The Kevin Sheehan Show - Adam Peters To Be Commanders GM

Episode Date: January 13, 2024

Kevin today on the reports that 49ers Assistant GM Adam Peters has taken the lead football GM role in Washington. Ben Standig jumped on to discuss and also update on the head coach search. Jay Gruden was on with thoughts on Bill Belichick, the six NFL Wild Card playoff games, and his "NFL Lock of the Week". Kevin finished with four playoff "Smell Test" picks.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy. Adam, what do you see in him that makes you guys feel like he's a good fit in that spot? We thought he played the position really well, as well as anybody in the draft. Maybe not the biggest or the strongest arm, but really good at playing the position,

moving guys with his eyes, tough in the pocket, doesn't need a lot of room to throw. he really put that program on the map, and they've won a lot of games with him as a starter. That was the voice of Washington's new general manager, Adam Peters, from way back in the spring of 2022, he was being interviewed about the 49ers draft and was asked specifically about their seventh round pick that year, Brock Purdy. That's what he sounds like, for those of you who were wondering. You're going to hear more of his voice a little bit. bit later on in the show. It's not really his voice that we care about. It's his ability to do the job and do it well, a job that really hasn't been a real job in this organization in 25 years, but maybe

for the first time in 25 years, this is now a real organization. That's actually a big takeaway from Adam Peters, reportedly becoming the new general manager of this organization. It's good to to be back after two days with family. My wonderful father-in-law passed away. I was checking my phone periodically. Couldn't believe the news that kept popping up Sabin on Wednesday, Belichick the next day. Jay Gruden's going to be on the show as he is every Friday. We'll talk about Belichick in detail. We'll get Jay's preview of the six playoff games this weekend and get his lock of the week, 11 and 5 this year, on this podcast. with his lock of the week.

Ben Standing's going to jump on before that in this opening segment, in fact, in a few minutes, he will join us. I've got four playoff smell test picks at the end of the show as well, a show presented, as always, by Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com. Man, this is a great weekend on the sports calendar. six NFL playoff games. I think it is right up there now

among the best sports weekends on the calendar. I think number one for me is Thanksgiving Day weekend, the extended Thanksgiving Day weekend, the Thursday through Sunday night football-filled holiday weekend. You get the rivalries on Saturday in college football, Ohio State, Michigan every year. Remember, this year, Thanksgiving weekend ended. I guess it didn't technically end, but that late afternoon Sunday game in Philly between the Eagles and the Bills, one of the better games of the year, that's really the last legitimate win Philadelphia had.

You know, they beat the Giants on Christmas Day, but it is five out of the last six for them. Man, they are really flailing heading into the postseason. But Thanksgiving weekend for me, I think, has always been number one. That first full weekend of the NCAA tournament in March, you know, the Thursday through Sunday night is awesome. I also really like next weekend, the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, but you get six games this weekend. You know, since they expanded the playoff format to 14 teams, which left just one team having a buy. And in each conference with 12 teams playing, that gave you six games. that gave you an opportunity as a league to put a game on Monday night for one of your league television partners.

And this weekend we get the first ever streamed playoff game. Man, they are going for the money. And that game tomorrow night in Kansas City will be one of the coldest games in NFL history. By the way, I think, and I've said this for many years running, I really think that the playoffs should be seated, based on record, not qualified based on record. I want the division format to stay in place. I want it to have significant importance. If you go seven and ten and win your division, you qualify for the playoffs. But I think once you have your seven playoff teams in each conference, your four

division winners and your three wildcard teams, I think after that you seed based on record. Usually it's an issue when teams that win divisions have losing records. That's usually when we talk about this kind of thing, and nobody had a losing record this year that won a division. Nobody like Washington back in 2020. I just think Philadelphia as an 11-win team shouldn't be playing at Tampa on Monday night. If you seeded it based on record in the NFC, Philadelphia would be hosting the Rams and Detroit would be hosting Tampa. I mean, Detroit's got to host the Rams in. part because Tampa's got a home game. And that's the way it gets seated after Tampa takes

the four spot with a nine and eight record. But I love the division format. I would never want that to change. And I'm all four, you know, a seven and ten division winner qualifying for the playoffs. I'm just not for that team hosting a game. I think it's competitively unfair. I mean, you could say it's competitively unfair for that team to qualify for the playoffs too, but that's the only way you can keep sort of this division integrity. Anyway, good games this weekend, looking forward to all of them. I would say in order. Rams Lions is the most interesting to me. Brown's Texans, because I'm into Flacco's return. Flacco has a chance to become the all-time road starting playoff quarterback wins leader. He's got seven. Brady's got seven. This would be his

8th. Dallas, certainly in the playoffs, always interesting. Chiefs Dolphins because of the weather tomorrow night. That game has a chance to be top four all-time coldest games, projected game time temperature, two below zero, with 30 below wind chills. That would put it behind the Ice Bowl, Green Bay Dallas and 67. The AFC title game, the freezer bowl between Cincinnati and the Chargers back in 82, and the Vikings Seahawks playoff game a few years ago when Minnesota was playing outdoors at the University of Minnesota before they moved into their stadium that they're in now. Blair Walsh in that game, if you recall, missed like a 20-yard field goal, and they lost 10 to 9. That was actually right before Washington played Green Bay in a playoff game at FedEx Field.

I was doing the pregame show from the club level before Washington Green Bay and the Seattle, Minnesota game was on in front of me. But those are the three coldest games, ice bowl, freezer bowl, Minnesota, Seattle. This one has a chance to be the fourth coldest in NFL history. Buffalo's forecast Sunday at 1, snow 23, 30-mile-an-hour wins. some fun football to watch this weekend. Can't wait for the games. Terp fans, Terp Hoop fans, quick mention of Dante Scott going for 20 of his 22 in the second half as the Terps rallied from 12 down to beat Michigan last night. Michigan stinks, but it would have been a bad loss. I think somebody's been talking about here

in recent Terp Hoop conversations about the importance of Dante Scott scoring. He's got to keep firing it, man. I don't care how many he misses. They need his scoring desperately. They get Illinois Sunday on the road. The Illini are ranked 10th, and they beat Michigan State last night. All right. Ben coming up here after I weigh in a little bit on the Adam Peters hiring.

Hired to be the general manager. That's the title that he will apparently have, not president of football ops, but the general manager title. We'll see when it's a. officially announced by the team if that's how they introduce him. So a couple of thoughts. The first is this. They got the number one GM candidate in this 2024 hiring cycle. Adam Peters is considered to be the key guy in the 49ers organization when it's come recently to identifying and procuring players, specifically in the draft. That appears to have been his number one area.

of responsibility with the Niners reporting to John Lynch, who was more the big-picture overseer of the operation. And obviously, Kyle has been involved in everything. But since 2017, when Lynch hired Peters, Peters has been known as the number one talent evaluator in that organization. He worked in Denver before San Francisco and in New England as a scout for Belichick's Patriots before he went to Denver. He was considered to be the guy to get if you had this kind of opening. He was a hot candidate last year. He stayed in San Francisco.

This year, Washington was apparently attractive enough for him to leave. Bob Myers, the former Golden State Warriors, team president and general manager. He knows Lynch. He knows Peters from the Bay Area. Bay Area, he probably played a role in securing this get for Washington. The other part of it, and probably the most important part of it, is what we've been talking about. Washington's attractive for one reason more than any. I'll get to that in a moment, but look at all the salary cap space they have.

Look at all the draft picks they have. By the way, one of those additional draft picks acquired at the trade deadline from the 49. for Chase Young. They've got, you know, the number two pick in the draft, which is super important. You know, for those of you that were rooting for wins down the stretch, trust me, I don't know if you get Adam Peters without the number two overall pick in the draft. You might, but it is a big attraction, a big part of the attraction. So, and, you know, the other thing, too, is there are some players on this roster that are decent and under contract. But, you know, But the first big thought is they got the number one GM candidate in this hiring cycle.

The second thought is this. Man, is this organization different today than it's been over the last 25 years? And you know that. I think you know that. Most of you realize that Adam Peters does not come to Washington if Dan Snyder still owns the team. He had too many choices. and only those that didn't have choices or, you know, in the early days were so overpaid by Snyder that they couldn't turn it down. That's who came here.

Snyder being gone makes this a place that doesn't get exed off a list of top candidates. This place is different now, guys. It is different. That should be one of the big takeaways from Adam Peters deciding to take away. offer and come here. It means we actually have a chance. As we've been saying since Snyder left, we don't have to suspend reality anymore. We're a real organization, and there are adults in this organization that other adults will come work for. And that leads me to one more thought on the hiring of Adam Peters, a hiring that I'm impressed by, and I'm excited about, because they had to compete

for Adam Peters. He had options and would have had plenty of options had he even made himself available to all of the options that he could have had. This is a get. You know, last year's hiring of Eric B. Enemy, all due respect intended, was not a get. He didn't have any options. This is a really good get. And I'm excited about it. And I'm looking forward to seeing what Adam Peters can do in a position that, again, no one's really had in this organization since Charlie Casserly for all intensive purposes. Sure, Scott McLuhan was here, Bruce Allen was here, Vinnie Serrato. You know, some of the coaches had more power than others. But with Dan and the organization, we have not had a legitimate adult talent evaluating general manager with the autonomy to do

the job. That's exciting on its own. But we've known that that was coming for a while. But there's no guarantee that this will work out. It doesn't matter how sought after he is. General managers that haven't been general managers before, just like head coaches who haven't been head coaches before, just like quarterbacks in the NFL who haven't been quarterbacks in the NFL before they get drafted really high, it's a crapshoot. It really is. It's one in three, one and four sometimes. You know, for every Brad, Holmes who's worked out in Detroit, you know, there is a George Patton so far or Scott Fitterer, you know, guys that were hired kind of in that same offseason. Every offseason, you can go look

at the assistant GMs who are given opportunities to be GMs. And more often than not, it doesn't work out, no matter how lauded they were, no matter how propped up they were. And this guy is as propped up as we've seen anybody be in a long time. And Ben's going to get into that. in more detail when he jumps on with us. But there are no guarantees here. But I am excited, really excited, that they got a guy that, by all accounts, is a guy that has been excellent at talent evaluation. And, you know, assuming, and I do assume this,

there's no reason for me not to assume this, assuming he's allowed to do his job. And he has control over all of the football, decisions that are made and will be instrumental in the hiring of a new coach. I can't wait to see what kind of job he's going to do. It's going to be unique for all of us to see somebody like this in the organization with the power that he will have. All right, let's get to Ben.

Ben Standing, of course, with the athletic. Ben is a regular on my radio show, and he is a frequent visitor on this podcast as well. He writes for the athletic. you should subscribe, follow him on Twitter at Ben Standing. Ben's got a podcast that's really good as well. It's called Standing Room Only. Ben's appearance here on the show is sponsored by Window Nation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate, and right now you'll get access to a really good deal. 50% off any style window plus 0% interest rates for five years. Window Nation is a top five window retailer in America. If you've got older windows, you want your home to look better, you want to save on your heating and air conditioning bills,

call them now at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. Again, right now, 0% interest rates until the year 2029 and half price on all windows. When Ben was on with me on radio today, the news broke about Adam Peters, and Ben's got a full-time job, which does not include necessarily being on with me on radio when there is newsbreaking. So he had to run and then came back a little bit later on in the show for a few minutes. But afterwards we said, why don't we do something on the podcast where we can do something at greater length? and Ben joins me right now. So let me just begin with.

You have been looking at this like we all have for the last several weeks, and certainly since Monday when it was going to be done rapidly but thoroughly. So overall, your reaction to the news of Adam Peters being hired and anything else that you've learned here over the last couple of hours. by the can you tell you how chaotic that moment was I was I was in my hand holding a bowl of oatmeal

a cup of coffee and then I see what happens but you guys call me I'm trying to confirm the news while holding all these things and as I'm walking up steps and when you and I were talking I brought my phone I don't ever done that while on the radio and it was a complete mess so

that was how it started for me this journey today. Look, I think, I've said this now before, I think I said it's you on the radio, but I think to me it's the most important point right now. Needless to say, we have no idea how the Adams Peters time will go. He's considered to be one of the best evaluators out there with the hot candidate in terms of people who have not been to GM. It's not just that he's a good talent evaluator, but that he's a really good communicator. And, you know, in my agent's survey last year, he was definitely one of the big winners getting mentioned. in numerous categories.

But what this says to me about this, about the situation is, and this is what I think people really need to understand. When everybody was complaining this year about how poorly it was going with Ron Rivera, and they're sort of poking at the new ownership group as if nothing has changed, this hire today is proof that everything has changed. Again, I have no idea how it's going to work out, but they're not getting an interview with this person under Dan Snyder. They're not getting somebody who's going to take their first step

out there away from where they currently are and say I'm going to put my face in Dan Snyder as owner for that. No, that's not going to happen. Basically, other than Jay Gruden, who was, you know, there was connections there to Bruce Allen, pretty much everybody they had was like some sort of, I don't want to say retread as a negative,

but somebody who had already been a head coach before, and, you know, they took the power and the money, and they fucked it up to go with Dan. this type person was not showing interest. And the fact that Adam Peters left a great situation with San Francisco, sure he wasn't the top person in the front office, but had a lot of say in the draft, had a lot of sway overall.

He could go kind of almost anywhere that was out there, and he chose this place. And I just think that says so much about where things are, and hopefully for the fans of the organization, you know, where things are going. Was Peters the number one guy right from the jump, do you think, when this process began? Yeah, I mean, I would say, you know, we talked for the last six weeks of the season, and I kept mentioning using the word slog because that's what I felt like,

because we couldn't really discuss what was going to happen until, you know, you get almost to the end at least. But once we got to that point, I don't know, a couple, two, three weeks left in a season, and we could start talking more about, talking more with, in some context about what's to come. Peters was the name that I was hearing the most, you know, his job to lose. You know, he likes the situation.

But, you know, you never know. People have, say, all kinds of things, and they have all kinds of agendas. But that was the drumbeat that really seemed to be going. And like I said, I definitely had a couple people mention the notion of it's his job to lose. I think there was real interest in Ian Cunningham, who was the other finalist.

you know, obviously they brought in three other people, so presumably they wanted to at least talk to them, whether it's because they were hoping to hire that person or at least maybe gain some insight into their specific organizations, of how they do business. But, yeah, to me, Peters has always seemed like the logical choice, the only question would have been, you know, like, for example, like I never bought the Bill Bealichick stuff. But, like, if they were interested in Belichick, which, again, I don't think they ever were, does that guy, you know, Bill Botex had all the power in New England, does he need that to go where he's going? Would Jim Harbaugh feel the same way as well? So that would be the only question if you had guys like that, then maybe if Peter says, nah, I don't want to be the second person to that in that situation.

That was the only thing to me that seemed to be preventing him from being the obvious favorite. And, you know, he clearly, what was the guy that liked, you know, all along it based on, you know, how kind of things moved so quickly. I mean, he did work for Belichick. I mean, he worked as a scout in the Patriots organization, so they're familiar with each other. But let's just cancel that possibility out right now. You agree with me that Belichick's not going to get hired here in Washington. Yeah, I'm embarrassed. I even brought it up if you're going to ask me a follow-up. That's of my fault. Yeah, again, I've never one time heard. There's not been a single report this entire time that has come from anybody local saying that it's all come from somewhere else. And I was told, you know, as recently, is yesterday, once Belichick was, you know, they were letting him go for New England, that Washington is not expected to pursue him. So, no, I don't see Bill Belichick coming here. Plus, I mean, honestly, from Belichick's perspective, it doesn't make any sense.

He's trying to set the wins record. And this team's coming off a three-win season, and we don't know who their quarterback is. It's not, this is not, this is not, I mean, the NFL you can turn this around quickly, but on the surface, this is not a quick fix. He's getting a GM title. There had been some conversation that he was going to be named, or this new guy would be the president of football ops. Does it matter? He's the number one guy in the organization, right, from a football standpoint? Yeah, so I can't say like 100% that's the case because I wasn't relayed,

and I haven't seen anybody reporting that. But on the other hand, yes, I mean, he's going to be the number one guy, and I can't comprehend. He's already in a situation in San Francisco, or he was number two or three, depending how you want to view it, at U.S. Kyle Shanahan's. there. Why would he want to go to another situation where he wouldn't have top say and all that? So no, he'll be the main voice. You know, I'm assuming that the reason they were not

calling it a GM search was one, Martin Mayhew is still in the building, and he is the current GM. And two, you know, who knows what Josh Harris was thinking, you know, he's got, as we've discussed, the basketball team he's got, the GM is called the president of basketball ops. So, you know, from a title perspective, maybe they were considering that. And maybe they're even considering, you know, Rob Rogers currently handles, he's like the VP of operations, which means salary cap and contracts.

You know, perhaps they do fill, you know, they do name a president of ops or something, but it's just that. It's just sort of raising the, raising the level of that position, but not overseeing personnel anyway. Do we have any idea what the contract is? I've not heard. No. Okay. So just for those that haven't read your previous stories on Adam Peters,

including sort of the survey that you did with agents, just give everybody a sense of why this guy was the number one sought-after candidate for this kind of a position. Yeah, I mean, just for some background, this is, I think, was the fifth year I did this survey, and there's questions like, who's the best town evaluator, who's an agent you trust the most, or an executive you trust the most, who is an up-and-coming executive to watch. Now, it's one thing for the up-and-comer to get, you know, somebody's going to win that category, but it's pretty rare for somebody who is not already a GM to be mentioned highly in the other categories. and Peter's got mentioned in multiple categories.

He was tied for first in the future GM to watch. He was very highly regarded in the player evaluation, one as well. One agent basically said, you know, you're going to be stupid if you don't consider, if you don't just hire him, if you need a GM, he's the best one. This shouldn't be much of a debate. And, you know, like I said, typically for that type of up-and-comer, I'll get, if I ask 20 people, I'll get 16 different answers. Like, it's not typically one person really stands out.

It did this year. He was the one that got the most attention. And like I said, across categories where it's typically just the main GM for given teams. So, yeah, there's a lot to like here. You know, and look, I mean, just look at the Niners. It's always hard to say, without knowing for sure, Who is responsible for what? The Niners have an incredibly deep team.

They've signed key free agents or acquired free agents or acquired players of trade like Trent Williams. They have had success at the top of the draft and the middle of the draft and literally the last pick of the draft with Brock Purdy a couple of years ago. So he gets credit from what I've been told for a lot of the mid to late round stuff. Kyle Shanahan's involvement gets more. he gets more involved when it's like, say, making that Trey Lance move that didn't work out. But Adam Peters is the view of him and what he's accomplished in Francisco definitely stands out to a lot of people around the league. When we talked about this position that we all figured would be open when the season ended,

we talked about the kind of person that Josh Harris would be looking for. Would he be looking for an analytically inclined GM? would he be looking for a talent evaluating GM? Where does Adam Peters fit in as far as those kinds of descriptions go? Well, I don't know what he would say, but from my guess, or my understanding, he is more on the talent evaluator side, but I don't think he's a Fumbolewite who's stuck in the past and is only going off of gut instinct. I mean, San Francisco is a pretty forward-thinking operation.

So, you know, he's got the chops on both sides, But if I had to sort of pick one or the other, I would say more of the town evaluator. And frankly, that seemed to me, like, I think one question we did not ask Josh Harris at his press conference on Monday that I wish we had was what is the role with Eugene Shen, who was hired as VP of Football Strategy, basically to oversee the analytics department. What is his role going forward with a new GM and so on? it seemed to me that he is sort of the main voice in analytics. Maybe they're going to hire more people to help, but that he would be that guy, and hiring a GM who would be more overloaded on the analytics side,

like an Alec Hallaby with the Eagles, might be kind of redundant to a degree. So now you have the town evaluator piece at Peters. He'll obviously add other executives to help fill in, but in terms of at the top, I'm imagining that Shen is now the head that, you know, they're going to be the true head of the analytics side, and Peters will have oversee of everything,

but he'll be, you know, the main town evaluator. All right. Speaking of the rest of the front office, who stays, who goes? Yeah, well, you know, in Peters's case, you know, Martin Mayhew and Peters work together with the 49ers before Mayhew comes up, came over here. you know, it's always weird to say, hey, your title is going to get, is going to be demoted, essentially. I can't imagine, well, I shouldn't say that.

I don't know if I see that being a real issue. Should that be the way it goes with Mayhew? As I wrote in my story the other day, breaking down kind of where things went wrong with Ron Rivera. Part of the story was how things in the front office kind of were weird from the jump. They hire Marty Herney's GM. A day or two later, this is weird. Walker transition. No, no, no, no. He'll be some senior executive, and Mayhew will be the GM. But then as it played out, Herney kind of really was the GM in terms of being, I think,

the main voice for that room, and Mayhew was more on the operation side. So I'm not saying it was a title and name only, but it's not like he was having full control, especially with Ron Rivera in the coach-centric scenario. So if Peters, you know, if he and Peters had a good relationship. And I imagine they did. You know, Mayhew was such a nice human, and he's got an easy touch. I just don't see him being having an ego

that's going to be problematic. So as soon that Peter finds him to be a valuable asset, I could definitely see him staying. Beyond that, it's hard to read. I mean, I don't know about these specific relationships between Peters, Herney, Eric Stokes, Chris Pollan, or Tim Gribble, who is the head of

the draft scouting, the college scouting. You know, has their drafting been good enough for years? Well, obviously not, right? But Tim Gribble was also part of the Kyle Smith group that was better, at least remember the first round of picks prior to Rivera getting here. So I don't know, maybe he sticks around in some capacity. But, you know, May he was the one if I had to rank, the ones that to stay would probably be my best bet right now. So where do you think the influence of Adam Peters comes in on the head

coaching hire? Is he the only voice or is he just a significant voice or maybe something less? Significant for sure. It seemed to be my understanding was it he wouldn't be like the GM comes in and then just picks the coach that, you know, Harris and the rest of the group we're going to have say, obviously, when you're hiring a Bob Myers to help figure these things out, a guy with no football background, per se, right? But he's been a highly successful sports executive. That shows that they're viewing this search, not just purely X and O's, but, you know, who can lead the locker?

I think that's going to be a probably more of an important point that people are thinking when we're just saying, well, offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. So I think he'll have a lot of say. I would imagine that Harris and company will have a big say as well. I don't know how to break it down percentage-wise, but logically you would want your new GM to have a big voice in that discussion. So let's update everybody on the coaching search. They have had virtual interviews with...

That I know of Anthony Weaver, who is the associate head coach and defensive line coach, with the Ravens. If your team basically wasn't playing this week, my understanding, you could have the virtual interview with them. Otherwise, you have to wait until next week, and you can't do in-person interviews until the 22nd. This is all one reason why Harris wanted to move quickly to get the GM on board with these interviews.

Mike McDonald, the Ravens' defensive coordinator, who is somebody Washington sought an interview with, he told Raisin's reporters yesterday on Thursday that he had conducted some of these virtual interviews, didn't specify a team, it was announced he did a meeting with Carolina, so I don't know for sure that he met with Washington or not, but he said he did have some of these and they wanted to talk to him, so possibly that one's happened already as well. The guy that I had on from the athletic that covers the 49ers, Matt Barrows told me on radio this morning that he wouldn't be surprised if Adam Peters was interested in Steve Wilkes.

What do you think? He would be surprised? He would not be surprised. He brought up the name Steve Wilkes, defensive coordinator for Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco. Not one of the names that's been reported with respect to Washington requesting an interview, but he threw out the possibility of Steve Wilkes as a head guy. coach and a guy like Brian Greasy as an offensive coordinator. Yeah, well, it's funny you say that.

I mean, one, I had Steve Wilkes in my list of coaching candidates, when I put that up a week or so ago, and that was largely due to, not that Steve Wilkes is worthy of being looked at for any job, but because of the Peters tie. You know, Steve Wilkes has been a coach. He's blamed out with Arizona, a bad organization. and he did some good things as an interim a year ago with Carolina. And, yeah, I mean, I could imagine that. By the way, that would be kind of hilarious.

Rivera. They replaced the former Carolina head coach with the former Panthers defensive coordinator and interim coach. But yeah, I think it would make sense. It's also why Bobby Floick is a name that they have put into request for. He's the current Texans OC, but he was with the 49ers offensive staff since 2017. before leaving, so you would think that would make sense. Yeah, so I think all of that makes sense for sure. What's your guess right now on coach?

Yeah, I mean, there definitely has been some noise even before they made Peters final that Ben Johnson, the Lions O.C, was a target and that he and Peters, I don't know, again, of an existing relationship, but that maybe there's some thought that you could pair them, together. Obviously, that would be quite the double play to get the hottest GM candidates and the overwhelmingly hottest coaching candidate. We'll see. I think a lot of this is going to depend on the manager, you know, the managing of men type of deal. Just because your coordinator does not mean, you know, you have the goods for the job you're applying for. It is a very different position,

being the head coach versus just being a play caller. So we'll have to see how they view that. And Ben Johnson's going to have a lot of other options. The Chargers are looking at him, Atlanta, Carolina, Carolina, certainly. So he's going to have, probably every team, frankly, that's available. Some may just view it as we don't have much of a shot, and he'll probably get a big payday from someone. I don't know.

For some reason in my gut, I'm not feeling. but in terms of what I've heard, I definitely think you've got to keep an eye on that possibility, for sure. All right. Do you have any sense in your research of Adam Peters as to what kind of quarterback he might want at number two? No, I mean, you know, I haven't gotten that far yet. You know, part of the deal is when you look at what hires or what moves are made, you've got to remember, right, Kyle Shanahan is there. Kyle Shanahan is, you know, one of the top offensive minds in the league.

He's going to have a massive say in quarterback. So whatever they've done a quarterback, Tray Lance, deciding to, you know, stay with Brock Purdy, Jimmy Garoppel, whatever. Kyle Shanahan's fingerprinted all over those decisions. So it's hard to know to what degree Adam Peters was involved. I believe I read somewhere that Peters was not aware that they were going to take Tray Lance basically until it happened because it was a Kyle Shanahan call. So it's kind of hard to see, you know, but also, like, you know, what's the offensive plan? You know, is it going to be sort of the Shanahan type system? Well, that means certain kind of quarterback, but if it's another type of system, it could go a different way.

So I don't know that, obviously, we'll talk about that a lot in terms of Caleb Williams, Drake May, David Daniels, along with, you know, hypothetically, I guess Sam Howell, and, you know, their path where they go with a veteran option instead. So certainly we'll have a lot of time to decide. discuss that as well. But yeah, who the coaches is going to probably say a lot about the type of quarterback they're looking for. All right. Last one. Chase Young was traded to the 49ers. I don't know if you remember this right before the trade deadline. And Adam Peters was probably a part of those conversations that sent the late third round compensatory pick to Washington for Chase Young. Chase is a free agent when this season ends. Any guess on whether or not,

Adam Peters is interested in bringing Chase Young back. I tweeted that earlier that their final two candidates are with the team that they traded Chase Young and Montes wet, too, oddly enough. I don't know for sure. I think from the 49ers perspective, they're obviously looking to what can we add on top of already a great roster to put us over the top, hopefully, chasing the Lombardi trophy. and, you know, Case Young here turned into a disappointment because he wasn't fulfilling the expectations of the number two pick. For San Francisco, giving up a compensatory third for a guy who can get after the pass rusher

but is not going to be counted on for much more than that is not a big deal, right? So I wouldn't put any stock into that. Plus, I don't, you know, I haven't been watching every San Francisco game, but I don't get the sense that Chase Young has been like lighted out or anything. he's been helpful that their sack numbers have improved since he arrived, which is, I think, part of what they were looking for, to give up to put another player out on the field to hopefully take away some attention

from their other really good linemen. But I wouldn't put any stock into, because Peters was part of the Niners who traded for him that that means they would bring him back. And frankly, you know, just the hometown thing, I would just, I think that would be a bad move for kind of everybody involved to bring his young back under these, you know, to his hometown. All right. Great job.

Appreciate it. I will talk to you on Monday. Look forward to it. Who will happen by then? Ben standing, everybody. He's the best. Love him. Up next, Jay Gruden will preview the NFL

playoff games this weekend and we'll get Jay's lock of the week right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by DoSouth. in Navy Yard. Restaurant Week will be in full swing, January 15th through the 21st, and Duce South is turning up the heat with a three-course price-fix dinner for just $40.

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want to miss it. So grab your friends, bring your appetite, and join us at DoSouth for a week of unbeatable dining deals during restaurant week and the ultimate Marty Graw Bash in February. Good times and great eats. That's how they do it down south and they're bringing it all to D.C. Learn more at dosouthDC.com. That's dosouthDC.com. All right, jumping on with us as he does every Friday and will, I think. right through the Super Bowl is former Washington Redskins head coach, Jay Gruden, who finally lost. I mean, it was bound to happen. I mean, you were on an incredible role. You were 11 and 4, you had won, I think, four in a row. You had the Bears last week. I had the Bears

too. I liked them a lot. I don't know if you watched any of that game. It certainly was there for the potential late cover. Justin Fields took a brutal shot that didn't get penalized, him out for a couple of plays, and they put Nate Peterman in, and that was pretty much it, even though Fields came back. Yeah, it's never good to go to Nate Peterman. But Fields didn't play. The way he's been playing, and defensively, they didn't play as good. They were a hot team, and I like to play the hot team. I like they're playing for something towards the end of the year, and I felt like the Bears were, but the Packers were the better team, unfortunately. You know, as it relates to the Bears, they're going to keep Everflus. You probably saw that news,

and you really liked the job he did. But, you know, with the number one overall pick with so much available cap space, that would have been one hell of an attractive job for any of these top-level candidates. Do you think that they made a mistake-keeping him rather than going out into the market and maybe being the number one or number two destination

for, you know, some of the coaches that are out there and available? they probably didn't know like Velichick and Rabel might be available yeah we're going to keep you oh crud I didn't know there no I think Matt did a pretty good job towards the end I mean he's you know how much he has to say as far as personnel's

concerned but he did a great job of that young defense and fields develop I was surprised they fired their offensive coordinator Luggettki personally because I thought they made strides offensively until the very end they played poorly against Green Bay which I guess was the stake in the heart but overall I think their staff that

good job with that football team. All right, let's talk about the big news of the last couple of days. First of all, did your path ever cross with Belichick or Sabins in any way? No, you know, I talked to Sabin quite a bit as far as this draft was concerned because he had so many players coming out that we had to kind of figure his brain on the players that he had. Other than that, no, and Belichick, no, I just run into him at senior group at the head coaching meetings here and there and say hi.

That's about it. So you did talk because remember there was that stretch where it was like any Alabama player. It was like we were drafting them or we were trying to sign them. So you did have conversations with Sabin during that period about Duran and about John and others? Oh yeah, for sure. You had to. And yeah, he had so many of them. It's not like we were just seeking out Alabama players.

So many of them that they just happened to be available more so than in the other school. How do you decipher when you're talking to a college coach about one? one of his players, about how much of it is propping up that player to do what's right by the player and the player's family, et cetera, and separating it from perhaps some of the negative that they might be withholding? Or is that not an issue with somebody like Sabin? I don't think it's an issue, and usually the negative is already out there. Like, if you had some issues off the field, we already knew about it or whatever. You're really trying to find out what type of player he is, how he practice.

You want to talk to the strength coaches sometimes what kind of wake room guy is? He's, you work hard. You know, what type of energy does he have on the practice field? And what kind of leader he might be in the locker room, all that stuff? And, you know, you just try to pry him and then how they might fit in your scheme. Because, you know, Coach Saban, obviously, is a very smart guy when it comes to coaching different techniques and coverages and defense and offensively. And, like, if you want to Durant Payne and he played noseguard for them, how would he be a three technique or four-eye or whatever? You know, you try to see what they might be like in your system and get their, pick their brain.

Like, I think about Ruben Foster, and when you guys went out and signed Ruben Foster with all of the... Oh, my guy. So tell me about that. How did that go back then? I love Ruben. Ruben was like one of my favorite college guys ever watching on tape. I mean, you should have seen him in college. Holy cow.

He was sideline to sideline, hit you. He just had a couple of nagging injuries that were concerned about. He wasn't the biggest guy. but, golly, he was one of the best college line. Him and Jaylen Smith are the two best college linebackers I ever graded on film before Jalen's injury at Notre I think Jalen, right, from Notre Dame? Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, holy cow, he's a good college player. But, yeah, we just, we, I just really liked him on tape, and Coach Saven thought he was, you know, like the big leader on that defense. You know, people followed Ruben. You know, I used to say, if guys are acting up, you know, in the locker room or,

on defense of third loath and you have to like yell at them. What do you do? You have so many guys in your team. You go, no, I just get Ruben to do it. I love Ruben. And Ruben had the off-field issue with the female and which turned out to be a made-up story. And he went to San Francisco,

struggle a little bit mentally early on and then got released because of that story. And since we had Duran and John Pallan and a couple other guys from Bamba, they vouched for Rubin and said that, no, he's a good guy and all that. So we signed him. And then the first day of OTAs,

we were allowed to do offense versus defense. We did a naked, five-played, naked bootleg drill. In the very first play, he ran through the B-gap and stepped on Tyler Catalina's foot and blew his knee out. The very first play. Yeah, I remember that. That was an OTA day, wasn't it? It was the very first day.

He was so excited. I can remember. Yeah, I just heard it, and I was like, oh, I heard a scream. I was like, oh, my gosh, please don't be Ruben. And it was open. I mean, please don't be anybody on anybody to get hurt, you know what? Yeah. You know, the real issue at that point was just was signing Ruben Foster with some of the issues, because it wasn't just the domestic case. There were other things, too, whether or not it made sense for this organization to sign them from a PR standpoint. Yeah, I, you know, I understood all that stuff. I was willing to take a chance because I remember interviewing Rubin and spent a lot of time with them and all that stuff. And I just thought that we kept a close eye on them. You know, we got some good people.

in-house to keep a close eye on him and try to keep them under our wing. I just thought that maybe we could help him out. I just think he's, if you got the no group, Ruben, he was the light of the room. You know what I mean? He was charismatic. He was great energy, great passion for the game. And it's just when he left the building, you just got to keep in touch with him, make sure he's doing good, make sure he's on time and all that stuff.

But on the field, man, this guy was, he was what you wanted, his linebacker. He was a great leader. What is he doing now? He never did end up playing in the league after that. He had one of the same surgery that Jaylon had at Notre Dame. He kind of had that drop foot thing. It was a terrible injury. It's one thing blowing your knee out, but it was another thing,

something with a nerve or something like that in his leg, which really slowed him down, and he relied on his speed. So he played in the XFL, I believe, last year before, but watching him play, he could tell he's not the same. His burst his ability to fly sideline, the sideline just wasn't the same. And he's, you know, it's unfortunate. that injury for a guy that plays with that kind of speed, sideline to sideline, if it slows him down a little bit, then he's just another linebacker probably,

you know what I mean, there's just an undersized linebacker that doesn't run very good. It's not a very good benefit that, but when he was fast, he would have to participate plays and hit the hole. I mean, his college tape, unbelievable. So Belichick, he retires, well, he doesn't retire. They mutually part ways, and he'll end up probably coaching again. before we get to what your predictions are on that. We all understand the conversation about Belichick from a media standpoint,

from a fan standpoint. What do coaches say when they're together in talking about Belichick? Well, I think everybody has a ton of respect when we have to with his record. You know, there's some coaches out there that, yeah, he had Brady and all these guys, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, the stubborn guys who don't want to give anybody credit. But if you have to give them credit, you can't win 10 games in a row for 17 straight years and that be a good football coach.

I don't care who your quarterback is. He's a great defensive coach. That's the one thing that anytime you play a Bill Belichick coach defense, you know it's going to be tough. Their line stunts, their coverages, their tight man-to-man. They're sounding what they do. Just very aggressive, just well-coached, always where they're supposed to be situationally very solid.

They don't make many mistakes. Don't give up many big plays. Every yard you get is going to be a grind. And that's what I think about Belichick. I don't think about Tom Rage. I don't think about the great offense, I think about the great defenses that he's had over the years. And obviously, from a game plan or game management standpoint, he's always been very solid understanding the rules of the game.

He always has that edge on you, probably with the rules and some of that nature. But this overall, I just consider him one of the best defensive coaches of all the time, along with the head coach. Specifically, was it scheme? Was it what made his defense? Because you went up against it. Well, I remember one time there. And then here it was your last game and things were falling apart, you know, anyway. But I do remember the game up there.

I think it was the game right after the – you like that Tampa game. I think that was the first game out of the by week after the Tampa comeback, if I recall. But what specifically about his defense was difficult? He played a lot of man-to-man, tight man-a-man with different ways to have health. like it would be a free safety. We used to call it lurk. It'd be a strong safety. It'd be a linebacker playing the whole player.

He'd blitzed the linebackers up the middle and then dropped the two defensive ends. So he'd eat up your back in protection and be a four-man rush, and your back is trying to block one of their big linebackers right up in the A-gap. And then the two linebackers dropping out, taking away all the quick, shallow crosses and all that stuff. So he had different ways to play man-to-man with different help.

And then he'd throw in some different coverages, two, maybe two-man or whatever, quarters here and there, just a throw you off. and then all the line stunts that he had. He's just hard to deal with a lot of the stuff. Just not overly complicated, but just very violent and physical, the way they play their defense and tight man to man and then sprinkle in some zones that confuse you.

And then in the red zone, they hold different concepts of zones, and they double your best player and take away him out of the game. Yeah, so it's just very tough to go against them. If he's the best defensive mind you've ever gone against, Who's the best offensive mind you've ever coached against? Usually offensive minds usually go hand in hand with the best quarterback, typically. You know what I mean? So anytime you played against Aaron Rogers or any time you played against Patrick

or some of those guys that really run and create havoc. But probably any time you play against Aaron Rogers was always tough. Offensively, like if you're seeing a scheme, holy cow, they're doing this. Usually it's a copycat league. If everybody has a cool play, it's going to be used by multiple teams. So really nobody, offensively, that comes in mind, and it's holy cow, what a great scheme. It's more about player-related on offense.

Right. Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think. I mean, there are guys, I mean, I think you got a lot out of perhaps lesser talent on offense as an offensive designer, as an offensive play caller. Yeah, we're pretty good at Cincinnati. I mean, we won 9, 10, 11 games of Cincinnati. out of Indiana. We did pretty good with Kirk and got him a pretty good contract.

And Alex were rolling pretty good. And, you know, unfortunately, they all got hurt. But, yeah. Yeah, I put myself up their things. Kevin, I appreciate that. Well, offense wasn't the problem for much of your time here, except for the first couple of years. But it was the defense.

What do you think of Mike Vrain? Then I got the coach. Then I got the coach Jacksonville, and I got to play Jake Luton, Mike Lennon, and Gardner Minshew. That was fun. But I like Brable. Rabel is a good defensive coach, too. He kind of, he going away from the tight man to man at Belichick likes to do.

They'd play for the man, but he didn't have the people to do it like in the secondary. So he played a lot more zones and different ways to create four-man rushes and still play his zones. Like you bring Nichols and drop ends and have the envy the hook player. He was creative ways in some of his blitzes. But I always like Brable's defense. In fact, when he was at Houston, he was like defensive. He wasn't a defensive coordinator. He's like senior defensive assistant.

I forgot his title. I tried to get him here, his defensive coordinator. They wouldn't let him out. And then the following here, you got the Tennessee job. So I've always had a lot of respect for him the way he coaches. I mean, I would think that he's not going to be, you know, available for long. Do you have, other than, you know, what we're all reading about potentially Belichick to Atlanta, there are a lot of people in the national media that think Washington is a destination for Belichick, potentially.

most of the reporting locally says 100% no that Harris is going to go in a different direction. But where do you think these two land? Have you thought about it? I don't know. That's a great question. I hear different rumors. I would like to think that Washington would be, if he had his pick of the litter, I would think Washington would be at the top because they got the number two pick. And you're looking at Drake May or Jaden Daniels most likely.

So that's a pretty attractive spot. And Washington has a few holes, obviously. but you know, you get a couple free agents, hit them a couple of draft picks in the second, third, fourth round, and shoot you're right there. Obviously, L.A. Chargers seems like to be a good destination for hardball some of these guys because of the quarterback, but they have a lot of issues out there, personnel-wise.

All these jobs that are available are available for a reason. You know, there's a lot of holes to be filled. You know, you don't fire coaches that have a very strong roster from top to bottom. There's a lot of issues with every roster with job openings, and so I don't know which one's the most attractive, probably one with the best weather, maybe it's L.A., but I don't know if you want to move to California right now. So I don't know. I would say Washington would be my number one pick if I was Belichick if I had my choice.

If you're, as a fan, should you want, would you want Belichick? What would you say to fans that say, no, I don't want a 71-year-old coach? Well, that's just not very bright. I mean, you want a guy that's had success. Why wouldn't you want a veteran coach who knows how to build a football team and knows how to win Super Bowls? I know that, you know, Dan tried to go to Joe back to Joe Gibbs, and that didn't work out, and then he tried to get Steve Sprier, one of the best college coaches of all time. That didn't work out, and then he went to Zorn and he went to be, and that didn't work out.

I know what to Revere, that didn't work out. So they've tried different types of coaches here, and none of them have really worked, but I don't know if you could argue if you go get Bill Belichick. I don't think you could be upset as a Washington fan. Oh, my gosh, we've got the number one coach of all time. If you're upset at that, I don't know who you want. want. Who would you want other than Belichick? I'm with you. I think it's insane when people, and I have friends that say, no, no, no, I wouldn't

want him. I want the guy that's going to be here for 10 to 15 years. That guy's really hard to find, you know, when they haven't had any head coaching experience. And most, you know, most organizations don't find that guy. And then people say, well, look, he did nothing without Brady or look at his track record as a GM and as a roster construction guy. Go ahead. He also can develop coaches, too. So if he coaches for four or five years, then there'll be somebody in house. Maybe it's a son.

Maybe it's somebody else. Maybe it's an offensive guy or whoever is coaching Drake May, a quarterback, after three or four years. And Drake is playing pretty well. I would imagine that offensive coordinator would be pushed up to the head coaching rank. So there's other issues involved where he can develop a coach, too, on his staff that can take over when he's ready to retire. Would you rather enter a job with the number two pick in this draft or somebody like Justin Herbert already established?

I'd rather take the number two pick personally. I know Justin's a great player. I look at their roster and they have a lot of issues as well. They're a little bit getting older. They have some contracts on defensive, Mark 2 good. I think the receiver out there, Allen has a big contract. They got some issues with their team overall, obviously. because not many.

It's really Justin Herbert's really one of the first quarterbacks of that talent that loses their head coach. Usually a quarterback of that talent, your coach is there

for a long time. That's why I'd probably lean towards Washington and taking Drake Mayor Jaden Daniels. I'd love to watch more tape of Jaden Daniels because that guy is athletic.

He's Lamar Jackson athletic and he can throw it. So I don't know. It'd be a tough pick for him, but it'd be exciting to take one of those two guys. Yeah, I can't wait until you actually spend

some time looking at Daniels, and all of them, and can get your thoughts after evaluating some of these quarterbacks. So do you have an opinion on apparently the final two candidates for the head of football ops, Ian Cunningham, the Bears assistant GM, or Adam Peters, the 49ers top assistant for John Lynch? I do not. If I was taken just based on rosters and the way they built teams, I pick the 49er guy, because they've done pretty well with some of their draft picks and free agents, and they're pretty strong from top to bottom of the roster of the Bears. I feel like they overachieved. I feel like the credit goes more to the coaching than the personnel people.

That's just my opinion thinking out loud. I think I would err on the side. If I'm looking at the personnel, how they built the football team, I think San Francisco is a much better place in Chicago, so I would lean towards San Fran without knowing the person. What about the coaches that they've requested? interviews. And actually a couple they've already interviewed virtually. Anthony Weaver from the Ravens. He's the assistant head coach, D. Line coach, Ben Johnson. We've talked

about him, Dan Quinn, Aaron Glenn, Rahim Morris, Mike McDonald in Baltimore, Bobby Sloke in Houston. We've already talked about some of the veteran coaches that are out there. But what about that group? Who do you know, who do you like? obviously know Rahim Rehim's a good leader of people he's got great energy great communication skills but like I mentioned before

I think I would err on the side of if I'm taking a quarterback at number two more of an offensive guy but again like I've said before if you're going to go towards Mike McDaniel or weaver some of these defensive guys minded guys that are very strong defensively then who are they going to bring as offensive coordinator

that's the issue that you have. What is their staff going to look like? And I think that's more important than the head coach. I would err on the side of an offensive-minded head coach that can take care of this quarterback, number one, and then make sure he hires a strong defensive coordinator, if that makes sense. That's what I would do if I was the owner.

I'm looking for a guy that can develop Jaden Daniels or Drake May, number one, and then find a good defensive-minded guy. If I'm totally sold on Raheim Morris or McDonald or Weaver, now I've got to know, of those three, who's bringing the best offensive coordinator with them. Right. So understood. So of the two, Ben Johnson and Bobby Sloick, of the coaches that they've requested interviews with, those are the only two offensive guys. Do you have a preference there?

I've been very impressed with Floick at Houston and what he's done with the rookie quarterback and what he did last week with three of the main targets were out. They didn't have Tank Dell. They didn't have Robert Wood. They didn't have Noah Brown. obviously they had the big receiver number 12 his name is skipping me right now yeah yeah Nico so yeah I think he's been a great but obviously Ben Johnson with what they've done in Detroit with Jared golf has been very impressive I just think that they've got a really strong offensive line great tight end he's going to be out so they do but they're both good candidates both bright young coaches and

and that's the way the league is going right now you're going the league's been going young they've been going offensive-minded coaches and they've had to success. You look at McDaniel. You look at Sean. You look at the floor. You look at these young guys. And that's where owners want to go. And that's my fault because I hired Sean the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL and he got the job and did good. And everybody else thought, let's go young. Now these old coaches like myself are screwed. We can't get a job. Well, like we talked about a few weeks ago, the Gruden tree is a bit underrated in the conversation around these parts. All right. Let's talk about these games because it's like, you

know all the news this week, which is typical for the end of a regular season. But it's like this is one of the best times of the year if you're a football fan with these playoff games. And you get six of them now on Wild Card weekend. I'll tell you what, let's go through the games first, quickly, get your thoughts on these games, and then save your lock of the week for the end. So let's start and we'll go chronologically. Joe Flacco, Miles Garrett, the Browns at Houston. They played Houston a few weeks ago, but Case Keenham was the quarterback, and they blew

them out. Who do you like, and why? I like Cleveland. I just think top the bottom, they're bigger, stronger, a little bit faster. I think defensively they're going to create problems for Houston a little bit. Miles Garrett, obviously defensive MVP, Denzel Ward, does cover guys in the league. So in the running game, strong. And I think Flacco's shown enough with his arm that he can do it.

Houston is a pretty good against the run all year. They're top five against the run, but they gave up some major gashes last week against Indianapolis, which is a concern of mine. I'm rooting, rooting, rooting, rooting hard for Houston. I love Houston. I love what they've done with that team, and they're young and they're fun to watch,

and CJ's a great player. I just think Cleveland is a better team right now, and they play more consistently all year. I'm rooting for Cleveland just because I would love to see a Flacco, return to Baltimore in a playoff game next week. I think that would be an incredible storyline for next week. Not that they'd be rooting for him by any stretch of the imagination, but he's, he is a beloved former Raven in that town. That would be a fascinating matchup. All right, Saturday night, tomorrow night, at Arrowhead, below zero temps, actual temps,

wind chill in the dangerous wind chill area, they're saying, 30 below or worse. and you get Miami coming in to Arrowhead, neither team playing well. So how do you see this one? Yeah, this is going to be a physical matchup. And everybody thinks Miami out. They're not going to do well in the cold. But they are a pretty sound running team. They can run the ball.

Now, A. Chan can run it. Obviously, Moulter had over 1,000 yards. So don't sleep on their ability to run. They got a big foldback, Alec Ingle. He's a good player. They can do the standard runs up the middle, the ISOs. They can do the outside. up and tossed cracks. They can get

you a run on the football. So I think Miami despite their explosiveness with Tyree Kill and Waddle and throwing the ball, they can't play physical football. And I think Pacheco, and Kansas City is going to have to play physical, too. So I expect this to game. If you watch their game, and I think it was London or Germany, it was 21-14.

Kansas City jumped out, 21-0. They got that fumble return for touchdown at the end of the half to make it 21-0. But Miami came back to make it 21-14, had the ball at the end, and dropped a snap. against a cover zero, look and fumbled and lost the game. So it was a close game. Neither team was very successful going to ball.

So I think it's going to be a run-oriented game with the weather. And I think Kansas City will get the job done, but it'll be a close game. What's the worst weather game you ever coached in? Probably, I was at Cincinnati. I think it was 13 or 12. I can't remember the date. But it was at Pittsburgh late December, and it was a night game. The wind was coming off that damn river.

And it was so cold. I just hardly could call plays. It was freezing. I'd stand by the heater, pretending to talk to my players on the bench. I'm trying to keep warm. That was the worst one I can remember. Rain never that big a deal.

Just the wind and the cold in Pittsburgh was my colds one. Did you call plays from the sideline or from the box? Side line. I should have gone on the box that day. I wish I would have. All right. So you give the dolphins a choice. chance Saturday night.

I do for sure, yeah. All right. So Sunday at 1, cold snow wind in Orchard Park for the Bills and the Steelers. Yeah, this is going to be an interesting game now. This is Josh Allen's type of weather. He's not going to be saved by any weather because he could throw it through a hurricane and he can run it. I mean, they're starting to utilize his quarterback design runs more.

Cook had that strong game against Dallas since then. he's averaging like just over three yards of carry the last three games. He hasn't been quite as effective, but they're still using them quite a bit. But I think Josh Allen will be the difference here running the football and his ability to throw through the wind. But I would watch out for Pittsburgh because the last few weeks with Rudolph as their quarterback, Najee Harris has been a monster. They're running the duo play with two tight ends, three tight ends, one tight end.

They are gutting people with this play. If Buffalo can't stop between the tackles double-team run, Steelers have a great chance in this game because Rudolph is just doing enough with his big play arm, throwing at the pickings or whoever's out there, they have a chance if they can stay close in this ball game with their ability to run the ball, but I still think Josh Allen's big play ability will be the difference. It'll be a closer game that people think. I would take the point from that one. All right.

We'll find out if it's your lock of the week here in a moment, but it seems like all year long, we talked about, you know, these backup quarterbacks in for a couple of weeks, you know, they would thrive. whether it was Dobbs or Browning, and I'm forgetting one or two at this point. Rudolph has played incredibly well, and their offense looks like a completely different offense with him. But aren't you surprised? Because I was never impressed with Rudolph when he had opportunities before. Yeah, no. What they're doing well there, they're running a ball,

and then they're getting two or three chunk plays a game, you know, picking for an 80-yard against Cincinnati. They're doing a good job with that. that's all they need. If they can continue with Rudolph throwing a ball 20 to 25 times and they're running the ball 35 to 40 times, and I give them a chance against anybody. But if they become one-dimensional,

if they get hit early and then they have the pass, they have no chance. It'll be a blowout. But if they can keep the game close and run the ball, run the ball, heat up the clock, then I get Pittsburgh a strong chance in this one. All right, Dallas at Home against Green Bay. Yeah, Dallas at Home has been obviously very good.

Green Bay's defense has struggled quite, bit, and I just think Dallas is too strong for him personnel-wise. You know, Green Bay, Jordan Love has played very, very good at times, and last month of the season, he's been an excellent quarterback, so they're going to have a chance to win if he plays well by his

state overall with Dallas's pass rush and Dallas's ability with the running game and the past game, the way Dax's playing at the level he's playing at. I think Dallas at home will be very too much for Green Bay to overcome. Did you think C.D. Lam was this good? Yeah.

Yeah, he's a great player in college now. He can run after the catch. He can run. He can beat you deep. He can beat you underneath. He's a guy that can line up everywhere, which is exciting. He's not an outsider. He's not an outsider.

He's not an outside. They put him in a slot, like 55% of the time. He can get you in a slot. Very smart player, good route runner. But his ability to catch and run with the ball, short games for long yards is the impressive. The yak yardage is what everybody called it. So, yeah, he was a great player coming out.

All right. Detroit against Stafford. and Sean and the Rams on Sunday night, first home game for them since 93 in the postseason. I think this will be the most entertaining game for sure. This will be a, I think it'll be a shootout. Personally, I think it'll be a lot of points. It's going to be a fast track.

It'll be in a dome. So no issues there. Stafford going back to Detroit. I think this could be a fun game to watch. I think L.A.'s going to give them all kinds of trouble. I think Aaron Glenn's on a pretty good job of that defense, but I don't think that defense is good enough to slow down the Rams. And I don't know if the Rams' deep.

defense has come up to slow it out in the lions. I think Laporte is out, which is a huge injury for the lions because he's been a safety valve all year long for Jared golf at 7 to 8 catches a game for him. That's a big, big, big blow for the lives. I think the Rams will get this thing done at Detroit. All right. The Monday night game, obviously the Eagles are just in free fall right now, and they're up against Tampa who qualified for the playoffs with a 9-to-0 win at Carolina. So who do you like in this one? I mean, there's injuries here that we don't know for sure. There's going to be one of these teams are going to advance

and they don't really deserve to be in the playoffs. So both teams are playing poorly, in my opinion. They both backed into the playoffs. Fortunately, one of these teams are going to advance and feel like they're going to get their season back, you know, have a successful season. But I think this is a bad game. I think Philadelphia, with the personnel that they have on offense,

I think they've got to do enough to slow down, Tampa Bay's defense. I've got to figure. Baker Mayfield struggled the last couple weeks bad. He's been inaccurate. So I've got to give the edge of Philadelphia for goodness sakes with the experience. Jay and Hurts. AJ Brown's got to get going to Monta's got to make some plays. Offensively, I give the edge very much so to Philadelphia. I just hope they can slow down Tampa, which shouldn't be hard because Baker's been so erratic. What if Philly got beat and Dallas got beat in this weekend? Do you think either one of those coaching situations would become available for a Belichick or a Rable?

Yeah, Philadelphia wouldn't surprise me just because they're, you know, they fired Super Bowl winning coaches before and Doug Peterson, so it wouldn't surprise me. They really are a three-for-all. I've never seen a team the last month of the season come crunch time with the players that they have play as poorly as they have. So that wouldn't surprise me. I don't think they should because I think Seriani has done a pretty good job there,

obviously. but Tampa possibly I actually predicted that all three all four of those teams might get fired in that division yeah right but one had to come out and it's Tampa and Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield and company Evans has had a great year all right before we get to your lock of the week since the playoffs we have our 14 teams give me your Super Bowl matchup and your Super Bowl winner well I'm going to go with the Obvious, Baltimore and Sam Fran, I think both teams top to bottom are just better than everybody else. Obviously, Dallas can make a run, and there's anybody can make run. If you're in a position right now to be in the playoffs, you have a chance.

There's no doubt about it, but I just think top to bottom, both those teams are very good and don't have a lot of weakness. They can play from behind. They can play with the lead. They can play physical style of defense. Both teams can stop the run pretty good. They have decent guys in the backfield, defensive backfield. So Dallas, I mean, Sam Fran and Baltimore are with. I think San Fran gets it done.

All right. 49ers win the Super Bowl over Baltimore in a rematch from the 2012 season. All right. Lock of the week time, 11 and 5 regular season, incredible. Who's your lock of the week in Super Wild Card weekend? I got to go Philly. I hate to do it because they're playing so poorly. I watched the whole Tampa Bay Carolina game.

I just walked away from that game, so I can't believe Tampa Bay won the division. They're offense. Bakers is all over the place. I know Philadelphia is hard to take one of those two teams, but I just think Philadelphia is a much better team moving forward. I think they get it done. Philly laying the three Monday night to Tampa in Tampa is your lock. Was there another game that was close that you really liked?

Yeah, I like the Rams. I do like the Rams. Matthew Stafford and the way they're playing offensively, and I don't know, the Lions do a pretty good job getting pressure. they don't get a lot of sacks, but they do disrupt passes a lot with their pass rush. But I just think with Puka and Cooper and the way they'll run on the football with Kyrie is very impressive. They're very well-balanced. I just think the experience of Matthew Stafford going back to Detroit, he'll be really excited to play that game.

I think he gets it done. All right. Great job again. Tampa. I'm sorry, Philadelphia at Tampa, Lang the 3 is Jay's Lock of the Week. I'll talk to you next Friday. We'll have four divisional round games. games to talk about. Enjoy the weekend.

Thanks, Kevin. Thanks. Jay Gruden, everybody, a super wildcard weekend smell test when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test.

The smell test presented as always by MyBooky. Go to my bookie. Go to my bookie.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. and you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. I've had a pretty good playoff record over the years, and we are getting ready to give you some playoff games. So go bet them at MyBooky if you don't have a sports book.

If you have one, sign up with My Bookie and take the free cash and have it as a place where you comparison shop on point spreads, money lines, totals, prop bet numbers, etc. My bookie is a fair spree. spot. You're not going to overpay on a loss. And again, use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. So I finished up the regular season, seven games above 5,00, 91, 84, and 8. One and two last week. And I've got four plays for Super Wild Card weekend. Starting tomorrow, I like Houston. They're plus two.

and a half at MyBooky, you buy the half point, get it to three and take the Texans plus three. The Browns right now, along with the Rams, are the two most played sides of the weekend. People like Cleveland right now. Houston's a young football team with a rookie quarterback. The Browns just destroyed Houston in Houston a few weeks ago, 36 to 22. Now, C.J. Stroud was not quarterbacking the team, Case Keenham was. Cleveland being favored by a short number, especially now below three, has the public pounding the Browns. They expect the Browns to move on. Look, an analysis of this game, I think I like the Brown's chances. And I've always loved Flacco, as you guys know, in the postseason in big games, especially on the road.

but I will go with the formula, which is anti-public and with some sharp money. I would play this game sooner rather than later. You can get some, you can find some threes. At my bookie, it's two and a half, but you can buy the half point to get it to three. It would not surprise me if this comes down a little bit. So play it sooner rather than later. So the first play of the weekend, the Texans plus three. Tomorrow night seems like nobody's giving the dolphins a shot in what will be just frigid weather at Arrowhead.

So I'll take the dolphins plus the four and a half. On Sunday, the Rams are a heavily bet public side. I'll take the Lions lay the three in their first home playoff game in Detroit since 1993, looking for their first playoff win since 1991. And maybe the most bet thing this weekend is the Rams Lions over. Everybody expecting an absolute shootout in this game. The total's 52. I'll go under the total.

So the Texans plus three, the dolphins plus four and a half on Saturday, the Lions minus three, and the Lions Rams under 52 on Sunday. I don't like the Monday night game at all. I thought I was going to end up liking Philadelphia if the line were a little bit higher and it got people to play Tampa. But the actions kind of split on that game. I don't like that game at all. That's Jay's lock of the week. I kind of thought I was going to like Green Bay, but the action's pretty split on Dallas and Green Bay in that game.

And Buffalo looks like the right side laying a big number against the Steelers and what will be another bad weather game. But there's sharp money on Pittsburgh in that game. So I am off that one. So there it is. Texans, dolphins, lions, and the Lions Rams under. Back on Monday with maybe more Washington football news, who knows, but definitely a recap of the six playoff games from this weekend. Enjoy it. Be back on Monday. Terique Castro Fields from Penn State, what are the traits you see at him, Adam, that will make him, or has a chance to make him successful at this level? Yeah, he's, he's tall, he's over 6-1, he ran a 4-3-9. His shuttles were really good. He looked really good at his pro-day. The coaches spoke really highly of him in his

pro-day. We're raving about his intelligence. So when you get that type of player with that type of experience in the sixth round, it's a pretty good bet.