The Kevin Sheehan Show - Are The Redskins A Playoff Team?

Episode Date: October 23, 2018

It's a Sports Fix Tuesday and Thom Loverro is in. Kevin and Thom ask a simple question following the win on Sunday: Are the Redskins a playoff team? They also talk about the Giants loss on Monday Night Football and the Wizards win on the West Coast. Amari Cooper was traded to the Cowboys, Patrick Peterson is available, and World Series talk. Plus, Coaching Blunders. <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's 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. The Caps won last night. The Wizards won last night. More on that shortly. The Cowboys made a big trade. Giants lost to the Falcons. There were some interesting. strategy decisions in that game last night, and I will get to many of them in the coaching blunders for the week. And yes, in the B block of this show, and most shows, the World Series starts tonight at Fenway Park. Good morning to you, Tommy. It's so good to see you. You really look like you're in a good mood. You need to stop it. You need to stop it right now because I'm in no mood to play. Tell me what's wrong? You had a rather lengthy commute this morning, I hear. Almost three hours. That can't be possible.

I'm serious. What happened? Was there an accident? No. There was no accident that I know of. Believe me, I monitor everything. Frederick to Bethesda, three hours. Almost three hours.

I mean, you could have gone to New York in three hours. Yes, I know that. And next time I will. Because it took me more than an hour to get from Rockville to here. More than an hour. I don't understand three hours. Seriously, did you take a wrong turn? Did you get lost?

No. Did you stop for breakfast? This is not, I'm not playing. Did you stop for breakfast? I'm not playing, Kevin. I can't, I can't do that. I can't do that anymore. I wouldn't want to do it either.

I'm just wondering how that could have possibly happened. When's the last time you drove from Frederick down here starting, let's say, in prime rush hours, seven o'clock? Actually, I don't know that I ever have. Okay. Well, you know what? I should, you know what? I've gone the other direction.

Either you should send a car for me or you should drive. up some time and just ride down with me. Look, I know that the traffic around here in this market, it's terrible. It's terrible traffic. And Kevin, I've been in this business in Washington, specifically for 26 years, and I never had to deal with any of this traffic. I had jobs and work where I never had to deal with this traffic, and I'm not starting now. Do you want to know how long it took me to get to work this morning? What, 12 minutes? No, not even. Not even. I'm glad it's convenient for you since it's your podcast. Well, three hours, though, that's an exaggeration.

No, it's not. I said almost three hours. So what was it? When you say almost, was it an hour and 45 minutes? Was that the almost? Was it really close to three hours? Come on. Two hours and 25 minutes.

Okay, well, then let's get the three hour part out of the conversation. Why? It makes it my point. Two hours and 25 minutes is not nearly three hours. It was just, oh, over two hours more than it was nearly three hours. But that doesn't make my point. And I need to make my point.

And you need to hear my point. You know I always listen to you when you're angry. And you've been angry at me many, many times over the years, many times over the years. And we always seem to work it out. You know, I don't know how people do it. How do people live this way? How do people? I mean, I'm looking around at these people when I'm driving like, you know, two miles an hour.

And I'm thinking, how do you do this? So what do you make? $200,000? Is it really worth it? You know what? Seriously, it's, I am with you on this. And we're going to, let me just put this to bed for a moment for the show. Anyway, we can talk about it a lot more after the show. We're going to figure out a solution here.

Because two hours and 25 minutes, which I would say is the aberration, not the norm. I can't imagine that on most mornings. The norm is two hours. Come on. Frederick to Bethesda shouldn't be two hours. It shouldn't be two hours. in rush hours. So you're doing something wrong and we're going to

figure that out. You are, you're not talking to your wife. We're going to figure that out. You're talking to me. I know how to drive. I know how to get around. I think you stopped. I think you stopped for breakfast or you got lost on the way. I wasn't even looking at porn while I was driving. Which is really odd for you. You know what though? I know so many of you. So many of you have these long

commutes and they are necessary commutes because perhaps income means that you have to live in a certain area that's a long way from where you work. I, and I, so let's, I'm, I'm certainly sympathetic to those that can't work where they live. But by the way, that's not the only reason for it. You're sympathetic. You're not empathetic. That's true because I've never, I'm going to, I'm going to tell you right now, I will, I'll admit this.

I've never had a commute to work longer than 20 minutes. Never, not once. Now, there was a time over about a three-year period, two-and-a-half-year period, where three days a week I had an hour and a half commute because I had to go up to Owings Mills three days a week. And I hated that. And part of the reason it was only three days a week is I said, I need an office in Bethesda for the other two days.

a week. So it's not five days a week in an hour and a half. And that's going to Owings Mills, which on some days, to your point, bad traffic. It could be longer than an hour and a half. In some days it was only 40 minutes depending on traffic. But there are a lot, you know, there's so many reasons why people end up with these super long commutes. And, you know, everybody's situation is different. And some people don't want to work anywhere, or don't want to live anywhere near where they work. And it's worth it to live and commute an hour and half. We have people time you to jump on the train in West Virginia. Oh, I know.

There are people who live in Charlestown. Right. West Virginia and work in D.C. We have a lot of listeners. You and I have a lot of listeners up in Shepherds town. Absolutely. We hear from them all the time. And you know what?

I'm guessing that some of them may be listening to this podcast right now and thinking, you know, I don't need you guys to tell me how miserable my life is while I'm listening to this podcast. I will say this. Your commute was disastrous. The commute that I've never really understood. And I still don't even understand the mechanics of it, the logistics of it, really, is why the Virginia commutes, sometimes from way out on 66, into town and then back are so long.

Those have to be, that's got to be the biggest bottleneck area in town, in the DMV. I would agree. But 270s, no picnic either. No, it's not. It isn't. And again, you know, I got TOP on the radio. I got ways on my phone. You know, I know all the back roads.

Eating your ham and cheese sandwich or your peanut butter sandwich on the way in? Yeah, you got the whole thing. All right. We're going to figure that out, I promise. Whenever we've had these situations in the past, we always end up figuring them out, don't we? No, we don't.

More times than not, don't we more times than not? There have been a couple where we've really had some battles and we've ended up sort of just budging barely towards a solution. But more times than not we end up with a solution. And I'm very optimistic that we're going to end up with a solution to this one. You're too giddy about this. Way too giddy. Okay.

We got a lot to get to. And I told everybody yesterday that we are going to take calls today, and we're not going to take calls today. Because we have too much to do in too little time. We are going to get to calls. Everybody loved the calls that we started to take last week. And we are set up to take calls, although we still have not figured out the beeping thing on call waiting.

We're going to get that figured out. Well, we'll take calls if there's a car service that wants to call that wants to pick me up every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Tweet Tommy at Tom Leverro. Yes. Just for added a goodness of your heart and we'll mention you on the radio. No doubt. Go ahead.

It's not the radio anymore. It's a podcast. Whatever it is. But it's feeling like the radio more days than that. I'll speak your name into this microphone. All right. Are you in? the Redskins belief camp or need to see a lot more camp at this point?

You know, I got to say I'm leaning in the belief camp. I really am because they, you know, I mean, for two weeks now, they've come up with this formula for winning, and I'm looking at the roadmap ahead of them to continue doing that. And I don't see anybody in their path that's going to stop them. The only thing that might stop them are themselves. In other words Well, that's happened before.

No, it has happened before. They stop winning the turnover battle. They're the ones that start getting the stupid penalties again. Like for two weeks, it's been their opposition that has played undisciplined. And the Redskins, to Jay Gruden's credit, because when we, sometimes when we judge coaching, some of the things we judge coaching on are how much a team gets penalized, which is a sign of discipline, and how much they turn a ball over, whether fair or not, we tend to judge coaches in those ways.

And they've been very good at both of those things for the last two weeks against good opponents. They have. They have on Friday. That was, you know, to me, that is the formula right now for them. You know, every team's different. Every year's different. For them, the formula to win or to have a chance to win the games is to do what you

just described, which I described on Friday, which is to play a clean game. Win the turnover battle, run the ball, stop the run, play good special teams, win the field position battle, which really all of those things over the last three years, they didn't do any of them. No. They didn't win the turnover battle. They didn't win the field position battle. In fact, I think it was 2016 or 15. I think it was one of the worst field position starting field position numbers in the league. They couldn't run it. They couldn't stop the run. They had bad defense overall. And, you know, they were an eight and eight kind of a team for one reason. And that is they could actually throw the football. The quarterback.

Yeah, most people don't want to say that, but that's exactly what the reason was. He was everything. Win or lose, the quarterback was everything on this team. Now you have this bizarre situation in a quarterback league, in a pinball offense league, you got the 1972 Billy Kilmer offense. Yeah, and the question is, is whether or not in this day and age in the end, NFL, you can advance deep into January doing these things. I believe that you can, but you can't you can do it, but you have to have the ability at some point along the way to throw the football

to a certain extent. You can't be an F in the past game, and the truth is they haven't been an F. They've been a C-minus the last two weeks, and I don't know if that's good enough either, but I do think you can win this way. There are certain teams where you're going to have to keep pace. And when you get to January in this particular NFC this year against teams like the Rams and potentially the Vikings, and even an Aaron Rogers led team, you are going to have to keep pace eventually. You just name the three. Yeah, well, they've already beaten Rogers. Remember that. I know. A one-legged Rogers. And who knows what condition he'll be in in January. He'll probably be banged up in January. But basically, you just laid out.

the three teams that they have no prayer competing with. Other than that, I mean, I think they can do this, but it's so bizarre. It's so strange. Well, do what? Because the goal eventually is to get to the Super Bowl and win it for most franchise. You keep talking about that. Winning a playoff game, I think, would be the goal for this team moving forward. Getting to the playoffs.

Yeah, getting to the playoffs and winning a playoff game. But, I mean, I don't know any successful team in the league where the quarterback is so irrelevant to the success. Oh, yeah. Blake Bordels was irrelevant to Jacksonville's success last year. You know what? Not this year. Tennessee, you know, to a certain extent at times was, you know, not really dependent on Marcus Marriota to a certain degree. They played good defense last year. They had Derek Henry. Well, they won a playoff game. They got to the playoffs and beat Alex Smith and in the Chiefs at Arrowhead. You've had teams like that recently that have advanced to the playoffs and in certain divisions can get to nine and seven and win.

division. I put a poll up early this morning. I know you saw it at Kevin Shee in D.C. At four and two through seven NFL weeks, the Redskins are what? And I gave four choices. An NFC championship contender, an NFC East winner, an NFC wildcard team, or an eight and eight non-playoff type of team. Right now, as we're approaching a thousand votes, 39% of you, and that's the majority at this point, say an NFC East winner. Twenty-seven percent say a wildcard team, 27% say an 8 and 8 non-playoff team, and only 7% say an NFC championship contender. I'll say this, okay? First of all, I'm going to say something that's going to make everybody pull their hair out.

If Kirk Cousins were the quarterback here, they'd be an 11 or 12 win team right now, to me. They would. By the way, that would also include having Kendall Fuller and whatever a hopeful third-round pick could have provided. Maybe that third-round pick would have produced nothing for them this year. But with the improvement on defense and with Adrian Peterson providing a legitimate running game opportunity, with Kirk Cousins, they'd be in position to win 11 or 12 games this year for the first time since 1991. The first time that they've ever been in position to win more than 10. And by the way, that would include being in competition for a first round NFC buy.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I think that they are an NFC East Division contender. I'm not, my level of confidence, Tommy, is medium level. And I say that because I think they can win nine and win the division with nine or ten. But what makes me hesitate is the coach and the quarterback. Now, neither of them is totally incapable of producing more and producing something that leads to a division title this year. Jay's already won a division title. But I'm just not super confident yet that that's going to happen. So I'm in this camp of, yeah, they are a division contender.

They're an NFC East division contender. Being a contender in getting it done are two different things. And what makes me hesitate saying, yeah, I feel really good that they're going to win the NFC East is the coach and the quarterback. You know, they've got that look of what we just described, a Tennessee Titans type of team from last year. They can get to the playoffs. They might be able to win a game. And you look at their schedule, and you know me with the schedule. It's never, I understand that it's never, it's never what you think it's going to be. Right. It's never typically what you think it's going to be. But the teams that they're going to have issues with are the teams that they

can't keep up with. Atlanta is on the schedule. Tampa Bay can really move the football and throw the football. The Eagles maybe for the two games in December could round back into form. It would have been better had they gotten a chance at the Eagles now or a few weeks ago. But other than that, this style, this formula that they've played the last two weeks is going to give them a chance to win games. That's what I said. I don't really see that many teams that would get in the way of that formula. And look, I think they can win in spite of the quarterback, which they have pretty much. And in spite of the coach, as long as Adrian Peterson is healthy. It's obvious. I said this three weeks ago. You did. You were on this. It's obvious to everybody that there's no

plan B if Adrian Peterson can't run the ball. The offense, no matter how good the defense is, no matter how opportunistic it is, they have nothing on offense if Adrian Peterson can't run. He at least presents a threat to the defense, even when he's not running the ball. so that they can operate. So it really rests on Adrian Peterson, and right now he seems to be able to handle it. It's hard to believe that at the age 33, taking, you know, carrying the ball maybe 20 times a game

in December he's going to hold up. But he's a different kind of guy. He's a freak. He really is. So maybe he's that kind of guy that in December can still carry the ball 20 times a game. And that may have it. but, you know, I wrote about this in tomorrow's Washington Times.

And this has got to be the bizarre part of this for Jay Gruden. Jay Gruden's team is four and two in a year where his job is on the line. And you would think he's probably really happy about that. But in a way, I think it's got to be the most frustrating four and two in Jay Gruden's life because the one toy that he loves the most is the quarterback. Is this your column for tomorrow? Yes. And the quarterback means nothing pretty much.

I'm making a point, so I'm exaggerating, means nothing to their success at this point. So the one thing that Jake Gruden loves the most is the most useless of what's happened with this team. And like I said with Kirk Cousins, you know, Jay may have been frustrated with Kirk Cousins, but the quarterback was everything on the Redskins the past three years. Good and bad.

now the quarterback is an afterthought. First of all, I think we are exaggerating what Alex Smith has met. He completed seven passes in the first half this week. Seven passes. 14 for the game. But part of the clean football game that they've played, the winning formula football game, has been Alex Smith not making any tragic mistakes.

Okay, wait, wait, wait. I'm going to tell you why that's got to drive Jay grew nuts. I went back and looked at this, and, you know, I found, you know, I hang people by their words. Yes, you do. On a regular basis in the Washington Times, it's still a newspaper in town. There was, remember this thing that went back and forth last year when Kirk Cousins did a Sports Illustrated interview? And he said, if I threw the ball, the way Jay wants me to throw a ball, I'd have 20 interceptions. Yes.

And what was Jay's response? He'd have 60 touchdowns. So we know what. Jay Gruden really wants. He wants a guy who's taking chances. The turnover part, I don't think he cares about. I don't think, I think for him, it's worth the risk. And now he has a quarterback that won't take the risk and is being,

and he's being lauded for not taking a risk. Where deep down, Jay Gruden said, I'd rather have a guy out there slinging it, you know, trying to get the touchdowns, trying to move the ball. I'll live with the turnovers if the touchdowns come with it. He not only said that, he wants that. Yes. He wants the gun-slinging quarterback, and he would have put up with more mistakes, with more big plays. I also personally think that gets exaggerated because I think the guy in 2016, when they had an offensive line and they had weapons took a lot of shots and threw a lot of balls to wide receivers downfield.

I want to say a couple of things real quickly. First of all, you're right about Adrian Peterson. He's the most valuable player in the team. They would be two and four without Adrian Peterson. They're four and two because of him more than anything else. And if they lose Adrian Peterson, it is going to put even more pressure on this defense, which had its best performance of the year against really what is just an average offense on Sunday, a very good rush offense, and they are good as a run-stopping team.

team. This defense is going to have some moments, though, this year. Trust me on this. It's an improved defense, and it's a defense that over the next couple of years has a chance to be very good. I don't think it's arrived yet, and I'm not about to anoint them as the 85 bears because of what we saw on Sunday. I do think where they are significantly improved is as a run-stopping defense. It's very crucial, even in today's NFL, to put the quarterback into second and third and long if they're going to run it. Some teams don't run it at all. So it's not applicable to those teams. Atlanta could be one of those. Now, they like to be balanced. Don't get me wrong. They also have a different style of run offense than the Cowboys do. But, you know, one of the best forms of defense that this

team will have against teams like Atlanta, Tampa, and potentially in a playoff game, let's just say, in the Coliseum against the Rams. Okay. As a possibility. Just throwing it out there. Or what about- Is Adrian Peterson. Well, what about U.S. Bank Stadium against the Vikings? That would be quite a story around here, wouldn't it? But Adrian Peterson is going to be one of their best defensive weapons. Yes, to control, to have one of those 12-place, 8-minute drives that one thing Alex Smith can do is he can do that. Let me just tell you what Adrian Peterson did.

Some of the hidden stuff that happens in these games is Adrian Peterson's running set up better punting position for the Redskins on Sunday, which led to starting field position for the Cowboys, their own 21-yard line. The Redskins had much better starting field position than the Cowboys did. They had the same against the Panthers. But the one thing that I would just caution people about is the defense is obviously much better, as anticipated. And up front with pain and ionitis and Allen, you know, with all three healthy, it is a good defensive front, a good run-stuffing defensive front.

There are going to be some games, though. The New Orleans game was one. Look, they didn't stop anybody in the Indianapolis game. That's true. So they're going to be, like, I think a very interesting matchup coming up next week after the giant game is Atlanta at FedEx Field. The team that can really throw it, can really run it. And they've got weapons everywhere. I mean, Ridley, Jones, Sunoo, a tight end.

And even without Devante Freeman, Tevin Coleman, is a lot of. a very good back. But I, at this point at four and two, you seem more optimistic than usual. I am at that point where, look, they have already gotten to four and two. And if they employ this style of football, if they can continue to sort of, you know, be clean in these games, they are plus six now on the year in the turnover. I think they're top five in takeaway margin, in giveaway takeaway margin in the NFL. If they can, you know, if they continue to have that, continue to win all these other, you know, important parts of the game. They're going to have a chance to win nine games. And if they, with 10 left, they're going to have a

chance to win half of those, which puts them at nine, which in this year in the NFC East puts them in division contention. I agree with all that. And I think the only thing that can stop them are themselves. Look, we looked at, when we look at the schedule, which really derailed. They would, I think they would have been a nine or ten win team last year had they not been the most ravaged injury, you know, laden team in the league last year. That's possible since they won seven games. Yeah, they won seven. I think they would have won nine or ten had they been a healthy football team or a relatively healthy football team. Now, last year, it wouldn't have meant playoffs. Right. More likely than not. You wanted to say what? Well, I mean, like we said, the thing that can beat them are themselves through

this. I mean, when we looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year, we, I mean, and I know you don't like to do this and discount this, but you figured Green Bay was a loss and Carolina was maybe lost, and they turned out both to be wins. So arguably, they face their toughest part of the schedule already. But you just made my point. It's like when you look at this schedule before the season starts, you're like, okay, they got a chance to beat Arizona and Indy,

and then probably the lose to Green Bay and probably lose, you know, to Carolina. Yeah. I figured they'd be two and two. Yeah. So the, yes, the giveaway takeaway numbers, I just got those up. They're tied for fourth in the league right now, plus six. And the field position is a big part of their success. Two areas where they have not been good enough the last few years.

And when you combine the fact that they haven't won the turnover battle and they haven't won field position battle and they've committed too many penalties along the way with a bad defense and no run offense. It's really remarkable that they won a division in 15, nearly got to the playoffs in 16, and were a seven-win team last year because they could have been, you know, four-win teams each of those years. And the one other thing I just want to add, and people really need to, I think, pay attention to this. Not in 2016, not in 2016 with Garsohn and Jackson. I just want to slip that in there. They were good enough to win eight with that group, even without a rush offense and a bad defense.

Go ahead. is the frustration level that privately Jake Gruden has got to feel. I mean, it's almost like he has a mega millions ticket in his hand. And they said, if you win, you can cash it, but you can't spend it on booze or broads or anything else. That's a problem for him. Yeah. So I'm thinking, you know, I mean, in a way, he's got this team.

He's having this success. But the thing he loves the most. I think you're over. I think you're overstating that. Oh, I don't think so. I do. I think that he likes winning. I think he's competitive and he wants to win.

I know that. But it would be a lot more fun if the quarterback was part of the winning. But you know what? I think the quarterback will be a part of the winning more and more as we go through this year. Alex Smith, you know, despite the fact that he's been a C-minus quarterback this year, he is typically career-wise, you know, once he got the opportunity in San Francisco and was a little bit older, he's a B quarterback. What if at 34 he fell off the edge?

I don't think, do you see that physically? It happened. He may be slower. He's not running like I thought he would. I don't believe that. I think things will improve. I also think he's made enough plays in the last two games where he was a contributor to the win. That's nice.

Well, not in the top five of contributors, but a contributor to the win. Since he has the ball on every play, that's a nice thing. I think, you know, I think to say that they won two in a row despite him or in spite of him, is an exaggeration. They certainly didn't win either two because of him. I think it's 100% accurate. I think you are overestimating the quarterback. You didn't hear what I just said at the very end.

I know. I would never suggest that they won either one of these two games because of him. I'm just not going to say that they somehow overcame these horrible performances by their quarterback and miraculously won two games. That would be an exaggeration of what he's been the last two games. he's been a guy that hasn't made the killer mistake, which is important with the way they've been playing and some of the things that have gone their way in these games. And he's also made a couple of throws that have meant either getting out a bad field position or setting up a field goal opportunity. But they're not winning because of him.

I would totally give you that. He's been a C-minus quarterback through the first six games of the year. You know what's not C-minus? Windonation. They're A-plus. Window Nation, they are fans and believers in this podcast, in me and Tommy. We want you to trust them if you need new windows. They're our favorite window company.

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All right, a couple things I want to get to. First of all, I do want to get to the Wizards game last night. they won a game in Portland last night, 125, 124 in overtime. Look, at any time you win a West Coast game, it's a good thing, right? Am I right? Yes, in Portland's a good team.

They were undefeated going into the game to start the season, and the Wizards desperately needed a win here because they dropped two at home, two games that really they should have won. Right. I want to go to a couple of things here, because it was a fascinating game with what happened in the game,

especially at the end of overtime. They won it 125, 124 in overtime, and I got to stay up and watch it. This is not getting up at 5 a.m. anymore with this very short commute to work is really helping me out. That's funny. That's funny. At the end of the game, Otto Porter, first of all, gets a block on Damien Lillard to seal the game. Damien Lillard, after John Wall misses two free throws, up one. one. They come down and Otto Porter gets a block of Lillard at the horn to seal the win,

to ice the game, to win the game, really from a defensive standpoint. And he blocked it with his offhand. It was the oddest blocked shot I've ever seen. If you didn't see it, picture Otto Porter, right? He's basically chasing Lillard to the rim. And instead of going up, Lillard's driving on the left side of the rim with his left hand. And Porter goes up, and doesn't block it with his strong hand, his right hand, getting up in front. He just swats it with his left hand. It was one of the strangest blocked shots I think I've ever seen. But I want to say this about Otto Porter because all of those analytics people out there, Tommy,

would probably look at his three-point shooting last night. 0-4 from 3-point land probably didn't play a good game. No, he played a great game, actually. Otto Porter was outstanding last night. He was 0 for 4 from behind the arc. He didn't make a three-pointer. He had 16 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, and that big block shot. He played excellent defense all night long.

I love Otto's post-up game. I wish they would go more to that. I think Otto's a good post-up offensive option for the Wizards. He was playing, you know, the power forward, the four spot last night because they went small almost the entire night because Dwight Howard wasn't there. they kept him home on this trip. Yes. And Jan Mahimmy got hurt early, only played four minutes in the game,

so they had this very small lineup all night long. So there are two difference makers weren't available. They're two big difference makers. But Otto Porter and Kelly Ubre were really good last night. Somebody else was really good last night. I'll get to him in a moment. I know that a lot of people, and whenever I've said in the past, I love Kelly Ubray from a competitive standpoint.

and I think when he is really into it, he's an outstanding NBA defender. And last night was one of those nights where Kelly Ubrae was into it. I can't tell you why some nights Kelly Ubrey looks disinterested. Because he's a clown. Okay, there's a lot of that. Yeah. He's immature, that whole thing. Last night he was into it defensively.

He was also 9 for 13 from the floor, had 22 points, 3 for 3 from behind the arc. He was totally disruptive as a defender last night. Now, Portland scored 124 points, but that's really like the NBA now. You know, it was 111 in regulation. But there's something about Ubrae. I don't think it's going to work out long term. He's going to end up signing somewhere else. Well, because they can't, you're not going to invest money in that guy.

If he ever sort of gets to that level or that age of maturity and really wants to be the best and be a winner and all of that, he's got so much that he can offer to a team. A couple of things. Markief Morris last night. He's your big three points. 28 points on the night, 6 for 10 from behind the arc. Most of those coming late in regulation and in overtime off of simple pick and roll with Beal or Wall where they didn't switch.

Portland didn't switch. And they helped on whoever had the ball. And there's Markief sitting there. And Wall and Beal made the right passes. Markief Morris can shoot threes. He's a good stretch for. He's playing the five, though, in that. spot. So they got this guy, Nurkich on him, and Nurkich didn't know what to do. He can't go out and

guard Marquief Morris from behind the arc. And that was a big part of the game, too. Now, if he doesn't make those, they probably lose the game, but he went six for ten. Wall had one of those interesting nights. And I, he banked in Tommy, he banked in the shot with nine seconds to go in overtime that gave them a four-point lead. It was one of those possessions. I'm sitting there watching and I'm like, are they really going to let John Wall try to close this game out again? First of all, he was four for 18 before that last shot. The other night, you know, against Toronto when they had an opportunity, I don't understand, or against Miami, I don't understand,

there are some nights I'm okay with John Wall closing it out. Not last night. Not last night. Go to Beale in the pick and roll game. Let Beal get the matchup you want if they switch, which they did. Wall banked in a shot. It was lucky. It was lucky.

It wasn't a great-looking jump shot. He wasn't trying to bank it in. And it gave them the four-point lead. He then missed two free throws before Otto Porter bailed him out with the block at the end. But I don't know what, you know, I don't think Brooks calls this stuff. I think Wall calls it. I just think it's a bad job by them. And it worked last night, but they were lucky that it worked.

I also thought after, you know, he missed. So Wall makes that shot And then Portland gets a three from a column And then the wizard should have called a time out To advance the ball And gotten the ball to beale on the inbound To let him shoot free throws instead of wall Just was not a good shooting night

For John Wall anyway It was a much needed win Yeah absolutely Kevin Only 49 more to go for you baby Yeah 49 more to get to that 50 number I won one last You feeling good about that

No you know what I just can't stand I'm looking for like growth on the floor maturity and growth from their two cornerstone players Beale and Wall and still wall complains and waves his arm around every time he thinks he's been you know just fouled or somebody's a referee's missed a call and he's sitting there and he's waving his arms like he deserves to get these calls and you know what He's wrong half the time on these, maybe more than half the time. I think the refs know it too. I think it's starting to work against him.

He wants this elite-level star treatment. Kobe respect. He's not getting it because, A, he's not the elite star. I like John Wall. I'm a John Wall fan, but I believe that he thinks he's at a level that he isn't at. Just stop with the constant badgering of the referees. It's working against you now. Golden State's up next on Wednesday night.

And that was the game where Beal smacked Raymond Green last year and got booted from the game when they were up by 17. Remember, they were dominating Golden State. Not that that would have held up. Right. And Beal ended up getting tossed from that game, which was another maturity thing last year. All right.

I want to get to the Monday night game last night. You know, you forgot about the Caps. I said at the very beginning, the Caps won in Vancouver. I did not see any of that game. If you'd like to weigh in, on how the Caps beat the Canucks 5 to 2 have at it. What did you like from the game? They looked really good.

Is there more? No, I didn't watch any of it. But they looked really good. I thought about getting somebody on today to talk about the Caps win last night, but they're all on the West Coast, so it's just hard to get them up early. I was going to have Buck on this morning, but Buck in there traveling,

and it just wasn't going to happen this early when both teams are on the West Coast. Why are both teams on the West Coast at the same time? Is there some big event at Verizon Center? Is it like the equestrian horse show or something like that? This was the first for the Caps on a West Coast swing, right? Because they are in Edmonton next. So you've got both the basketball team and the hockey team out west.

Tommy is right. It is the equestrian show. Yeah. There you go. You know, we should go down there and hang out because, you know, all these rich celebrities have sons and have daughters who do this horse stuff. Like Springsteen had a daughter who used to compete in this event down at the TAP Center. Yeah. Well, I know it is a sport for the very wealthy.

Yeah. So a lot of these celebrities have kids that do this and they compete in it. Are you going to go down? No, I'm not going to try to meet some of those people. No, I'm going to go down. I mean, they should come to Frederick to see me and deal with the traffic. They should. All right.

I want to talk about the NFL game last night. Did you watch any of that? Or were you watching the Caps game? I didn't watch any of that. Okay. I mean, it was Atlanta, the Giants. Who was going to watch that? No, you know what?

You weren't alone. I don't think. I mean, I was sitting at home. I watched the game and one of my son who's at Maryland, who's living at home this semester, said, I'm not watching that game. It's a bad game. And he'll watch anything, usually. I just want to say a couple of things because there were some very interesting strategy things in the game

that a lot of people are talking about. First of all, let me just say this. The giant offensive line is the worst in recent memory. All of these people that have called out Eli, I'm not saying that Eli hasn't taken a step back, and Eli's best days are clearly behind them, but if you think Eli's the reason that the Giants aren't winning or the Giants aren't scoring enough with all of that offensive talent,

you're insane. This is the worst offensive line I can remember watching, in the NFL. It is immediate the pressure on Eli on a passing down. Even a play action, early down play action. They are on top of him within a second. It is a total sieve of an offensive line. Oh, it ought to be fun to watch the Redskins next week then. You know what? Especially given their interior, their guard play is horrendous. The guy that they drafted in the second round, Hernandez got just beat. He was a turnstile last night. They're all. offensive line is just a wreck. And it's, for them, they really do have offensive skill

talent. I mean, Barclay is special. Yes. You know, no matter what we want to say about how crazy Beckham Jr. is, and I don't think I would have given him that big deal. He's too self-absorbed. He's too selfish. I don't think you win with him. Did you see what John Maris said about Beckley last week? No. He basically said, shut up and start producing. In so many words, he had an edge to what he said, and this is a guy that they just paid the biggest contract for a wide receiver in the NFL. Now, now, you know, he has a lot of defenders who are saying, and rightly so, the Giants are not losing because of O'Dell Beckham.

And that's not the point of the criticism. The point of the criticism is he calls so much attention to himself on a losing team. He does. He is really high maintenance, and I actually think he's got a screw or three loose as well. I don't know, you know, I don't know if it was you or Cooley that said this that convinced me, you know, a while back. Look, you can have the best wide receiver in the league. You can have Julio Jones. You can have Beckham Jr.

That's not what wins championships. You can win titles without having the high-maintenance headaches like those guys. And Julio Jones is not getting its headache, but I'm just saying great wide receiver play. Now, Jerry Rice was a great wide receiver, but they also had greatness in other sports. spots as well. I brought it up just to say he was really good last night. He was incredible last night. He really is one of the more talented wide receivers we've seen come into the league in a long, long time. And what's interesting about that is you didn't see that necessarily at LSU because LSU just hasn't had good quarterback play. But the Giants would be a contender if they fix the

offensive line. It is such a massive issue for them. They can't compete with that offensive line. We've said over the years, like, you don't have to have like the best offensive line in football. You can scheme around an average offensive line. You can't scheme, though, around that. You cannot scheme around an offensive line that can't run block and really has no ability to pass block for any length of time, even on early down play action plays. Okay, so I know it's early, but we might as well just chalk up the W now for the Redskins going up there, right? Am I right?

I got to look at what the point spread is. You know me. I haven't seen a line on the game yet. I guessed that it would be something in the general area of like pick a minus one somewhere in the neighborhood. Here it is. Redskins are minus one in the Meadowlands. that's short. I mean, that is short. I'm going to tell you right now that most of the action will be on the Redskins laying a point in the Meadowlands, especially, you know, with the Giants coming off a loss and a short week. They were competitive last night. They were competitive in the game. One quick thing before, two quick things before I get to the strategy stuff in the game last night. Eli Apple is a bust of a first round pick, a major bust of a first round pick. He can't cover anybody. And then the other part of the,

this is something that Aaron and I talked about last week and even yesterday, I think, or maybe it was Friday's show. Dan Quinn, he really, he's got some big stones late in games with his field goal kickers. Because last week he trotted out Matt Bryant for a 57-yarder with a two-point lead. And if he had missed the 57-yarder, he basically was in position where there was an 80% chance he was going to lose the game because he would have given up field position. And then last night, I know that the Giants, you know, weren't this explosive team. And, you know, if they had missed, if the guy had missed the kick up 20 to 12, that they were still up eight.

But he sent this guy who replaced Matt Bryant because he pulled his hamstring on the 57-yarder last week. He sends this, you know, this Giorgio Teveccio or Tevecchio out there. And he kicks a 56-yarder. Big balls by Dan Quinn. And it's indoors, and you know you've got certain level of confidence in your kick. kicker because you've seen them do it. But man, when did these 56 and 57 yarders become like, yeah, no-brainer, just send them out there.

They're all Steve Cox. Steve Cox, there's a name from the past. There you go. That was their long distance field. The Redskins long distance kicker was straight on, straight on Steve Cox. By the way, they had two straight on kickers, Mosley and Cox. That's right. Dan Quinn from Salisbury State.

I didn't know that. He coached at Salisbury State. I think he either played football or he coached there. Yeah. Well, he really made... The reason he got an opportunity was coaching the Seahawks, you know, defense. All right, the strategy decisions last night. I'm going to try to go through this real quickly.

First of all, Pat Schumer decides down 20 to 6, down 14 in the fourth quarter, after they scored a touchdown to go for two there. It's the same thing the Eagles did against the Vikings a few weeks back. They were down 20 to 6 also. I think it was the same score, and they went for two. Now, here's the thing. People in last night, Booger McFarland and Witten, and they're all going nuts over. over this going for two. The analytics people will tell you that it's the right thing to do. That basically, you know, whether you get it, that the chances of making a two-point conversion

are greater than 50 percent. And right now in the league this year, they're higher than 50 percent. So it's better to do it on the first one, to go for the win on the first one, because then you'll know what you need on the second one. So if you make it on the first one and then you score, all you got to do is kick then, and you win 21-20, or at least you take the lead 21-20. And they'll tell you that it makes much more sense to go forward there. So I'm going to say what I'm going to say, but I'm prefacing it with all of you that will fight back on this. I do understand the analytics of down 14 late in a game going for two on the first touchdown. I do understand the math.

I do. But I'm going to just say two things here. One, context of games should matter. every single context of a game creates different probabilities of making a two-point conversion. That should be considered. The other thing that should be considered is this, Tommy. And I don't know that I don't have the answer to this. I would like the answer to this.

I know that two-point conversion numbers have gone up over the years. The average right now is higher than 50%. I think last year for the league it was higher than 50%. I would love to know what the percentage of two-point makes across the league. league is in certain game situations. A lot of two-point conversion attempts come at end of games that aren't competitive. You'll see a team down a bunch of points. They'll score. They'll just say, hey, let's go for two. Where the defense isn't necessarily engaged, they've just been a very soft defense because they've given up chunks of yards and given up a late, meaningless touchdown to an

opponent, and then they're not necessarily interested or really fired up or set for a two-point conversion. I would like to see where the two point conversion makes. I want to see some analytics on when the two point conversions are hitting, I want to know game context. I want to know score of the game. I want to know when it's happening in the game. Because my sense is, I don't know the answer to this, but I have a hunch that the two point conversions that happen in real pressure situations, like you're down eight, you score a touchdown, and you got to make that two-pointer. No, you got to make that two-pointer to tie the game. I want to know what that percentage is.

I want to know what the percentage is when you're down 11 and you've got to make it late in the game to cut it to three. I want to know what the percentage is when you take a five-point lead and you go for two to extend the lead to seven. Because some of these numbers that are producing these high rates of conversion could be in situations where the defense is less interested. They've just been torched because they're playing soft defense and giving up opportunity. offensively because I think when it's a real pressure situation to make the two, I'm surprised that the numbers, if they are correct for those specific situations, I'm surprised that they're greater than 50-50. I am.

Well, there wouldn't be so many red zone issues. That's right. On a condensed field from that position. If it was better than 50%, there wouldn't be so many reds-zone issues. I want numbers on that. Okay. I get it for all of you people who are big into analysts. and I am not anti-analytics, I just don't think they're the entire answer and never have been,

especially in sports like football and basketball, where so little is actually measured and so little is understood about what the responsibilities of certain players on a play are. I would like to know of the two-point makes, you know, the last couple of years, that are in what I would call pressure situations, need the two to tie, need the two to get to within three, need the two to extend, you know, the lead to, you know, seven from five, those kinds of situations late game versus those that happen at the end of a blowout game where the team has just taken all of the soft coverage yards, scored a touchdown, and just kept the offense out there to go for two for the hell of it. And the defense isn't engaged as much. I'd like to know that.

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I have learned that it wasn't much interest, that the Redskins were nowhere near where the Cowboys came in at a first or even where the Eagles were at a second round offer for Amari Cooper. Here's what I said yesterday. I wouldn't give up a first for Amari Cooper. And it's not the talent because he's got talent. And I loved him coming out in that draft in the 2015 draft. It is that there's something there in watching him play.

that reminds me of what we've seen here over the last two seasons with Josh Doxon. And I just don't, it's just sort of a feeling from afar that, for the lack of a better description, he doesn't love football, which is what Coley's description always was about some of these guys, that you got to love football, that there's a lack of real interest at times. Could have been the Raiders, and maybe with Josh Doxon, it's the Redskins, you know, and they would thrive in another environment. He's got the talent, but I would not have given up a first for Amari Cooper. I wouldn't have given up a first either.

Again, I mean, I don't value wide receivers, particularly diva wide receivers as much as. Well, he's not a diva. I know he's not, but as much as anybody else. I've always been a believer, and the Redskins are starting to show this, that you can win with average skill position players as long as you have a great interior on both sides of the ball. you can't win, I don't think, the other way around in the NFL. And I still maintain that. So, I mean, to trade a number one pick, that's a potential big-time pass rusher

or, you know, another big-time offensive lineman because Trent Williams is getting old and breaking down and give it away for a wide receiver. No, I'm not going to do that. I will tell you that I was impressed with Michael Gallup on Sunday. And I've heard a lot about him from cowboy fans. A lot of people think that he is a potential. star the third round pick out of Colorado State. It's got some size to him. He's obviously got some good speed.

And there may be something to him. He had the touchdown at the end of the half, you know, busted cover. It wasn't a busted coverage. It was just, you know, Stroman getting beaten badly on the stop and go, on the hitch and go. Look, the Cowboys are doing what, you know, the Cowboys have done, you know, sort of Jerry just saying, we got to go for it this year. Because the NFC East looks wide open. The Eagles aren't the dominant team. team, not this year, that many thought they would be. The Cowboys do have a good defense. They do.

And the thing that they are missing is sort of a real good target for Dak Prescott. They've got the run game with Elliott. They've got a better run game when they worked Dak into the run game. And they went for a weapon. It's a lot to give up. That's my view. It's a lot to give up for Amari Cooper. But it will, if he is, if he lives up to his billing and his talent, it will proved to have been a really good move, and it will be a move that will help Dallas this year. This is something they're missing unless Gallup was really on the verge of becoming a star. Hernes doesn't look like anything other than a serviceable number two. To me, anyway, I still love Beasley.

And I forgot to mention on the podcast, the catch that Beasley made on the final drive. Yeah, it was an incredible catch. Now, the one thing, what you've got to conclude about this is, Des Bryant's not going to have a job this year. Nope. not going to get a job. He didn't produce here recently. He was not the same receiver.

And it's hard to believe that the Ravens did offer him. I know. And he passed it up. And he passed it up. And that's the best thing that happened to the Ravens. Yeah, I mean, the Ravens have some. John Brown's the best signing that the Ravens made in this offseason, finally gave him some speed on the outside.

Now, there is another player who wants out, and that is Patrick Peterson. Patrick Peterson is a top three talent at cornerback, if not a top three corner in the league. And he wants out in Arizona. And, you know, the price for Peterson, if the price for Cooper was a first rounder, I can't imagine that the price for Peterson isn't going to be from Arizona a first rounder as well,

if not more. More, I would think. Now, that is a guy that for the Redskins, I would think about. Really? I would. Because they have. a good front seven right now.

They don't have a great secondary. I like their safeties. I like Nicholson, and I like the way Swaranger's playing. I think Swaranger was a really good addition in free agency last year, you know, for last season. And I think Nicholson has really good talent and really good sort of difference-making speed and closing speed at safety. But this is it for Norman, okay? This is going to be it for Norman. He's not back next year. Dunbar's hurt. And by the way, they talk

in terms of nerve issues. Did you hear Jay say that? It was about a nerve issue. I don't know if there's reason to be alarmed, but you hear that, and that doesn't sound great. But if Patrick Peterson were available, I would think about Patrick Peterson. I would think about significant compensation for Peterson. I would.

Peterson's a difference maker defensively. And if you put him on a defense as a young player, Patrick Peterson is still a young football player. What is this? Seventh season for Peterson. He's got three to four more, you know, prime years at 27 or 28 years old. That's got to be, look up his age. I can't get, I'll get it here in a second. He's right in that, he's in that 27 to 20. He's 28. 28 years old. That's too old. I think the question for the Redskins, do they have the cap room to pull it off? He has a big contract. He's making, I think, 10 million this year and 11 and 12 the next two years after that. That's a good point.

I'll tell you who's going to end up with them more likely than not, the Eagles. The Eagles potentially could end up with them. It's funny how these two big names have emerged. Levion Bell's the other one. It's all been sort of NFC East teams. And one of the reasons for that is you look at the NFC East and you're like, if I need a player at a specific position, he could be the difference between winning the division this year and not making the playoffs. It's up for grabs.

Peterson's contract exactly is what, give that to me again, Aaron. Let me pull it up here. He's in the third year of a five-year, he's in the third year of a five-year, 70 million contract this year he is making 11 million dollars is the cap number for this year 11 million and what's the cap number for go to sport rack yes it says the cap hits 14.9 I don't know if you can you know because it's midseason if you can make that work out the Eagles apparently would not either Redskins have 9 million in cap space Eagles have 11 million and the Redskins when they get rid of Norman this year I think it ends up being a $2 million cap savings for 2019 I think that's it

I could be wrong, but I think that's what it is. Anyway, you know what? The player, Patrick Peterson, on the Redskins for significant compensation, if it could be worked out contractually and cap-wise, is something I would absolutely consider. He's a difference maker as a cornerback, a real difference maker. And they don't have that right now at corner on a defense that is really good and is going to get better in the front seven.

Well, if it's going to get better on the front seven, And why wouldn't you consider a shutdown cornerback a luxury? Okay. So I don't know if this is where you were going with this. Your cornerbacks, your great cornerbacks are average with no pass rush. Your average cornerbacks are really good with a lot of pass rush. Right. You know, that is just a tried and true sort of ism in the NFL over a long period of time.

And the Redskins still may have that. They don't have a great pass rush. It was really good on Sunday. It was very good on Sunday. I will say this, if you gave me the choice of an edge dominant pass rusher, like Khalil Mack, or Patrick Peterson, I would take Mack. I would take Mack. And then I would say, my pass rush, I've got the run defense, and then I've got the pass rush.

So I only need average talent at quarterback, at cornerback. So I'm just telling you that Patrick Peterson is a difference maker at a position where the Redskins right now do not have a difference maker. but the cornerback play and the secondary play is being helped out by the fact that they're a better run stopping team and they've got pretty good interior pressure from Allen, Ionitis, and pain. I think he would be a luxury that you don't need to try to afford. I think you need to concentrate on the offensive side of the ball moving forward. It's just though for the first time in a couple of years, first time in a long time, they haven't been five and two since 2008, which is when they started six and two with zero.

but you will start to consider here. But they were four and two on their Gruden a couple years ago. Four and two. They were four and two with Gruden? With Gruden in 2016? Yeah, I think so. They got to six, three and one with Gruden. Yeah, they were four and two then.

He spent four and two before. I know that with the Redskins. All right. I'll take your word for that. He wasn't five and two. I know that. No, but he was four and two. Yes, four and two.

Four and two in 2016. Yeah. Started with two losses, then real-off four straight wins. And then they lost tied and then got to 6-3 and won against Green Bay on that Sunday night game. Okay, so anyway, the Redskins are in that position where, you know, teams in the past under Dan Snyder would make a big move or think about a big move anyway. And I am fine if they don't make a move. They can win this division this year. They can without making a big move.

move. All right, so the World Series starts tonight, Tommy. And do you know that I was expecting the Dodgers to be bigger underdogs than they are. I thought that they would be minus 170. I thought I thought the socks would be minus 175 or better as favorites. They're a minus 135 favorite. That's not a huge favorite. I'm surprised at that given the difference in the number of games the Red Sox won this year, the fact that four of these seven would be played. will be played at Fenway if you get to seven. Why is it that the odds makers give the Dodgers a really good chance to win this World Series? Okay, I'm going to guess one reason is the Dodgers have been there before.

Dodgers were just there last year. You know, so they've been there before. So I think that that means a lot to teams in baseball in terms of the World Series experience. This Red Sox team is not resemble in any way, shape, or form, the one that was in 2012. won the World Series. I mean, that's six years ago. You have a manager who's managed in the World Series in Dave Roberts. You have a manager in Boston, Alex Corr, a rookie manager, who likes to take risk.

World Series is not the place to do that. There's questions about the Red Sox rotation. Chris Sale had some kind of stomach virus. They only pitched once against Houston. Nobody knows how, I mean, supposedly he's lost some weight. Nobody knows how strong he'll be. and David Price, you know, is always potential for a meltdown in a World Series because he has not traditionally been a good postseason pitcher.

I think those are four ingredients that make the Dodgers maybe not as much of an underdog as you may think. I just opened up one of my sites where it's actual odds. Sometimes you read these odds. Let me just give everybody fair warning. You read these odds and a story, and that's not really what you'd be able to play it for. The number has changed. The socks are now minus 160. The comeback's plus 140 for the Dodgers.

Still, not nearly the favorite that I thought they would be. Kershaw is the favorite to win the MVP, which, you know, that makes sense. You know, so I think a lot of it has to do with the Dodgers. I haven't been there before in questions about the Red Sox rotation. Are you rooting for anybody in particular? I'm rooting for the Dodgers, and I'm rooting for Kershaw to pitch. Will. Well, I'm rooting for the Dodgers because of Stan Kasten. Did you see him up there?

I got to know Stan when he was president of the Nationals, and we had a pretty good relationship. I liked them a lot. And basically, you know, he got shafted by the learners. That's a long line of people who got shafted by the learners. Stan did too. And he went to L.A. And now he's one of the owners and team president of arguably one of two or three most prestigious franchises in all baseball. and has a chance to win a World Series. He has a sign that he hangs in his office. I don't know what it's up to now.

When it was in Washington, it was 31. And it was all the, not just the, all the championships that his teams that he was involved with had won, even division titles, you know, everything. You know, because he was, one time, he was president of the Hawks. He didn't win anything. They had a hockey team in Atlanta for a while that he ran. Yeah, but they don't think they want anything there. So he had that sign up there, and he changes it every time they win something. So I don't know what it's up to now.

But there's only one World Series championship on his resume, and that's the 95 World Series that the Atlanta Braves won. So I'm rooting for Stan Kasten and the Dodgers. You've always liked him. He's a great salesman. I mean, he is a really good salesman. He's a tough guy, too, Kevin. But he is, he's, people underestimate what a hard. You know what? When they, when he got there, they had a real interest and he did in particular

in the show that I was doing at the time with John Riggins, which was now 10 years ago, 10 or 11 years ago. And Rigo and I were doing afternoon drive for Red Zebra. And Stan loved Rigo and he came into the studio two or three times, I think, over that first year to do shows with us. And boy, he was a promoter. And he was a salesman. and to see him up there on Saturday night after they won game seven in the locker room, you know, accepting the National League championship trophy was interesting. I like Stan too. I'm rooting for the Dodgers.

I want to see Kershaw pitch well and get that World Series for him. But it is great that the two stages for the World Series are Dodgers Stadium in Fenway Park. Awesome. Yeah, that's really great. Yes. And Mani Machado has played a lot of games in Fenway. Yes. So he'll be used to it.

He became the postseason villain, and the Red Sox fans don't need a reason to hate Manning Machado. They've hated him for years from his time in Boston. There's been some real bad blood between the Red Sox and Machado over the years. Let's get to some coaching blunders for the week. Bad play calls. Clock management gas. Missed Opportunities.

It's Coach Ian's Blunders of the Week. And the Coach Patrol was on it this week. They were sending me tweets all weekend long and some good ones. This segment, you know, it's sort of a lot of different things that I've made this segment turn into. But basically, it is Kevin's right and here's why the rest of the NFL was wrong and Kevin's right. You're obnoxious. That's what the segment is. When you're correcting mistakes made by NFL coaches, people who are paid and college coaches.

But made like enormous amounts of money to do this and you're sitting in your life. little, you know, nine by 12 studio saying they're wrong. That's what the, that's what the segment is. Kevin's right. One of my favorite things ever was when Coach Thompson said, after listening to one of my coaching blunder rants one day, he walks in and he goes, you know, and he would say MFer, because that was his term of endearment for anybody that he actually, you know, didn't mind having conversations with.

And I love Coach Thompson. And he said, MFer, ain't no way. you'd be able to do that under pressure. And I said, yeah, I think I'd be able to know when to go for two versus not. But it was funny. We laughed hard about that one. And maybe he's right. Maybe I would completely fold in an actual position of doing it.

But anyway, what I was going to say is there's a player blunder that I want to mention this week before I get to the coaching blunders. And there's a game that I want to tell you about real quickly. It is one of the craziest endings to a football game you will ever see. And it happened in really a meaningless Saturday college football game that I want to mention. It was Old Dominion against Western Kentucky. Western Kentucky was leading the game 34 to 27 late. And Old Dominion worked their way down the field and scored the game tying, or the touchdown that cut it to six, they cut it to one,

with nine seconds to go in the game. They kicked the extra point. The game was tied, 34-34, with nine seconds to go. From there, one of the wildest sequences you'll ever see in a football game. Old Dominion kicks it off to Western Kentucky, all right? They get it out to the 30-yard line, and they have a little bit of time left, three seconds left. They hand the ball off basically going to overtime, all right?

the guy picks up 15 yards on the play. Actually, there are like eight seconds left when they started at their 30. They hand the ball off, the guy gets 15 yards on the play, and they call a quick timeout, because now they're sort of in position close to midfield to throw a Hail Mary. So the guy drops back, and the quarterback throws the ball over the middle, and it's incomplete, but there's a roughing the passer penalty on the play. So now you get the first of what would be three untimed plays to end the game.

Ruffing the passer moves it in range for them to try a 57-yard field goal. The guy is in the wind woefully short on the 57-yard field goal. But they huddle up, they go to review the play, and Old Dominion had 12 men on the field. So they move it five yards closer for the second, untimed down to end the game. 34-34 right now in Western Kentucky is now going to try a 52-yard field goal after missing very short on a 57-yarder.

This time Old Dominion puts somebody back in the end zone in case it's short again. And it was short again. And this time the guy for Old Dominion returns it. 83 yards up the field but gets knocked out of bounds at the 15-yard line except for one thing. the game doesn't end, there's a penalty, there's a face mask. On his runback, they facelasked him, which led to the third and final untimed play after the clock had run out, and Old Dominion sends their field goal team out, and they kick a game winning field goal to win the game 37-34. I don't think it's ever happened. All that happened with how much time left? In the final nine seconds of the game.

That's amazing. All right, let's get to some coaching blunders. First, actually, a player blunder. watching Mississippi State LSU and a bunch of you tweeted this to me at Kevin Shee and D.C. You can also tweet Tommy at Tom Levero. He's not going to care about this stuff though. Mississippi State gets an interception. Their cornerback gets an interception in the end zone. And he's being grabbed from behind on his jersey. And Tommy, when you intercept in the end zone and you're being sort of tackled in the end zone, what do you want to do as a defender? Just go down in the end zone. Take the knee. Go to. down, you get the ball at the 20-yard line. This poor guy is fighting to get out of the end zone,

which he accomplishes. He succeeds in getting the ball out to the half-yard line, which is where he puts his anemic offense. Mississippi State has one player, Nick Fitzgerald. He's the quarterback. They run him on almost every play. They can't score. And now against LSU's defense, instead of starting from the 20, they've got to start it from the half-yard. line. He got back to the bench and Joe Moore had the coach and the whole staff is like looking at him like, what are you doing? You made a great interception.

We get the ball at the 20 and you're fighting your way to get out of the end zone. It was almost like he had a brain cramp and was thinking he was going to cross the goal line for a touchdown. Instinct. Your instinct is you get the ball, you run with it. All right, a couple things.

And you know, these, we went over the giant situation last night. Actually, we didn't. I saved the true clock management blunder, because I went through the two-point blunder, the clock management blunder for the end. The Giants are down 2312 at the end. And oh, by the way, the number last night was four. Atlanta was a poor point favorite. So the Giants are driving late in this game. They score a touchdown. But the touchdown came with six seconds to go. But they got a first and goal situation at the end with a minute five.

They had a minute five when Ellison, the tight end, caught the ball and got it to the one-yard line, and they tried back-to-back quarterback sneaks with Eli, both of them failing. So by the time he actually threw a touchdown pass at the very end to Beckham, there were six seconds left in the game. You talk about a total, total malpractice clock management situation. It was that. Pat Schumer had another one a few weeks ago where he didn't call timeouts on defense and I killed him for it. This guy's clueless right now.

And it's not because of the two-point thing. All right. Again, the analytics people will tell you, do it. I'd like more information on that. And the information that I asked for is I want to see when these two-point conversions are hitting at this super-hundred. level, rather than what they are in true pressure situations. But at the end, you had a minute five. The only chance to win the game is to score, get an onside kick, and then hopefully, you know, be down three after a two-pointer to make a 23-20 and get a field goal to tie the game.

And he runs a minute off the clock before getting the touchdown with two back-to-back quarterback sneaks. Look, quarterback sneaks a great call in the course of a game where clock isn't important, but at the end there, you had to throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball, and throw the ball again, because you needed to score the touchdown and have plenty of time left on the clock. It was a massive error. They scored Tommy to make it 23 to 18. And if you had the Giants plus the four, all right, or Atlanta laying the four, it came down to the two-point conversion, which was very nice to see him hand the ball off to Saquan and Barclay, him to get into the end zone, 2320 final, if you had the Giants plus four. And I did

last night. All right. Some of the others. Carolina, Ron Rivera. I mean, you know, they came back and won this game. One of the crazy games of the week, if not one of the crazier games of the year, down 17, nothing in the fourth quarter. But, you know, you're at the end of the first half. You have not scored. It is 10-0-0 Philadelphia. And Philadelphia has got the ball deep in their own territory. All right, they've got a second and six from their own eight-yard line at the two-minute warning. And they run Wendell Smallwood, and the clock just keeps rolling. And I'm looking at, I had the game on, I'm like, Ron Rivera, what are you doing? You've got a third down in Philadelphia's backed up at their own 12-yard line and you're down 10-0. Do you not want the ball back?

before the end of the half? And he didn't. He didn't want the ball back, apparently, because he didn't call the timeout. The Eagles run on third and two, and they get the first down. And guess who called a timeout from their own 12 with a minute 10 left at that point?

Doug Peterson did, because he figured now we got three downs, we're going to go try to score. Ron Rivera had no interest in getting the ball back and didn't use his timeouts. In Philadelphia still, there was another chance for him to use timeouts at the end of the half,

didn't do it, and Philadelphia let the clock run out deep in their own territory, taking a 10-0 half-time leave. This is where more clock management errors happen than any other place. It's on defense with coaches that don't realize that more time is better than less time, and to save that time, you have to use your timeouts on defense when you can't control the pace of play. You can't go hurry up on defense, can you? No, you can't.

The Chargers did the same thing at the end of the first half in their game against Tennessee on Sunday morning. You know, I know, Aaron, you want to talk about the end of the game, but at the end of the first half, Tennessee's driving. They're deep in Charger territory, and basically they've got a first intent at the Charger 23 at the two-minute mark, and they let Tennessee run the entire end of the half clock out without. wanting to get the ball back at the end of the first half. Now, Tennessee threw an interception at the end of that half, which cost them points. But, you know, another situation where you had, you know, you had an opportunity to get Philip Rivers the ball back. It's Philip Rivers for crying out loud.

Don't you want him to get the ball back at the end of the half with a minute to go and a chance to get you another possession? look, more possessions offensively are better than less possessions offensively. Use your timeouts to increase the number of offensive possessions that you get in a game. Aaron, you didn't like what the Chargers did at the end using their timeouts on defense in the event that Tennessee scored a game tying touchdown, which turned out to not be a game tying touchdown because they went for the two. I liked them calling the last one. I didn't like them. You know, at the two minute warning, the Titans have the ball on the 12-yard line.

Right. They run three plays, and they aren't using their timeouts at all. Yeah, they could have used those timeouts earlier. You're right about that. What they did do, however, at the very end of that game, is to avoid a 10-second runoff. They used a timeout. Yeah, that was good. And, you know, if Tennessee had kicked the extra point, or if they had made the two-point conversion,

the Chargers did use a timeout. to give themselves 30 seconds to get Philip Rivers out on the field to try to get in field goal range. But to your point, they could have had more time. There were a couple of others. The Lions went for two early in the game. I know what the two-point analytics say. And maybe in this particular game with Miami's defense, it just made sense to go for two every single time. I'm just going to tell you until I get more information on when these two-point conversions

are being converted at this very high level versus where they're not, I'm not thinking about a two-point conversion in most cases until the fourth quarter. I'm just not. But then again, look at the number. What's the percentage on kicked PATs this year? It's probably lower than it was last year from 33 yards out because it really does seem that way, doesn't it? It seems like kickers are missing more kicked BATs than they did last year with the distance having been changed. Do you know, if I'm doing my math right, I'm probably not.

not. The Chargers have won 10 of their last 11 games. Oh yeah. They made it. Look, they got, they appeared to be the team last year heading towards the playoffs at the end of last year, playing their best football. And then they went to Arrowhead and laid an egg and got knocked out of the playoff race. Just like Baltimore at the end of last year was playing very well and lost the game at home to Cincinnati on a miracle fourth and 18 play that knocked them out. But I really felt, Tommy, towards the end of last year, going to, towards the playoffs that the two teams that no one wanted to see in the AFC were the Chargers and the Ravens, and neither one of them was able to make it.

Yeah. So they're very talented. They still don't have Joey Bosa, who I think is a defensive MVP kind of player. But they're very good. I love Philip Rivers. I just think he's a great quarterback. I think he's a Hall of Fame quarterback. I don't even think it's debatable.

I've had this debate on radio shows in the past. To me, he is a Hall of Fame lock. Philip Rivers is. And I would like to see him get to a Super Bowl. I would. I'd like to see him to Super Bowl. Remember, he's always tied to Eli Manning, you know, with the trade that Manning didn't want to get drafted by the Chargers.

There was a trade that, and Rivers wound up going to San Diego. You know, their career numbers are almost exactly like their career statistics as quarterback. Yeah, well, I mean, look, you know, Eli's had some big years statistically. Yeah. Big years statistically. I mean, I think they're within five of each other in touchdown passes for career.

And let me just tell you that no matter what you want to say about Super Bowls, I would take Philip Rivers in a heartbeat over Eli Manning, knowing what I know now. He would have done the same thing with those giant defenses and with Tom Coughlin as his head coach throughout that Eli did and maybe even more. So Philip Rivers is a Hall of Fame lock. So I would think Eli Manning would be. Well, I just think Philip Rivers has been a better NFL quarterback. I just think he's been on teams that haven't been as good, you know, and I'm telling you, the Chargers have been snake bit year after year after year with the injury bug.

I mean, they have just year after year after year lost so many key players that would have gotten them into the postseason. He got to an AFC title game early in his career with Norv and played on a torn ACL in the AFC championship game at New England against the Patriots. Remember, he played on a torn ACL in that game. And you, most people don't know this, but apparently playing on a torn ACL, you can't do any more damage to your knee. Which is why sometimes you will see players play on a torn ACL versus a sprain knee or an LCL or something else. Because apparently you can't do any more damage than is already done. Is that what gives you the thumbs up?

On what, on RIPVERS? When you got a torn ACL, do you get a thumbs up from the doctor on the sideline? So, you know, you. You say that and you want to go back to that and you want to legislate that. No, I know. No, I don't. But Mike Shanahan never knew how serious the injury was because the quarterback kept it from them and the doctor wasn't clear and the doctor gave a thumbs up as well.

But to your suggestion there, this is why I never went nuts. It was the playoffs. Your quarterback was the reason you were there. I don't want to do this. Let's not do this. Good God. Philip Rivers played on a torn ACL. in a championship game. Griffin could play.

My question is Eli Manning, a Hall of Famer? I think he is. Yeah, I think Eli Manning is a Hall of Famer. I think the two Super Bowls. But he's not as good a quarterback as Philip Rivers. But he may not be. But if you're measuring them by numbers five years after they're retired, they're right there. How long will your drive be going home?

But you're not going home today, are you? No, actually, actually today. Let's hear your whole day. after I'm leaving here, I'm probably, I don't know what I'm going to do after I leave here because I already wrote my column. But then later on today, I'm on 1067 a fan with Chad Dukes. I'm on today, I was going to say, I was going to let you pub the Wednesday appearance, but you're going to be on today. I'm on today. I'm 106.7 a fan because tomorrow I'm having a medical procedure.

Another medical procedure. Is everything okay? Everything is okay. It's my ears. Okay. You know, I have these children ears that when fluid gets in them, they plug up. So I have to have tubes put in my ears occasionally, like a little kid.

So, I mean, I'm... I remember this. You've had it done before. I've had it done before. So I'm due for it again. Plus, my left ear drum is damaged for some reason. I don't know how. So I have to get that repairs.

Could be your radio career. So that's tomorrow. And then don't forget on Saturdays, I'm on 106-7-a-fan from 9-to-new with Andy Pauling. There's been something wrong with your ears recently, because your favorite response is, huh? Huh?

And that's usually, you know, I'm right next to you and I'm like, Tommy, because I'm not listening to what you're saying. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to all of you. Have a great day, everybody.