The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Vote For Mariota

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Kevin and Thom today on those that are excited about Marcus Mariota and believe he has more than a back-up future. The boys discussed the Lane Kiffin move from Ole Miss to LSU and weighed in on whether or not he should've been allowed to coach Ole Miss in the upcoming College Football Playoffs. Will Jayden play on Sunday and "Under-Center" vs "Shot-gun" finished the show. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com  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 Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. Tommy's here actually with me in studio as we are entertaining two familiar faces. John and Corbyn are here. They, at your big night last May, they bid on something that no one else did. By the way, they were the only bidders. day in studio for this podcast. So it's good to have them back. They've done it before. Yes. There are two fans. Yes, they are. The DC Grace event that I have at Shelley's backroom

that includes a live auction. And John bailed us out, basically bailed me out by stepping up and bidding for the visit to the podcast. So right. And for a good cause. Because no one else was willing to do it. Well, that's what you said. I don't remember. That night's always... Actually, there were a few bidders. You know, we've done this forever. We did it when we had the radio show. Yes. And I remember the first time we did it. Somebody paid $250 at some auction. I don't even remember what the auction was. It could have been one of my kids' schools. Because I think I gave that away as an auction item. Not, you know, a silent auction item. It wasn't big enough. to be a live auction item. And I remember looking at these people when I scheduled it, and I'm like,

why would you pay $250 to see the two of us? Like, but they were so nice. And we did it for many, many years and always had somewhere in that. I don't even know what you guys paid. I forget what they paid for it. It was a generous, generous donation. It was a generous donation. Yes. And the $250 is now back in 2010. So we've had some inflation over the year. So is the price going up? Yes. To hang out with us? Yes, it should.

You know, whenever we do this, it also reminds me about, and we've discussed this before, about doing a live podcast. I know. We've talked about a lot of things, a lot. Your follow-through is not very good. My follow-through, it's not my podcast. Well, it's not, by the way, if it were your podcast, there'd be no chance of any follow-thru. You'd put it on me anyway.

Yeah, we've talked about, we've actually had a couple of people come to us and say, you guys should do a live event somewhere. Yeah. You know, like Bethesda Cinnamon Drafts house or something. Right. But if I, I've told you this before. If I did this, I wouldn't do it. They're like, oh, it would be a huge revenue generator.

You could charge, you know, X amount for tickets, have a cash bar. I said, if I do something, I'm doing it as a thank you to everybody. You wouldn't do it. That way, you would say, yeah, it's a cash bar, and we get a piece of that, and we get a piece of the meal, and we get a piece of the tickets. Actually, I'm surprised you think so low of me. I would just do it for the free beer. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, you would. You would. That's true. Okay. But I don't think you'd want people coming and taking freebies. That wouldn't bother me. All right. One of these days we'll get around to doing it.

I wanted to start the show with this from Stan in Seattle. Stan writes, I'm a transplanted DMVer living in Seattle, but still follow my redskins. I listen every day, but my favorite days are Tuesdays and Thursdays when Tom's on the show. I'm coming back to D.C. for Christmas and my son-in-law, who also listens to the show, and I have plans to go to Shelly's for smoke. Best time of the year to do it. Yes. It would be a thrill to run into Tom, fingers crossed.

I've never written to you before, but after the loss to Denny's. I needed to do it because I just can't believe that I feel that Marcus Mariotta gives this team this year the best chance to win. He's a better passer than Jaden, a better reader of defenses, he's not afraid to make tight window throws, and I think you'll agree with this. He's a much better runner, especially on designed runs. He played the best game of any quarterback this year for our team on Sunday night, I'd stick with Mario to the rest of the year and let Daniels heal properly.

I would also sign Marioita to a contract extension now, or they might lose them in free agency to a team that needs a starter. So let me just mention, Stan, that last line, that's the only part, other than the Shelley's part, I'm excited that you're going to go to Shelly's. That's the only part of your football note that I actually agree with. I vehemently disagree with everything else you said, but Mariotta to a contract extension now makes a lot of sense to me. Makes sense to me too. Yeah. Absolutely. They are fortunate to have him as a backup. And we'll get to his performance on Sunday night. But look, it sounds like Stan's been drinking already, you know. He's not, let me just, the reason I read this and decided to read it

on the show. He's not the only person that feels this way. You know, there are a lot of people that just for some reason, and we've talked about it before, it's the PTSD of the Snyder intergeneration. You know, they saw Jaden play against Green Bay and get hurt. They saw Jaden play against Dallas and get hurt. They saw him play against Seattle in a blowout loss and get hurt. and I guess for some reason they haven't you know dealt with the fact that Marcus Marriota is like one in five

as a start as well yeah like it's not like they're winning with Marcus Mario yeah I almost could understand it if they had won some games with him I could understand the falling in love notion then but I mean these people need to go

to go back go watch some Jane Daniel's film really to remember what he was like Talk about a guy who can make tight throws. Talk about a guy who was a better runner. I mean, you know, I'm sorry. And I think they'll be reminded of that actually this Sunday. Yeah.

By the way, I think the best game by a starting quarterback this year was either Jaden against Chicago or Jaden against the Chargers. I think. I think the Charger game, I'm looking it up right now, I just want to make sure. So, Jaden in that game, had a 100-passer rating, had a 75.6 QBR. That was his best QBR. And the second best game for him was, yes, it was actually the Chicago game in which he had a 69.3 QBR. Let me see on Marcus Mariotta if he beat 75-point whatever is a QBR. He may have against the Raiders.

I would guess against the Raiders he did it. He might have against the Raiders. That seems so long ago. Yeah. He actually had a better, he did not have anywhere near the game, QBR-wise. His best game of the year, passer rating was the Vegas game,

but QBR was against Detroit when they were down, you know, 100 to nothing early. That's kind of odd. He was 16 to 22 for 213 yards, two touchdowns, no picks. It just goes to show you. I mean, there's a lot of garbage time yards in that particular game against the Lions. Although, I remember saying about the Detroit game, it was the first game in a while that on offense, they didn't implode, you know, like they had with penalties and drops and the whole thing.

But look, Stan in Seattle, all due respect, Jaden was fifth in the league last year in tight window throws. yeah okay just uh you know he's not afraid to make tight window throws he was fifth in the league last year i don't know what he is this year i don't even know how we can evaluate jaden daniels and basically the majority of players on the team this year he hasn't actually been out there with players that play first string NFL football right other than the opener and that was it and he played well in the opener and they won easily against the giants um he's not a better passer than Jaden. Marcus Mariotta's never been a better passer than Jaden. He's a much lower career, you know, completion percentage guy. It was always the biggest complaint about

Marcus Marioad everywhere he was, is that he wasn't super consistent as a thrower. By the way, I've always liked Marioita. Mario is a great dual threat, you know, low end starter, you know, backup quarterback in the league. And this is the perfect place for Marcus Mariotto. He's never felt better about himself, better about the system. Look, Cliff Kingsbury could leave, you know, and they could go hire Kevin Stefansky if he gets fired in Cleveland, and they're going to bring in a Shanahan-style offense. I think Marcus would be fine in that offense as well. I think Jaden would be fine in that offense. But he's not a better passer. He's not a better reader of defenses. He's certainly not afraid Jaden Daniels to make tight window throws. He was fifth in the

league as a rookie last year. in tight window throws, and he's not a better runner. I do think he's better at running the zone read. I think he's a better decision maker. He's been doing it a lot longer, and he was excellent, you know, winning the Heisman trophy as a true dual threat zone read kind of quarterback at Oregon. But all that said, I love Marcus Marietta as this team's backup quarterback, and if they're in a pinch with him as a starter.

and I absolutely feel like they should sign him to a contract extension sooner rather than later. Now, I don't know if there will be a big market for him as a starter. I don't really know that. I think that people around the league know who Marcus Mariotta is, and there may be a team that would give him a chance to compete for a starting job. But a smart football team would want to sign him as a backup. No doubt. Yeah. I mean, I would pay him good money to be a lot.

to be a backup. That's right. But I don't think that he would leave here to be a backup somewhere else. I don't think he would either. I don't even know if he'd leave here to be a starter.

I think he's pretty sincere in his public comments. He has to seem like the kind of guy who's in sincerity comes natural. So I think he is very comfortable with where he's at. Now, I think he loves

the culture and the system. Yeah. He's just so you know, he's actually one in six as a starter this year. Not that he's got anything to do with the record. I mean, like with Jaden, they've been playing with a bunch of players

that weren't supposed to be on NFL rosters this year. For a lot of it, except for on the Chiefs game, he had Terry, you know, and Terry played against Denver, and it made a difference. Now that said, yeah, his performance Sunday night, I think was, you know, in spite of the interception, the horrific interception he had,

and in spite of the way the game ended, I mean, I think, I think it was almost courageous. Loved it. Yeah. I mean, I thought what Quinn said, he was a warrior at that position was, like, I came in here to do the post-game show on, or the radio yesterday. And I went off on Mario and I said, look, he made a horrible decision. It's what he does. You know, we saw it against Dallas. We saw it against Miami and overtime in Madrid.

He's going to make those throws. But there was so much of a gunslinger in him down the stretch with them needing to score. It felt like a last year game with Jaden Daniels at quarterback where they're driving down for the game tying score. Then they're in overtime and they're driving down to win the game. like I felt watching that game like I felt watching last year like they're going to win this game yeah they're going to get it's funny I turn to a guy I was watching the game with yeah and said that yeah and said that because it did have that kind of feel it's like it's like he was going to respond to whatever Denver get through at him yeah he was going to he was going to

come back and respond and he I mean look I mean he almost will he he he was determined that they were not going to lose that game. He actually played that game very unlike Marcus Marriota in the past. Marcus Marriota was always kind of go along to get along, you know, as a quarterback, as a leader. Now, everybody loves him. He's a mentor. He's grown significantly. Remember, it was just a few years ago in Philadelphia, he thought his career was over.

He basically had to yips. He couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from a boat. Remember that story about him being in training camp and feeling like it's over. and he had anxiety over it, had a lot of issues. And this has been like a rebirth of Mariotta. And what we saw the other night was not necessarily what you saw, you know, in Tennessee when they were good. Yeah. You know, they had a couple of good teams there.

I will just remind everybody, I felt like they were going to win the game. You thought they were going to win the game. Stan, I'm sure thought they were going to win the game. But you know what? They didn't win the game. and if Jaden had been the quarterback, they would have won the game. I believe that as well. And I think if they had, Jaden had played in Miami, they would have won that game, too.

And they'd be sitting here at five and seven, and we'd be talking about playoff scenarios. I swear, these two games, two overrun losses. I think you're right. But Mario, without him the other night, with a normal run-of-the-mill backup NFL quarterback, they're not even anywhere near that close to winning it. So they should sign him. what was the deal this last offseason one year 10 million i think it was or was that the deal uh two years ago um you know they're going to have plenty of money and they're going to be able

to free up money with latimore's release most likely pain maybe uh being released they got a lot of players they got a sign so it was one year eight million bucks okay you know give them 12 million call it a day and have him have him back and maybe it's a two-year deal we've talked about this he's only 32 years old yeah you play quarterback in this league until you're late 30s now and joe flacco aaron rogers etc into your early 40s is a backup and he's been healthy and he looks good like this year he looks physically you know almost different as a runner but i thought he was great the other night i thought he was incredible the other night and you know that that first throw, I'm just like, we can't do this.

Like, this is what he does. And he missed a lot of throws, but he willed them. I agree with you. He willed them to within a two-point conversion away from winning that game. And it's a shame they didn't block the best player on the field on that two-point conversion. By the way, I did the recap yesterday. I went back and watched that on the All-22. They just left an absolute free rusher.

It was that zero-coverage blitz. They were coming with everybody. And McNichols, McNichols, they had the right play. They had the right play. He was open over in the flat. Yeah, but Nick Benito is the best player on the field. And for whatever reason, he was the guy they left as the free rusher. You always have one guy that the quarterback's got to account for in that blitz package.

And unfortunately, he was their tallest and longest player. And he just stuffed it. Mario would have had literally would have had to have thrown the ball. ball, you know, a half a second earlier and with so much anticipation and loft. Or pump. You know, maybe pump and get around, but then that gives the linebacker time to get over and cover McNichols. Yeah.

It was a very good play. Denver's really good indeed. Yeah, they are. Yeah. They're really good. They're top three in both run and pass. This from, believe it or not, Marcus, Marcus writes, okay, Kevin, I'll give Cliff another shot. I wrote you two weeks ago to say fire everybody, but Kingsbury just lit up the best

defense in football. He did that. That was a Cliff Kingsbury. Very good game plan. Unbelievable. On both sides of the ball, by the way. Nobody had done that to Denver this year. I know. Nobody had. They ran 85 plays, had 31st downs, 419 yards, 8 of 17 on third down, three of three on fourth down. They were very good on offense against arguably. the best defense in football, although I would tell you that it's Houston right now, more than Denver. In fact, I think I said this a few weeks ago on the podcast, or maybe I told you, maybe I didn't, maybe I told Max on radio. I put a sizable wager three weeks ago on the Houston Texans to win the AFC championship at 30 to 1. Yeah. So I'm going to have a chance if they make the playoffs

to kind of hedge against it. I think they might be the best team in football right now. I don't know if they'll make the playoffs, but I think they might be the best team in football. They're just not in the right spot right now at seven and five with the schedule they have. They play the Chiefs Sunday night. That could almost eliminate the Chiefs, not mathematically, but if Houston goes in there and beats the Chiefs in Arrowhead on Sunday night, the Chiefs are six and seven. Yeah. You know, again, we talked about this before, and it really came out after they lost to the Cowboys. Yeah. The Chiefs hate is i just don't understand it i mean i just don't understand all the i mean i understand you know they keep winning they win the super bowl if they don't win it they go to it every year

and i understood you know it was it's i referred to it as patriots like but the patriots were an easy team to hate because bill bellichick was so hateable yeah you know i mean andy reed is your is your grandfather you know i mean i don't get well i don't get well i I mean, why the, why did, I mean, and Mahomes, you're watching brilliance. You're just watching somebody who's absolutely brilliance. I don't understand. I mean, the whole, you know, most of the NFL fans I run into are convinced that the referees who used to fix it for the Patriots are now fixing it for the Chiefs. It's not helping them this year.

There's six and six. I think whenever you've got a team that's won this much over this period of time, they're going to be a. polarizing team at the very least i mean yeah i guess people just get i don't think i think you're right i think there was a difference with the patriots because of belichick because of even brady to a certain degree and because of deflate gate and spy gate and all of them and the fact that they did it for like a 20 year period it just got to the point where it got old it's like okay here we are mid-January the patriots are playing in foxborough again and they played in that division that they owned because it was the worst division in football. They treated the month of September as

preseason because they knew by December they'd be in first place. I think the two teams are different, but they still have just ridiculous success. The Chiefs haven't been, you know, haven't been eliminated before championship weekend since Mahomes took over. Yeah. I mean, it does get, I remember thinking when Mahomes was really good in the early days of Mahomes, all of six, seven years ago, how cool it was going to be to see playoff games in Arrowhead, because it really is a great venue.

And for people like us that remember the NFL in the olden days, you know, like the 70s, you don't count those as the olden days, but like Arrowhead was a place that had legendary playoff games, the game on Christmas Day against the Dolphins in 1971.

Six quarters. Still the longest game in NFL history. Yeah. But now I'm kind of sick of seeing playoff games in Arrowhead. Like you want, want to see them play on the road, like they did two years ago when they had to play the Ravens on the road and the bills. It will be weird if they're not in the postseason. It'll be really

strange. But right now, you know, you don't think they're going to be, do you? You know, it's funny when you get a great team like this and they're on the ropes, I almost root for them to get there to see if they could actually do the damage we all think they could do if they do get in. But they play Houston, the Chargers, and the Broncos. and three of their final five. To make it to the postseason, all right, it's going to be very hard now

to catch Denver, even if they beat Denver head to head, because they sit in third place, not second place. They're two games behind the Chargers, they're three games behind the Broncos with five to play.

So that's going to be really hard to win the division. So then you go to the overall playoff picture, and where are they, they're currently six and six, and the seventh seat is Buffalo at 8 and 4. And Buffalo beat them head to head. Buffalo is not going to catch New England either.

They're too far behind New England, even though they play New England. New England's got such an easy schedule. They do play the Ravens and the Bills. I didn't watch the game last night. Did you watch the game? Yeah, Drake May is really good. I got a question for you about last night because I didn't watch the game. Did you notice that there was, did the cameras pan to Mike Vrable

a lot on the sideline. I think so. Why? Because I watched him a couple weeks ago on the Thursday night game and I watched it with the sound off because I was at some place. He was on TV all the time. Okay. I mean, he has become

like this figure that they love to show all the time. In the 70s and it was for different reasons. Namath. They showed John Madden. Oh, Mad. On the sideline all the time because he was so demonstrative. Yeah, right. And he was a bit of a caricature.

Yes. Yeah. Rabel's not like that. But when they play the Patriots, Rabel is the star. He's the guy who gets all the air time. You know, he's the coach that I first wanted when, you know, in 2024. I mean, I'm glad Quinn's here.

But he didn't, I think he was kind of waiting for this gig, thinking that, you know, it might work out where he would have that opportunity. He's a very good NFL country. Yeah, he is. But he is on... Watch next time you watch... Well, why do you think that is? I mean, he's because...

It's not like he's an extraordinarily handsome man. No, but he's big. Huh? He's a big guy. And he's not big like Madden. No, no, not heavy. But he's pretty big, massive guy. He's not fat.

Right. You mean like those guys are. Okay. But he's so demonstrative in his enthusiasm for his players. And when his players come off the field, he's there to, to meet them, you know, and he's not the only coach that does that. I don't know why. All I know is that he gets a lot of airtime. I haven't noticed that. I do notice that he's really a good coach and has been wherever he's been. And they have a really good team. You know, they got tested in Tampa a few

weeks ago. They passed that test. You know, they beat Buffalo early in the season. I mean, they're 11 and 2. The New England Patriots in Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears have the three best records in the NFL. The NFL, try to figure it out. It's impossible year to year. And, you know, we got used to Kansas City, Baltimore, Buffalo in the AFC. And this year, it's going to be New England, Denver, might be Baltimore, and it could end up being Jacksonville. I don't know about Baltimore. I'm telling you, I don't know what is going on with Lamar Jackson. That team's not a, they're not a good team. They're not a good team. And he, he isn't he isn't playing well despite his teammates around him he's contributing he's not he's not

well either he's not healthy it goes beyond that it goes beyond what do you think it goes beyond i i'm just telling you his pocket presence is is hurt like he's never played the game before well he's never had the best of pocket presence to begin with as as a passer although last year i think was his first really good season doing that he needs his legs to be lamar jackson and he hasn't had them. He hasn't looked good, and yet they're still in first place at 6 and 6. I know, and you were right. It is because of the opponents that they faced. But they were horrific Thanksgiving night. Everybody in that division has a negative point differential. Cincinnati's two games back at 4 and 8, they could win the division. They still play Baltimore one more time. They've already

beaten the Ravens Thanksgiving night. They play the bills. this week. I mean, Joe Burrow looked really good. Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be Pittsburgh, Baltimore. It'll probably come down to the last game of the year. Yeah. And they might win it with a losing record. But I was thinking about this. If New England wins the, if New England's, if the Patriots are the one seed, and right now they're favored to be the one seed, because they play off their by week. They do play the bills. They do play in Baltimore, but then they finish with the Jets

and Dolphins. They're going to get to 13, if not 14 wins, more likely than not. That's two games in Foxborough to get to a Super Bowl. And the first opponent might be somebody like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, or Cincinnati. Or maybe not. It might end up being the Chargers or somebody like that. I just can't believe Rabel in year one with a second year quarterback is going to get to the Super Bowl. And Drake May could end up being the MVP. Yeah, he's the favorite right now, I think. Stafford was, but Stafford threw a couple of picks. in the loss to Carolina. But imagine you end up with, you know,

the Patriots in Denver is the top two seeds in the AFC. And in the NFC, the top two seeds are the Chicago Bears and it might be the Rams or Seahawks. It's going to collapse for the Bears soon. Huh? It's going to collapse for the Bears. Even their coach, Ben Johnson. Yeah.

I think I read a quote from him basically saying they're winning in spite of their passing game, not because of it it's true but they ran for 200 yards against the eagles i know i know that that was an unbelievable performance right now as much as anything defense was there was the part of the team that everybody believed i know i mean again right like right up there with lamar jackson the eagles collapsed i mean it's the same personnel basically yeah you know that everyone thought was going to go to the super bowl so uh i mean there there are some coaching issues in that locker room in Philly right now.

And there is a lot of division among the fan base about Jalen Hertz right now. I know that. And there's a lot of media reports that leak out there that basically say the locker room is very divided right now about Jalen Hertz. Yeah. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy people would get who would divide a locker room. The division in the locker room, I think, is because of the reports that suggested that they give him the game plan. They practice the game plan.

And when they get to Sunday, he's got his own game plan. And his own game plan is very conservative by nature. He doesn't let it rip into tight windows. He understands they've got a great defense. They've got Sequin Barclay, and he does whatever it takes to win the game. And by the way, he's been pretty successful at doing that. And when he has had to throw the football, it's typically worked out, like the Super Bowl. You know, when he played well and played well in multiple Super Bowls.

I still wouldn't count Philly out. There's something wrong there, though. And the way they lost on Friday was fascinating because I didn't think Chicago was very good. And Chicago ends with this game against the Eagles, the Packers, then they have the Browns. Packers, again, they've got two games with the Packers, and they play the 49ers and the Lions as well. So it could fall apart for them. They play the Packers this Sunday at Lambo, and then they play the Packers the day that the NFL marked for Philadelphia, Washington number one. Remember they're playing twice in the final three weeks?

And I had the guy from the schedule office on Mike North, and he said, look, I would have rather they played an earlier game, but this sets up for two massive NFCE showdowns in the final three weeks. What we thought. It's what the schedule makers thought. You know, the Saturday lineup is going to be one afternoon game and then one night game. I would bet they pick Bears Packers for the night game. Yeah. I hope they do. I'm sick of these night games.

We just talked a lot about other NFL teams. I know. We never do that. I know that. We never really do that. You wrote a column, by the way, about Sunday night's game, where you were talking about, kind of the feeling that I think a lot of people had, which was, wow, they almost beat Denver. But they didn't beat Denver.

They lost. But like there was this feeling, I had people say to me, man, you were overly positive about a loss. And I kept saying, look, I do know they lost the game. I'm very aware that Denver had the 27 and Washington had the 26 at the end of it. But it just felt like it was nice, like what Quinn said, it was nice to see. some real players back on the field, and it's going to be great to see if Jaden comes back on Sunday against the Vikings. Jaden Daniels, Terry McCorn, a healthy Debo Samuel and Terry on the field at the same time. This offensive line, which has gotten better and better as the season's gone

along. Chris Rodriguez now is more of the main guy. Maybe Noah Brown back this week as well. Zach Ertz can catch passes when there's another. receiver on the field that takes some of the attention away. I want to see that. I want to see. I'm not into draft positioning. I'm not into losing close games. I want to see them get on a roll.

I want to see them ruin it for Philadelphia or Dallas. You know, I've come to that way of faking. One of the things I talked about, and I understand that, you know, the good feeling about their performance on Sunday night. but you don't want your team in a position to celebrate what I call valiant losses. That's what I was going to read from your column. Tommy talks about valiant losses and says, quote, those often are measured by losing franchises.

The commanders need to leave those standards behind. And that includes playing for draft. Yeah, that's when you're on the verge of a whole new coaching regime or you need a quarterback like we were always in that wilderness. Yes. Look, if they end up with a much higher draft pick than a lower draft pick, I'll be thrilled when we get there. But I don't want to be a part of the process to get there. I want to see this team build something and feel good about, hey, you know, look at what we put out there, these final five games.

And they still won't have all their players out there. They're still decimated on defense. People underestimate the loss of Echler on that offense this season. But, you know, it was Sunday night that convinced me that, you know, this idea of just playing for draft position because everyone felt so good about the way they played that there's value in that, you know, not for the fan base and for the players and the coaches. Yeah, I don't think there's a lot that translates year to year. I think you just look at this season, look at the teams that are, you know, half the teams that are going to be in the playoffs or teams. that nobody expected to be there, more likely than not. And that happens almost every year. But I think when you've got a young quarterback who's only played at this point five games,

five and a half games, and they were with, you know, a sordid crew around him, you know, for some of those games. I think that there's a confidence thing. I don't think he lacks in it. But I think that they could get into a rhythm. They could play well. They could win some of these games. They could spoil it for Dallas or Philly when they get there. Christmas Day might be a game that Dallas has to have. I'd love for our team to put the healthiest team on the field and beat them. And look, I mean, cratering is never a good thing unless you're swapping out everybody. And Quinn, by the way, and I pointed this out several times, Quinn's never had a team that's cratered.

He's 20 and 4 as a head coach in the final four games of a season. His teams never quit on them. And not every one of those seasons, they weren't playoff seasons. They were, you know, winning, going 3 and 1 or 4 and 0 to get to 8 and 8 or 9 and 7. They weren't, you know, in the actual playoffs when all was said and done. So I don't expect it anyway. I expect them to do what they did Sunday night the rest of the way, what they did in Madrid. And as they get more players back, they're still going to be missing a lot of play.

on defense because those players are done for the year. You know, Dorrance Armstrong and Dietrich Wise and Trey Amos, those guys are done for the year. But even getting a guy back like Will Harris, this was the guy that they counted on, big time. I want to see it. I'm not into, you know, thinking about there were years when I'm like, you don't want to win this game, you know, it's a whole new coaching regime coming in and they're quarterbacks at the top of this draft.

Like I was rooting for Greg Zerline to make that field goal in 20, 23 because they would have lost number two overall had he missed it and they would have been at number six or number five overall. They wouldn't have Jaden Daniels. Somebody's going to say, yeah, but they might have Drake May. Actually, maybe not because I think they would have fall in two or three spots and they would have had Bo Nix. They would have had Bo Nix or Michael Pennix Jr. or J.J. McCarthy who looks terrible, although it's still early on him. I don't know what we did there in the first segment. We've never talked that much. just NFL and

playoff stuff. I think we're inspired by our guests here for the podcast. Maybe. Maybe that's it. But Stan, thanks for kicking it off. Yeah, I hope you enjoy Shelly's with your son-in-law. Yes, Stan. But Marcus Mariot is not a better quarterback this year or any year

than Jaden Daniels. But he's one hell of a guy to have on your team as a backup and is an occasional starter. And I agree with you. I would sign him and sign him sooner rather than later. All right, we've got other things to get to, including the Lane Kiffin move to LSU, that more after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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Mention my name. They'll schedule a free in-home estimate. 50% off everything, zero percent interest for five years. So, Lane Kiffin was a big story over the weekend. On Friday, his Ole Miss team won the Egg Bowl beating Mississippi State to clinch really one of the greatest seasons in Ole Miss history and really clinch and seal a college football playoff berth. In fact, they're going to host one of those first round games.

They did not make the SEC championship game. That'll be played this Saturday afternoon between Alabama and Georgia. But Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin this year, 11 and 1. Their one loss was to Georgia and a thriller on the road. And they're going to host probably a 7-10 game, December 19th, December 20th, in the first round of the playoffs. So Lane Kiffin, I'm sure, as you know, by now has taken the job at LSU. He's going to make $13 million a year, Tommy, over seven years.

He'll be the second highest paid coach in the land behind Kirby Smart. By the way, part of his deal is fascinating. Some of the bonuses include getting bonus for how well Ole Miss does in the playoffs. without him. So if Ole Miss wins the first playoff game, LSU is going to pay him $150,000. If Ole Miss without him

wins a quarterfinal game, LSU's going to pay him $250,000. And if they win the whole thing, LSU is going to pay him a million dollars. So they transferred the bonuses. LSU picked them all up. In addition to no buyout

in the LSU contract. So they'll have, you know, have to pay him the whole thing. And it's funny because the governor of Louisiana made this big deal about Brian Kelly's contract and how much they're going to have to pay him and how, you know, like 50 some million. And that will never happen again. And the next, you go and this one, this one is 10 times worse. A deal than the Brian Kelly deal for this, for whoever's paying it in Louisiana, whether it's the boosters, the school, the state, you know, you get different answers as to who. who's paying it, but it's ironic

because this is a terrible contract for the school. Yeah. So, look, he's a great coach. He's a great coach, and he's also been a very difficult human being in all of these places, leaving after Tennessee after a year. Subhuman being, myself.

But there is no question about what a genius offensive mind he is, and a great play caller. Ole Miss isn't 11 and 1 without Lane Kiffin. I know that. But even Even Nick Saban couldn't stand having him around. Well, he liked him as his play caller.

Yes. But he just couldn't stand him otherwise. Remember his father how good of a defensive? Yeah, he was at Tampa for years. Yeah. Yeah. So I think the topic that everybody's been discussing is for those that don't know, there was a long discussion with the old Miss people over the weekend as to how they'd

handle the exit. You know, is it don't let them. the door hit you on the way out, or will they let him coach through the end of the season, coach his team through the playoff? They decided, absolutely not. The athletic director said, I still have to live here. I don't even know what that really means, but he's got to live with the decision. He's still got to stay in Oxford and, you know, and be a part of the university. Lane Kiffin wanted to coach his team through the playoff, and apparently the players wanted him to coach them through the playoff but that's not what is going to happen he's gone

and they'll turn it over to one of the assistant coaches who will be the interim head coach so the question is do you think if you were an old miss person you know part of the powers that be you would have said yes to him coaching the rest of the season or no i would have been into bo schlembecker uh school of thought with steve fisher i would He won a Mississippi man coaching the Mississippi team in the bowl games. Right. He'd be, I would not let him coach. Bill Frieder, by the way, took a job when he was the head coach at Michigan right before the NCAA tournament started in 1989.

And they said, get out. And Steve Fisher was named coach. And Steve Fisher did a pretty damn good job. He did. In the years that followed coaching the Fab Five. I would go with the powers that be and say, you know, you know, Get out of Oxford. We'll take care of our business.

And it's unfortunate, like always, the players have to suffer, you know, the decision of all the adults. I mean, some of them don't suffer too bad because they're getting paid now. But, I mean, look, you hit the nail on head saying that the rules that set up this schedule. You were listening to the radio show. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. I was listening to your radio show on the way in because I couldn't. get, it was static on every other station, I'm sorry.

Right. But, but, yeah, it's a ridiculous thing. And they got to fix it right away. I mean, Lane Kiffin may be finally the straw that breaks the camel's back and say, they got to fix this because it's an embarrassment for everybody. So that said, Lane Kiffin is not a victim here. Well, yeah, I don't think anybody thinks he is. Oh, I think if you listen to ESPN.

Really? ESPN. Oh, I haven't been paying attention. Samin Yeah. Has been crying the blues for Lane Kiffin. And the ESPN heads have shied away from talking about it. Really?

Yes. It turns out that Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban have the same agent. Jimmy Sexton. Yes. And many of the guys who work at ESPN who are on the air are with the same agency, CAA. Is that a story right now? It should be. I mean, it sounds like you're saying that it is.

you never follow this stuff. No. College football. No. So I know somebody who does. Okay. And I don't know if it's a story or not, but again, it shows you got to look at the agenda and the connections. I didn't watch my typical portion of like game day and stuff.

I watched a lot of games on Saturday. I didn't watch a lot of football on Friday, including Texas, Texas A&M. Smell test, by the way, first losing weekend of the year. Wow. Four or five and one. Not bad. That's not a bad. So I thought what I was going to say to you was going to be very much the minority opinion, which is I think Lane Kiffin should, if I were at Ole Miss, I'd let him coach.

And before I get to the reasons why, they do have to fix this. Now, I was wrong about something I said on radio and my good friend Ted, who's a big Ohio state guy, said, remember, they changed the portal. So the portal was early December. Now it's been moved to January 2nd. But still the preparation for the portal and the deals that get done sort of like in advance of free agency for the NFL. You know, there's the non-tampering period or whatever or tampering period. You've got to be at your place right now getting ready for the transfer portal. The portal's everything now in college football.

It's basically your chance to win next year. Recruiting is one thing, but that takes a few years to develop. up young players. Portal is your chance to fix your team right away. It's unrestricted free agency, Tommy, as we've talked about before. But they have to fix it so that right now in college sports, for those that don't know, a player can, or last year, but even now, can opt out of bowl games. They've been opting out of bowl games for a while now. I've gotten used to that. I don't like it, but I understand it. They're protecting their monetary future, even though they're They're all getting paid big money now in college.

But you can't opt out of playoff games. Last year, the Penn State backup quarterback left via the transfer portal before the playoffs started and left for Missouri. I mean, what if they had lost their starting quarterback in the playoff game? And the backup wasn't there. And they had their third stringer. So you've had the ability for players to sort of opt out and bolt. And you've got this situation with coaches where if they don't leave now,

They're behind the eight ball in recruiting and transfer portal. That's what's driving this. I think they've got to create a rule. They've got to move the transfer portal even further out. Maybe it's mid-January. And a coach that's in the playoff, unless he's fired, he's got to coach his team until the end of the season. You just, you can't, it's terrible for the customer of the sport, the consumer of the sport, the viewer, the fans that you get to the biggest games of the year and a head coach or a major player has decided he's not going to participate or he's

he can't because he's taken another gig. So they need to fix that. That's number one because they should be able to put in a system that prevents this from becoming an issue. You don't want it to be an issue in the conversation point that it was on the final regular season weekend of college football. It was all about Lane Kiffin. Is he or isn't he? And And if he does, will he be able to coach or won't he be able to coach? They should be able to fix this. It's common sense. You coach your team through a regular season and they're getting ready to play the most important games that they've played all year long.

You can't have the coach leave for another place. So fix that part of it. Fix the player part of it. Personally, I think Lane Kiffin, if he were, look, it's impossible to put myself into his shoes to, you know, deciding between. 75 million and 91 million, or whatever the differences were. You know, Baton Rouge versus Oxford. Baton Rouge, LSU is a better job. It just is.

You know, LSU and Florida are better jobs than Ole Miss. Ole Miss is a good job. It's a really good job. LSU is a top five job in the sport. All right, it just is. And by the way, they're going to win big with Lane Kiffin. And it wouldn't surprise me if he ultimately stays there even longer than he stayed at Ole Miss.

He's stayed at Ole Miss for six years. He'll step on as you know. what maybe um maybe you will we're missing the biggest story here what juice we're missing the story about juice what's the story about juice juice is lane kiffin's dog okay okay and he they make a big deal he had his own i think ex account and he would come with lane to games and it was a big publicity thing yeah there's a story out there i i'm familiar with that part of it but what's the story here It's not really his dog. Oh, it isn't?

According to the guy who covers the team for 24-7, basically the dog stays in a kennel for the past two years. It doesn't really, is not home with the kiffins. It's basically a prop. Okay. I mean, think about how low we're going here. Think about how low we're talking about here. That you're using a dog on game days, if true, for a prop.

that's the that's the story baby he's a huckster he is a major huckster you can't trust him as far as you can throw him no doubt but back to the crux of this for me the cruxitis is the guy was using an animal to prop up his image you know what's true and you're a dog lover and you just dismiss it what's true is that the reason he's probably not staying on is they've had it with him you know with a lot of that stuff. They probably just, because he threatened to leave for Alabama, he threatened to leave for other jobs, Auburn a few years ago,

and this is who he is. Every couple of years, there's a better job. There's a better looking, you know, blonde out there for me to go chase. And if it were, and I use this example today on the radio show, like Bill Snyder was at Kansas State for like 80 years, it seemed like. And he was a great coach, and he elevated Kansas State football year and year out. to levels that it should have never gotten to and wouldn't have without him.

If he came to the athletic director and the powers that be and said, I got a chance to go coach Notre Dame. But I want to coach this team through the playoff. They'd probably say absolutely. Because he earned that right. Yes. So there is a part of that that I understand. But let me just say this from the Ole Miss perspective.

From the Ole Miss perspective, like this may be the only time they're ever this position. The last time was 60 years ago with Archie Manning, basically, where they were really, really good and had a chance maybe going into the season to win a national championship. They're in a playoff with a home playoff game. It'll be the single biggest pop culture sports event that state's probably ever had. And by the way, it'll still be that even without him as a coach. But they've got a much better chance with him than without him. He's their play caller. But the taste would be so sour. It'd be so sour. I'm speaking from my perspective, if I'm an Ole Miss person, I'm like, I don't give a shit if you are here for

another four weeks and you're leaving and I'm going to hate your guts. And there's a chance you're going to pillage even more of our players and coaches. Put Gary Williams and Maryland basketball in the same situation. Yeah, I'd let Gary coach. Really? Yes. Especially if it were for a national championship. If we're for a national championship. If he was leaving you. Here's the thing that I think gets exaggerated. That there's like this damage that'll be done by him staying there. I understand that if you're in a business and one of your top employees is leaving to go to a competitor, they're out the door immediately and the locks are changed, okay?

Because you've got proprietary stuff and you've got things that they could take or they could take people or they could recruit people. This is different. He's going to get the coaches and he's going to get the players from Ole Miss that are going to follow him to LSU. He doesn't need to be in the building to get those people. the players want him to coach if i'm a fan and i'm a power that be at old miss i'm like what kind of damage does it do for him staying here another three or four weeks before he leaves for lSU we can

still hire our new coach we can still recruit with the new coach we can announce the new coach the new coach can sit in on the meetings leading into the playoff game but i'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this program, for this fan base, and he got us here. I mean, they've got good talent, but he got us here. There's one reason more than any other that they're 11 and 1, and they're going to have a home game in the 12-team playoff. It's Lane Kiffin, and I am not throwing that short-term opportunity away, because in two or three years from now, after, let's just say they lose in the first round, Maybe they get a Steve Fisher run.

He ran to the finals that year, you know, and won a national championship. I just wouldn't do it. I would say, I hate your guts. You're an asshole of the highest order for the way you've treated us over the last few years. But the players want it, and I don't want to miss out on this. I'm not going to deprive myself, and I'm not going to deprive my fans of what may be the greatest three or four weeks in the history of our program, maybe the state. So I personally would have said,

I'm going to work, we're going to work it out. You're going to coach the team. You know, the players, the fans, the coaches, the administration, I just want to know who speaks for juice. Yeah, he's, he is, he's not a trust word. He's slippery, to say the least. He's, he's not an honest. guy. Did you see the interview he did with that guy, Marty Smith from ESPN on the

tarmac? I mean, he's trying to make himself out to be a victim. I'm surprised. I thought most people are like Lane Kiffin doing Lane Kiffin things, you know, leaving his kids high and dry and the whole thing. He did say, and I think that they admitted that he wanted to coach. And they, that's what the whole, they were trying, he kept trying to convince them to let him coach the team. And I don't know what they could have done in terms of safeguards against whatever but it's not going to work out and Ole Miss will have somebody else

out there and they're going to play the game anyway and they'll play it with an assistant coach. It's not good for the fans of the sport. It isn't. But people are going to watch it anyway. I think people will watch it. More people will watch it now and more people who couldn't care less about

Ole Miss will now be rooting for them. Maybe they should hire Brian Kelly as an interim coach to come in and coach the team. No, it's the least ball. Yeah. All right. Did we cover that subject? I think we did.

I think we got a lot of juice out of it. I think we did. All right, we got a few things to finish up the show with. We'll do that when we come back after these words from a few of our sponsors. This episode's brought to you by prize picks. It's the holiday season, the best time of the year for sports, bowl games, basketball matchups, playoff pushes, it's all happening at once, and while you and I are out here making decisions every day, what gifts to buy, what to eat, which game to watch, there's one place

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And after you make your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support this show and tell them that I sent you. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, now we're past Thanksgiving. We're full bore. How was your Thanksgiving? My Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful. I did my thing.

Yeah. I sat in a nice comfortable chair and basically waited for people to come to me if they wanted to talk to me. It's what you do at Shelly's. It's the same thing you do. You just sit in that chair and wait for people to talk to talk to. Yeah. You know? Right.

Okay. So. Did anybody come talk to you? Yeah. Some people came to talk to me. Anybody that you wanted to come talk to you? I want everybody to come talk to me because I'd love my family. Okay.

Okay. Yeah, that's interesting. Yes. So, you know, and... We're not... But it was, you know, we went up and back in a day for Westchester. It was pretty uneventful. I didn't watch any football.

No? Except when I got home, I watched the Ravens game. Right, you said you were going to do that. Yeah. So, but I didn't get to watch any football. And I've resigned myself to that, so I didn't even bother to ask about it like I have in the past. You know, it's funny, because I... A couple years ago when I was in this situation and I was there at the house,

I asked if I could go downstairs and watch it. They said, well, we don't have cable anymore. They just have streaming, Netflix. A lot of people only have that. I know. And so I had to go to a bar on Thanksgiving Day. And I'm sitting there eating peanuts at a bar. That was for the Skins game you're talking about.

Yes. Yeah, right. Yeah, but you won't have to eat. You won't be limited to peanuts if you go watch a game at Shelley's Backroom at 1331 F Street Northwest in the district. You'll have a great menu of food to choose from. And let me tell you now that we're in the Christmas season, you need to think about Shelley's Backroom as a gift for your significant other.

You can buy gift cards if you go to shelley's backroom.com. it's a perfect gift for your for your significant other your spouse your son your father your wife uh your girlfriend uh a gift certificate of shelly's that that'll cover everything that'll cover food that'll cover the top shelf liquor they have the great beers that they have and the great cigar selection that they have at shelley's back room it's a great present for Christmas, something that your, your, your, your, your, your significant other would not expect, your family member would not expect. But once they do it and they, and they make use of it, they'll say, wow. No more, no more gift cards for me to Shelly's back room. I'm coming back on

my own. I don't need a gift card to get me in there. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. Shelly's back room, the best place to kind of hang out during the holiday season. It is. is beautifully decorated, and I was thinking, Tommy, I'm going to be heading downtown for a couple of big dinners that week leading into Christmas. Maybe for one of them, if I don't like the company, I'll just drop them off and go to Shelly's. That's the move. Yeah.

That's the move to make. Yeah. Hey, you know, before we, before we end this, this award-winning podcast. Yes. And this is an award-winning addition. I don't know if it is. Oh, I think it is. Okay.

I think that the D.C. Podcast Association will recognize that. I don't think this is the one that we'd actually submit. Okay. But go ahead. Let's see, there's still time left. I wanted to ask you, I think that Jaden Daniels is going to play on Sunday. I'm curious what you think. Yeah, I think so, too.

Okay. Didn't his mother tell somebody on the way out of the stadium on Sunday night? Yeah, he's playing Sunday in Minnesota. I saw some reference to it. I didn't pay much attention to it. Yeah, I mean, you try not to. You haven't paid a lot of attention in that general area of parents. No.

Of players. No. Going back to that time you wrote about her. Yes. At Arizona State, yes. Yes. I don't know if the Daniels are that fond of Tommy. We'll just leave it at that.

I'm sure at some point in his life, Jaden Daniels would put two and two together and realize that I'm the guy who wrote that. And order me out of the press conference. The mother and their public relations firm certainly know who wrote that column, which, by the way, was nothing more than just repeating what's been. repeating what had been reported yes remember that the oh my god the people that jumped on you for oh absolutely it was it was great it's you loved it's the it's the most traffic i've ever gotten for anything really anything i had a hundred ninety five thousand impressions on that one column on just on x

for that column well let me just say i think he's playing sunday and i quin's gonna draw it out during the week i i think he's playing sunday i want him to play sunday it'll also be a very good for him because Minnesota is good defensively and they're well coached defensively so yeah I'd like to see that now they're terrible on offense

and I don't know if we're going to see J.J. This will be like one of the quarterbacks they faced last year. You know they haven't had any of those that's true. You know it's been you know Mahomes Dak Prescott here's the run right Dak Prescott Mahomes Darnold and Seattle's team

then Jared Goff, then, you know, Tua, whatever, and then the Denver team overall. They might face Max Brasmer, who in his first start Sunday in Seattle through four interceptions. And one of them was a bute. One of them was the kind of interception. You'd throw, and I'd throw.

Yes, yes, 100%. It was, he was going down and he underhanded the ball, just winged it up in the air right to the Seahawks guy. That's something you would have. who returned it for a touchdown. You would have saw that at J.M. Hill. Yeah, Minnesota, though, right now defensively, per DVOA, 11th in the league. By the way, I'm looking at the defensive ranks, right?

Seattle, right now, DVOA, number one in the league. Houston's two. They haven't played Houston. Cleveland's three, the Rams are four, Denver's five. So they play two of the top five. Detroit's six, that's three. Green Bay, seven, that's four. Philly, they'll play.

They're nine. Minnesota's 11. So that's six, if you count Philly, two games. seven games against top 11 defenses in the league this year now you do recognize that while I think jaden will play and I think he should play if he goes down again with an injury look there's there's so much there'll be such a backlash here the here's the potential major controversial talking points coming out of jaden's next start are all about, A, if he gets injured,

B, if he doesn't play well. Right. Either of those scenarios are terrible for people like me who love him and know that he's good, even if Sunday comes back and he's a little rusty against an excellent defensive team.

But it doesn't matter. With this fan base, that's it. That's it. They'll all agree with Stan on starting Mario-Oda. Yep. You know? And Jane will be, they'll want him in bubble wrap until 2020 but if he were to get hurt if he were to come back and get hurt seriously imagine he gets

hurt seriously that conversation now the organization is at fault yeah and that all comes into play yeah um and if he gets hurt and it's not serious injury prone this is what we're going to deal with and if he comes back and stays healthy but doesn't play well and they lose you know four out of the final five he sucks i can hear that coming too but you know why he can overcome all that because he's the sun by which all planets revolve around. I think that's true and I think we're going to see some of that and look the benefit

of the next two opponents is you're playing two teams that are struggling mightily but they probably look at our team and are like we can get right against this team. There's one other thing I want to talk about on the show today. It is the topic of under center or shotgun.

I'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself and Hymns brings expert care straight to you to ensure that happens with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule for simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, ed, weight loss, and more, visit hymns.com slash sheen. That's hymns.com slash sheen for your free online visit.

Hymns.com slash sheen. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monocidil and phenosteride. Featured products include compounded drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required. See website for. for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. If you haven't done it, you don't mind doing it. Rate and review this podcast. It's really helpful for us, especially on Apple and Spotify.

Apple and Spotify both give you a chance to give us up to five stars if you think the show deserves it. Apple offers up an opportunity to write a quick review. It can be no more than a sentence, you know, something like I love Tuesdays and Thursdays when Tommy's on the show. Also, follow the podcast, hit the plus button and the follow button on both Apple and Spotify as well. There was something that I wanted to mention, and I'll probably do more on this, you know, after the season ends. But you guys keep sending me the under center numbers, you know, the number of snaps taken under center by each team in the league. and Washington is dead last, 32nd, and it's not even close.

Through 12 games, they have run 34 snaps under center for the entire season. Next worst are the Atlanta Falcons at 91. So 57 more snaps under center. And by the way, a lot of them have come the last two weeks with Kirk Coussons in the lineup. The Rams lead the league with 412. under-center snaps. And that is roughly 57% of their overall snaps. So 43% are in shotgun or pistol, and 57% are under-center.

But here's the thing about this year's list, and this is why many of you have sent this to me, is that here are the top under-center teams in the NFL this year. Rams 1, Bears 2, 49ers 3, Lions 4, Seahawks 5, Bill 6, Patriot 7, Jags 8, Cowboys 9, Texans 9, Cowboys 10, Carolina 11. The top 11 teams in the league before you get to Minnesota at 12 all have winning records right now. And in many cases, the best records in the league when you look at New England for sure. Now, Denver is further down the list. Denver is 15th in the league with Bow Nix in under center snaps.

Now, at the bottom of the league in under center snaps, Washington, Atlanta, Cincinnati. All right, then it's Kansas City and Philadelphia. Then it's the Saints, Titans, Dolphins, Jets, Giants. So the large majority of the teams that don't take as many under center snaps are back. teams. And this year, the teams that take the highest percentage of under-center snaps, the most are the winningest teams. Now, last year, Kansas City and Philadelphia were near the bottom as well. And where were they at the end of the year? Yeah. In the Super Bowl against one another. And I think if you go back, and I could only get last year's numbers, this is by far

in a way the heaviest under-center success rate we've seen in the last 10 years. I don't have all the years, but somebody put it out that this is by far in a way the most successful under-center season. So teams are going back to more under-center, less shotgun, less pistol. Why is that? Well, your running game and your play-action game under-center tends to be much more effective. Your play-action game is always more effective. And look at who's at the top of the list. The Rams and the 49ers, two of the top three teams.

Sean and Kyle, right? Well, what do their quarterbacks do? What are their systems? Their run-based systems where you bootleg and you play action off of it. And one of the things I learned from like Cooley is that being under center, play action works much better because you turn your back and the ball to the defense. Whereas in shotgun or pistol when you go play action, the ball is always exposed to the defense and it makes it easier.

You can still hold the defense. you can still suck the defense up with, you know, shotgun and, but it's more effective under center. Rams, 49ers, what else do you see? You see quarterbacks who aren't super mobile, Matt Stafford, Brock Purdy's mobile, but Jared Goff is number four. You know, Seattle, Clint Kubiak, part of the Shanahan tree, number five. Now, Buffalo goes under center a lot. Their quarterback also runs a lot from under center, even on boots. um and designs um so anyway i'm getting this from all of you and it's very interesting and i've

i feel very comfortable with the shanahan style offense it's really what i wanted in the hiring you know as much as i'm a dan kwin fan and i know how much they were dan kwin uh dan kwin fans my initial you know after 23 i was like i want a shanahan style offensive head coach You know, I want somebody, you know, I remember some of the various guys, Ben Johnson, but the guy that got fired, who was Sloak, Bobby Sloak, who was in Houston, who had had success with C.J. Stroud, et cetera. But so the reason I'm bringing it up is, A, I've gotten it from all of you, and it's very interesting. B, is that what if Kingsbury leaves? There's a chance he could take a college job.

there's a chance that he could still get a pro job. Kingsbury is highly respected. I know, but I think his candidacy has probably dropped along with the performance of the team. But I think that if you're interested in Cliff Kingsbury, you understand why it's dropped. He hasn't had his starting quarterback for more than half the games and much of his starting offense out there. I mean, he got just a few players back and against one of the top two defenses in the league, shredded them on Sunday night. So, look, I don't think he's going to go anywhere.

I don't think he's going to get the opportunity. I'm not saying that he will, but I'm not dismissing the possibility. It depends on how many openings there are. Kingsbury is a highly respected and well thought of offensive mind. He's also had a shot to be a head coach, and it didn't go that well in Arizona. But they're also college gigs. We'll see what happens, you know, with Penn State. still hasn't filled their opening.

But if he does leave for whatever reason, and I don't think he will, I think he'll be the offensive coordinator here next year, then my preference would be to go after like a Mike McDaniel if he gets fired in Miami, or a Kevin Stefansky if they fire the Cleveland staff, which seems likely. Like I was thinking, Kevin Stefansky and Jim Schwartz, that'd be a hell of an OCDC combination to hire. But if you get Kevin Stefansky, or if you get Mike McDaniel, or if you get Zach Taylor, if they fire him in Cincinnati, you're going to get a Shanahan-style offense. I think Jaden fits perfectly in that offense.

I think he fits perfectly in almost any offense, including the Kingsbury offense, and we saw evidence of that last year. Do you remember Jim Sports when we had him on at the Super Bowl? Yeah, he went to Georgetown and he was living in the area at the time. lived on the eastern shore somewhere. Yeah. And he listened to a radio show. Yeah, he listened to the show. Yeah.

He's a Georgetown guy, and he was living in the area, and he told us that he was a fan of the show. Yeah. Yeah. So that would be, look, the defensive coordinator, I think a guy like Rahim Morris, who has worked with Dan Quinn, is a real likely hire because I don't think Rahim's going to make it through this year in Atlanta. Jeff Ulbrook, his defensive coordinator, Al Harris, who was with him in.

Dallas and now is in Chicago, Quinn might hire somebody familiar versus a Schwartz, who I don't think he's ever worked with. But I think, you know, if some of you are kind of hoping that Kingsbury gets a new gig, that's what I would look for. I agree with those of you that say, I want more under center. Yeah, I don't, and I think it's an offense that totally fits for Daniels. But I think the offense he's in fits for him too. Again, we saw what he did last year. But moving forward this year at least, at least for now, yeah. Don't you think

the offense has to be tempered with safety concerns? Well, I think you can't, certainly if he plays, you're not telling him not to scramble. Well, of course not. You're not telling him on his own read, not to keep it. But you play calling, I mean, like the play calling at the end of Seattle game,

that was problematic. Yeah, you can't do things like that. Right. You've got to protect him from those things. Yeah. Tampa opener last year and the Seattle game this year. And then I, you know, I've hated the design quarterback runs from the jump. I can't stand the quarterback counters. He's not Lamar. He's not Cam Newton. He's not Josh Allen. So don't play him like he's those guys. Those guys are built differently, physically. Josh Allen is a big human being. Yes, he is. Cam Newton was a massive human being. I can't stand the, you know, we saw,

we saw Mariotta run some of the design quarterback stuff. He ran a quarterback draw late in the game. It was really kind of crazy that they called that play on third and three. But yes, I would take out the designed runs, but you're not going to stop them from scrambling. Look, sometimes scrambling saves you from what would be a vicious hit in the pocket. No, you're not going to stop them from that. And I don't think you're going to take zone read out of it and tell them if you read it to keep it, you know.

But those plays tend to have lower risk rates than, you know, scrambling in the open field with no ability to get down or the design. I'd be surprised if they don't run the ball more generally. Well, they should. It helped Marcus Mario out Sunday. And having, you know, the full array, look, they ran the football last year. They were the number two rush team in the NFL. A lot of it was Jayden. But, you know, Brian Robinson Jr. had, what, 7, 800 yards rushing, right, last year?

They were, what did they finish last year? Top three in rushing offenses. Rushing offense, 2024, regular season. Washington was third behind Baltimore and Philadelphia. And Jaden, we know. All three with running quarterbacks. All three with running quarterbacks. And we know that Jaden led the team in rushing.

and that Brian Robinson, Jr. was second, but how close? Yeah, Brian Robinson Jr. was at 799, and Jaden was at 891. Echler rushed for 367. McNichols rushed for 261. Rodriguez rushed for 173 yards. So Jaden had 891 of the 2,619 rushing yards on the season. Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with Kingsbury coming back. I would not have been fine with Joe Witt Jr. coming back, and he's not going to be coming back. No. I just think Kingsbury, like Quinn and like all of us, just need the players that, you know, you think are your best players to actually play in the games.

That typically helps. Yes. You got anything else? I got nothing else for you, boss. Back tomorrow with Steve Souter doing a film breakdown of the Denver game on Sunday night. Thank you.