What Impressed Rich Eisen the Most about the Chargers in Their Week 1 Win Over the Chiefs

Christian in Los Angeles. We’ll take your phone call. What’s up, Christian? How are you right here in Los Angeles, California? What’s going on, Rich? My man, huge fan of the show. Glad glad to be on. Just want to talk about um the performance of Justin Herbert on Friday night. Yes, sir. Um man, I’m I’m a lifelong Chargers fan, born and raised, and I can confidently say I think that was Herbert’s best performance I think I’ve seen in the six years he’s been in the league now. So, what was that like for you to to see him come up clutch on on a on a national stage and and for you to do see that against our rival the Chiefs, too? Well, I’m going to just say this. Um, it was beyond impressive. He was letter perfect. I don’t recall anything that he did that was off. He was from start to finish in full control. and he was without a doubt um supported in a way that can make him the MVP of this league. Everything that honestly, thanks for the call, Christian. Um you know, I know a lot of people are having their fun. Who is more responsible for Justin Herbert’s, you know, emergence, Jim Harbaugh or Madison Beard? Right. Right. Yeah, it’s it’s the latter. Okay. Thank you. I know everyone’s having fun with that. Yeah. Um, but so you’re saying this beard crazy, dude. I’m just saying, you know, my guy Jim, if I may say, people think he’s just crazy. Well, I mean, well, I know there’s a lot of evidence. You know what I I understand where where he was talking about, you know, sitting here on our set, woke up the other night, I got to get this guy to the home. And everyone’s like, “All right, Jim.” And he’s just like, “You know what? I mean, he’s kooky. Or he says across the street at his press conference, you know, where the Chargers train, you know what? We just got to all play up to his level. The rest of us, like, I’ve got to make sure everybody plays up to his level. And you know, you think that’s just cookie. And the entire time, you know, we we spoke to I I asked that of Herbert in the pre- broadcast Zoom that we had with the Chargers. And he said when he heard that those things, he’s just like, you know what? I just want to make him proud is what he said. That’s what Herbert said about Herbert said about Jim. I just want to make him proud. Which sounds like, you know, father son type stuff, right? Yeah. And sometimes it’s just like, what is Harbaugh’s secret sauce? If you ask Jim, he’ll never give you a straight answer. Ever. Ever. I mean, because he’s just a he he he keeps it simple. At one point, we asked him in the pre we asked him in the pre-bro, you know, what what it is about communicating with people? How does it work? He’s now 6 and0 in his career in week one. He’s never been 0 and1 as a professional football coach ever. And he said basically cuz when you ask him what’s your secret sauce, he says I love football and I that’s what he says. He goes I love football. And you’re like okay. And he goes he goes I love football and I love people who love football and you know I think you know they love me back cuz we love football. That’s what he said. And again your reaction just think there Chris. It’s just like all right whatever. Right. But he keeps it simple. I know. He keeps it simple. It’s direct and simple and it works. Get good coaches around you. Come up with a good game plan. Good. Greg Roman, Jesse Mter. Those are the two coordinators. Well, whatever he’s got, he’s he’s got it. He’s literally won everywhere he’s been. San Diego, Stanford, he goes to San Francisco and they almost win the Super Bowl. He goes to Michigan. Yeah. And now he’s here in Los Angeles. I mean, the guy is just an absolute ball coach of the highest order. And Herbert with 300 pass yards and three touchdowns. And by the way, over 30 attempts and they were throwing it, man. Oh, when maybe you were like, “Hey, why are they throwing it here?” That’s right. And and I I would turn to Kurt during the commercial break. I’m like, “They’re winging it around, Kurt. They keep throwing it because they got a guy who can do it.” And most importantly, this is what’s most important for the Chargers. It’s not just Liti and Quinton Johnston trying to figure out, you know, how to flip the light switch. They got Keenan Allen back now. Those running backs are improved. And they got they got Joe Alt. Hey, Rashan Slater out for the year, highest paid tackle. Uh, let’s just take the kid with 33 starts at left tackle at Notre Dame that we drafted fifth overall as Jim’s first draft pick and let’s just move him from right to left and let’s see how it all works. And guess what? Look pretty good. Derwin James is out of his skull. Khalil Mack is, you know, on his way to Canton arguably. Hey man, the Chargers with a big huge dub in Brazil flying 11 and 1/2 hours going down there and and by the way, the same stuff kept happening. There’s Mahomes to Kelsey, which is nightmare fuel for Charger fans. Happens all the time. Oh, here comes an opportunity for Mahomes to get the ball back with no timeouts and almost two minutes to try and win the game with no time left. Justin Herbert pops out, iced it and iced it. Chris Jones took a terrible path and he took advantage of Chris Jones overplay in his hand and he slid down in bounds. Let her Perfect. Full command. There wasn’t a single moment where I’m I’m calling this game. I’m like, Herbert doesn’t know what he’s doing. They don’t they’re not in control here. I mean, the one time is when Omarian Hampton ran out of bounds with no time when the Chiefs had no timeouts left. Left some time left and that was that led to the Buter fire drill. Yep. 59yder with no time left in the first half. It it it gave the Chiefs an opportunity for three points. And after the game, Jim took responsibility saying, “We put the kid in that position by running them right closer to the close to the out of bounds mark.” Great first week for the LA Chargers. Just a great first week. Y I mean, you know, our caller wants to know what I thought. That’s what I thought and that’s what I saw with my O2 eyes. Hey, you made it all the way to the end. Thanks for that. Check us out every single day streaming live on Disney Plus and the ESPN app 12 to 3 Eastern.

Rich Eisen weighs in on Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers’ outlook with Justin Herbert firing on all cylinders like he did in L.A.’s Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tune in to the Emmy-nominated Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from Noon to 3PM ET on Disney+, ESPN+, ESPN Radio, and streaming on Audacy and SiriusXM channel 80.

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47 comments

  8. Rich and the team seem confused by Jim Harbaugh's accurate and honest answer. He said he loves football. The #1 KEY TO SUCCESS IN ANYTHING ONE DOES IS TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE. When you act on what you enjoy you are much, much more likely to be successful. You want to do more of it, pay more attention to details, think about it a lot more, and the joy is infectious with your co-workers, bosses, and employees. You become a magnet to draw in more people who also love what they do. Btw, I have searched for the keys and studied this for 4 decades. I know from experience.

  9. Love it Rich. Glad to see you and Kurt calling the game. I really like the wide right comment about the KC kicker on the extra point!!!

    Looking forward to seeing more of you!

  17. "Everybody needs to play up to his level"

    If that isnt more than the truth about Herbert…. dude makes plays that are unreal and ALIEN like. The throws he makes look so easy….. the same throws Mahomes and Burrow would be throwing their entire bodies into… Herbert does it off balance, wrong direction with his body, off the wrong foot, complete rope of a throw all while staring down the defense in one direction, and throws a LAZER across the field in the teeth of the defense. Dude is a complete ALIEN.

  24. Lions and Vikings games in 2023 were probably the best Herbert performances tbh.
    But neither were season openers against Chiefs in prime time. And 2023 sucked so yeah this the best 😂

  28. Jim Harbaugh makes me emotional about football… the last time I seen him coach was in the Super Bowl against his brother, when I heard he was coming back I KNEW the Chargers found there man & Herbert would finally be saved…. I truly love Jim Harbaugh as a Coach he came in here to do WORK I’m rooting soooo hard for the Chargers to continue to fight hard this season!!!
    Sincerely a Steelers fan

  31. Herbert wasn’t perfect, but that’s OK. If you look at the throw to QJ in the end zone you could tell that QJ had separation before the ball was thrown, and because the ball was in the air too long by the time the ball got near QJ there was no separation.

  34. What is really impressive to me are guys that can accurately diagnose issues with groups/organizations/teams – make a plan of what needs to change – and ACTUALLY PULL IT OFF. Jim is one of those rare birds that can check all three of those boxes. So impressive.

  38. Chewing up most of the 4th Quarter is coaching and execution, it was a team win, Justin been doing this for years with less weapons and dealing with injuries.

  42. Harbaugh really is everything you want in a leader. He happily takes the blame for mistakes, he has his players' backs, and he treats everyone with dignity and respect. It seems simple but too many "leaders" get those things wrong

  46. I think when harbaugh said his secret sauce is a love of football it makes perfect sense. Like Jimi Hendrix loved guitar. He slept with it in his bed, Harbaugh wakes up at 3am obsessing about getting Justin into the HOF. Other people are good at guitar but they’re not Hendrix.

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