Hour 2: Trevor Lawrence & Jaguars Keep Rolling, plus NFL Network’s Kurt Warner

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0:155 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink. Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work. Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down. Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live. Fit. Go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. 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.

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1:23On today's show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner Complete Week 17 Recap. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich I Says.

1:39Rich Eisen:Show on the air here on Disney Plus and the ESPN app and ESPN Radio and Sirius XM Channel 80 and this podcast listening group. We greatly appreciate anybody who listens to us all three hours whenever you want on our podcast feed. The RSS feed just dropped another overreaction Monday pod. Chris Brockman and I recorded it so much to overreact to with more teams dropping out of the playoff picture and, of course, enhancing their playoff picture and Super Bowl potential runs. It's there for you to listen to wherever you get your podcasts. Also on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show.

2:18Rich Eisen:Chris Brockman in his seat. In hour number two, look, we got a line change to the hockey phrase. Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Feli's sitting there because you're taking the new soundboard for a spin here, right? I am. It's lovely. Very good. Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. No line change for you. Good to see you, sir. How are you over there? I'm great, man. Happy to be back. How was you guys? It's all good, yeah. I'm good, TJ. I've been working more than not, but it's all good. It's all good. And I'll talk about that Chargers-Texans game shortly. Kurt Warner, who called that game with me, is going to be joining us in less than 20 minutes' time.

2:53Rich Eisen:He is in Atlanta to call Rams-Falcons on the national radio broadcast tonight. I'm assuming he's already seen the film from last night's game that took the first 20 minutes up of our chat time on the program in hour number one, the Sunday night game between the Bears and the 49ers. And I know Kurt is such a stickler. Can't wait for him to join us if he's watched the film to tell us the throws that Purdy and Caleb missed on Sunday night because that's just the way Kurt is. He's such a perfectionist. So Kurt's going to join us in about 18 minutes time. Real quick, you think like, you know, we know Peyton Manning, just poor quarterback play, just like personally offends him and it hurts his soul.

3:34Do you think like the great quarterbacks, sometimes I wonder when they watch a game last night, they just sit back and smile because.

3:41Rich Eisen:When they see what these two guys do. Yeah, just two young guys doing it. And it's such a high level when it was such a great game. You think they just sit back and they're just like, yeah. I think somebody like Kurt is marveling. I think he's marveling. And somebody, I imagine the Mannings as well, because those guys, those three guys, just to mention those three, pocket guys. Pocket guys. Seeing what these guys doing on the run and on the move and using their legs. You know, Steve Young has multiple times come on this program saying his counsel to Brock Purdy would be to use your legs more. Get out of pocket.

4:18Rich Eisen:Run. Use that as a weapon. and last night again that play where he ran around for eight seconds and it looked like he was going to finally run it in when he got out of the pocket to his left and threw it to a wide open use check is truly one of the plays of the year one of plays the year and and and a counter to and this is not anything against uh you know mac jones that's why purdy's the 50 million dollar a year starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. And he is going to be a starter somewhere else because the starting quarterback is Brock Purdy there. And he's going to, you know, he's on his second year there.

4:57Rich Eisen:Next year, we'll see if he can get his way out or have another year doing what he's doing and then go off on his own and show that he can do it his way from the pocket mostly. Off you go. 844-204-RICH, no way to tell him. let's talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars now. Got a coat of prick. Stop. Keep making that joke. Oh, man.

5:26Rich Eisen:When Liam Cohen took the job, again, he was known for botching the Duval chant, if you want to call it that, right? We should do it his way. Seems to be working. They should now all do it his way. Well done. That should be the new chant. Fans should now learn that. Yes. That said, though, that said, though, that was, again, utilized in such a way that we would drop that or other shows would mention that. They're still mentioning it, but no longer with the implication that this guy isn't ready for what's to come. And to the point where, again, when we had him on pre-draft and then we had him on post-training camp prior to the season, we were asked by Jacksonville's folks, just do us a favor and don't mention the Duvall thing.

6:41Rich Eisen:Because again, the implication was he doesn't get it. He's not ready for it.

6:51Rich Eisen:And we would appreciate it if you just don't bring it up. And how wrong was anybody about this guy not being ready for it? And I'll be honest, this team is an inspiration. It really is. It is an inspiration, and the Texans are the same way too. But the Texans have a head coach who's been there, done that, as D 'Amico Ryans now has 10 win or more seasons in his first three seasons as a head coach in the NFL. He's only one of six to do such a thing. And they have a chance if Jacksonville somehow slips up at home against Tennessee, and I don't see it, to win the division again. That said, this is about Jacksonville.

7:40Rich Eisen:An inspiration in the fact that I saw them. I saw them. I was around them. I interviewed them when they were, you know, getting ready for the London game against the Los Angeles Rams. I should know this by heart now, but I got to look at the schedule. Week seven in London, okay? I was there, and you guys were there leading up to that game. And the conversation was Jacksonville still can't get out of its own way. Okay? I, in talking to Liam Cohen, found out, again, Liam Cohen on Wednesdays says he would show to the team videos, photographs of the game breaker that they have to stop. Because if this person does what he normally does, we're going to lose.

8:43Rich Eisen:We've got to stop this person. We're circling this person, essentially. And he said the game breaker that he showed to the team prior to getting on the plane to London was the Jacksonville Jaguar logo. You, you're the ones that are breaking the game right now. We've got to stop you from shooting yourselves in the foot. Penalties, mistakes, mental mistakes. And all they did against the Rams was do it again. And I'm like, uh-oh, the coach has emphasized this, and it didn't sink in. Or at least they couldn't execute it. Uh-oh. They go off on the bye, and I honestly thought the team that I saw in the Rams is the unstoppable team, not the Jaguars.

9:24Rich Eisen:and the Jaguars are turned into just as unstoppable a team as the Rams since that day. They go into Vegas off the bye. They pull one out of their orifice at the end of the game, win in overtime, and then go to Houston, go up by 19, lose it. They had the Texans dead to rights. They could have swept the Texans. This thing would have been over and wrapped, and they would be not needing a lot of help as the one seed right now if they took care of that 19-point lead. Instead, the Texans haven't lost since, but neither have the Jaguars. A team that blows the 19-point lead doesn't lose. Normally, you think the team that comes back from the 19-point deficit doesn't lose.

10:14Rich Eisen:And by the way, the Texans haven't. But the Jaguars have won seven in a row, And Trevor Lawrence is playing exactly like we thought he could and would when he was the first overall must-have, can't-miss, surefire first overall pick of his draft coming out of Clemson. Running it, throwing it. Unstoppable. Unflappable. Not making the mistakes. Confident. Hair flowing. Shampoo and conditioner in one. You know what I mean? Like, that's it. And Urban certainly wasn't. Urban was the first guy with that lottery ticket, and he burned it himself. And then Doug Peterson comes in. And don't forget, he took the Jaguars to the playoffs.

11:05Rich Eisen:Trevor Lawrence threw a gajillion interceptions in the first half of that game and then came back to win it, goes into Arrowhead, then loses, and they haven't been back to the playoffs since Doug Peterson's gone. Liam Cohen comes in and does the Duval thing. and we're all thinking no shot. And even in the middle of the season, like I told you. But they have been amazing. They have been superb. Trevor Lawrence has been awesome. Now, he threw a red zone interception yesterday, and when that happened, it was something that you used to see a lot more of out of him, but it stuck out like a sore thumb.

11:42Rich Eisen:It's just like, wait a minute. Not only did he throw an interception, it was a red zone interception, he didn't complete. It was something we haven't seen in a while, but he did rush two in. Third time he's done that this year. He hasn't thrown a red zone interception. He's thrown four of them this year, but he hasn't thrown an interception of any kind since week 12. 35 total touchdowns. Five straight games with two or more passing touchdowns got snapped, but he did extend his streak of offensive touchdowns to seven games. longest streak in Jacksonville history and the only one with a more of an active streak of two or more offensive touchdowns accounted for is Matthew Stafford with nine going into tonight's Monday night game he's been amazing nine rushing touchdowns faced 20 pressures in week 17 still hung in there ETN's running it without tooting he was hurt Parker Washington's been great Josh Hines Allen for a defense that's behind the best in the AFC and taking the ball away, the team that's behind the Bears defensively in that regard.

12:51Rich Eisen:And look who's got 12 wins. Going for 13. They're going to get it. They're going to beat the Titans at home next week.

13:02And Liam Cohen becomes the 13th head coach in NFL history

13:06Rich Eisen:and the sixth to do so at age 40 years or younger to win 12 or more games in his first NFL season, take a victory lap coach, but, of course, he's not doing that. We didn't even address making the playoffs as a team. We haven't really talked a ton about goals, about the division, playoffs, conference, Super Bowl. We have not had any of those conversations as a team, not really on purpose, more so just because you're really trying to focus on getting better because there's so much to coach off of every week for us and even through a lot of wins we're able to coach off a lot of stuff and keeping the mindset pretty singular on want to know each week that's just been the mindset and mentality that these guys have had and I've appreciated that and we fed off of each other that way and you know what's also impressive when you don't have production, consistent production from your draft choice chosen in the top five, let alone top two, let alone you trade up future considerations to get the guy.

14:18Rich Eisen:And you don't get production from him. That is cause for alarm. It never winds up with 12 plus wins. That's for sure. It gets coaches on hot seats and front offices on hot seats, and they have done all this without Travis Hunter, who blew out his knee in late October. This has all been done without him. And he had the best offensive day of anyone in that game in London. He had his career best game, 100 yards and a score. And it was now time for him to come on. Brian Thomas Jr., he hasn't had a season like last year at all. True. And they're doing this. And they're coming for you. You put up the current standings in the American Football Conference.

15:05Rich Eisen:You know who's coming into Jacksonville right now if it all stays put? The team that they whipped in the Los Angeles Chargers. 35-7 was the final with that game. That wasn't even close. That was when they took Herbert out in the second half saying, he's getting killed out here. We're done. We're done for the day. They whipped the Chargers. And then they could go and potentially, if let's say the Bills knock off the Patriots, no offense, I'm just throwing things, or the Broncos, if the Patriots become the one seed. Because the Broncos and the Patriots are both going to have to lose for the Jaguars to have a shot at the one seed.

15:44Rich Eisen:You think they're going to be nervous about hosting a second playoff game against the Bills and Josh Allen? I'll tell you what, folks. This could wind up a Jaguars-Texans AFC championship game because they're playing the best football of anybody consistently. Winning streak, defensively, offensively, coming for you. This is real. It's real. Now we'll take a commercial break. See, Jacksonville, we could do that. We can actually talk about your team killing it. Killing it. And I don't care if small market. Small market can go into Santa Clara and win it all. Facts. Tell Liam Cohen he's not. 844-204-RICH, number to dial.

16:31Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner, when we come back right here on The Rich Eisen Show, my Hall of Fame friend.

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18:59Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show podcast. The Rich Eisen Show on ESPN Radio. Joining us right now from Atlanta, where he's going to be calling tonight's Rams-Falcons game on national radio. Ladies and gentlemen, Kurt Warner's back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Hi, Kurt. Good to see you. I'm good, buddy. How are you? I don't know if you heard Phillip after the game, Phillip Rivers after the game talking about no regrets. What are you thinking when you hear that? I mean, no regrets because he exceeded all expectations that any of us had. I think that's the cool part is that I'm sure he would have said the same thing had it not gone well.

19:35But I think that was the most impressive thing is that none of us really had an expectation. I think when he went to Seattle, everybody was like, oh, my gosh, this isn't going to end well. And every game he got better and he made plays. And maybe you even asked me on the show the other day, like, did it have me thinking, yeah, I was back out in the backyard, throwing the ball. Like, can I do what Philip can do? Like, you know, it was cool. It was cool for all of us old guys going, man, if he could do it, maybe I could like, it was really awesome. And so I'm glad that it, you know, that, that he feels that way now and I'm glad that it went the way that it did.

20:14You know, what a cool experience. I mean, And, you know, you have things in life sometimes that nobody else has. And this is one of those things that, you know, I don't know if there'll ever be another guy that sits out of the game for five years and comes back to play. And Phillip can say, I did it. You know, I did it and I did it well. And, you know, I gave my team a chance in the games that I played in when nobody thought that I could. So, so, so cool. you know a cool kind of ending if this is the end to a story I guess we can't say that now right after he came off the you know the bench for five years off you know maybe this isn't it but if this is it what a what a cool way to finish it off and and again there's going to be a lot of old guys like me you know that are thinking hey you know maybe maybe I could have done it

21:06Rich Eisen:yeah I mean I did ask you that during game day morning like while watching him on film are you sitting there saying that's a throw I think I could still make and you're like yeah I've done that and you're also involved in coaching as well Kurt so what a powerful message to have his entire high school team there and when he goes back to coaching what a powerful message to be able to look an athlete a kid in the eye and say you can do it because look what I and don't worry about the consequences don't worry about if you can't or if the circumstances come out where it shows the the opportunity that you're trying to take doesn't succeed doesn't matter it's the trying it's the it's the want to what a powerful way to be able to go and look a kid in the eye and be believed um i i mean no no doubt i mean you get from both standpoints like you said you know from the standpoint that nobody else thought i could do it and i showed people i i could do it or the other side, you know, when, you know, he had one of his first press conferences and they were asking him and he's like, yeah, I'm nervous.

22:09Like, I don't know. I don't know how this is going to go. And so, but at the same time, he threw himself out there going, yeah, a lot of people think I'm going to fail. And, you know, I could fail. Like I understand, you know, what the circumstances are, but I'm going to embrace it anyways. And if I fail, I fail, but, but I'm going to embrace it. I'm going to chase after it anyways. So yeah, I think it's an incredible message and incredible story that, you know, again, not just Phillip, you know, when he's coaching, there's going to be a lot of, you know, coaches and people and parents that are using his example moving forward, you know, as a recent example of, of doing those same sort of things.

22:48And so I'm sure I'm going to share that story, you know, numerous times throughout, throughout my life, just about what he did. And the fact that he wasn't afraid to fail and embraced it and jump back into it. It's, it's really, really cool.

23:03Rich Eisen:Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's jump into Sunday night. Holy crap, what a game. That was incredible. I started the show, Kurt, by saying I feel like I'm coming on the air on every Monday saying that was the game of the year. No, that was the game of the year. But this Sunday, this was the game of the year. The quarterback play, how did you see it from Purdy and Caleb? Let's start with the winning quarterback and Brock Purdy, Kurt. I mean, Brock's playing really good football. I mean, you know, I've been a huge fan of Brock's. You know, I don't know if it's the fact that he's from Arizona, so I got some ties there.

23:43We played in Iowa, and I got some ties there. Just the fact that, you know, he was Mr. Irrelevant, and I was a free agent guy that nobody expected anything from or because we were limited. Like, so many similarities between the two of us. But I think, you know, to me, it's just we've lost sight, you know, to some degree that you can play this position at an extremely high level without just being a freak athlete or having this freak physical ability. that there is still, you know, at the heart of this position is the ability to see what a defense is doing, understand how to make different throws, have a sense of anticipation and timing within what you're trying to do and what the defense is doing.

24:32That is an art form and is a unique talent. You know, when I was playing, that was the main talent. Now, that's not the main talent that we see at the quarterback position, but guys that can do it like a Joe Burrow and like a Brock Purdy and that can do it well. I sit back and appreciate that aspect of things. And so watching Brock, you know, and maybe it has something to do with the fact that that is the way that I played. And so that is still the way that I see the game. But I truly appreciate guys that do those things and do it on a consistent basis. And, you know, where it doesn't look like this wow throw, I'm often wowed by throws that Brock makes just because I know the nature of what they're asking him to do and how tough it is to, you know, make a 16-yard throw and have to throw it up over a linebacker and drop it in under a safety on a consistent basis.