave a whirl to Kenny Pickett who got hurt and then they gave a whirl to Mitchell Trubisky and then I was in Indianapolis calling a Saturday game between the Steelers and the Colts when Mike Tomlin handed Mason Rudolph a mop and said, clean up on Isle Trubisky here, and it was too late for that, but Rudolph started the rest of the season, got the Steelers to the playoffs, then got one and done by the Ravens.

7:05Rich Eisen:And then last year, they started with Justin Fields, handed things off to Russell Wilson, who went 6-2, and then started to fall off the radar screen. And by the time they get to the playoffs, they get one and done. Russell Wilson, by yes, the Baltimore Ravens. And, you know, this time around, pardon me, the Bills are the ones who knocked out the Steelers the year before. But this time around, the Rudolph Rodgers ticket, the Rodgers-Rudolph ticket, pardon me, who's at the top of that ticket, is better than the Wilson ticket or the Rudolph ticket or the Pickett ticket or the Trubisky ticket. Aaron Rodgers is playing some of his best football in a handful of years.

8:06Rich Eisen:better than obviously his jet year being healthy better than his last year as a green bay packer the only non-playoff season in the lafleur era to date and he is just making plays neck up nimble in the pocket he's he's locked in and just like some of those packers years where you look at the roster outside of, say, Devontae Adams, you're like, who else are you throwing to? They're all making plays for him now. All of them. And they got Jalen Warren coming up with two rushing touchdowns of 45 yards. Last dealer to do that in the same game was John Frenchy Fuqua. Really? 55 years ago. Wow. Kenneth Gainwell coming up with an Antonio Freeman.

9:01Rich Eisen:and he did what type of catch right before the end of the first half. As Lions fans have got to be like, how many times is Rodgers going to have a prayer answered in this building before the end of a half? It's kind of stupid. Took a 10-3 game and made it a tie game, going right into halftime, and the momentum switched from there on out. Jonu Smith is running with the football. MVS is catching the football. DK Metcalf is catching the football when he's not catching hands with a fan. fan. We'll talk about that. That was crazy. Let's catch a fade real quick. And they got a wagon in Darnell, Washington.

9:40Rich Eisen:His hits that he is delivering to people, the power from that could electrify an entire United States city, it feels like. And by the way, Steelers, listen, I don't want to accuse you of not being honest, but you're listing him at 264. Like, what are we talking about? He told Pat a couple weeks ago he's 311. Bro. 2-64. Wait, he said he was 3-11? Yeah. Tomlin's coaching his head off. Arthur Smith is dialing up plays. They are playing football. Hey, Steelers fans, you've got to admit this. This looks better. It feels different than the previous limping into the playoffs years. They are one win away at Cleveland next week or against the Ravens in Week 18 at home away from clinching the division.

10:31Rich Eisen:hosting a playoff game, taking on a five seed that's going to be stout. But I'll tell you what, man, going from Pittsburgh into Detroit, it helps to have a guy like Aaron Rodgers who's like, this is my 19th career winning against this team. You know that end zone that I was thrown into? You know, I've thrown Hail Marys here before. It's nothing. You know what I mean? It's different. It feels different. And this team that couldn't win a game, figuratively, without TJ Watt, because in the 12 times prior to this last, I can't even call it an injury, what he suffered, but he's missed the last two games.

11:14Rich Eisen:They've only, in the 12 previous times, they did win only one game. That's it, one in 11. They've now won two in a row without him. The defense is balling out. and this offense can light you up. And Jared Goff still threw three touchdowns against him, but it wasn't enough. Wasn't enough. And the Steelers are getting it done. We're not going to apologize for winning. You can't. They're getting it done, man. They are getting it done. Coming up, they came up the defense with the first quarterback sack in the end zone for a safety. for Pittsburgh since Brett Kiesel stripped sack Tom Brady in 2011.

12:00Rich Eisen:Wow. So the defense is making plays. The offense with Rodgers is clicking. Here we go. Hashtag. He's a lot of great beer. Okay, and so. Here we go. Here we go. There's that. And for the Detroit Lions, you know, I think this is going to end poorly. they have to win out and have the packers lose out and the packers are home against the ravens team that just lost on sunday night football and lamar jackson was wincing with each syllable at his post-game presser in front of his locker because he took a knee to the back yeah snoop huntley said he could barely move it could be snoop huntley versus um malik willis but malik willis if jordan love doesn't answer the bell because his bell got completely wrong Malik Willis damn near beat the Bears and so I don't know if the Lions are going to have to win at Minnesota and then beat the Bears at home I mean in Chicago and the Bears are way better right now in every phase than the Lions and that's a fact and so the Lions may have to just read at the end of the day, they're still alive, but at the end of the day, they may have to just sit there and say, we have to remake both lines because the weaponry around golf is second to none.

13:33Rich Eisen:We may have to remake both lines and then have whatever seance we need to have to satisfy the football injury gods that keep on hammering our defense and secondary in particular. and then dan campbell will just have to at some point kick a field goal in the first quarter just kick one go ahead just amass points and see how that goes like keith olberman back in the day when i was starting off sports center would be coming up to me and go nope not yet and i would go what do you mean by that i was a new sports center i go nope not yet i'm like what do you mean keith by that and he would basically say you're joking way too much you're not you're not taking this in in a manner where you can dial it back so try one show where you do one highlight without a joke and then do two highlights without a joke and then do one segment without a joke and then do one show without a joke and then do that 15 times over and you're going to dial it back to the point where you're going to hit a sweet spot and again i'm just wondering now they did go for it if that's we just got to dial it it back a little bit.

14:46Rich Eisen:They did go for it on fourth down and scored a touchdown in the 100th successful fourth down conversion of Dan Campbell's terrific coaching career in Detroit. It may not be over. The Packers may lose out to lose their playoff spot on a four-game losing streak. That's what's going to have to happen for Detroit to have to win out.

15:10Rich Eisen:So it's entirely possible if Detroit loses out that we would see only the seventh instance of the Super Bowl era in which both one seeds from the previous year's playoffs miss it the next. That is an entire possibility right now. Because the Chiefs are already out. And the Lions would be out as well. Last time it happened was the year after the Packers and Titans were the one seeds in the 2021 playoffs and then missed it in 2022 when rogers lost to the lions on the last game of the season and it was his last game as a green bay packer and now here he's beaten the lions for the first time since puts the lions on the precipice returns the dagger if you will into the lions while also talk about strange bedfellows punching the playoff ticket for the Chicago Bears.

16:09Rich Eisen:Go figure. All part and parcel of a crazy week 16. The way this game ended, we didn't even talk about that yet. We will. DK Metcalf contacting a fan. We didn't talk about that yet. We will. I've got a top five list before we get out of Dodge of the top wildest plays of week 16. Trust me, I could have done a 10 play power ranking list on it. Kurt Warner is going to join us. We've got to talk about the Jaguars being on fire. And then, of course, there's a college football playoffs, you know, providing what we thought it would, which is not much. First round. 844-204-RICH, nobody to dial. The Duke is waiting.

16:57Rich Eisen:I cannot believe I left him waiting. John Elway's going to join us, everybody. He is next right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Could have been a Yankee, John. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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19:01Rich Eisen:Guess who this is about? Oh, yeah. Hall of Famer John Elway joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Great to see you, John. Rich, great to see you. Look at you, man. Look at you. The Duke is on my screen right now. It's so cool. Let's just jump into the here and now before we hit the Wayback Machine. You're two cents on what we're seeing out of the Broncos. And obviously, they just got hit in the mouth by the Jaguars. What do you think, John? You know what? They've had a great year. You know, they won 11 in a row and they came in and Jacksonville played great. You've got to hand it to them, and I think that it's at the time now that they still control their own destiny, and they've got two left, and so you never like to lose football games, but sometimes this might be a good thing for them.

19:45You never know, but I think that they've had a tremendous year, and they've got a short week, got to get refocused going into Kansas City, but I think they have as good a chance as anybody, and they've won a lot of tight games. They've come back several times in the fourth quarter, So I, you know, I like the football team. I like what they're doing. And I think Bo's had a great year. And I like what Bo just said and the fact that, you know, you get hit in the mouth sometimes and sometimes it wakes you up a little bit. And it might have been a good thing.

20:14Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, you also know what it looks like to have a defense potentially help the Broncos ride to a championship, you know, 10 years ago. Right. I mean, like, and it's in the same spot at Super Bowl 50 this year, Super Bowl 60, John. Yeah. So you hope that helps for sure. But, you know, I think the key thing, Rich, is they control their own destiny. And if they win those next two, obviously they've got the Chargers coming in the last week. And there's going to be a lot on the line there. So it'll be an exciting finish. Are you seeing any similarities between that Super Bowl 50 team that you put together, John, and the one that's being put together for a Super Bowl 60 run?

20:50Rich Eisen:Do you think? Well, yeah. I mean, I think because, you know, Super Bowl 50, you know, we were so good on the defensive side. And, you know, I think we're 19th in the league in offense. But, you know, one key factor we had there was we had the Peyton Manning factor there and the fact that, you know, anytime he was on the field, everybody thought we could win a football game. And so I just, you know, they're still playing great defense. I think the offense has come a long way. I think Bo has got better week in and week out. He's still young and still makes some mistakes. But I think that, you know, he's got the potential to be a great one in this league for a long time.

21:20And, you know, the experience he's getting is great. And so, you know, the next two weeks are two big weeks for him. And I'm sure that, you know, they'll come out and play well. But I think, you know, to me, when I look back, I think I think this was this team probably a little more well-rounded than we were. And the fact that, you know, offensively, I think they're a little more explosive than we were.

21:37Rich Eisen:Isn't that interesting? Because obviously Peyton Manning neck up can't get any better than that. We also know, obviously, his his physical status, if you will, for in that Super Bowl 50 year. Your conversations with Knicks, have you had any at all, John? No, I have. You know, I've had a chance to meet him a couple of times, spent a little bit of time around him, but haven't had a chance to spend a whole lot of time around him. But, you know, I like everything that he's about, you know, and he continues. He's a great competitor and he continues to get better week in and week out. I think, you know, and I I really think Sean Payton's done a heck of a job to me.

22:09You know, it's amazing that he's not mentioned a lot about, you know, coach of the year. But I think Sean's done a tremendous job with that football team in a short period of time. And, you know, the mindset's right. And the fact that every game they go into, they believe they can win.

22:22Rich Eisen:When you dead cap somebody to the tune of eighty five million bucks like they did with Ross, right? and then you have to draft a quarterback and go with him, and he winds up being the sixth quarterback in the first 12 picks of a first round. You're like, uh-oh, how are you going to win in his first contract, which is what you want to do in this day and age, certainly when you're paying another person franchise quarterback money to not play for you, and they've won 22 times, and they can be the one seed this year. Absolutely. And I think that to win 11 games in a row in this league is very, very difficult.

22:57It doesn't happen very often. I think what I'm impressed with was with Bo's maturity. I think when you play the experience he had coming out of college when he played 62 college football games, I think that's a big, big help when you get into the NFL and having that experience and that maturity level. I think we've seen that in the first two years with Bo and it's just going to continue to get better and better.

23:18Rich Eisen:All right, let's hit some of the way back machine, John, slowly but surely. John Elway here in support of Elway streaming now exclusively on Netflix directed by Ken Rogers who is truly one of the greatest in the history of NFL films is exactly the sort of guy that you'd want to have directing your documentary and this Netflix special John Elway here on the Rich Eisen show your conversation with Peyton Manning when you first connected with him and he was no longer a cult what was that conversation Elway to Manning like John? Well, you know, I think that, you know, the key thing for me, you know, because I think there, you know, there's three other, four other teams involved.

23:56And I just wanted to show him what, you know, show him what Denver was all about, what the Broncos were all about, show him the organization. And I think that, you know, John Fox is our head coach, who was, you know, a very, you know, great guy, great coach, and won a lot of football games with Mike McCoy being the offensive coordinator. So I think it was to show him what we're all about, because we knew it wasn't going to be a hard sell for us. It was going to lay out what we had, what we could provide for him, allow him to come in here and really be involved in what he had done in the previous 14 years or 13 years in the league and to be able to adapt the offense to what he was comfortable doing.

24:33And so we were able to do that. And I think Peyton was – he's a guy that is going to make his own decisions. And it was – I didn't want to put a hard sell on him. I just wanted to be, I wanted to have him feel welcome and also just show every good thing that we had about the Denver Broncos. Obviously, I'm biased having played for him for 16 years and been in the front office with him. And so I just want to show him what Denver was all about, what the Broncos were all about, what the coaching staff and everything was all about, and let him make that decision and try not to pressure him. We didn't want to pressure him at all, and I think that was the key thing.

25:09Rich Eisen:When did you find out that it was done? You know, he actually called me. I got a call from him, and I was sitting at my desk, and, you know, he said, well, I'm making some phone calls, letting everybody know what I'm going to do, and I was wondering if I was the first call, the second call, or the third call. Yeah. Unfortunately, I was the third call, and he told me that he was going to come and join us here in Denver, which was obviously – and John Fox was sitting right next to me, and we both gave the touchdown sign when he said that. I'm thrilled to have him. and obviously finished his career on a great note, on a tremendous career that he did have.

25:46Rich Eisen:So he called and offered regrets before he called and confirmed, is what you're saying. He did. And that's where I was wondering. As soon as he said that, I was wondering, oh, oh, which number call are we? And so I think the one team that I was really concerned about was Tennessee, just because of the history in Tennessee and having been down there. But, you know, I think that Peyton realized, you know, the best fit was here for him in Denver. And, you know, and it turned out that way. All right. Let's hit the Wayback Machine now for real. I want your favorite Pat Bowlin story, John Elway. Give me your...

26:20Pat Bowlin? Yes. Well, you know, I wish I had a favorite one. There's so many of them. But I think the one thing about Pat Bowlin that I, you know, love so much is he was such a player's owner. I mean, he was at practice every single day. He was a great competitor. You know, competing in the Ironman. And, you know, he'd work out at 3 o 'clock every afternoon on the button and never missed a day. But just, you know, he was a great competitor and really cared about his players. And, you know, the great thing with Pat was every, you know, because he had a place in Hawaii. And so every time we'd go over to the Pro Bowl, I think, you know, Pat would host us over there and take us to his house and take us out to dinner.

27:00And, you know, he really allowed us to get to know him and the type of guy that he was, which obviously was a guy that wanted to win. And every resource he could throw at winning, he would throw at winning.

27:12Rich Eisen:So how difficult was it for him to not win the big one for as long as you guys were chasing it together? Well, I think it was probably just as hard on him as it was on me, because I think that's what he wanted. He wanted that world championship, especially in the 80s when we were there three times and didn't play well in those Super Bowls and ended up losing. and that was eight years before we had a chance to go back. So, you know, he was working as hard as anybody trying to get us back, you know, get us back to the Super Bowl and get the right people in, you know, on the coaching staff as well as the players.

27:44And, you know, it was just, you know, a great guy and a guy that, you know, is dearly missed every day.

27:49Rich Eisen:So, I mean, in the times I've been so fortunate to interview and chat with somebody like you or somebody on your status of Mount Rushmore like you, Joe Montana, I've talked to him about his famous drive in the Super Bowl to beat the Bengals. And he how he mentioned he saw John Candy before he took the huddle. What was your mind like taking the huddle to start the drive, John? Well, you know, it's funny that was, you know, in Cleveland. And I mean, it was cold and, you know, we were it was it been a battle the whole day. And, you know, we went we went down 20 to 13. And then, you know, we fumbled the kickoff.