The Kevin Sheehan Show - "A" or "The" Quarterback?

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Kevin and Thom today on whether or not Washington has found "A" quarterback or "The" quarterback. The boys talked about how they feel when Ron Rivera's answer to everything even when not asked about him is Sam Howell. Thom believes and explains why he thinks Magic Johnson is using A.I. to tweet. Kevin previewed the Maryland Basketball season and the guys finished up discussing the news that Carson Wentz signed with the Rams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. Wind Donation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast.

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com for the best deal of the year. Tommy, I feel a little bit stupid. And I'm going to tell you why. Because I think you were in on this as well. we both said before the Wizards opened up this season a few weeks ago, is this really a team that's going to be the worst team in the league? Like, I mean, they've got Jordan Poole and they've got Kyle Kuzma, and they've got Tyos Jones and Gafford and Avdia.

You know, are they really going to be the worst team? Like, people want them to be, you know, a 19-20 win team so that they've got the best chance of getting the number one overall pitch. and we do this for a couple of years and we acquire all these picks. And by the year 2037, maybe they're a contender. But I was wrong, and I think you were wrong too, when we thought maybe they wouldn't be one of the worst teams in the league this year, because they truly suck.

I mean, they're horrible. And last night, go ahead. No, go ahead. No, I mean, there's no excuse for me. I mean, I never pay attention to them, give them any credit. I expect the worst from this organization, but that's what they pretty much delivered in various forms. So there's really no excuse for me.

It was one conversation I had with an NDA scout that screwed me up. Oh, really? That was it. You want to tell us about it? Can you tell us who that person is? No, I can't. Okay. I can't tell you who it is.

but he convinced me that this team could be interesting. He convinced me that Jordan Poole was a good player and a smart player to boot. He didn't tell me that he was just going to be another version of Nick Young. So that's how I got suckered in. You just took one NBA, maybe a low-level scout and just went with it. How many conversations do you? you have with NBA Scalp? I have conversations with NBA people, but I came up with this.

I have nobody to blame because I came up with this all on my own. I said it last year after the trades. I'm like, really, they're paying Kyle Kuzma, the Jordan Poole? I mean, I understand what sort of the intention of all of it is. It's not to build a winner with these players, but in true tank mode, you don't want guys that could potentially average 30 points a game and, you know, keep you competitive. Well, look, I mean, they are just awful. And I'm not even watching it, and I can tell you that they're awful.

Last night, though, the reason that I sort of opened with this as a topic is that Joelle and Bede last night in the third quarter against the Wizards scored a franchise Philadelphia 76ers record. 29 points in the quarter. He had 48 for the game, but 29 came in the third quarter most ever in franchise history for a quarter, but here's the best part of it. He was 10 of 10 from the floor and 9 of 9 from the free throw line. He didn't miss. I mean, you got to be horrible to give up 29 to one player in a quarter.

You really, too. 146 to 128. They got one big guy, Daniel Gafford, and he's typically in foul trouble, you know, and that's it. That's it. And that's it on our conversation of the Wizards, 146, 128, Philadelphia 76ers. Josh Harris's team, Josh Harris's team. And Josh Harris's current head coach is pretty fond of his quarterback. As am I.

This came from Bill on, Bill emailed me this because I cut and pasted it. So it was an email that I got from Bill. And Bill just said, Kevin, I could hear your, as you called it, giddiness. I'm right there with you looking at the NFC landscape. I think they're going to end up in the playoffs. Bill got into a bunch of other things on what I said about Sam, Hal and Eric Biena me yesterday.

I did admit yesterday, Tommy, that I was... Giddy, I know I mentioned the word giddy. Only because of this, and let me be clear on this. I can't stand when the season's over kind of before it starts, and we've had a bunch of those over the years. I love the months of November and December and January, with football and holidays. And I like to have a team that I've got to sit here and talk about every day playing meaningful games. And I think the win over New England on Sunday gave them a chance to do that.

And it wasn't just that they beat New England because New England is not a very good team. It's that for a second consecutive week they actually played really well and looked really good on offense. And Sam Howell looked really good on offense as the quarterback. and, you know, could they get to Thanksgiving, five and six? Sure, because they've got the Giants in two weeks, and that would be a big game. Could they get to December and have a big game against Miami or after the buy week against the Rams and the Jets in back-to-back weeks where you would be looking at those games maybe as potentially winnable to get into the playoff race? Yeah, all those things are in play because the NFC isn't that great. But let me just make one thing clear that I know I did not make clear on the play.

podcast yesterday. I actually think it's not only possible, but that it would be so good to be able to continue, because we're all in on continuing to evaluate and watch Sam Howe, right, Tommy? Nobody wants to see Jacoby Berset at this point. We've seen enough good from Sam Howell. We want to see him play the rest of the season. Absolutely. So I want to see these games that he plays in later in the year be meaningful games for his team. I think it's a better evaluation. That's why I was never hell-bent on declaring anything after one game at the end of last year, which was completely meaningless for Washington. They didn't even play all of their best players. In Dallas, for all the grief that some of you have given me about saying that Dallas looked

checked out. They did because Philly wasn't going to lose to the Giants. The Giants had nothing to play for. Philly jumped out to a big lead and the game pretty much became meaningless for the Cowboys, even though technically before the day started, if they won and the Eagles lost, they could have won the division. But the Eagles weren't going to lose that game. Anyway, it would be awesome to see a Thanksgiving Day game in a couple of weeks with five and six Washington and Dallas, who, you know, They get the Giants and the Panthers the next two weeks. They'll probably be seven and three. Imagine if they beat Seattle this week, then that would be a really, really big game

because they'd be, you know, potentially on a three-game winning streak. But then you get into December, you know, it'd be nice to be able to turn the TV on on Christmas Eve to watch them play the Jets and understand that, hey, if they win this game, you know, they're sitting there at seven and eight or eight and seven with a chance to snag the last playoff. spot. I'd rather see Sam play those games, you know, down the stretch than play a bunch of games with them pretty much eliminated. And it also would be better for me. And not just for the podcast and for the radio show and for Tommy's columns. It just, to me, it's more fun. And I had somebody actually tweet me and I was looking for it as I was just speaking to say that I said yesterday,

I'm more interested in the moment or the present than the future. understand what I meant was what I just described. When I'm in the middle of a season, I just would prefer, you know, games that matter versus those that don't. If this thing starts to go south, I'll be rooting for the best possible draft choice to. And I'm not rooting for Ron Rivera and company to come back. And I don't think a playoff spot as a seven seed would bring him back. I think that ship is sailed.

Let me just point out, only three coaches. in the 21st century that made the playoffs have been fired. I know. The last one was the Titans coach. It doesn't happen very often. Right. Malarkey got fired after they took the Titans to the playoffs. Who else? Who are the other two? Do you know? Who did you say? Malarkey got fired after he took the Titans to the playoffs.

Well, Tony Debtzsche got fired. Okay. And who else? And I don't know who the third one is. Okay. So, I mean, it's a risk. it's a risk that you're going to have them back. I don't think so. The risk would be playing playoff games means if somehow you won a couple of them,

but they're not going to win a couple playoff games. I mean, I don't think. I mean, the NFL changes. I mean, you know, every starting quarterback in the NFC in the last two weeks of the season could get injured, and all of a sudden they could do something. But I don't think that Ron Rivera, Jack Del Rio and that staff is coming back.

I don't think Martin Mayhew and Marty Herney and that staff is coming back. I think it's, you know... It would be hard to believe if they did, but circumstances can spin out of control. They can only spin out of control if the owner allows them to spin out of control. He's the one that gets to make the choice.

He can make Ron Rivera the fourth coach in the NFL and what? What did you say? century to be fired after making the playoffs. First of all, there's still a long shot to make the playoffs, okay? And I was looking at something earlier today. They have of the teams that I would consider to be teams in the NFC that will be fighting for that last playoff spot, Washington has by far and away the toughest remaining schedule as of now. They have the dolphins, the 49ers, the Cowboys twice, the Seahawks.

They have to play the Jet Defense. I mean, the Jet Defense last night held Justin Herbert to the worst game of his career, and they lost by three touchdowns, because my God, is Zach Wilson terrible? Washington has two games that they might be favored in against the Giants and the Rams, as of now. And then the teams they're fighting with teams like Minnesota and the two, teams in the NFC South that don't win the division, they have much easier schedules as it appears now, especially that NFC South, in part because they play each other. So they're probably not going to make it anyway. Just give me, I'll tell you what,

a win over Seattle Sunday would really change the conversation about the current. The current team in this year, especially if Sam plays well again. then you've got the Giants, which you know it's going to probably be a win. I mean, it's not the same Giants team that beat you earlier in the season. No. So, uh, yes. Yeah, if they beat Seattle, uh, five and five, six and five, they go into that Dallas game with a six and five record. Yeah. That's a big difference.

Yeah, Tyrod Taylor, too, got placed on that. that four-game injured reserve. So he's not going to... Yes, he did. So they're not going to face him. They're going to face probably this guy DeVito who is even worse than Zach Wilson. So, yeah. But is anyone worse than Mack Jones? Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. In fact, I said... Not many. I said it on the podcast. I was pleasantly surprised at how I believe the Mac Jones Jones thing has been completely exaggerated after watching him Sunday and also watching the

Dolphins game to sort of prepare for the shows last week. That is not, Mac Jones isn't good. Don't get me wrong. He's not a good quarterback. He's got nothing. He is a fast processor. That ball gets out quickly. He's not super accurate all the time. I'll give you that. But he's nowhere near as bad as what's been portrayed. which is why they keep playing him. And I see why now after watching him play the last two games. You talk about a team that has no offensive weapons. That team stinks on offense.

I mean, they don't have one. They're not much better on defense right now. Not now because of their injuries. That's true. Matthew Judon being out was a big loss for them. Yeah. But I actually thought Mac Jones was, I sat there and I'm like, man, you can see guys that understand what's going on and get it out quick.

He just doesn't have anybody to throw to. He just says nobody to throw to, nobody who's open. But, you know, they didn't sack him on Sunday. I don't think it was because necessarily Chey Chung and sweat weren't there, although it didn't help that they weren't there. I just don't think they had many opportunities because the, the, the dude gets rid of the ball, you know, quickly. But anyway, nothing about Mack Jones.

What did you think of the game? Let me hear what you thought of the game. Okay. Let me just point out that the commander's record of four and five, their four wins are against teams with a 10 and 25 record. I pointed that out yesterday. Great job. Okay.

Yeah. And by the way, all four of them were close. Yes. And I mean, to play that team on Sunday and to beat them 20 to 17, it shouldn't have been so hard. It just should not. I get any team can beat anybody, but that Patriots team is really bad. I mean, that's not even the Patriots team that won the two games. They won this year. Yeah, defensively, it wasn't, and they didn't have Kendrick Born at wide receiver either. missing pieces, no doubt. Yeah. Yeah, missing pieces. You're right. They didn't have their best wide receiver out there.

Right. So it was hard for me. Look, Sam Howe was very impressive, put up impressive numbers. Nothing different in the sense that we've all, we'd all agree. He could make all the throws. I think, I think he has proven that, you know, and he made some brilliant ones on Sunday. but you've got to take into account the opposition. You can't just ignore it. You can't tune it out. Are people tuning out the fact that they beat a team that was two and six? Well, they just take that this, you know, they're just looking at the numbers and saying,

and, you know, and, you know, his place and just saying, you know, this is the guy. And my column in the Washington Times today, says he is a guy, not the guy. They found a quarterback. They didn't necessarily find the quarterback yet, and they should keep looking for the quarterback. But Rod Rivera, you know, and we've talked about this before,

to deflect attention after, away from his two biggest screw-ups, you know, the Carson Wentz trade, and then, you know, his top draft pick, Chase Young Bean traded away for a third round pick, keeps promoting this guy as the guy, the future, for the next five to ten years. Oh, there is no doubt. We talked about this last week. Yes, we have. And then he did it again yesterday.

Ron Rivera's press conferences recently, even when there isn't a question about Sam Howe. He talks about Sam Howl. And this is, you know, this goes back to what we talked about in January and Ben was the first one to say, this is all, you know, a move to deflect all of the attention from the way in which the season ended. Ben had a really good line. Hold on. I'm going to pull it up in his story about Sam Hal and Ron Rivera. Ron right now, it, it, it, Look, Sam's making them look good. You know, this could have gone the other way. So fortunately for him, it's actually worked out.

But I don't know if the intention from the jump or the expectation from the jump was that it would work out necessarily. But you're going to love this line. Ben basically, you know, wrote, you know, that, you know, the belief in and how from everybody. out there. Rivera's mentioned, Rivera mentions the roster's promising young quarterback by Rote these days. It happens so frequently, even when the topic isn't about how that over the past three weeks, he's probably heard back at least once, sir, this is a Wendy's.

That's pretty good. And you, but what he was the best part about it? He didn't know because he texted me and he said, you got to read my column. There's going to be a line in here that you're going to really like. And so I texted him back and I said, oh, my God, I love that line. That's really funny. And he goes, which one are you talking about? I said, sir, this is a Wendy's, you know, from the office.

And he goes, oh, that's where I got it from. It was just hanging around in my memory, sir, this is a Wendy's. And he didn't even, he couldn't place where it was. But I'm glad you got it immediately too. Because that's funny. For those of you that don't know, Michael Scott starts dialing for dates. And he's got some numbers that have been given to him. And he's got a number for a Wendy.

And he calls and, you know, and he's talking, he thinks he's talking to Wendy. And then finally, the person on the other line says, sir, this is a Wendy's. And I think he says something like, You know, I'll take a single with cheese and a, you know, and a frosty. I think that's what he said, something like that, whatever. But yes. Well, that's a great line.

And I point out in my column, just like you said, you know, I took one of his quotes and put it in my column and pointed out right after that. You know, when he talks about Sam Howe, no one had asked him about Sam How. Right, right. That wasn't the question. Yeah. But Tommy. And I just put the breaks on the Sam Howe parade. I don't want to diminish what he's done and what he can be,

and he may be the guy. But there's no way that this owner is going to walk in here, have their own coach, their own new general manager, and I think just accept Sam Howe as the quarterback of the future. Oh, I'm, you know, I pointed out last week yesterday, even though I think the, Tommy, yesterday I said, because I know you didn't listen to the podcast, and I haven't read your column yet, and I will, because now I can't wait to read it. I do, although let me just mention, somebody called me on the show yesterday and said,

you got everybody riled up with something that you tweeted about C.J. Stroud? Well, I said, I pointed out, you know, that Sam Howe is a quarter, you know, if you want to find a quarterback, you can find quarterbacks in the draft if you're drafting of the right position. Yeah. And I pointed out, C.J. Howe, now that's a quarterback. C.J. Stroud, yeah. So yesterday, and I thought this as I was watching it on Sunday, and then I went back and I looked at some different, you know, quarterbacks that have been here. since you know who left cousins. The two games that Sam Hal just played against Philadelphia and New England

are the two best and most promising games played by a quarterback since Kirk was here. I don't... That's true. And so, now, I also think that Eric Bianamy gets a shitload of credit for it. I think Eric Bienemy and Ron even pointed out, you know, the balance and, And E.B. kind of has seen the light here. That's not what he said, but that's what he was implying. But two best games back to back by a quarterback here in six years.

The other thing, too, is that for the first time in a long, long time, since Kirk was here, they have actually looked like a legitimately good offensive football team. You know, we have seen some bad offensive football. here for many years. There have been the occasional games here or there, but we've seen some bad offensive football here for five years, for the most part. And the last two games, they're averaging 458 yards, 25 and a half points, 55% on third down, over six yards per play.

And it looks like an offense that has a chance, because remember, the giant game was hideous. It was a debacle and it was only two weeks ago. And I pointed that out yesterday. The reason I'm not in a rush to anoint anybody, anything at this point is we're just two weeks removed from one of the worst offensive performances you'll ever see against an NFL team and completely ill-prepared. And we've seen this quarterback have some rough days this year. But the last two weeks. If they play this kind of football, the way they have dialed it up and planned and called it, they have some good players on offense. I'm not minimizing the offensive line change that they made. I think it makes and has made a difference. And Doc pointed out the reasons why yesterday on the podcast,

why it's made a difference specifically with Larson at center. But we're seeing like a real NFL offense. You know, not Sincies or Kansas cities or Miami's. Not saying that. And I am kind of comparing it to the past, but it was fun to watch them do it. And they make mistakes. He makes mistakes. But, you know, young quarterbacks make mistakes. They throw interceptions.

I put that one on Ron at the end of the half. I thought Ron not calling a timeout was just so stupid. I have no idea. Really was. I don't know what he's thinking sometimes. You know what would be good? If he's carried around a clipboard or a piece of paper or something to make it look like he's doing something on the sideline. Even Belichick has a little notepad he has in his hand that he scribbles in.

Right. I mean, I think it's mad for fans to sit there and watch all this going on and for just him to sit there with his arms folded. He needs something to carry. He needs a clipboard. Back to your point and the conversation about Ron constantly going to Sam. It's going to get old here quickly if it hasn't already because propping himself up week by week as if he was the guy that picked Sam Hal, believed in Sam Hal all along.

Like remember the quote from before the season about he will feel vindicated. if he leaves this team with 40 of its 53 players that win his Super Bowl, send me my ring and the quarterback. He didn't even know that the quarterback was any good before the season finale, had to be talked into playing him by Taylor Heineke. And there's the story about on his way home from the Dallas game with his wife going, I had no idea. So if he continues to really inflate his,

his influence over the Sam Hal stuff, especially now when it is way too premature to do it. As you pointed out, I'm not rushing to declare anything. Many of you have, many of you have going back to the Dallas game last year or the Baltimore preseason game. I'm not doing that yet for Bianemi or for Hal. What's encouraging is just the incredible progress the last two weeks from the giant game. That is really encouraging. And we've always known that he's got the physical abilities,

but he still leads the league in sacks with 41, and he got sacked three times Sunday. Let's not forget about that either. But, I mean, Ron, have a little self-awareness, Ron. Okay? We remember that you had to be talked into playing him against the Cowboys. And if you're going to try to go out here with I'm the guy that left you with Sam Howl, don't do it now. Don't start peacocking after, you know, nine games in which he still has like the 20th best QBR in the league.

All right. And don't think that we're going to forget that you had that first of all, you traded back out of the fourth round. It wasn't like you guys were thrilled and, you know, oh, Sam How's there. Should we take him now? No, no. You traded back in the fourth round when you said you had a second round or first round grade on him. It's just stop, okay? Stop already.

It's fine to talk about your good young quarterback and the incredible job that your offensive coordinator and Ken Zampezi and Tevita Pritchard and everybody's doing with him because you are a CEO coach. That's been very clear since, you know, certainly the last couple of years. Your involvement in Sam Howe's development or in Sam Howe being here is flimsy in terms of it being significant. So, and then by the way, don't take a victory lap right now. You're just two weeks removed from a hideous, hideous outing from a guy that couldn't see anything that was. coming. So I am encouraged though by Sam, but just talking about Rivera now, I'm just starting to think, my God, enough already with going to the, because it's transparent. What he's doing is he's trying to. It's very transparent. Yeah. Take credit for this. And it's not even time to take

credit for it. Anyway. I know. He's played well, though, the last two games, man. He's played really He played well. He played well. He can make some throws. And they may have a franchise quarterback, but you have to be blind to think that the owners are going to, the new owners, just going to sit back and say, oh, yeah, okay, we have five picks in the first three rounds, but we're going to stick with this guy. No. Oh, you mean the quarterback?

Oh. Yes. Well, I hope it's not the owners making the decision. I hope it's the football person that they hire that makes the decision and the coach that he hires. I want a normal organization. General manager, general manager hires coach. General manager decides if this is the quarterback of the future or not. Tommy, here's the one thing I would say.

It's trending in the direction right now, and it's only November 7th, that a general manager more likely than not is going to come in and say, we're riding with Sam Hal at least for next year. And I'll tell you why, because this is another Ron Rivera, like he was revealing something in the offseason about a rookie, a quarterback on a rookie deal. But it is true that general managers salivate at the needle in the haystack, you know, opportunity to have a fifth round quarterback on a

rookie deal and all of the cap space that they'll have to build something around a guy. I mean, they may talk themselves into it even if they're kind of 50-50 on it because this opportunity just doesn't present itself very often where you can't extend him now. You have to wait until after the third year of a rookie deal to extend him. So you've got him on this rookie $900,000 a year deal. if he continues to play the way he's played the last two weeks, they're not going to be in a position to draft anybody super high. But I'll tell you what, my position would be

if we continue to see the up and down nature versus the more consistent of the last two weeks, I'm going to be thinking about quarterback in the draft, and they're going to be a lot to choose from in the top half, top 20 picks maybe. Yes, there will be. I think there will be Listen I wanted to talk to you about something else

Do we have time now? We can do it in the next segment You want to do it in the next segment? Okay Let's wait for that Yeah, I want to talk about Magic Johnson Okay, I just You're reminding me of the Ron Rivera

Just going, I mean, not even asked about it It's starting to irritate me Just because I know what's going through his mind. I said it to you last week on Thursday. I said, this guy isn't even, everything's about Sam. Everything's about Sam. And there's legitimate reason. Like, he's not exaggerating it right now. He may have been, you know, it's so funny about the Sam conversation. Now, you know, what did you say, a guy or the guy? Did he say the guy? Oh, yeah. Okay. So now it's the guy, but a couple of a couple of weeks ago when he was answering questions about Sam, because he was still going to

Sam and the young quarterback, it was about, we do have a young quarterback, and we believe in him, but, you know, we got to see this thing. And now all of a sudden, two weeks after the giant game, he's the guy. Look, there are reasons to be encouraged right now. I think you heard it. If you didn't listen to my podcast yesterday and my breakdown of the game, I am encouraged for sure. And there are lots of things to like. I still think he's got a fatal flaw, but that fatal flaw really gets masked by an offensive coordinator who calls the kind of game that he's called the last two weeks, which, by the way, is a lot of what the NFL has now. It's a lot of West Coast, a lot of quick game, lot of slants, lots of bubbles, lots of screens. You know, by the way, Ron's getting excited

about the running game coming back into the picture as it did on Sunday. But I just, you're not going to fool us, Ron. You're not going to fool the people who have been paying attention. This wasn't your guy. You didn't even know that he could play the way he did against Dallas, which, by the way, was just okay. And then you immediately label them QB1. and you've been riding him all off season,

and now you're doing the same thing into the season. You know, it was deflection to start, and now it's like, look at what I am leaving you guys with. In fact, why would you want me to leave you with him? Why don't I just stay with him? Yeah. It really ramped up last week following the trades. Well, because he also played really well against the Eagles.

Yeah, it ramped up after they made the trades was when he consistently brought up Sam Howe and no one asked about Sam Howe. Right. All right, we got a lot to get to. Tommy's got something he wants to talk about. Chase Young, if you didn't hear his press conference, said a couple of things about his former team. We'll get to all of it right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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And Kendall Baker, who runs Yahoo Sports AM newsletter, which is a great newsletter, I recommend it to everybody listening. He pointed this out that these sounds, these sounds. a lot like they were generated by AI, not like they were written by a real person. Quote, quarterback Sam Howe did well executing the game plan. He threw for over 300 yards, his third game this season. Coach Rivera had the team ready to play, and Coach Eric the enemy called an excellent game. He was creative on offense and switched between runs and passes, you know?

I mean, if you read these, this is not a real person type in this. Well, didn't? These are AI generated. Well, I thought it obviously wasn't you who told me this. So in conversation about Magic Johnson's tweets a few weeks ago, I said, I mean, Magic's one of my all-time favorite athletes, but is there a bigger, you know, master of the obvious in his tweeting than Magic? Like it's, I mean, yeah, we know. We know they weren't ready for the game and played poorly against Chicago.

And then somebody mentioned this to me that apparently he does not write his tweets, that he conveys sort of his feelings about something and then that he's got somebody that tweets for him. That's what I was told by somebody, and I can't remember who it was now. These aren't even a real person. this is not not let us any shame in AI well i i think there is but most people probably don't uh i mean you can even you know have a human being type up a tweet about the team you own but i think these are a i generated just looks a little foolish i thought if yeah but but what about i i can't remember who told me this but it's possible that somebody who's not a big sports fan and just he said you know

Magic says, yeah, you know, Rivera and Bianami called great games and, you know, whatever, write something up and put it out. Maybe it's AI generated. Somebody told me that he's got somebody that writes his tweets for him. They're not deep. Let's put it that way. There's not a lot there. Oh, my God. There's some robot in some machine typing up these.

I'm looking at Magic's Twitter account, and he tweeted out the other. day or AI tweeted out the other day or somebody who tweets on his behalf tweeted out the other day and I did not see this. Walter Davis passed away. Do you remember Walter Davis? Oh yeah. Yeah.

Played for North Carolina. Played for North Carolina. Played for the sons. You know, had a good NBA career. Goddy, how old he couldn't have been that old? No. I mean, I would guess... You're age, right? No. He's much older than I am, but I'm going to guess that he

I would think he was in his 60s. You know, he was born. He died at 69 years old. 69 years old. Tommy, really? He was my age. He was my age. Yeah.

He was part of one of the most incredible comebacks in college basketball history. Down eight with 17 seconds to go, North Carolina and Duke. This is 75. five maybe. No three-point line. They scored eight points, and he banked in about a 40-footer at the buzzer to force overtime, and they ended up going into overtime and winning. These are the early days of my memories of ACC basketball,

and Walter Davis was a big part of it. I mean, he played on that Olympic team in 76 with Dean. Steve Shepard from Maryland was on that team. there were a bunch of Carolina players on that team. Phil Ford, Tommy Lagarde, Walter Davis, who am I forgetting? I want to pull up the 1976 basketball Olympic team right now. John Thompson, by the way, was the assistant to Dean Smith on that Olympic team in 76. Remember, in 72, they lost to the Russians in that controversial ending.

In 76, they came back, so that would have been Montreal, right? 76 was Montreal. Yeah. And the coaching staff was, I know John Thompson was Dean Smith's assistant coach. I just have a list of the players. Well, that's fine. The list of the players were Tate Armstrong from Duke, Quinn Buckner, Indiana, Kenny Carr, NC State, Adrian Dantley, Notre Dame,

Walter Davis, Phil Ford from North Carolina, Mitch Cupchack, Tommy Lagarde from North Carolina, four North Carolina players, Scott May from Indiana, Phil Hubbard from Michigan. Ernie Grunfeld was on that 76 Olympic team. Wow. And then Steve Shepard, the bear, was his nickname,

was a really good player for Maryland in 76, was on the team as well. A lot of ACC on that team. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven ACC players on the 76 Olympic team. And they did not lose. at all, and they won the gold medal. Walter Davis, rest in peace.

So anything else about magic and the AI generated? Do you really think they're AI generated, or that somebody that just isn't a big sports fan is right now. No, those are AI generated. Really? Nobody writes that stiff. Not even people who don't know what they're talking about. Is all of the AI generated news stuff?

Is it really stiff? Is it very just sort of matter-of-fact and factual and to the point? Yes. Yes, it is. It's in its infancy stages. They haven't reached the Laverro style yet, but they will someday, I'm sure. All right. Okay, so Chase Young was introduced to the Bay Area Media yesterday.

They played Jacksonville. They didn't play last weekend. They had a buy week. So he got traded during the 49ers' buy week. week. And there were several things that he said. I'm going to play for you this one quote, and then we'll respond to it here at a moment. You know, Nick, Nick is here. You know, always been a big brother to me, even at Ohio State. You know, I'm just stepping in here for, you know, today, got in here last week. Just the culture. The vibe is a lot different.

you know, I definitely know that I'm in the bill with winners. He then followed that up. So, you know, he says, you know, the culture, the vibes a lot different. I definitely know that I'm in a building with winners. And then the next one, and I don't have the sound of this, so I'm just going to read it to you. He was asked if he can tell the difference in the culture of the locker room so soon. And he said, just the players, the spirit in the locker room,

the spirit of the coaches. It's just different. It's kind of that same thing at Ohio State where it's like you're expected to win and it's just like that vibe of we're going to win. You know what I'm saying? So it definitely reminds me of Ohio State, but obviously it's going to feel, you know,

there are grown men. I'm just excited to be blessed with the opportunity to be with this franchise. And then one more on if anything has changed or affirmed what he thought about the 49ers now that he's here. The culture, I see why they win, the details of each play, the details of my assignment are much more greater, so I see why they win. So this got a lot of attention because I'm in a building with winners.

The culture is, you know, different, the vibes different, why is it different? The players, the spirit in the locker room, the coaches, you know, you're expected to win, that kind of a thing, you know, etc. So what do you think? Well, first of all, he also said he found out about the trade through social media. He did? Yes, he did. So some things never changed in that building, I guess. The other thing is he basically calls his teammates, his old teammates losers.

He said, this locker room is different. They feel like winners. Well, what's the difference between winning is losing? So the guys he just left, he basically called them losers. And he called the locker room a bunch of losers and called the organization, a losing organization. And he's not wrong about that. You know, that's that last part.

But, you know, look, the team took their shot at him. When he left, he took his shots back. There's no doubt the team. took their shots at him on the way out. They, you know, they leaked those criticisms of him anonymously. And it's funny, I didn't have the same reaction. I watched this early this morning, and I just saw a guy that was just trying to say really nice things about the place he was in. and if anything, there were more shots at the coaches than his teammates. I know he said the players, you know, and I'm in a building with winners.

It was a question to what's different. Yeah, I understand that. I don't, I think that he, I don't know. I think if somebody said, do you consider your teammates in Washington to be losers, he wouldn't double down on that. I don't think that that's not what he would. Well, what do you mean? Why, of course.

You just said he called his team losers. He's not going to come out blatantly say they were losers. Well, that's kind of what you implied that he did. Well, because that's what he said. Okay, well, then he said it. So why wouldn't he double down on it? Because that would be stupid to blatantly say it. You can say it subtly.

You can say, I'm in a locker room. I could feel the winning here. That's what's different. Well, what would be, what's different from winning except losing? I, he, there was some subtlety to it. That's true. I also think that there was just, and it, I mean, I'm projecting. There was just an intent.

Well, it might be a little bit. And it might be a lot because I think you think it's a lot and that that was sarcasm. But I think that, I think that he's just not the smoothest. of communicators necessarily. He's not a big talker to the media in general. He's a big towel waiver on the sideline in games he's not playing in. But I think he was just trying to say, hey, this place is great.

And I think in the back of his mind, I do think that the coaches and the line about the details of each play, the details of my assignment are much more greater, so I see why they win. I think that if anything, there was a more, subtle or direct shot at the coaches versus the players? Yes. I think there was.

But he hammered everybody. Somebody did ask him at the end. The question that I asked early in the season, and then I found out that this is what he wanted to do and the coaches weren't necessarily thrilled about it, which was another reason the coaches are to blame for some of this too because they let him do what he wanted to do. but somebody asked him in the press conference out there why he stands up, you know,

rather than is down in a three-point stance. Why is he in a two-point stance? And he said it was a comfort level with certain things we had to do in the defense. I'll keep it there, closed quote. I don't think they were happy about it, but then again, they were the coaches. So if they weren't happy about it, they should have made him do it. they should have made him get down on a three-point stance. And if he didn't want to, then they should have benched him.

But whatever. And the follow-up was if that would be something that would carry over to this defense, and he said, no, I don't think so. So, I mean, maybe the San Francisco coaches have actually said to him, yeah, no, in our four-three, you're not going to be in a two-point stance. You're going to be down at three-point stance. We won't accept sort of your preference for that. We think we're better off with you doing it this way.

Okay. I mean... Set up a nice little showdown. Not that he needed one when the 49ers come to play Washington. Yeah, hopefully he's healthy and playing well. There was no thank you to Washington note from him, unless I missed it. There was a very nice note that Montez Sweat sent everybody on Instagram to DC. Did you see that?

Yes. But I've not seen... I like Montez Sweat. I always liked them. Yeah, I don't see that there's anything from Chase Young yet. Boy, this thing, as contentious at times as we were told it was over the years, what became super clear and was not clear to me. I don't think it was clear to everybody on the beat either, is just how desperately they couldn't wait for the trade deadline to trade them.

I forget if I asked you this on Friday or if I asked Jay Gruden or somebody else about this. What, I think it was Ben Standing. What if, what if San Francisco didn't offer basically what a man. amounts to is almost a fourth round pick because it's a compensatory pick at the end of the third round. What if they said, nah, we'll give you a conditional sixth rounder. I think they would have taken that. Wow. I think they would have taken anything. Well, you know something? If they had done that, you would have heard a lot more talk about Sam Howe. And you would have had a lot more. He'd be talking about Sam Howe for two hours straight.

would be if they took a conditional sixth rounder. Well, I'll ask you. I already answered it. What if they didn't get an... Look, they were already, you know, concerned about the reaction to a late third round pick, all right? Which shows how desperate they were to move on from them. What if it was like, you know, now the best we can do is a fifth rounder or a conditional fifth or sixth? Do you think they would have taken it for Chase Young? I don't think they... I don't think they would have.

Look at... I think they would have sucked it up and just finished the season with him. They were... I mean, like you said, he was playing good. But they were falling all over themselves to bury him anonymously once the trade went down. I know. They wanted him gone. That would be too much.

Not even Sam Howe could handle that. I think that every time Ron mentions Sam when Sam's not asked about, somebody should say, Ron, we didn't ask you about Sam, but I do have another question about Chase Young. Who leaked those quotes? Because I thought his answer was rather disingenuous last week. Yes, it was. Well, most of what he says these days is disingenuous. Because to act as if he were surprised by that when Mike Silver was...

Look, Silver could have gotten it from Del Rio. Silver could have gotten it from a lot of people in the organization, which is true. he was here. So he knew a lot of people in the organization and a lot of people on the coaching staff. But man, did they want to move on from Chase Young? There is no doubt about that. And maybe he's in a better spot. I heard Logan Paulson said this to me the other day. He said, you know, or no, it was Santana. Santana said to me, sometimes, man, you just, it's so hard to play in your hometown. And it just is better to get the hell out of Dodge, basically, and away from all of the people

that want to really suck up your time. And, you know, whoever gave him the advice back in 2021 to be the only player out of 90 to not post for an OTA day, we've gone through this a million times, but stop taking advice from that person because that was bad advice. All right, we got more things to talk about. We will get to them right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, you know, we often refer to here on the Sports Fix podcast as the menu of excellence

that we have to offer. And we believe in that. It's the only kind of menu that we offer. It's a buffet style, but it's a great buffet. Yes. Now, Shelley's backroom also have, they have multiple menus of excellence in food, drink, and cigars. And they always post their daily specials on social media. You can find Shelly's on Twitter at Shelly's Backroom. And they also have an Instagram and Facebook page as well. And today's special at Shelly's food special is baked, smoke, Gouda Burger. Now, here's something I didn't realize about Shelley. They have a custom-bend beef. It's a combination of Angus Ground Shuck, beef short ribs, and beef brisket.

So it's not just something you buy in the meat section of the grocery store. This is a custom-blend beef for their bacon-smoke-Guda burger. Now, they also have, which would be my favorite, chicken palm sandwich. I mean, that's one of my go-toes, chicken palm is on sandwich. And that would be mine. And let's remember something about Shelley's Backroom. It's the only place in Washington where once you're done with your meal, you can top it off with a cigar. 1331 F Street, Northwest.

Go to shelley's backroom.com for more information. Great spot. Great spot for all of the sports that are going on these days. They've got, you know, multiple TVs, great conversation if you don't want to watch the games. But tonight you get college basketball tipping off for Maryland and Georgetown. Terps and Ed Cooley's Hoy is tonight, Tommy, tipping off their 20, 23, 20, 24 seasons. College basketball got started last night with Michigan State losing at home to James Madison. Listen, in overtime.

I mean, if you're a James Madison student or alum, man, these days are great days. I mean, your football team is ranked. What are they ranked this week? 19th, something like that? They can't even go to a bowl game. They're pissed off at James Madison because they can't play in a bowl game. And their basketball team took it out of Michigan State. They're 21st, 9-0 in the recent polls, both of them.

and last night they went in and beat Izzo and Michigan State the number four team in the country in their building. Izzo loses typically a lot of games in November and December, but Naki reminded me this morning, not at home. He usually, you know, those are usually neutral floor games or true road games. But apparently Madison's supposed to be pretty decent in basketball this year. Good for them. As far as Maryland goes, look, I'm not up to speed on Georgetown. I'm a big Ed Cooley fan, always have been. I'm sure this first year will be a tough year as he puts in his new culture and gets players in.

But Maryland is not ranked preseason. I care about that because I like to see them ranked. But it doesn't matter in college basketball because they have a tournament with 68 teams that decides the whole thing. But they were picked by the Big Ten writers to finish third in the Big Ten. So I don't know how they're not ranked. But they should be pretty good. You know, Dante Scott came back. Jamir Young is back.

Juju Reese is back. They have a team with incredible incoming freshmen, including Deshaun Harris Smith, one of the top players in the country from the WCAC, Paul the 6th. and they have another guy that they're very, very high on. They think he is going to be one of the best shooters in the league as a freshman, Jamie Kaiser. They're pretty loaded, and I would be very surprised if this isn't a team that finishes in the top four or five in the big ten

and ends up with, you know, four or five, six seed, something like that when we get to March. I mean, it's a definite tournament team. but excited to see the Terps tonight on BTN Plus. That's how I got to watch the game tonight. And then they play Davidson on Friday night and the winner of UAB Clemson on Sunday in a little tournament in Nashville, North Carolina. Davidson, left east old school.

Yeah, Bob McKillop, one of the best coaches for years at Davidson. And then a week from Friday night, they go to Villanova and play on their on-campus arena. in a big early season tilt between the Big East and the Big Ten. You know something? What? Go ahead. No, I was just going to say.

So I heard. Go ahead. No, go ahead. I met somebody who's been to Providence recently. I don't know how true this is. But he said they have anything and everything that's displayed, you know, trophies, posters, anything that's displayed with recent provident teams on them around the publicly, they've got Ed Cooley's name taped over.

That's too bad. A lot of bad feelings up there. Yeah, I know. There were stories about how he had his house on the market for a while and that he was ready to roll. That's too bad because he did a lot for them recently. They were more relevant in the last four, five, six years than they had ever been. he's one hell of a coach. It'll take time in the Big East for sure. I think, you know, I've seen them, you know, picked out of the 12 teams or 11 teams in the Big East, like 9th, 10th, 11th, somewhere

around there. And Providence should be, I think, decent. I forget where I saw them, but I think I saw them in the top four or five. I mean, the team in the Big East this year is going to be Marquette. Yukon lost a lot of those players off the National Championship team. No, should be improved too in Kyle Neptune's second year there. College basketball, I know, is not the favorite of everybody out there. It really is amazing how the sport, Tommy, even in the time that you and I have known each other, you know, going back to like 2006, 2007, and when we started to do the show, college basketball in November, December, January, February, kind of irrelevant. It's a one-month sport for most people.

Now, it becomes a pop culture phenomena in March because of brackets in the tournament. But, you know, sports fans in general are not paying attention to college basketball in November, December. It's diehards like me only. That's all that's left. Yeah. And it's- If that's the case, maybe they should expand the tournament, since people only care of it. about the tournament.

Or maybe start the season later and have the tournament in April, you know, where at least your conference season is when football season ends or a big portion of it. I mean, that's the problem is football. Football basically, you know, takes, sucks up all of the air in the room. And it's not just pro football. It's college football too. So from, and it's year round, but it's certainly through. the Super Bowl. And once you get to the Super Bowl, then people start to pay attention to things like,

you know, college basketball and who's going to be in March and the NBA. But, you know, everything has, I mean, I don't know. I mean, look at the World Series. I know you, you like to say, well, it was the most watched thing of the night. But man, I mean, I think a lot of people that used to be into the October Classic didn't even know it was going on this year. He's thought has become a much more regional than national sport of interest, like hockey in a way. Yeah, like hockey. Speaking of hockey, Nicholas Baxter, I guess, is going to be done for the year with this, you know, hip. And most people believe that he's going to retire and that that will be the end of the Nick Baxter era.

And I had Ben Raby on the radio show this morning, and he's like, and this was shocking to me. Do you know Baxter only made one All-Star game? I know. I find that stunning because I think I write about Baxter and tomorrow's Washington Times. And I think he's had possibly a Hall-Fame career. That's what Ben said. But he only has one all-star appearance. Yeah, that's what Ben said.

Ben said he's a potential Hall of Famer and he only had one All-Star appearance, which is crazy to me. It really is. And then he said, like, there's really no discussion that Baxter is on the Mount Rushmore of all-time Caps players. It's Ovechkin, Baxter, Rod Langway, and then you can debate who's fourth. But those are the three that are absolute Givens. I would agree. I would agree.

Ovechkin and Baxter, they were Butch and Sundance. They played together ever since they've been in the league. Yeah. You know? I mean, that's a remarkable. thing. And now Ovechkin, who's only got two goals this year, has to do the chase for Wayne Gretzky without Sundance next door. Right. All right.

Kevin, Kevin, we've got some breaking news here. Speaking of Ron Rivera and quarterback decisions, ESPN is reporting that Carson Wentz is signing a contract with the Los Angeles. ramp. Oh, my God. Adam Schaefter is breaking the news. Carson Wentz back in the NFL. Matthew Stafford must be done, man. Poor Matt Stafford.

He started off the season. Look pretty good. Carson Wentz, and that's Sean McVeigh making the decision on that. Well, you know, the whole backup situation in L.A., it's really kind of mysterious. You know, because they drafted Stetson Bennett this year. and he initially they liked him he looked good early but then he left the team for personal reasons

early in the season and hasn't been back why has not why has Colt McCoy not been signed have you talked to your son? I don't know because maybe he didn't know I don't I haven't talked to him in a while maybe he doesn't want to play that's what I was thinking or maybe he's hurt yeah or maybe he just doesn't want to play because I kept thinking last night, if he were the Jets quarterback, they would be so much better off. So much better off.

Yes. And by the way, it may be he doesn't want to play. And with Sean McVeigh signing Wentz, don't you think McVeigh would have reached out to Colt before Wentz? Yes, I would think so. I would think so. It's got to be he doesn't want to play for whatever reason. I'll do some digging. Do some digging on that.

I will. The Rams, clearly Matt Stafford's not healthy again. We're probably seeing the end of Matt Stafford's career. They got the Super Bowl, though. If this is the case, this sets up a potential Carson Wentz versus Washington Commander's Showdown. Oh, that's right. They got the Rams out in SoFi in December. Yes.

All right. You got Wens. And then a few weeks later, you got Chase Young coming back. Chase Young. All the bad ideas are back. I mean, maybe R.G.3 will sign with the Jets and we can play him on Christmas Eve. All right. Anything else? I got nothing else for you today, boss.

Wow. Wentz. I did not think anybody would sign him. I didn't think anybody. Not after last year. All right. We are done for the day back tomorrow.