The Kevin Sheehan Show - Alex Smith's Report Card

Episode Date: October 16, 2018

It's a Sports Fix Tuesday as Thom Loverro is in. They talk about the Monday Night Football game and how impressive Aaron Rodgers was before moving on to the Redskins. What is Thom's take on Alex Smith? Could the Redskins be 5-2 two weeks from now? And they argue about what could happen in the future, particularly if this ends up not being a playoff team. Plus, Coaching Blunders and more. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. I'm here. Tommy's here. Aaron's here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call Tommy's take on the Redskins win over Carolina coming up. I'm sure it's all positive. They won the game. Coaching blunders today. Oh, by the way, did we decide on a nickname for my gang of coaching blunder narks? Do we have, do we have, we got a bunch of suggestions. I'm looking for the suggestions now. I didn't think you're going to get to it right. All right. We'll find those at some point. We'll find those in a moment.

They were excellent suggestions. There were a couple of them that were very good and we can come up with those because it really is helpful, very helpful when you send me your coaching. blunders that you see in obscure college football games potentially that I don't see. I do have several of them, though, for later in the show. We're going to get to Alex Smith's performance, again, a little bit more upon further review. Tommy saw a movie last night. What did you see?

I went to see a Starsborn. Did you like it? You know, great performances by Lady Gaga, who I'm very curious about because all I know about this woman is that she once wore a meat suit on stage. She did. You know, but she's a tremendous singer. And Bradley Cooper did a great job directing it and singing. Great characters, really slow movie.

Really slow. It's not as good as everybody makes it out to be. I have heard no one say it isn't anything but spectacular. And I would ask you, did you see the Streisand-Christofferson version of it, which was what in the 70s? 76, I think. And, I mean, I think this was. a little bit better. I wasn't impressed with that either.

But this was slow. I did tell you not on the air because it couldn't have been on the air because I saw the movie on Friday night, but I think we talked over the weekend about a lot of things. And there were some shouting back and forth on some of the things that we talked about. I'd be glad to talk about them on the podcast if you want. But I did see the first man. And I thought it was excellent. I thought it was so good. I think Ryan Gosling did a phenomenal job of portraying Neil Armstrong.

Your concern was last week when you and I both were told about the movie by Mark, Mark Stern, that you had an issue with them not making a big deal of the American flag. No, just leaving it out. Well, they actually show the American flag. Yeah, but they didn't show him planting it. But do you know why, Tommy? This story is really about Neil Armstrong's story leading up to those two famous steps on the moon. But did they show them taking the steps on the moon?

Did they show the moon? Yes, they did. But they decide to look, I'm not a raving patriot. This is not about patriotism. It's about historical accuracy. And they purposely decided not to put that in the movie. I've not read about this. Is this true that they purposely decided not to do it?

I'll grant you, I'm assuming that because it's so obvious. You had the purpose. You didn't just say, oh my God, we forgot to put him planning the flag in. How could we have left that out? Do you know, so there is part of the movie, but not, I wouldn't say, I would say it's not a significant part of the movie, is sort of this race to the moon between the Russians and the Americans. You lived it.

I didn't. I do remember, here's what I remember, being in elementary school, kindergarten, I think, during the Apollo 13 crisis, and they put it on television in the classroom. I do remember that. I really don't remember, you know, I was alive for it. I don't remember really Neil Armstrong and the first, you know, landing on the moon. But I know that the entire 60s in this race to get to the moon with the Russians was sort of. of a significant thing. And that's part of the movie, but it's really not.

It's much more about sort of the personal story of Neil Armstrong, his wife, who is played by Claire Foy. She was excellent in the movie. I do not watch the Crown. My wife does, though. She's addicted to it or was addicted to it. And Claire Foy plays Queen Elizabeth in the Crown. So she's sort of, I'm assuming she's fairly new on the scene.

She was excellent as Neil Armstrong's wife. But you know what? I think Ryan Gosling's good and everything. And I didn't even see La La Land, which everybody says was good. Yeah, I didn't see that, but I like him in most things. You know, and here's another thing they left out. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, and what he really said was one small step for man,

one giant step for Mani Klein. That's what he really said. You know that? No, I don't know that. Well, I mean, here's what happened. What happened? And he told me that, you know, he had a, a book out a few years ago. And I went to an autograph signing. And I told him how much it meant to me

when he said, one small step for man, one giant step for mankind. Is this a real story? And he says to me, he says, that's not what I really said. And he tells me about, you know, I said one giant step for Mani Klein. So he tells me when he was a pilot living in a boarding house in Texas, he lived next to the Klein family. And every night he, he was. And every night he was. He tried to go to sleep and he'd hear him screaming next door. And he'd hear Mani Klein yelling, when are you going to make love to me? And you hear his wife say when a man walks on the moon. That's the dumbest story I've ever heard.

It really is. I will just say this. I think you will like this movie. But I'm not going to see. I don't go to see many movies anymore. You were at the movies last night? Yes. Another great Monday night.

We have had back-to-back thrilling national television. television night games on Sunday night. Actually, I got home to watch the second half. I mean, and, you know, we went to an early movie because, you know, we're old, Kevin. Yeah, you went to the 530 showing, probably at the Avalon. If you lived in town, you'd be at the Avalon. All right. Let's, I want to, you didn't watch the game last night.

I watched some of the game. But God, is Aaron Rogers just so incredibly good. But actually, it was like an NBA game. You only had to watch the last. two minutes, right? No, no, this game was a track meet from the start. It was 1714 at the end of the first quarter. I think it's the high, I need to look this up. This is another thing. We haven't done a good job of looking things up before the show like our coaching blunder watchers, NARCs. But we're really only doing a podcast. It's not like it's a big deal. We don't have to be

right about anything or even prepared for it. But the, I think they said last night that the 1714 first quarter score was the highest scoring first quarter in like three years, something like that. You rarely see 31 points put up in a first quarter. It was back and forth. And I want to make one comment, and I've got several about the game last night. But before I forget this one, because I might forget it if I don't mention it now. God, can the Shanahan's run the ball, man. I don't know what it is about Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan. and the Shanahan zone run scheme. But damn, they run it everywhere they go.

Kyle's offense last night with C.J. Bethard at quarterback, who played well, 174 yards rushing. San Francisco's terrible, Tommy. But they've got the number three rush offense in the NFL. Because for whatever reason, they are able to scheme up a running game. They've been able to do it better than anybody in the history of the game. Mike and Kyle Shanahan. You're right about that.

Anyway, back to Aaron Rogers. So he throws the tying touchdown pass with a minute 55 left Tommy in the game to tie the game at 30 to 30. The 49ers get a really good kickoff return. And then there's a 15-yard late hit penalty. So it looks like that the 49ers are going to get in field goal range to win the game in regulation. I did have the 49ers last night. I just want to mention that as an aside. That was my one pro winner of the weekend, one and three on the NFL.

However, the weekend smell test number, final tally, 11 and 7. I am now 40, 30, and 3 on the season so far, 10 and 4 on my college pick Saturday. But I had the 49ers last night in the smell test. Anyway, Bethard throws a pick. Green Bay gets the ball back, Tommy, from their own 10-yard line with a minute 7 and no timeouts left in a tight. game. You know what Aaron Rogers said after the game? Aaron Rogers said this, which was surprising. Lisa Salter said, what were you thinking when you got the ball back? And he said, overtime. Because they were at their own 10, no timeouts left. They had just tied the game up.

They got an interception to get the ball back. And they did actually run the ball on first down. Really? So they were potentially in that moment playing for overtime, even with Aaron Rogers. A minute seven left. But what happened was time on. Gummery ripped off a big run on first down and got out of bounds. And from then, from that point on, you know, it's like, all right, it's on now. And Aaron Rogers on a third and 15 get sacked. But there's a very questionable holding penalty on Richard Sherman, which gives them the automatic first down. I didn't think it was a great call. But Tommy, after the sack, Aaron Rogers is on the ground, gets up, limping, hobbling, looks like he's hurt as he's been.

This year, we've seen it because he got legitimately injured in the opener. Yes. Against the Bears in that first half. And it came back and led that incredible comeback in the second half. And on the very next play, he goes back to throw and he sprints right up the middle, right up the A gap, 21 yards. You know, it was the get up real slowly like, oh, I'm hurting, I'm hurting. And then boom, he's off to the races, 21 yards there at midfield. And then something happened on three straight plays.

that was really from a 49er standpoint, as incompetent as you can get from a football IQ standpoint. They have no timeouts left. They're 20 seconds left in the game. The ball's at midfield. It's just short of midfield after Aaron Rogers ran it out to the 45-yard line. It was at the 45. They have no timeouts left, 20 seconds left in the game. What is the key for the 49ers?

You can't let what happened. You can't let the guy get out of bounce. You can't let him throw to the sidelines. Okay, right. All right. The ball's got to go in the middle of the field. Yeah, you got to keep the ball in the middle of the field. So three straight completions to the sidelines for chunk yardage and out of bounds.

Three. I mean, not one, not two, but three straight completions gets them in easy, short range for a field goal, for a game winning field goal. All of the plays stopping the clock. That is horrible football by the 49ers, incompetent football by the 49ers. especially after the first one. You know, with 20 seconds to go, you complete something down the middle of the field,

you'll have time to get up and clock the ball and get your field goal team out there. But once you get to like 11 seconds, which I think it was the second one or 12 seconds, you've got to force everything into the middle of the field. You've got to make sure that they throw it to the middle of the field and the clock runs out on him. And he gets three straight throws to the sidelines,

stopping the clock. And then one more thing. was a fascinating final couple of minutes of the game. With six seconds to go, they are in range. I mean, they're at the, I think they were at the 10-yard line or 11-yard line at that point of San Francisco. I'm going to look up exactly how long that field goal was, the game-winning field goal. I think it was 28 yards. It was short. It was 27 yards. So they're at the 10-yard line of the 49ers with six seconds to go. And Aaron Rogers waves the field goal team off. says to Mike McCarthy, no, no, no, one more play.

One more play. Why would you risk one more snap? I mean, if anything could go wrong on that snap. But what he wanted to do was he wanted to make sure that Mason Crosby was kicking the field goal on the final play of the game, a true walkoff. So he took the snap and he threw it over the head of, I think it was Adams on the far sideline. And Tommy, my first thought was they could potentially throw a flag for intentional grounding. Kirk Cousins, New Orleans last year, throws it way over the head of the receiver on the outside. Remember in that hectic, chaotic end in New Orleans after they had blown the lead and they still had a chance to get in field goal range.

And he throws it over the head and they called grounding and then they had the 10 second runoff and then all hell broke loose. because Jay didn't know the rule and Kirk didn't know the rule, and it was incompetence at the highest levels of clock management. I don't think because there was a receiver there that they could have called it, but it clearly was intentionally grounding the football to stop the clock, or I guess intentionally grounding is also to, you know, avoid a sack. But he threw it over the head, no flag, and there are three seconds left, and he then says, all right, Mason,

can come out and win the game now. But I couldn't believe that they were going to take another snap with six seconds left. What happens if the snap got botched somehow? Or they got quick pressure and he threw it over the head. And then it's obviously an intentional grounding. Mason Crosby comes on, wins the game. And how about this? Mason Crosby, one for six last week.

I know. One for five on field goals. And missed a P.A.T. also. And he was seven for seven last night. Four for four on field goals, three for three on. P.A. T's. And Rogers said something about Mason Crosby in that interview with Lisa Sauters after the game. He thanked the organization for being patient. And I read that as he was the one that went to the organization and said, no, no, no, you can't cut him. Yeah. You got to give Mason Crosby another chance. He used the words. We put our arms around them this week. Yes. Yes. Mason Crosby was also part of the post-game interview with Lisa Sultors. He was clearly emotional. and said everybody had my back, the whole thing.

But Aaron Rogers, you know, when you are Aaron Rogers or you're Tom Brady, I don't know if it would work with Belichick, but when you're Aaron Rogers and your head coach is Mike McCarthy, you can go right to whoever the decision maker is or decision makers are and say, no, you're not bringing in kickers. You're not bringing in kickers. We are giving Mason another shot. Thank you very much for calling me in for this conversation, but that's how it's going to go.

Well, what you can do is you can stand on the field with six seconds left and put your hand up to the head code, say, nope, send them back. That was crazy to me. But it was another incredible, you know, you had Sunday night, which may have been one of the best regular season games, really, in the recent NFL history. Absolutely. And then last night, you're not going to call it, you know, one of the greatest games,

but it was Aaron Rogers in prime time doing what. he did in the opener against the Bears, and last night driving them 90 yards or 80 yards, I guess, for a walk-off field goal range. And they win a game. I will just say this about the Packers. They're just not, they were missing pieces last night on offense. The Cobb was out. A couple of people were out offensively. They're not a good defensive football team. They just, they aren't very good defensively. I mean, the 49ers moved the ball up and down the field on the Packers. Aaron Rogers also, one more note on last night's game, became the first player in NFL history with back-to-back games

of throwing for 400 or more yards with no interceptions. That's remarkable. Let me ask you this. A secondary narrative to what happened Monday night, and maybe it's been percolating for quite a while, but I think it really surfaced this time, is a lot of people are saying that it's a shame that Aaron Rogers has to play for a coach like Mike McCarthy,

that he can't even be the best he can be because McCarthy's a bad coach. I don't. I don't subscribe to that at all. I don't. I know, and I've heard the stories about Mike McCarthy, and there are things over the years where you shake your head and you're like, did he really just do that or did they really just, you know,

play that way against that team? McCarthy is far from that bottom third of coaches in the league. But imagine Rogers with a... He's a middling, coach. He's in the, in the, Tommy, he's in the, in the, in the 15, 14 to 18 range in terms of head coaches. I wouldn't put him a lot lower than that. I wouldn't. I don't, I don't think the same way about McCarthy that others do, but go ahead. Imagine him with Kyle Shanahan as his head coach. Well, there are a lot of offensive guys that, you know, would be amazing fits. Yeah. For Aaron Rogers.

You know, I know you're going to laugh at this, but Jay Gruden wouldn't be the worst fit for an Aaron Rogers. Jay Gruden hasn't had an Aaron Rogers, and part of the reason why may be that Jay Gruden feels that, hey, he can plug and play anybody into his quarterback, you know, into that position, and they can succeed in his scheme. Actually, he's got the number one pick from the draft that year. Why would he want the number 25 pick? I do want to get to that. Yes. What, who did? Jay Gruden has the number one pick in the draft from that year. Oh, with, with Alex Smith. With, with Alex Smith. Yeah.

Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I thought you were going back and telling me that Jay Gruden was somehow part of San Francisco's decision to take Alex Smith. No. Yes, he has Alex Smith from that draft. Yes. And what does he want to know? What was Aaron Rogers?

And the Redskins got Jason Campbell out of that draft. Right behind Aaron Rogers. They did. Right behind Aaron Rogers. I want to get to Tommy's game take from Sunday. I want to get more into Alex Smith and his performance. But right now, I want to tell you about when donated. Harley and Aaron from Window Nation are fans and believers in this podcast, and me and Tom and everybody associated with it.

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this winter and forever on your energy bills. Eliminate those nasty drafts and start enjoying all the benefits of new windows today. That's windownation.com or call 86690 Nation. Okay. I've got a couple of things that I want to go back to regarding the game yesterday, but I want your take on the game. You wrote a column about the game. You asked several questions during the press conference of Jay Gruden and of

Alex Smith after the game because you were there. What did you think of the Redskins huge win over the Panthers? I mean, really important good win. Yes, it was a big win. It was a very important win because the alternative would have been a pretty ugly week leading up to the Dallas game. So, yeah, it was a big win. Their defense hung tough.

The Panthers cooperated with many self-inflicted wounds right from the start. and but you know ironically i wrote a column about a team that won an important game and pretty much what i focused on was the limitations of the quarterback and just to be honest with you barry's feluga from the washington post wrote the same column in other words like it basically it was hard to watch that game now game five of the series and not really recognized the limitations of Alex Smith, that he needs, he needs a lead. He needs things, he needs a running game. He need, and I know lots of quarterbacks need that, but the quarterback who is here, like we've said before, the quarterback who he replaced didn't need that necessarily. It helps

him, but he didn't need that in order to put up a good offensive display. So, I mean, that, that was apparent to me. That's what, that's what I asked Alex Smith is, you know, this idea of, you know, having a lead and playing with a lead, which the quarterback talked about, you know, a lot after the loss to New Orleans, how it impacted them to be behind early. So when they took a 14 and nothing lead, I wrote a column saying, well, he was in his, he was in his comfort zone then. And they managed to hang on to it. But this, and I called it a thing, and he didn't seem to like that. No, he didn't. He didn't. His response was, oh, I didn't know it was a thing. Well, it is a thing.

Well, according to you, it is. Is it a thing now? I want, so this, this was your, this was your, so we can blend the two conversations. Your, your thoughts about the game and the Alex Smith conversation, because your thoughts about the game really were about Alex Smith. Yes, they were. It was hard not to ignore. And the limitations. Look, um, Jay Gruden had a couple of quotes yesterday from his, you know, Monday, Monday presser that I want to read to you. Um, this was, his quote about Alex Smith's vision on the field. He was asked about Alex Smith's vision on the field,

and he said, quote, I think the critical side of me, the coaching side of me, there are some things we've got to clean up, get his eyes in certain progressions a little bit quicker, and maybe get off some others a little bit quicker. Sometimes he hangs on too long, giving guys too much of a chance where he needs to get off of those guys and get to the next guy. But for the most part, I thought improved from last week to this week, and there's still some improvement to do for everybody across the board. I like where he's at. I like that he's buying in and he's learning. Then on a question asked about the two drives at the end of the first half, where they had the ball in Carolina territory, and they got nothing. Jay Gruden said, quote, they were frustrating, really, that was a

golden opportunity to kick at least three points on the board. Our defense put us in prime situation there. We used our two timeouts. They threw the incompletion, so we had plenty of time to possibly get six or seven but took a bad sack. We had somebody open there that the ball should have gone to, but he was trying to look off the safety a little bit too long, and that's kind of what we were talking about. Sometimes he gets stuck on a guy a little too long right now. Let me just make one quick comment on the end of the half. Jay Gruden could have run the ball too to help him a little bit, especially on that first drive when they got into Carolina territory just after the two-minute warning, after that little option play to Mo Harris, got him a first down.

They should not have taken run out of the play-calling equation. They had all of their timeouts left. They had plenty of time to run the ball to get into field goal range or to run the ball to create, you know, the opportunity to score touchdown. And Jay Gruden called three straight passes with a guy that he says is holding on to the first target too long and not getting to the open people. Quickly enough. So I would put some of that personally on Jay there at the end of the first half. But Tommy, here's the thing. This is, I mean, I don't want to do this, but I like doing it actually.

But I hate doing it also because I know it drives the Kirk, you know, the people that couldn't stand Kirk and can't stand when I back Kirk. It drives you nuts, but I have to do this. First of all, I will say this. Things are going to get better with Alex Smith. They are. He's smart. He's going to learn. He and Jay will get into sync. I believe that. The team around him has to stay solid and be healthier. That's the fundamental problem is Adrian Peterson. I mean, he had a gutsy performance on Sunday. He was the star of the game. Yes. Whoever was second was a distant second. Yes. And without Adrian Peterson, it doesn't matter how much Alex Smith improves. There's no. Like I said before, there's no plan B for running the ball.

You know what? I gave you credit for that on the show yesterday. You were insistent last week on there's no plan B for Adrian Peterson. And because I think that Sunday may have been his best performance and the most impactful performance so far on the season for the team, especially with Thompson and Crowder out, I am tending to believe in what you believe that this team right now doesn't have somebody is good

somebody that's good enough to replace Adrian Peterson and give this team that needs balance what Peterson is giving them. But let me finish this one thought. So, you know, the team around them has to be solid. And I think it is solid when they're healthy. This is not a team where the cupboard is bare.

No. Okay, look, Alex Smith had a career year last year. Why? Tyree Khill. Corrine Hunt. He had Travis Kelsey. All pro-offensive weapons in Kansas City. But the cupboard isn't bare here when everybody's healthy.

Thompson, Reed, Crowder, and now Peterson, that's a pretty good and a good enough supporting cast. But look, I've said this thousands of times now. It's certainly hundreds of times now since the trade last January 31st. He's not as good as the guy that left. He's not. And this will be the defining move for Bruce Allen. If Bruce Allen's right, then good on him. If he's wrong, then he should be

out of here. It's really hard for most franchises, Tommy, but for this one, nearly impossible over two decades, to find a true franchise quarterback, and they had one. I'm not saying he's elite, all right? He's not Brady. He's not Breeze. He's not in the elite category. He's not Rivers, but he's durable, he's capable. He's a top 10 quarterback. And they had one finally, but whether it was because, well, Mike Shanahan drafted him, it wasn't our guy, or they didn't like him, or they weren't smart enough to know how to secure him long term. Ding, ding, ding. Whatever it was, the bottom line is they didn't want to pay him a long-term deal.

We know that for sure. Don't argue with me on that, anybody on Twitter. Please, there's no debate on that. They offered him 53 million guaranteed money and then called him greedy, for not accepting it publicly, okay? And he got 84 million for three years, nine months later. So, yeah, they were a little bit under the market on that one. And the Jets were willing to pay him 90 million.

Yeah, close to more than 90. So Bruce Allen's future should be tied to his record, which isn't very good, and to the decision really that he made regarding the quarterback. And keep in mind on this quarterback thing, Jay Gruden and Doug Williams, I don't even think they knew about the trade. I can tell you Doug Williams didn't because he told everybody. Yes. Jay admitted, I think unwisely, but honestly, that he never even evaluated the quarterbacks who were going to be in the draft.

Remember that? Remember that admission? I don't remember that. Yeah. So after the trade, what did you think about the very deep quarterback draft? Well, I never evaluated any of the quarterbacks. Hopefully somebody in the organization evaluated them. Hopefully before Bruce called Andy Reid for the second time in seven years and put, a deal together for a quarterback.

And remember this. There were multiple ways to go in the offseason. They could have gone with Colt. Yeah. Okay. That wouldn't have been my preference as a fan of the team, but I do believe what you believe, and that is that Jay does like Colt a lot.

They could have drafted a young player, okay, at their spot in the draft, or they could have traded up into the draft to get somebody that they really liked in this very deep quarterback draft, or they could have traded for somebody like they did. They could have traded for Dalton. They could have traded for McArton.

They could have traded for McArts. and they could have traded for Tyrod Taylor, or they could have traded for Alex Smith. And to me, Smith was a good solution for the problem, the dilemma that they had created at that position. It was pricey, a third rounder in Kendall Fuller, not cheap.

And then they went ahead and gave them a contract extension for four years. I did not love that. I would have preferred to have seen more than lock them in for that long. But I was not given the moment and given the situation, and I still feel the same way. It wasn't a terrible trade, but he's not as good as the last guy.

I hope you guys are starting to see that. He isn't. Now, the game he played Tommy Sunday was not as bad as some people are saying either. And I don't know if you felt that his performance was bad. No, I just think it's limited. I think he's limited. He's missing things.

Kirk missed things. Colts miss things. RG3 missed things. All quarterbacks miss things. He missed a lot, though, in the game. Miss some big play opportunities. It was a C plus B minus performance. The reason I would put it in the B minus category

or reach to that level is he made some plays. Listen, he made some good plays in that game that were winning plays. When they got the turnovers, he capitalized on it right away. I mean, right from the start of the game, he helped give them the lead. The lead that I keep talking about, he helped give them that lead. I can't wait until they fall behind in a game and he brings them back. Then what are you going to write? Well, you know what?

You are a dog with a bone on certain things. You get this idea in your head and you are just going to ride that dog for all of its worth. For all it's worth. And you are convinced right now that the big limitation about Alex Smith is he can't bring them back. They have to have a lead. Yeah. They don't have a comeback office. They can't score offense.

They can't score in big place. I mean, you saw, I mean, it's excruciating sometimes to watch them march down the field. I mean, they hang on to the ball for seven, eight minutes, and then they don't score sometimes. Well, you know, that happens with a lot of teams. It happened with some of Kirk's teams, too. I get that. But Kirk was capable of a big strike. Well, and this guy isn't.

I disagree with that. Look, I don't think. and haven't thought and will never, ever think that they got better at quarterback in the offseason of 2018. Okay? I didn't think it in the moment. I don't think it now. And I don't think I will ever, ever think that. Keep in mind, he's 34 years old.

Yeah, I know. But at the same time, I don't want that to mask that I feel like Alex Smith is a good quarterback. I think Alex Smith, with things around him, will work. And I disagree with you. I think Alex Smith can throw the deep ball. I think he will hit on some big shots this year. And I think they will be in position where they are behind at times. And he leads a big drive.

I think it's really what we're looking at here is a five-game snapshot of a guy that was with one guy for a long period of time in Andy Reed. For six years, seven years, six years in Kansas City. we're looking at five games with Jay Gruden. Jay has a certain way. He wants his quarterbacks to play. Alex Smith isn't as good as some at this particular brand of football of being able to go boom, boom, boom, boom, ABC, get it out quickly. All right? Get it to the people who are open because Jay, you know, no matter what you want to say about him,

and I think there's some areas where he's extremely limited. He can scheme people open. He's done that everywhere he's gone. as an offensive coordinator. And people were open Sunday. And they were open against New Orleans. People were open against New Orleans, too. I will concede this point.

I mentioned this yesterday. Their protection Sunday wasn't good enough. He was rushed too quickly. You know, there was too much immediate penetration in the general direction of the quarterback. And that has a big impact on him. It does. It does.

And he gets happy feet. Here's the one thing I'd like to know about. that. How much of some of this quick pressure, because Kirk was under siege the entire year last year, with all of the injuries they had along the offensive line, and they're having those injuries now. And the offensive line, I think we're starting to realize that maybe the offensive line without Sean LaValle and Chase Ruea at Guard, not center, isn't as good. It's two games. But the thing that I don't know that I want to find out is, is Alex Smith under siege so quick, because he's not identifying something pre-snap and moving the offensive line and the running back into position to account for what he's seeing.

I have a feeling that he is struggling right now to see things. The blitz in particular, whether it is a blitz or whether it's not a blitz and where to go. But that has nothing to do with his quick throw, where his quick opportunity. No, I agree. That has, that's a fundamental flaw if he doesn't recognize. that has nothing to do with him being here five games he's recognized that in his past Tommy this has been a guy that's my point if that's a problem that's an Alex Smith problem that's not a jruden problem I don't he's we need is it fair to give him more than five games before you before you declare that there's no chance they'll ever have if they fall behind in a game I didn't

there's always there's an exception to every rule but that is the rule I mean that's pretty obvious moving forward and as far as him not being able to recognize defenses. That has nothing to do with Jay Gruden. That's all on Alex Smith. It wouldn't matter if he was here for one game or a hundred games. I don't disagree with you. I just know that he is capable of doing this,

and I think that it will get better. I think the performances are going to improve. Will we have a 300-yard passing game this year? Yes. Really? Did he have – has he had one yet? I don't think he's had one yet. I thought he may have had –

one in the loss maybe to, I don't know. Will you have a 300? You know what? In this particular NFL this year? 292 is as high so far. He doesn't have a 300-yard game yet. Look. Look, look.

This leads to another conversation that I had with J.P. Finley on the show yesterday and that I think is a good conversation. So people are lighting it up this year in the NFL. You know, the rules certainly. make it a make it a big ball league. Make it a huge advantage to throw the football. This old, you know, you have to be balanced.

You have to run the football. You got to be able to run the football in the fourth quarter to protect the lead. Not really. You can throw the football to protect the lead now too. A lot of teams are doing that. But with that said, there are multiple ways to skin this cat. There are multiple ways to win in the NFL. And the way the Redskins won on Sunday is still a viable way.

You win the turnover battle You don't commit a lot of stupid penalties You play good special teams You have a balanced attack offensively You hit on a couple of big plays Your quarterback hits on a couple of big plays Where he extended plays and made some good plays To move the chains

Okay That way still works in the NFL But you just pointed out five different components That led to that victory Tell me one other game In Jay Gruden's career here in Washington where he's hit on all five of those things. Oh, they've had games like that.

All five. Oh, the game last... Real them off again. The game last year in Los Angeles against the Rams. Where they didn't beat themselves. Where they didn't have stupid penalties. Where they won the turnover battle. Where they had a balanced offense.

You asked me a question. I'm going to tell you all those games. They've had those games. I don't think they have. Well, they haven't lost all their games since he's been coach. No, they haven't. But those... But those specific...

components that you just mentioned are for this team for this team in particular is what they need to win and i'm saying that the the the times that j gruden's teams have hit on all five of those cylinders are very rare uh he's had a he had a quarterback who covered up the mistakes from before now he has a quarterback where you better you better not you better win a turnover battle you better not get penalties. You better have a balanced offense. Okay, you better, you better, but you can say that about, you know, more than half the teams in the league. More than half the teams in the league don't have a quarterback capable of throwing you to a win each week. But I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about this team. Well, this team is one of those teams that has to do it

the way I just described. And I don't think they've got a coach who can deliver that for you week after week. He delivered it on Sunday. He delivered it last year. He delivered it last year in Los Angeles in week two when they ran the ball for, you know, a ton of yards in the win over the Rams. What was the, was it the Rams game last year that they had a ton of yards rushing when they went in there? And by the way, keep in mind, you didn't even know if the Rams were any good. And it turned out they were really good. Yes, last year against the Rams, Tommy, no turnovers, 229 yards rushing, 156 yards passing in that game against. the Rams, penalties, four penalties on the day. That was it. That model has worked for him.

Not a lot. Not a lot. Okay. But, and by the way, in that game, in that game, if you recall, in a tie game, he needed his quarterback who never, ever, you know, has never really come up with a big play or driven them to a come from behind win or a big fourth quarter drive. drove him 10 plays 70 yards and through the touchdown pass to Ryan Grant to win the game with about, I don't know, two minutes to go in that game, something like that. But they've done that before. They did it against Miami a few years ago. But I'm saying for this quarterback, you need to do it almost every week. You, okay. But my point is, is that model, that formula. still works in the NFL. But that formula, that formula does not. Jacksonville last year played good defense and tried not to turn the ball over on offense

and be smart. They got to the AFC champ. They played great defense. They played great defense. And the Redskins defense is not at that level. Don't you think they're regretting that Blake Bortles commitment that they've made? I would say they probably are at this point. You know what's interesting?

I'm not a Blake Bordles. I think Blake Bortles is good enough to win with. I don't think. Big mistake. I think Alex Smith is. is better, but I think he's in that category of, you know what, you put a good defense in a good running game, and they haven't had Leonard Fournette for two weeks in a row. So that's hurt them. Yes. You know what? They actually minus their defense got torched by Dallas and played better

than the score indicated against Kansas City, and they do have a lot of defensive talent. But the Jacksonville situation is not too dissimilar to the Redskins situation for your, your insistence that if Adrian Peterson goes out, they're done. Because right now, it's clear in Jacksonville that they're not the same team without Leonard Fornett. Yes, I'll grant you that. They're not the same team without him. I'll grant you that. Now, the other thing I want to point out to you is you're talking

about how the Redskins are like a lot of other teams in the league. But the coach has pretty much told you before the season started. They were a playoff team? Not just that they're a playoff team. There's no time for growth. There's no time. is not a rebuilding. The time is now.

So the clock is ticking because the coach said the clock is ticking. Okay? So they don't have a learning curve to be able to play with. There's not like maybe he'll get Jay Gruden's system in year two. Right. They don't have that luxury. I agree with that. I do agree with that that this is sort of a deadline job, a short deadline job.

Like you better show me. you can do the work here this year. General manager, though. I do. I don't. Well, the team president. Well, the team president. Oh, it is the general manager. It's for the team president, too, Tommy. I don't think so.

Do you want to, have we made? I'm not going to bet on that because a normal person wouldn't keep Bruce Allen. Even an abnormal person wouldn't keep Bruce Allen running the team. So I think, I think, I'm not going to make you a bit on that. The McLuhan arbitration results will have something to do with that. in addition to what's going on on the field. Continue. I agree with that.

A normal person would have fired Bruce Allen for letting Kirk Cousins walk out of the building with either A, walk out of the building or B, walk out of a building with nothing to show for it. Getting nothing back, yes. So that blunder alone is a fireable offense. So if that didn't get him fired, the Alex Smith commitment,

and we don't know how giddy Dan Snyder was about that, I'm thinking pretty giddy. I'm thinking that was a one-week party on the yacht for Dan Snyder. So he may not have the luxury of looking at Bruce Allen and saying, look what you did to me because he might have been right there holding Bruce Allen's hand saying, don't call Doug, let's surprise him. Let's surprise Doug. Oh, my God.

I mean, when Doug admitted that, what do you think went on in the background? They're like, oh, Doug, you can't tell him. people that I told you that. Oh my God. Hey, you know what, though? It's Dallas Week. Yes. It's Dallas Week and they've got a chance.

And you know what, Tommy? It wouldn't surprise me if by the end of the next two weeks, they're five and two. It will surprise me. That wouldn't surprise me. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm excited about this game on Sunday. First of all, it should be a sellout. When was the last time we talked about might sell out? Yes.

Seriously. Think about that just. quick statement. This Sunday might be the first sellout of the year. Yes. What? This is the Redskins you're talking about. Yeah, it is.

It's the 2018, the 2000s Redskins. So we mean in part because there'll be so many Cowboys fans there. Oh, definitely. Okay. Let me just tell you. But Redskin fans might get jacked up for this game too. Yeah, this is important. Coming off a win, they should be.

This is important, though. Dan Steinberg and I have talked about this. if either Washington Post or Washington Times hired a Dallas Cowboys beatwriter to cover the Cowboys. You've mentioned this to me before. That would be the second biggest hits on either website. I don't disagree with you. That's unbelievable. But you know what?

Hold on. Hold on. I think that would be the case in a lot of things. That's what I was going to say. I do. That's what I was going to say. I think it would be the case in a lot of it. Maybe not New York. Maybe not.

Oh, no. Well, New York because of the other teams, but football, there are a lot of cowboy fans in New York. Yes, I know that. There are a lot of cowboy fans in Philadelphia. Yeah, I know that. But what I'm saying is, I mean, they be literally the second tier of sports coverage in this town ahead of the caps, the Wizards, the Nationals. You're right about that. You know, and there's some cities where that would happen.

A lot of you don't understand this. Just trust us on this. The caps are rising in popularity. I mean, exponentially. Okay, we get it. This isn't an anti-caps thing. or anti-nats or wizards thing. The NFL still, in most markets, including this one, still reigns supreme.

And the cowboys in this market, Tommy is saying, and I don't disagree with him, in terms of clicks on Dan Steinberg's, you know, bog or Scott Allen's, you know, a blog, the cowboy stories would be probably number two to the Redskin stories. Yeah, I agree. Which is amazing, but I agree. You know what's interesting? Because I thought, I think about that every once in a while. So this morning when I tweeted out another tweet just about yesterday's show and if you, in case you missed yesterday's show,

I included basically a Dallas Week hashtag and a Cowboys Jaguars, Cowboys Jags recap because I know that cowboy fans are out there and everywhere. But I want to make, I just want to respond to one thing. You said it wouldn't surprise you if they're five and two. I mentioned this yesterday. This was straight from Steinberg. He tweeted this out. The Redskins do not have a team on the schedule the rest of the way with a winning record. Now, I don't really think that that's significant.

Several of the teams have 500 records. Right, like the Eagles. They have to play twice now. And Jacksonville could be healthy at the end of the year in Tennessee. Could be in a playoff mode. And Houston's really gone. They've won three in a row now to get to three and three. And all of the division games, even the giant.

games are going to be difficult games. But the five and two that you just said over the next two weeks with the Cowboys here and the Giants on the road, my first inclination, and I didn't mention this yesterday on the podcast, and we've got plenty of time over the course of the week to get to the game, I don't love the matchup for the Redskins Sunday. I don't love the matchup. I think that they are going to have a very difficult time offensively against the Cowboy defense. they have historically in recent years found it difficult to run the ball against Dallas.

So they've had the Redskins and Jay Gruden figured out a little bit on the run side. Dallas's pass rush is one of the best in the NFL right now. And the Redskins aren't protecting well, and you've got a quarterback who your coach said is sticking on guys a little bit too long to get to the next guys. Jay's going to have to come up with a really good game plan. I think to scheme up some drives, some yards, and some points.

Now, defensively, I think the Redskins have a chance to do pretty well in this game. But what the Cowboys went back to on Sunday is they went back to, for us to be good offensively, Dack Prescott has to be a part of this run game. And with him presented in the 11-on-11 run game that read-option and read-option-style football presents, they torts. Jacksonville and he threw the ball well because play action and the read option play action stuff was working and so I actually think Sunday is a difficult matchup for the Redskins I they can win the game yeah but so so my point is it wouldn't surprise me if in two weeks they're four and three okay four and three that after

seven games who wouldn't have taken that well I think I think that's that's very feasible yes yeah I mean that's fine You know, what's the Redskins survival level where everyone survives? Playoffs. Really? What if you win nine games and don't win the playoffs? No. Don't make the playoffs.

No. Really? Yes. Well, Kevin, what if you win seven games and make the playoffs? That's a good question. And I suggested this last week that it wasn't just about the playoffs. It was about having a sense that the organization, by being a playoff, team is heading in the right direction.

And I don't think... Accidental, occasional playoff appearance. That's right. Okay. Because I think seven and nine or eight and eight is a division winner, which isn't going to happen. Philadelphia is going to be better than eight and eight. I agree.

And Dallas might be better than eight, but I don't know. You know, the NFL, it's amazing. We declared Dallas dead a few weeks ago. Teams like Houston dead a few weeks ago. You know, and here they are. So I just don't see the owner going another season with this group. If it's not obvious at the end of the year that it's heading in the right direction with good coaching, with competent direction from their team president,

with really good young talent, and it's obvious. That's my feeling. I could be wrong. Okay, let's talk about the polyp rule known as Redskins Park over there. Let's say at the end of the season, that's not clear. Let's say they were 8 and 8. Or let's say they won 9 and 7, but they didn't make the playoffs. But it wasn't clear that they were progressing.

They were just standing still, you know, running and treading water. Change. Okay. How much influence, if any, do you think the new business group led by Brian Lafamina would have on owner Dan Snyder? I don't know the answer to that. I don't have. Do you think it's possible that they could go to him and say, I don't think that's why Brian was hired.

He's trying to market the team and sell tickets. Yes, but I don't think he was hired to be involved in football decisions. But they're all connected, Kevin. No, they're not. Yes, they are. You've got to be a fool not to recognize that the marketing and the product on the field are connected. Look, for them, it was never connected, as we know, because the product on the field sucked, and their marketing was always first-rate, and they continued to get people.

to spend in valuation a franchise to increase. I think Brian was brought in here to change the business culture of the Redskins from an organization that from the executives to their salespeople to their PR people were off the charts and out of place, chesty and arrogant. And I think that the league realized this is a valuable franchise and has been to the league for many, many years, and it is really eroded. It is eroded to a point where we got to get somebody that knows how to turn that around. And I've talked to Brian before, and I think Brian's a smart guy. I don't know if they'll last, like you've said. I mean, usually the really sharp guys don't last too long, except for Eric Schaefer forever. Eric's been a good cap guy.

Not super good, but good. But I think Brian was brought in here to say, to be the guy that says, hey, we're not going to stick our chest out and make you feel like it's a privilege to be in our park on Sunday, or it's a privilege to have the opportunity to root for the team. We're going to be nice to media people, every media person now, because we need to sell tickets. I think that's what Brian was brought into just. I agree with you.

And by the way, also with corporate sponsors, Tommy, where there was a ton of arrogance over the years. At the end of the year, I think it's perfectly feasible that that group led by Lafamina could report to the order and say, hey, we've gone as far as we can with what we've done. But what you've got on the field, we can't sell. You've got to do something else. Boy, that sounds like you've got to make a change. Boy, that sounds like you've got to make a big splash off season higher. I mean, that's what that sounds like, which is the old way of doing business. I think, look, here's the bottom line.

There has never, in recent memory, been what I would call like a high IQ approach to the football operation. We haven't had that in Ashburn in years. But here's the other thing, Tommy. Think about this too, because we've talked about this in the past. Who's going to come here? Jake Gruden came here because there were ties between Bruce and the Grudens. Yes. There's relationships there, the whole Tampa thing.

But if you blow it up, which I'm suggesting will happen if they don't make the playoffs and it's not obvious that this thing is heading in the right direction, who in recent memory has, you know, fought to work here? I'm talking about quality people, first-rate football people. Look, we don't know. We didn't even hear. We didn't even hear Brian Lafamina until the Redskins hire them. So I'm sure there's people on the football side of business that will trust in him.

That see a chance to run the Washington Redskins. There's always going to be a talented person who thinks that they can be the one to get it right. Let's not forget that in 2008 they had to settle for Jim's, Zorn because the organization was in turmoil. At the end of 2013, Tommy, I don't think people when Shanahan walked out of here, I don't think people were clamoring, quality people clamoring for this job. Remember, there were a lot of big name candidates that year, and the Redskins had Gruden. Maybe that's who they wanted. Perhaps that's who they wanted. I don't think he was the top choice necessarily that year, but that's who they had to sell.

for. I don't know what, you know, it's a lot of speculation now with a guy like Lafamina in the organization if they could go out and hire, you know, quality people to run the football operation. But right now what you have is you do have a better roster than you've had in a few years. You're in first place at three and two. I know it doesn't feel like it because of the up and down nature of the first five games of the season. Two embarrassing, if not humiliating, losses. in the five games. It's not like they went to New Orleans and lost 38, 35 in overtime, or that they, in their home opener, had a packed house and lost on an Andrew Luck, you know, miracle Hail Mary play at the end of the game. They got bum rushed and embarrassed,

humiliated by both of those teams. So you do wonder about that stuff, but, you know, they're going to go ahead and play these final 11 games anyway. There's time to turn the narrative. know that, but you've declared that this is judgment year. It is for me as a fan. Okay. For Bruce Allen. Well, then if it's judge... And for the people that made the decision about the quarterback, it is. If it's judgment year... It's a rather important decision. Then everything

is on the table. I think everything's on the table. Do you disagree? I don't think Bruce Allen's going anywhere. Okay. Other than that, everything's on the table. All right. Let me tell you about Ferrisch-Crysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. Tommy, guess who I had a long conversation with yesterday? Oh, Ralph Perkins.

Really? We talk all the time. Ralph's such a good guy. His son Kyle's a great guy and they're huge DC sports fans. And Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax is a wonderful dealership. It really is. If you go out there, their salespeople are great, their service team is first rate. And Ralph runs that place every single day. He never gets a day off.

Kevin, give him a day off here and there. Kevin Farish is great too. It's really one of the great dealerships in town. If you are in the market for a Chrysler, a Dodge, or a Jeep, or a Subaru, please go to Farish Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. Right now, they've got plenty of inventory on their lot. Great deals right now. Any Jeep, a Jeep Grand Cherokee right now, you're going to save big.

They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. You can ask Ralph Perkins when you get there and ask for him when you get there. He'll put you in touch with the best salesperson. Tell him I sent you. You can also find out everything you need to know about Farish, live inventory, live pricing at ferrishcars.com. All right. I want to talk to you about something briefly.

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this. Well, I guess we have no choice since it's your show. No, it's your show too on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is my favorite thing. I've told you this. I don't know if I've said this yet on the podcast, But my favorite thing so far about doing this podcast is reuniting with you two days a week. It is.

It's my favorite thing about it. It's a lot of fun. But you're the journalist of the two. I am not a journalist. I'm not a reporter. As you know, because you've done both, there is a significant difference between reporter and radio or podcast talk show host. But, you know, we're all lumped into this media category.

Okay. Well, your type. You like to thumb your nose and look down on the sports radio podcaster types. And you have forever. That's fine. I mean, I know I've been able to hang out a lot with you over the years and Tony over the years and Mike Wilbon a little bit here and there. I know what most of you newspaper people think of the whole genre of sports talk radio.

I have a much different opinion. It's not what I'm going to get into right now. You know that on Friday, I was the outlet for the Josh Norman halftime benching story. I know that because everybody was talking about it all weekend, including national networks and like the NFL network and Fox. Right. So I just want to ask your opinion on attribution. When is it okay after a story breaks on Friday? and you know by the way, and you're smiling at me, but you know that honestly, I don't really care that much about this stuff.

I don't. I don't get worked up about this stuff. It's just ironic and perhaps hypocritical, because many people in your line of work get really upset when they're not credited for some story. So I would ask you, is it okay for the post in Monday's paper to write about Josh Norman that a report surfaced last week

about why he was benched. Is it okay just to refer to it as a report? At that point, when is it no longer important to actually attribute the story to the person that broke it? Okay, who wrote the story? Karim Copeland. Okay, I'm going to take a guess here

that this was a decision done by an editor in the building. And it was not done by the reporter. Okay. Okay. Because editors, you know, I have to say that they're the lowest form on the food chain in the journalism food chain. They are the ones that, you know, that probably never, most of them never covered a beat. But they sit there in their office and the keep from going crazy. They make these arbitrary decisions on things.

And I'm sure an editor was sitting in an office and saying, Kevin Sheehan podcast, what is that? We'll just change it to reports. That's what I'm guessing to happen. Okay, that's fine. Because, I mean, because, Do you know how many times I've been lectured by your types over the years? Over the years, I have been lectured no less than a half dozen times

about things that I talked about on radio without crediting the proper source. And almost every single time it happened, it was a journalist in quotations, a newspaper person. And by the way, it was never intentional because I always credited when I knew I should credit. Usually it was, I

heard it somewhere or read it on ESPN.com and they didn't credit it. So that's where I got the information to begin with. So it was never intentional, but I just, I always find it interesting that it was, I got lectured over the years for not

when I didn't do it, and yet they do it all the time. And I've got other examples I could cite, which I don't, again, it's not that big of a deal. I just wanted to find out from you, when is it that you don't have to? Like, you know, Fox, Pam Oliver, and I love Pam Oliver. I think she does a great job.

She didn't credit me during the game. That's okay. It's Fox television. And you can refer to reports, I guess, at that point. Ian Rappaport did a thing. Now, he did credit me in his tweet, but then he did the stand-up, the video piece and just talked about, you know, DC reports.

Well, the video thing is different. You've been in TV, you know that. Yeah, I don't, I don't care. I care more about the newspaper thing. Okay, well, I know that. Because it's hypocritical to me. And it is. Here's the thing.

I think some people in a newspaper business overestimate what people will think if you credit somebody else in your story with a report. Like it's some kind of admission of failure. Most people, when they're reading these stories, don't particularly care that you'll say... I agree with that. I completely agree with that.

So I have no problem crediting the Washington Post reported this or something like that. Tommy, and now here's the thing. We would credit the other radio station who was a direct competitor. That's a little bit. I wouldn't go down. I did when it came to the Kirk Cousins interview. I worked at 980 for a long time.

And to be honest with you, neither station ever did that. either stage. I did it. Well, most of the time I ever heard. And I wasn't reprimanded for it. Well, most... The Kirk Cousins interview, which was well done by Grant and Danny. Right. Right. Grant and Danny did it. Um, I, I attributed everything about the conversation about that interview to the interview done on JFK. And I can think of a dozen times where as a station, uh, 980 just chose to not even acknowledge that a report came from 106. And vice versa. I mean,

I've seen it happen both ways. You know, so I think, I think, I think, by the way, again, I want to emphasize this, I really don't.

Oh, I think you do. No, I really don't. I know because I know you think I do, and I know because I brought it up, people will think I do. But I swear to God,

like over the weekend, I'll tell you what, again, the only thing was reading the post yesterday and seeing that and thinking, these are the people multiple times over 10 years, 10 years plus. Did you credit us for the discussion you had? And I would say if I didn't, I didn't know it actually came from you.

I got it from this story and look, they didn't credit you. So that's why I didn't know it was you. So I'm just saying that's the only thing that bothers me, is that there is some hypocrisy there. Now there's levels of credit. this last thing I'm going to say on it. Good. In other words, like, I can understand why somebody wouldn't credit a specific show.

In other words, like, I mean, but there is no station for you. Exactly. You're the Kevin Sheehan show. Right. But like if we were on 980 and they just credited a report on ESPN 980 as opposed to a report on the sports thing. Understood. See, I have no problem with that. Well, you and I had a bunch of stories that we had that were on ESPN crawls with interviews that we did.

and it was always credited almost always by the Post usually to ESPN 980, not the sports fix. Kevin She and Tom Laverro. Right. Yeah. Okay. But there is no station. There's the Kevin Sheehan show. And you're at war with the Washington Post, baby.

I love that. No, you know what's so funny because you know this. I have been a devout reader of the Washington Post for years. and the sports section. And they've had great columnists, and I love Barry. I think Jerry does a very good job. I think he's fearless. I think you're the most fearless columnist in this town by far.

But I love Barry. I love Jerry. I loved Mike when he was covering the team. Just like the Mousketeers. Well, I do. I do. But I have been not the three people that I just mentioned, but others I've been lectured by.

Go ahead. Say it. I'm not going to say it. Say it. No, because it'll just start another thing. Say it. Say it. I'm going to say it.

Well, Junior. If you don't say it. Okay. Junior has, John has lectured me via email so many times over the years. And nothing he's ever lectured me about is based on real fact. That's the problem is because usually it was like the last one, Tommy, he sent me this long email about it started with. So the day that. Oh, God, why did you draw me into this?

I can't wait till Thursday show now. I want to get to coaching blunders. No, the last, and by the way, it's not just him. There have been others from that paper. But he's the one you can definitely remember. Well, yeah, because it's happened a few times where, you know, when Lefty was announced that he was going into the Hall of Fame last spring, whenever it was, early summer, I did a whole thing on it on the show.

And he emailed me and he said, I didn't get a chance to listen to the show today. Did you talk about Lefty? And I said, yes. Right now, I don't have the emails in front of me. So please, this is total based on memory paraphrasing. I said, yes. And he said, did you credit me?

And I said, credit you for what? For breaking the Lefty story. And I said, well, I didn't know you broke the Lefty story. I read it this morning on ESPN.com or saw it last night on Scott SportsCenter, and they didn't credit you. which, by the way, is often the way you get news. You don't know the source. And to your point, I think you're making this point,

I don't think the listener or the reader ever gives two shits about that. They don't care. They don't care where it comes from. And it's never been, Tommy, part of what we've done on radio or now on podcasts. It's not important for us to do it. It's more important for reporters who cover the team to get it. And let's also be honest. In this town, Redskins News is never broken.

by anybody locally. It's almost always a national reporter that Bruce usually has a relationship with it. Let's hear how bad Feinstein ripped you. I mean, it... For not giving him credit. It just... What did he say? It was apparently

really difficult for him to understand how I didn't read the story in the post before I went on the air that morning and credit him. And I immediately got back to him after he reminded me. me and I read the story and I immediately told the update anchors, hey, when you are doing this Lefty story, attribute it to Feinstein breaking the story in the post. You can see it's right here.

He broke the story. But I didn't know it when I was on the air. You know why? Because I actually that morning didn't read the post or didn't read those stories online about Lefty. I had already seen this story on Lefty. Of course, you know, he found it, you know, incredible to believe. But whatever. I actually miss the days when John would just call in occasionally under the radio show. I don't, I like him. Well, of course, look, John's been very good to me. He and others, he's not the only one. You know, there have been television stations in town that have said,

why didn't you guys credit us for that? Didn't know that you broke the story. You know, in this day and age, Tommy, where stories break everywhere, and you have so many ways in which you're consuming information, you it's not ridiculous to think that you missed on who broke the story. Aaron, you better extend Thursday show because I got a feeling we're going to be talking about this again. We're not going to be talking about this again.

I don't think so. I don't care. I don't care. You forced me into that conversation. That was a podcast blunder. It's not a podcast. I brought it up. I brought it up.

You just took the turn there late. No, what I want to say, though, is you're always my go-to for this. You and Tony are my go-to for these things. I just found it interesting that, you know, the Post didn't give me any credit for it. Well, they should have. Yeah. They should have. Because occasionally I've heard from people at the Post that were upset that I didn't give them credit for things.

But then again, this stupid podcast, who's paying attention to it? I don't know if the Times gave. Only tens and tens of thousands of people so far. know if my paper gave you credit for it either. They probably didn't. I don't even know. But I wouldn't know because I didn't read your paper. I read your columns because you send them to me and I just wish you would send them to

me without the link to the Times website so I could consume them easy rather than having to fight with getting kicked out of the website every three seconds. We made some changes to the website apparently. Okay. I was on there this morning and there was a way you could just, you know, highlight and copy the text from your column and just send me the text. without all the other advertising on it? No.

Okay. I didn't think you could. All right, let's get to coaching blunders. Bad play calls. Clock management gas. Missed opportunities. It's Coach Ian's Blunders of the week. Do we have a nickname for?

Well, you know, a lot of people offered suggestions, but one listener in particular, a 980 nerd, had three of them in a row, and any of them are winners. one is blunderboys the other is Gaff Squad and I like the third Coach Patrol I like that one too

Yeah We'll go with Coach Patrol Okay Although gag What was it Gaff Squad? Gaff Squad Gaff Squad Yeah

And Blunder Boyce Blunder Boys. Blunder Boyce sounds like a movie I was going to say that That's what's the boys Yeah The Joy Boys Not the Joy Boys

The um Bowery boys Well, there's the junction. Yeah. The junction boys. Yeah. Coach Patrol. We'll go with Coach Patrol.

Okay. All right. So just hashtag if you've got coaching blunders that you want me to consider, just hashtag coach patrol and tweet them to me at Kevin Sheen, D.C. That would be the easiest way. I guess you can send them to me. We're on Facebook. We've got a show Facebook page. We have a show Instagram page.

We have a show Twitter page, and you can also follow me on Twitter to get everything about the show. And you can follow Tommy on Twitter at Tom Leverro and then me at Kevin Sheehan, D.C. We've asked all of you who have not rated the show on iTunes to do so. That really helps. Rating it on any download platform you have helps. Writing a review helps. And tell all those people that haven't listened to the show that want to listen to the show. If they don't know how to do a podcast that subscribing doesn't.

mean paying. It's free and that they can just go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com because it's played there and we're getting a lot of the people to listen that way. And remember the beauty of the podcast is you decide when you listen. Right. Not somebody else. That's what makes it so attractive. All right. I've got a couple of things that are blunders and then I've got a couple of things that I thought were odd and bothered me a little bit. I'm going to start with that. In the Michigan game against Wisconsin on Saturday night. A huge game. In Michigan, just so you know, is not out of the picture, playoff picture with the one loss to Notre Dame.

They're going to have a chance to beat Ohio State at the end of the year and then win the Big Ten title game. And I would guess right now that a one-loss Michigan team that beats Ohio State and wins the Big Ten title will be very much in that final discussion about whether or not they're a playoff team or not. Their defense is really, really good. but they did something that bothers the hell out of me as a fan of the teams that I'm rooting for

or a fan of the teams that I bet on, which was the case with Michigan. They're driving the ball down the field, Tommy, with their quarterback, Shea Patterson, the transfer from Ole Miss. He's playing great. He's throwing the ball well. They're moving the ball. They're in rhythm.

And then they put the other guy in. These freshman quarterback, you know, sensations that the coaches feel pressured to get into the game. Yes. You know, so that recruiting doesn't get, oh, look, they recruited him. They didn't even play him in his freshman year, and they told him they would play him. You can't put that guy into the game for some little package in a zero-zero-zero game when your quarterback, your starter is moving the team, you're in rhythm, and it looks like

you're about to march right into the end zone. I can't stand when coaches do that. You know, Harbaugh and company in Baltimore will throw Lamar Jackson in there. By the way, the only thing I think he's done is run the ball. He hasn't thrown it yet. I could be wrong about that. Aaron, will you look it up to see if Lamar Jackson's thrown a pass? How many passes that RG3 had this year in Baltimore?

He hasn't been active yet in a game. So they haven't given him a uniform either. They haven't. But I just, the guy comes in, he gets stopped for like a three-yard loss, and they end up, you know, getting backed up on something else, and they end up punting. It's like, come on, you're in rhythm, your offense is moving. It's a nothing, nothing game.

Let's go score. Lamar Jackson threw four passes in that first game when he came in for the full quarter. Oh, against Buffalo. And one pass other than that. Okay. You see, that's a podcast blunder there. You got that wrong. That's a podcast blunderer.

I think Atlanta blundered on Sunday. This also is slightly, skewed because I had bet the Buccaneers plus three. They were down too late. Tampa was out of timeouts and there was a minute left in the game and it was fourth and two at the Tampa 39 yard line. And Quinn put Bryant into the game to kick a 57 yard field goal. I couldn't believe it when they got, when you're in that situation and you've got the underdog plus three and the underdog. dog is covering. They're down two and they've got no timeouts left. And it's third and two. You want the offensive team to get the first down. Yes. And then take three knees and run the clock out,

31-29 final. In this particular situation, they got stopped on third down, but it was going to be a 57-yard field goal. Now, I know Matt Bryant is great, and it's indoors. And I'm sure the confidence level in him right now is off the charts, although do you know he got hurt on that field goal attempt. He may be out this coming week. But when they trotted that field goal team out there for a 57-yarder, I'm like, what are you doing? punt the ball. Now, I think he thought they couldn't stop Tampa and James Winston had a hell of a game. And they were not stopping Tampa. So he probably thought, if we punt it and pin them inside the 15-yard line, even though they don't have timeouts, they'll get in field goal range and beat us. So I guess it was in his mind's eye, the

right play given the context of the game. But more times than not, you know, a 57-yard field goal, I got to think is still, even indoors with Matt Bryant, is still 50-50? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe with Bryant indoors, it's better than 50-50. But this sounds more like a betting blunder than a coaching line. It may be.

I guess the other one is it, why didn't he go for it there? If he's afraid of the, if he's afraid of the Tampa offense, why not go for it and try to end the game? Well, yeah, because Tampa has still got. the ball down the field and had a chance to score in that crazy last play, a touchdown to win it. And by the way, that probably justifies the decision to kick the field goal because they would have gotten in field goal range had they punted it. I just couldn't believe he did that because a missed field goal there is basically a loss, or it's certainly going to end up in Tampa having a walk-off field goal attempt to win the

game. All right, those weren't coaching blunders necessarily. Here were the coaching blunders. Temple's playing Navy on Saturday. And Temple's up 2417 late in the game, driving deep into Navy territory. This is a tough year so far for Navy. Yes, it is. You know, they're two and four now.

We haven't seen that from Coach Ken's team in a while. Navy is driving the ball down Navy's throat with a 2417 lead. About the three and a half, four minute mark. Second goal at the Navy nine. They haven't thrown the ball and really they've run it right down the field, basically on Navy. So what do you want? You want to keep running the football,

make Navy use some timeouts, run the clock, and inexplicably, Temple decides they're going to throw the football on second and goal from the 9, up 7 in this football game, and they threw an interception into the end zone. That's terrible game management in that spot by Temple.

You are running it down their throat. You already have a 7-point lead. You're going to win the game if you keep handing the ball off and you get stopped because you'll get a short field goal to make the lead a 10-point lead. And on that drive, the four or five plays leading up to that were runs.

You know, a five-yard run, a four-yard run, a 12-yard run, and then on first and goal at the Navy 10, a two-yard run. So there they are, you know, running it right down their throat, and the guy throws a pass and it gets picked off, which gave Navy a chance to go down and tie the game. They didn't do it, and Temple still won the game. But that's a game management blunder on the coaching staff's part. Here's another one.

So, Oregon, if you remember, Aaron, you'll remember this when they played Stanford, and they had a chance basically not to run the clock completely out, but they had a chance to run it down to like 10 seconds. And Mario Cristobal was still running the run. running back instead of maybe taking three knees and punting it with eight seconds left in the lead against Stanford at the end of regulation, and the running back fumbled it, and Stanford forced overtime, and then they lost in overtime, and that's the only loss for Oregon so far, because they beat Washington on Saturday, but they're lucky they beat Washington on Saturday, because Christobal made

a massive error at the end of regulation. And the error was this. He, He had two timeouts as Washington got into field goal range in a tie game at 24-24. It's 24-24. Washington's in field goal range late in the game, under a minute to go, and clearly setting up for the field goal. Washington's setting up for the field goal at the Oregon 21-yard line about 45 seconds left. And Christopal, the coach, just lets the clock run. You have got to call your timeouts there. you have a chance. It was a second down play with 40 seconds to go.

You have a chance to force the field goal with about 30 seconds to go, giving you a chance to get the ball back down three. But he let the clock roll down to three seconds so that Washington could walk off and kick a game-winning walk-off field goal. He used his timeouts, though, to ice the kicker. Oh, my God. And it worked. But that's not the right strategy.

The kicker missed the 35-yard field goal. The game went to overtime, and Oregon won the game in overtime, but that does not take the head coach off the hook for watching the clock go from 40 seconds down to 3 seconds with two timeouts in his pocket. You have to use those timeouts to ensure that when the field goal is kicked, hopefully with 35, 33 seconds left, that you have a chance to come down and tie the game

by getting into field goal range as well. Absolutely. And then I also mentioned yesterday. Jay Gruden should have taken a timeout on defense at the end of the game against Carolina, simply because you have to understand at the end of that game with Carolina holding three timeouts and they're in the Redskins Red Zone at that point with a minute 15, minute 16 left in the game. You have to understand that if your strategy is hoping that the clock will run out on Carolina,

it won't. It's not going to in that situation. So you've got to use a time out on defense to give you to preserve time in the event that they do score a touchdown. Well, fortunately for him, Norv Turner was calling the place for Carolina. They could have run the ball. They could have run the ball there. He didn't have to worry. You're right about that.

NBA starts tonight. Did you know that? Yes, I did. You did know that? Yeah. And the Wizards open to when? Thursday night. Thursday against Miami.

Their opener is Thursday night against Miami. Tonight you get the warrior. in the Thunder. I don't know what Westbrook's status is. I don't know if he's going to play tonight. He's been hurt. And then tomorrow night you get LeBron's debut for, oh, actually, LeBron's debut with the Lakers is Thursday night also.

That's the TNT game at Portland. Speaking of Portland, you saw that Paul Allen passed away. Very young age. 65 is too young. It shows you that money can't buy everything. Yeah, I guess. By the way, what? I might want to point out that I was right about Russell Westbrook,

doesn't I? You know what? I'm going to give you two little things here. You were right about Des Bryant. You told me you'd never have Des Bryant on your team, and I said, he's so good I would take him on my team if I had that kind of team that could handle him. You're right about him.

Are you right about Westbrook? I mean, the results are that you're right about Westbrook because he hasn't been able to win a title, but the closest he got was on a team where you had two of the best five players in the game, which right now you pretty much have to have at least one of the top five players to win a title. And you really have to have a second player that's in the top 10 to win a title. As great as he is, he helped sabotage those teams too. Well, that's not the way I remembered.

If you go back and you watch the finals against when you watch the Miami, Oklahoma City Finals series, It was Westbrook who carried that team. Durant wilted in those finals. It was Westbrook who gave them a chance. You'll come around. In a series that they weren't close. It might take it's 12th year, 13th year, but you'll realize it. You'll never win with Russell Westbrook.

NBA starts tonight, and I'm going to watch some of it tonight. 76 year Celtics and then Thunder Warriors. And now that I don't have to get up at 4.45, 5 a.m. every morning, I can stay up and watch those late-night NBA games that I used to watch. I'm excited about that. Thanks to Aaron. Listen. Thanks to all of you.

Yes, I'm listening. I just want to remind everybody that you can hear me on 106-7 to fans. Saturdays with Andy and Wednesdays with Chad. With Andy, four to six Wednesdays with Chad Dukes. And you could read my column in the Washington Times, Washington Times. Washington Times.com. Yes, you can. Washington Times.

It's an easy read. Don't believe this guy. He's not a journalist. What's he no? Exactly. I'm not a journalist. It's not only, well, the easy read comes. is about the content.

It's getting to that content that I wish we're... It's worth getting to. Easier, but it is worth getting to because you are and have been, for me, my favorite columnist and the only columnist in this town that is a flamethrower. What did Steinberg call you? Bomb thrower.

Bomb thrower. Same thing. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to you guys. Back tomorrow. Trying to get a couple of Wizards guests for the show tomorrow. I'm hopeful of that as we preview a little bit more tomorrow the NBA season, but we'll have a lot on Redskins Cowboys as well.