The Kevin Sheehan Show - Bruce Allen Isn't Going Anywhere

Episode Date: January 11, 2019

Kevin shares some Redskins' news related to Bruce Allen and the team's attempts to replace Brian Lafemina. John Keim/ESPN comes on to discuss potential changes on the Skins' coaching staff and roster. Kevin previews all four NFL Divisional playoff games and gives out two Smell Test picks. Andy Pollin talks about the Marty Schottenheimer firing 17 years ago this Sunday. Kevin and Andy also reminisce about when the Redskins used to participate in 2nd round playoff games. Kevin finishes up talking Terps, weather, and yes, a poll about Kirk Cousins. <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. All right. Good morning, everybody. Good afternoon. Good evening or whenever you're listening to this. I'm here. Aaron is 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. No coolly today. Next week, more likely than not for him. Mike Shanahan was going to come on. today with us to preview the four divisional round games. Instead, he's going to come on with us Monday. He's been on a trip, and he was just getting back. He asked if he could do Monday.

I said, absolutely. So he'll recap the four divisional round games and preview the NFC and AFC championship games with us on Monday. I've got the smell test later on. John Kime coming up, Andy Poland, as well. And we'll do a quick segment here in a little while on all. of the things that happened since we last talked. None of them significant really on a large scale, but there were two incredible basketball games last night, one in college, one in the

NBA. The Caps won. The Nats had some news after we went off the air yesterday, and the Falcons hired a clock management coach, so I'll get to all of that coming up. But there wasn't any real Redskins news, but I have something for you to start the show. From a source, Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen are very aware of the hashtag fire Bruce Allen movement, and they don't really care. All right? Now, for now, anyway, it looks like Bruce Allen is staying in the organization and in the same role. I personally still think that could change, but that's just based on my own gut and my own

common sense. But my source tells me that Bruce isn't going anywhere and that the only thing that might happen is some sort of bogus announcement about a new role. And then there is this. The Redskins have interviewed at least one potential replacement for Brian Lafamina for his job, the job of president of business operations slash chief operating officer. That's the title he had with the organization. The interview or interviews have included people from outside of the organization. So this This to me is an indication that they still believe that they are still stuck on a ticket-selling issue rather than a product on the field issue, and that it's something that can still be

solved by a business person more than a quality football person who develops a winning product. When Tom mentioned two weeks ago about the Lafamina issue about Ruben Foster, that was confirmed to me as well, that Lafamina and his group had a major problem with claiming Ruben Foster off waivers. They went to Dan and Bruce and said, you know, this is not, as we've discussed here, this is not about innocence or guilt. You know, if you, you may think he's totally innocent, and this is why you've done it, but that has nothing to do with it. This is going to impact things like suiteholders, corporate sponsors, and the overall attempt to be an organization

that was taking a new path of doing smart things rather than dumb things. And now, this wasn't the only thing that led to Lafamina and his group's departure. They were at odds with Dan and Bruce going back to early in the season. Remember when Bruce went on WTOP to say he was expecting a sellout for the Colts home opener? And Lafamina was out there at the same time saying, hey, we've got lots of tickets available. You know, Lafamina, like many who have come here before, thought he would be the one that could lead a culture change,

only to find out that the challenge of doing so is much harder from the outside, on the inside, than it looks from the outside. Especially for a guy that was attempting to be, you know, a new face almost, a new direction in the organization, making one public appearance after another, which is what Lafamene was doing, and admitting things publicly that clearly Dan and Bruce didn't want admitted. things like the waiting list is gone, it's been gone, we've got tickets available, we want to change the way we've done business, we want to do things the right way versus the way we used to do things. All of these proclamations publicly in the various appearances that Brian Lafamina made all infuriated the owner in particular right from the jump. Why did it infuriate him? Because of what I've been saying. He and Bruce never believe that they are. are at fault for any of this.

You know, the losing, the shenanigans, it's always been someone else's fault. So when Lafamina was out there saying, hey, we're going to change because we haven't been doing it right, you know, we're going to be more transparent, we're going to be more honest, we're going to try to do it the right way, we're going to put customers first. This was a slap in the face to Dan, who thought, you know, he had been treating his customer base just fine. And again, the worst part of this for Dan and Bruce is they did it to themselves. They could have just hired this guy and never told us one thing about him. Just another business hire, nothing to see here.

But they made his hire into such a big deal, and then they sent him out there to say how great things were going to be. But per usual, once someone else starts to get some of the attention as a potential game changer in the organization, like Scott McLuhan, they get insecure and vindictive, and it almost always ends poorly. and this one did as well. And I mentioned a few weeks ago that the person that replaces Lafamina,

if they replace Lafamina, and my source is telling me they are trying to replace Lafamina with outside interviews. So somebody from outside the organization, which would tell you, you know, again, you know, that more likely than not, that's not the spot that Bruce is going to get moved into necessarily. He'll still have a lot of control over it. But the person that does replace Lafamina, they shouldn't tell us anything about this person.

I mean, they will. But the guy they might hire will likely be someone they will tout as a great hire, but they shouldn't tout this person at all. Because they should learn from past experience that more likely than not, and you never go into these things thinking this way. But what if we, Dan and Bruce speaking for them, what if we have to get rid of this guy too? Like we had to get rid of Brian.

Like we had to get rid of Scott. like we had to get rid of coaches in previous, you know, times. I mean, coaches are different, football side's different, but, you know, you just, that guy that takes the gig will likely be regretting that he ever took the job in the first place, but the team's got to play this one much differently. Don't tell us. Don't tell us. I'm also hearing one more thing. I'm hearing that Bruce Allen does intend to speak.

Now, it may not be until the Super Bowl week, which is where, he has spoken in the past. You know, Radio Road doing a couple of safe landing, you know, radio interviews. He'll definitely be on with national guys. Bruce has always been much more comfortable, you know, doing interviews with people who aren't following the day-to-day details of what's going on here. He's got a friend out in San Diego that does Sports Talk Radio or used to anyway. I don't know if he still does it, Dan Cilio, who he's gone on with many times. Bruce has done much more in terms of interviewing and public speaking with outside the market people, both in print and broadcast.

So look for something from him during Super Bowl week, I am told. And that also is another indication that he ain't going anywhere. Because you would think by the Super Bowl week that if he were going to be completely gone, he'd be gone by then. Anyway, just a couple of things. I mean, no major, major news there. I think the one thing that is of interest is that they have interviewed at least one person from outside the organization. And I'm hearing perhaps it's more than one about the Brian Lafamina position.

All right. You know, also one other note on this. When Bruce does decide to speak, and I know I do this often where I try to. help them from a public relations standpoint. I'm sure some of you think I'm wrong in the advice that I've given them in the past. I think hindsight will prove that if they had handled situations the way I've suggested that they handled them, that they would have been better off. I mean, the Scott McLuhan handling was just complete and utter vindictive, angry, mean-spirited,

and really, you know, was one of those events, I think, of the last decade, if you want to call it off the field, you know, a winning off the field, you know, Bruce Allen moment. But summarining him publicly with the anonymous quotes to the post the day that he was fired was just as low road and low rent as an organization can go. I think that's as low road as they've gone. And they've gone low road a lot. But that was one that really, really ticked me off. And I remember when it happened and my reaction with Cool.

on the air. But anyway, I think if Bruce speaks, and he's here for the duration, he's probably not going to say much, but he should. Even if he's not asked the difficult questions, he should have a plan to get the following out there. I think he should say and admit up front, I know the fan base doesn't like me, wants me out, but he should be firm and say, I'm not going anywhere. My owner thinks I've done a good job. But we both know, Dan and I both know, it needs to be much better. You know, we've built a nucleus of players along the offensive and defensive lines that we think will be the foundation of a winning team. We've had injuries, too many of them, to legitimately compete for the playoffs.

And I think he should say that. Because this is, and I've said this many times about injuries, they're not excuses. In the sport that they are competing in, they are reasons, legitimate reasons, for not performing. Now, we can talk about whether or not with better health, they would have been good enough anyway. But I think he should say, look, if it sounds like I'm making excuses, injuries aren't excuses. There are a reality in our sport,

and if you're down to your fourth quarterback, you're not going to go to the playoffs. If you're down to your 11th and 12th guards, it's going to be difficult to field an NFL offensive line. We're looking into the reasons for two straight injury-plagued seasons, We don't think it's something we're doing wrong, but we're trying to learn and we're trying to figure it out. And then he should look forward. We've got free agency and another draft to improve.

We've held on to our draft choices for the most part. And this is the vehicle we are using to try to build a winner. We've added good young talent in the draft the last two years. You know he's not going to go back to him a McLuhan draft. And he'll talk about John Allen and Duran Payne and Sean Dionne Hamilton and Tim Settle and Ryan Anderson and Fabian Moreau and Josh Harvey Clemens. and all the guys that Greg Stroman, all the guys they've drafted in the last two years that are all starters or major contributors on defense. And then he should talk about offensively. They're excited about Darius Geis. It was unfortunate that he tore his ACL, but he's going to come back

just as strong, and they're excited about having what they believe to be a real young dynamic talent in their backfield. And I would mention, you know, if I were him, other players, young players, like Trey Quinn, people are going to love him. And I think we saw, just enough of him to know that he potentially is the replacement for James and Crowder as a slot receiver. And he can mention future starters and guys like Geron Christian that the draft, we're focused on building this the right way. We want to take the approach we've taken in recent years focusing on the draft. Dan has been patient, frustrated but patient, and he's been supportive. He's going to give us a little more time to get this done. We're going to add more

pieces in the offseason. We'll get a ton of help off our injuries. reserve list and we'll take another swing at this thing next year. And he should say, I hear the frustration and it's totally justified. But please know we are working hard and we're trying to do it the right way to make you proud of a team that wins. Stick with us in this process for a little longer. And if we don't produce soon, you'll get your wish. I think he's just got to own, I think the organization, it's time for them to own some of this.

and say that they hear it, they see it, they feel it. They understand the frustration. It's justified. Because there are things they have done in recent years that are better than the way they used to do it. They are not producing different results. So you have that. But they are traditionally better ways to build a,

a sustained winner. You know, using the draft, like they've used it, focusing on interior players, defensive line, offensive line. You can't debate the fact that they have done that. So you focus on those positives and how you're going to build that way, but you don't do it at the expense of not admitting the mistakes and that the frustration is totally justified. and just asking for a tiny more, tiny more time, tiny bit of time. Moving forward.

It's not going to work. But I'd like to see them occasionally, publicly not come off as completely detached from reality and not come off as totally arrogant beyond description. A little humility, just a little. from a guy like Dan Snyder or Bruce Allen would go a long way. Not all the way, but it would go some of the way.

That's asking a lot. As I've said, it's tough to change leopards spots. That's who they are. That's who they are from a personality standpoint. They're always right, never wrong. It's always someone else's fault. And they believe themselves to be truly the smartest people. in the room. Though that kind of personality is very difficult to change when you get to a certain

age, I would think. Look, nobody's more right more often than I am. John Kime coming up, we're going to get to the NFL playoff games as well. I've got a smell test this weekend. I don't, it's like last weekend, Aaron, I don't love any of the games. I mean, it's not like I'm dying to play any of the games, but there is, there may be one or two things that fit the smell test criteria a bit. Let me tell you about Wind Donation real quickly before we get to John Kime. Wind Donation, Harley Aaron, they're the founders of Wind Donation, they are brothers, great guys, terrific entrepreneurs, relentless workers and sellers. They built this company into a powerhouse nationally, and they've got strong markets, and our markets, one of them.

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sent you. All right, let's welcome in John Kime to the show. Of course, everybody knows John covers the team for ESPN and ESPN.com. And here we are, John, on January 11th, and coaching changes being made all over the league, and coordinators getting hired all over the league, and the Redskins have had hardly any news with respect to front office coaching staff, although Kotweka is reportedly going to Atlanta, and Torian Gray is reportedly gone. What are you hearing right now? I talked early in the show that as it relates to Bruce, right now it looks like the status quo. He'll remain in the organization in more likely than not the same role.

Yeah, that to me has always been my understanding. And that's kind of what we had heard at the end of the season. And I think it's holding true, as you know. and even if, you know, listen, Kevin, we both know that even if he got shifted over to just a primary only or business role only, that I still would think that he'd have a lot of say and things that go on. I would just wonder if that would be more for public consumption than it would be for reality in the organization. And, you know, we don't know that to be true, but that's, I think we both know that that's how this organization works and how it goes there, that that's probably what would have been the case. So, but yes, I mean, my understanding has always been that he would be back. I know that both Dan and Bruce are very familiar right now with the, you know,

hashtag fire Bruce Allen movement, which is really one of the more incredible things that has had sustaining, you know, power here over the last few weeks that I've ever seen with this organization. Do you think, I mean, have you heard anything with respect to that the owner, ever even considered, you know, that this was a serious request from the fan base, one that he should take seriously? You know, I think it sounds like to me that it caught them, caught Dan maybe a little bit by surprise, the depth of it. I think my understanding has always been that Bruce is aware of what fans, how fans feel

about him, and I think he's a little bit confused by that. you know, for whatever reason. But that's been my understanding of that. As far as, like, what did Dan consider things? I mean, we've seen him consider things because of situations like this in the past. I mean, it pretty much led from Vinny Serato to Bruce Allen. And so, you know, but I don't know that it was, I don't know how serious. It would be hard for me to say how seriously he would have considered that.

But I think like you, I know that he was aware of it. I think if you're aware of it, you have to at least consider things because it's not like there hasn't been some displeasure with things from the past couple years. And they also are an organization that clearly needs to, you know, I think they have started to realize how much they need to regain favor among the fam base. If they haven't, then they're not paying attention and they'll have no hope. but I think one way you'd have to look at that and say, well, do I need to make this move? So if you don't consider it, you're making a mistake because why wouldn't you?

But clearly it didn't get to the serious level because he's still there. But I do think that it took them a little bit by surprise the depths of that. But my understanding, again, is that Bruce has known for a while that fans dislike him in his mind for whatever reason. I asked Tommy this yesterday, and it occurred to me literally as we started the show, to go back to five years ago when Jay Gruden was hired. And can you imagine if I had told you five years ago that Jay Gruden was going to be the coach here in year six and be under contract through a year seven?

and if I told you that that was going to happen five years ago in 2014, January of 2014, what would you have thought his list of accomplishments were? I mean, given the history of coaches. Yeah, certainly a lot more than what it's been. You know, I mean, he's the longest tenured coach under Snyder. I mean, so you would think that there would be a few playoff appearances, is probably a playoff win. A couple playoff wins.

A few playoff wins, yes, yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I certainly, you know, I mean, it certainly would be more than what has happened, that's for sure. Tommy and I got into a bit of an argument because I said part of what you would have thought would have been included among his accomplishments if he had gotten a sixth year is that he would have figured out a way to fix RG3. because when he got...

When he got hired, I mean, that was one of the reasons he got the job is because clearly he said in the process, I like him and I can fix him. Yeah, and I don't know, I don't know, like, I mean, that was at the time, certainly the narrative. I don't know if that was a true, true sentiment. I don't, you know what I mean? So I don't know. But yes, I mean true from his? perspective, that he thought he could do it.

You know, who knows if that's something you say in an interview of the time that you truly believe. But because it certainly seemed like he kind of soured on things early. But I also think that, you know, you looked at Griffin at the time. And even though you heard some things, you look at a guy who has the skills that he does and you feel like you can at least, okay, if he can make good decisions on the run, if nothing else, then I can work with this. But yeah, I think I was, when I was going over that, one of my first thoughts, and I didn't say it, but was the Griffin thing, I would think that he would have had a bigger role than he did.

But I also, you know, I think you go back at that time and you kind of feel like, I don't know that I would have foreseen Griffin having that kind of a run even at that time. But we weren't, you know, having said that, while we had from Robert at that time was one great year and one not great year. Right. And the injury. And so like you could have said, okay, if he comes back to his full help, Because even in the 2014 summer, you were making a case like, hey, maybe this guy does get it. Or maybe, you know, maybe, you know, you didn't know at that time that, no, there's no, he's not going to do it. You know, so, yeah, I mean, I think you go back to January 2014.

You could think that, wow, he really did make it work with Robert. All right. A couple of things. Ben Kotweka, it's been reported, took a job in Atlanta. But reported by the Falcons. Right. The team has not said anything about it. No.

been no comment from the team, no press release. The only thing that they'll tell you is that they gave him permission to interview. Okay, so they gave him permission to interview. So, I mean, I just, I'm just confirming with you, he's going to be Atlanta's special teams coach, right? This isn't going to come back as a, hey, we gave you permission to interview, but we didn't give you permission to leave. That's my understanding. Nobody is corrected that. I will say this, like with the Torian Gray stuff, it was corrected.

to me that he was that he is not out as special teams or excuse me as secondary coach whether that happens or not it's he's still on the staff it has not been corrected with with cut weka it was just only said that we gave him permission interview and the falcons tweeted that out so you know that's a pretty good source okay so you think cot week is going to be in atlanta when all you know eventually the team will be forced to acknowledge and announced that Cutweke is going to Atlanta. You feel the same way about Tori and Gray that eventually it will be announced that he is left for Denver as well? To be honest with you, I don't even think it's that big of a deal. I mean, I actually

thought Torian Gray was a decent coach and a decent young coach. I think he works well with the young guys more so than the veterans. I think he, I think that's what my, you know, my understanding has always been that with, you know, a lot of the young guys play for him in college. But I think that's where his skills have been. And I think there's been some frustration with some of the veterans. But, yeah, I think he's a detailed coach, things I like about him a lot. But, you know, I don't know. It's hard for me to say that he won't be back or that he would be back.

I think once you start hearing those rumors and, you know, they're talking to other people, where you kind of figure it doesn't look good. Right. All right. What about other coaches? Give me some gut feels on Callahan, on Tom Sula. Well, Callahan is under contract, so unless he wants to just quit or retire, I don't know that he's going anywhere.

Tom Sula is not under contract. And it sounds like he's deciding whether or not he wants to continue. I would believe they would want him back. But, you know, I think if both of the. are back? I don't know. It's hard to go sometimes on gut-feel on these things because you hear so many things. But like I said, with Callahan, he's under contract. So I think he would have to break that. I think in general, I think we can both expect there will be a decent amount of changes. And I think Minusky, too, would be the one clearly that they're looking to see if they

can improve there. So where are we on that? Well, I wish I had a better answer for you, Kevin. I just know that we hear names and, you know, whether it's Todd Bowles or would Greg Williams really be a candidate. I think, you know, the thing that has always been told to me is that they're looking at everything. And, you know, including like, would they be better off going from a three, four to a four or three base, you know, which would tell me that if you are, then you're probably going to look for a guy who runs, who has been more familiar with that. So, you know, but yeah, I don't, all I know is that they're looking at everything and that he is still under contract. Those are the facts. And I would just, you know, the one thing I say, too, is that this has to be an odd situation because if you're all looking for a guy and there's, you know, rumors about them looking at guys and talking to guys and you have a guy under contract, how do you bring that guy back and then say, well, we're giving you full of 30 still?

You know, it just don't, don't you think that feels a bit odd? Well, yeah, I do, but everything here is odd. And I think that there is a recognition that they could potentially do a lot better with a defensive coordinator. But, you know, but who, the problem is, is wanting to do something and then having somebody willing to accept your offer two different things. And right now, I don't know who is going to accept their offer. And that's my thing, because in here's, when you look at it, you look at the offer. this, what do most coaches want? They want security. Just like anybody else in the, in the, in the, in the working world, you want some, well, look, security. Where is the security here?

Because you're coming into now year six of a coach who hasn't made the playoffs in three years. That's right. And, you know, for whatever reason, that's on, you know, we all, you're judged by your record ultimately. And if, if you come here and you're a, you know, whether, whether it had been a top balls, which I didn't really. see or Greg Williams, somebody like that, why come here if you have another choice where you can get that security? You know, what is so special about coming here that would top that desire? Because you know that in a year, if it doesn't go well, you might be on the street again. Now, maybe you go out and you get a guy who's an up-and-comer who you've used this as a chance,

like this is a good chance for me to go show what I can do. Maybe you do that. you know, maybe you just tweak the roster. Maybe it's just personnel. Maybe you do a better job constructing the roster in some areas. You know, so I think there's things that you can do, but that would be my one concern if I'm them. Are you going to get somebody, you know, who's better, but also willing to come here in these circumstances?

And they, you know, people know, people know, you hear, I'm sure they know as much as a lot of people about what it's like to work here. Is it conducive to allowing them to win? Is it a place where you can, like, you know, do you know that Jay will be here in two years? No, you don't. You know, nobody does. Yeah, I think that's a really good point, that it's not just the places viewed around the league is toxic and you don't want to be in that organization.

It's that you have the added piece of you've got a head coach that is nine games under 500 that miraculously is going to coach his sixth year. But if you're logical and you look at their roster and you look at the division and you look at the team, you know, there's a pretty good chance a year from now. He's gone and so is his entire staff. Yeah, and they don't have a – and I think the other thing is like if you came and say,

okay, you know what, they struggled this year, but God, look at the roster and look at that quarterback and the guy's coming back. And then you know, okay, this is the kind of team that could be, you know, like, oh, I could – I'd love to work with a quarterback like Alex Smith it because it helps my defense look better, which helps me look better too. But, you know, that, I mean, you don't know who the quarterback is going to be next year.

So I think that even for a defensive coordinator, that would have to be part of your thought process. Right now, unless you have no other choice. If you don't have another choice, then I think you can make it look attractive, of course, because you don't have anything else. But if you have choices, then is this a spot that you would say that's the best place for me? And again, they're like, whatever the atmosphere here is or not, they can get people here because they have gotten some people here. And I don't think it's always been a matter of people just telling them no. I think it's a matter of them choosing other people at times.

So, you know, and I think the other thing is, too, I mean, if they go for another coordinator, that's what, that's four coordinators. They haven't gotten it right then. What makes, you know, is their confidence that they can get it right this time? you know, so, and I think the other thing, Kevin, too, is like the one thing, too, I look at guys like Greg Williams, and Greg, we all know what he did here. Greg had a tremendous staff when he was in Washington, and I think that gets, I think you can't understate how important having the entire staff is because you can bring in Greg Williams, but if he doesn't have a bring in a good staff with him, it's just, you can't, you're not going to, it's going to be harder to win or it's harder to make your defense look good. What's Greg Blasch doing these days? I don't even know where he is, actually. He's probably in his cabin smoking cigars and drinking red wine. And probably enjoying himself and laughing at all this.

Right. Yeah. Of course. I mean, he had a good deal. Look, Gibbs didn't lack in insecurity. He felt confident and comfortable with smart people and smart coaches and good coaches being around him. All right. So let me just finish up one point here.

So you, I mean, I don't think there's, I think Bowles is going to end up in Tampa and Greg Williams is going to end up elsewhere. You do too, right? Okay. Yeah, yeah. So let's get to some players. I saw that you wrote yesterday that Jay Gruden wants Josh Johnson re-signed. First of all, update us on anything you know about Alex Smith and his ability to play in 2019. And then what you think their quarterback plan will be. Yeah, Jay had said that he would like Josh was signed, that he would be comfortable with that. And I think they would view him as much as a backup. And you could go Colt McCoy, Josh Johnson, and a rookie if they think Alex Smith is not going to be ready. Now, nobody has come out and said Alex Smith will not play in 2019.

I think we can all look at this and deduce that I think it's going to be difficult to count on him for next year. So I think to me, if I'm them, I'm planning for life without Alex Smith, at least in 2019. and then anything else after that you can come back, that's great. But you certainly have to move forward as if maybe that isn't the case. So I would, you know, I would, like I said, nobody has said it's a long shot. Nobody has even said it, you know, certainly probably agree that it's a long shot for 2019. But when you hear things like, well, if anybody can do it, Alex can't.

That tells me that, like, this is obviously a brutal road for him to recover from. And so, again, I, you know, I, you know, I, am not expecting to see him in 2019, but that is not official, and that's more of a gut just connecting dots. Let me just interrupt for one second, because to me, as I'm sitting here listening to you speaking, I don't know that I've thought about it this way, but they're two different, these are two totally different conversations, the conversation of no 2019 versus him being back at some point during 2019, because if they believe, you.

leave that there's a chance he could be back, let's say, after the first half of the season, then the strategy may be, you know, re-signed Josh Johnson, Colt McCoy, have them battle it out, have them play half the season until, you know, or six games or whatever it is until Alex is ready, versus if he's not ready for 2019, well, then all of a sudden he's a 36-year-old quarterback in 2020. And I think we'll know, like, to be honest, in the draft, what their thoughts are. because if you're, and this is something that I was thinking about too, if Carla Murray and deed is going in the draft, that helps them because now you're pushing someone else down and there aren't a ton of, you know, there's only about, I kind of

added up, it's like six or seven teams that truly need a quarterback right now. And they're, you know, between the free agent market and the draft, they may get fortunate and have one fall down to them at 15. I don't know. Or maybe it's like not a prohibitive trade to go up a few spots to get one of those quarterbacks if you like them. And let's say they, you know, to be honest, they probably is a guy like Drew Locke, if you like him or not.

I mean, I don't know that they do, but maybe a guy like that gets pushed down and or is there for them if they like him, you know, or maybe one of the other guys like the kid from Duke or, you know, or Haskins, maybe they're not as high. You don't have to go up as high to get them, you know, something like that. And I don't know. But, you know, that, I think that certainly helps him. But I think, like, if you think that, if you think that, if you think that, Smith will be back at some point, then maybe you wait until the later rounds to get a guy so you have a third guy in camp and you have another guy in your roster so you're not caught the way you were this year needing to bring in guys who not only could play but also had to learn your offense.

And I think, you know, so yeah, I think you could see based on their strategy in the draft what they think. And, you know, even like a few weeks ago, I think it was still like you still have to wait and see there's a long way to go in this. you know, definitely with Alex's recovery because it's, it was a brutal thing that he went through and all those surgeries that he went through and the infections. And, you know, I don't, I don't, I have no idea if he's out of the woods yet with everything or not. You know, we know that he went home running around Christmas, but, you know, it will be more, I don't know what is the future for him at this point. But I think if they go, if you go take a quarterback in the first round, there's your answer.

You know, and it's like, I think, you know, if you have a guy there you like, you have to take them. Even if you think Alex is coming back in the following year, if there's a guy you like, how do you not take him, right? Well, you, you know, you're an organization right now that is, you know, in the mode to me of having so many needs. So you take the best player on your board. Yeah, exactly. That's the way I would do it. Like if Montez Sweat from Mississippi State or some of these great defensive players that are in this draft, a greedy Williams or somebody like that are false to, you know, and they've got him a lot of great defensive players and some legit edge rushers too.

And I think that will be the, to me, like that's an interesting one to one because depending what happens with Preston Smith, what they do there. And even if they have Preston and Ryan Kerrigan, you still would look at it and say, any grade 3-4, you have to have that, you know, you want to look for that Von Miller type, obviously. Everybody wants Von Miller or Kahliel Mack or those guys. But if you have a guy who's a highly athletic guy who can get to the passion like that, you've got to take them. But, yeah, I mean, to me, like if you have a quarterback that you like,

and they're there and you feel like this is the guy that, not just that we need a quarterback, but we like this quarterback. To me, it's the second part is more important than the need. You better like them because it's not. Yeah, you're stuck. And you lose out on a potentially good defensive player. They've got to rebuild that side of the ball. I mean, there's no doubt.

Or not just rebuild it. They have to add to it. They have a great building block with that defensive front. I mean, it's, you know, it really is good. And they have some parts on there that are good, but they do need more help. And, you know, and that's one of the areas and then in the back. Okay. Last thing.

Actually, two more things. On other players real quickly. and I'll just rip through them and just say, you know, your gut feel is yes, they're back or no, they're not. Preston Smith. Gutfield will be no. I think he's going to be outpriced in the market. James and Crowder. I think that's a tough one.

I kind of want to say yes, but it might be 51.40. I know that they would obviously like to have them back, but I heard that last year about a few guys who ended up going elsewhere. So I think that's a market thing too. It might be 50.5 to 49.5 that I think you might be back. But I think if you had to go with your, you know, you look at it logically, they have Trey Quinn there. They could plug in and you can go spend that money. You know, maybe you take a receiver in the draft who's got some explosiveness and you can

go from there. And it's not, you know, because I think with Jameson, that price could get to $8 million a year. Are you willing to pay Jameson $8 million a year? That's a harder one thing. What about Josh Norman? I think right now, I would say he'll be back because where else do they go? And, you know, it's a $14 million cap hit or they save like $14 million, whatever it is. And but then you've got to replace him and you've got to replace him with a quality starting quarterback.

And I think you could go, like if Quentin Dunbar, my understanding is that, you know, doctors told him he'd be fine. with the nerve. The rest will help him. But until you get him back out there, are you going to know for sure? And so let's say that if you're concerned about Quentin, and then you have to get another cornerback, now maybe you need two.

So, you know, my gut would say that he's back because even though the cap figures high, you still have to replace him and not just replace him, but replace him with a quality starting corner. Last one player-related. They have to extend, and Brandon Sheriff in this offseason, don't they?

Yeah. I mean, the contract, you know, Norwell, et cetera, that guards are getting, but he's going into his final year. You can't let him get to free agency in 2020. No, you can't. You got to, yes, I agree with you. You can't. I mean, and they know how, you know, the best thing for,

I shouldn't be the best thing for him, but in terms of like his value, what happened after he went out, should remind everybody just how good he is, but I don't think they needed a reminder. They knew that before he went out, and then it was hammered home after he was out. John, thanks. Really appreciate it. Enjoy the games this weekend. We'll catch up soon. Awesome, Kevin. Thanks. Quick moment to tell you about Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. If you're thinking about a new vehicle, a Chrysler Dodge Jeep, Subaru also,

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weekend, too. I actually hope we end up with much better games, because really the only dramatic finish was the last game, the Philadelphia-Chicago game. The Chargers Patriots to me is the game of the weekend because I think you have in the Chargers a team that most people believe right now in terms of an all-around team may be the best team in the AFC. And, you know, They could be hosting the AFC title game next week against the Colts. I mean, would anybody be surprised with any result in the AFC playoffs this weekend? I wouldn't. You know, the Colts winning, the Chiefs winning, the Chargers winning, the Patriots winning.

None of those teams, if they win the game, is going to shock anybody, which is why Chargers hosting Colts in the AFC title game is possible. I'm looking forward to the Chargers versus the Patriots. I'm not, you know, I'm not bashful about my belief that Philip Rivers is a Hall of Fame quarterback. And I've gone out, I mean, this is, you know, four or five years ago. I said Philip Rivers is going to be a Hall of Famer. He's a great quarterback. And I got mocked.

There was one caller. I can't remember his name. I wish I could remember his name. And if you know who I'm talking about, tweet me. But a guy that used to always call and have a serious question. and then at the end just say something like, well, of course, and Philip Rivers is going to be in the Hall of Fame. And then he'd hang up real quickly. I do think Philip Rivers is a Hall of Fame.

I think he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. You know, the guy that he gets compared to all the time is who, Eli Manning, because they were drafted at the same time. And if you look at the statistics of the two quarterbacks, it's really not close. Philip Rivers has been a much more productive quarterback overall factoring in all games than Eli Manning. You know, the problem, of course, is that this position often gets critiqued based on postseason performance. I was going to say, when is the last time a quarterback was a first ballot hall of

famer without a Super Bowl? So the quarterbacks that have not won Super Bowls. that are in the Hall of Fame. God, where's that list? My son quizzed me on this the other night. I mean, Marino, obviously. Marino, obviously, Kelly, Moon, Hall of Fame quarterbacks that have not won Super Bowls. Fouts, there are five of them, I believe.

Marino, Kelly, Moon, Fouts, and there's one other one. from the Super Bowl era we're talking about, from the Super Bowl era. And really, since the merger, I think, is, I'm forgetting somebody right now. It's not Ken Anderson. He's not a Hall of Famer. Oh, Fran Tarkington. Tarkington. Those are the five.

I believe they're five that are in the Hall of Fame without ever having won a Super Bowl. Now, of those five, four of them, I'm sorry, two of them didn't play in Super Bowls, Moon and Fouts. Fouts was close. He got to two AFC title games with the Chargers. They lost to the Raiders one year, and then they lost that frigid game in Cincinnati minus 59 wind chill in January of 1982. They lost that game when they were probably the better team, but they were not in what you would call a cold weather team. And Moon got to an AFC title game, but did not get his team to a Super Bowl. Now, when my son was reading this list back to me the other night, and I ended up getting all five guys, he said Moon's considered a champion because of all of his CFL titles. But he did not win a Super Bowl. So there's room for Rivers to be in the Hall of Fame, obviously. I think Rivers makes the Hall of Fame. I don't know if he's a first ballot guy. Let me just tell you, of these five quarterbacks that have not gotten to a Super Bowl, Marino's number one.

Of course. Right. Kelly's number two. and if Rivers makes the Hall of Fame, I think Rivers is three on that list, just barely ahead of, maybe Tarkington. But he's right with Moon and Fouts, you know, in terms of production. And I haven't compared him to Tarkington.

I think he's, personally, I think he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame or even if he doesn't get there, but this is obviously his best chance. And here's one of the things that will, you know, will hurt him. He's one in seven, time against Brady. So he's got an opportunity to really fix that. Now, one of the losses to

Brady in the postseason was him on an ACL, torn ACL. He played that championship game that year with Norve on a torn ACL. The other one was the year that they got, they were 14 and 2, played the Patriots in the divisional round at home, had the lead. Brady threw an interception, all right, and instead of the defensive back going down, he tried to run with the ball, got hit, fumbled, the Patriots got it back, went down for the winning touchdown. Some flukish stuff happened along the way. But anyway, and that was a Marty loss too.

That was a Marty Schottnheimer loss. That was also he had torn his ACL, hadn't it? No, the torn ACL was when they played the Patriots in Foxborough in the in the, in the AFC title game. when they got there with Norve. The Chargers, though, had lost to the Patriots, lost to the Patriots again with Marty as the coach in a game that they had won,

that they ended up losing 24-21 when they had the interception and fumbled it back. I mean, that was, that was a shame. And I'm just trying to think, did that loss, was that loss after the torn ACL game. The torn ACL game was 2007. The other one was the year before. The other one was the year before they lost to the Patriots. And that was a team, that that Charger team in 2006 was Marty

Schottenheimer and they were a, I think they were a 14 and two number one seed going into that postseason with Rivers as a very, very young quarterback at that point. Anyway, he's got to get the postseason success. Not for the Hall of Fame. I don't. don't believe, but maybe for that first ballot Hall of Fame, you know, if you care about that stuff. And I think this is his best chance to do it. I think they're the best, I think they're the most complete team of the four in the AFC. They're not, it's not only to me the best game of the weekend going in. It's the most intriguing team to watch going in because, you know, from my standpoint, personal preference, I really want Rivers to advance. And winning in Foxborough in the postseason,

ain't easy. Baltimore has done it. The Jets have done it. That's it, right? Baltimore has done it twice, and the Jets have done it once. And I'm talking about during the Belichick era. I think the Patriots lost with Grogan once or twice at home. But I think the Ravens and the Jets are the only teams to have won in Foxborough, right? The Colts never won in Foxborough. I don't believe. The Raiders obviously had a chance in the Tuck Rule game. I'm just going back and thinking, thinking about these various games. But that's it. You know, they lost to the Jets in a divisional round game, 28-21.

That was, you know, a Sanchez team with the great defense, coached by Rex Ryan. And then they lost to the Ravens, I think, a couple times. They lost to them in the championship game the year that the Ravens went to the Super Bowl. And I think they also lost to them badly in a wild card game. That was 2010, I want to say? Yeah, the 09-10 season And they also had them on the ropes

Either the year after or two years after the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2012 Had them on the ropes in the divisional round I think the Patriots won that game like 37-34 Or something like that But the Ravens had a lead in that game I think they were up two touchdowns at one point in that game And blew that lead

But I think those are the only two teams They've ever lost to at home The Steelers have never beat them beaten them in Foxborough, and they've lost to them, I think, twice in Pittsburgh in the postseason. God, have they played a lot of playoff games in the Brady Belichick era? I can't even think of all of them. Anyway, the Chargers, I think, could become the third team to win in Foxborough in the postseason. I'd like to see it happen.

I'm looking forward to that one. Who's on upset alert? I guess technically everybody's on upset alert this weekend. You know, there's the Saints, I don't think. we'll lose that game, but I think most people can make a case for any of the underdogs, any of the road teams winning outright. I think the biggest upset would be an Eagles win in the Superdome. I think that would be the biggest surprise of the weekend. I think there are a couple of key players this weekend, too. I really look at Indianapolis their chances of going into Arrowhead

tomorrow, potentially in a bad weather situation at Arrowhead, some snow, sleet, freezing rain kind of a deal. They've got to be able to run the football. Can Marlon Mack in that offensive line, but Mack has really made people miss in that running game? You know, he's got terrific vision, and I think he's a key player, because if he ends up having the kind of plays that he made in Houston, and he makes those plays in Kansas City, and you keep that ball away from Patrick Mahomes, then the Colts are going to win that game. You know, the Chiefs win the game 3128, you know, 34, 27. If it's a low-possession game because the Colts are running it down their throat,

that's going to hurt. I think Dak Prescott is a major big player this weekend. He cannot turn the ball over because the Rams right now, if you look at them, Jared Goff has not played great down the stretch. and they have been vulnerable to really good defensive teams and struggling against really good defensive teams, like the Bears, as an example, like the Eagles. You know, when the Eagles went in there,

Eagles are a much better defensive team now than they were a month ago or a month and a half ago. But if Dak Prescott turns the ball over, Dallas has no chance. If he doesn't turn the ball over, then I think Dallas has a legitimate chance. But I think the problem with Dallas and their prospects of advancing further come down to the quarterbacks. He's been prone to making some bad plays.

He threw an interception in the red zone, into the end zone, in his 17-14 game last week against Seattle. I think he's a major player to keep an eye on. And I do think that Fletcher Cox and the way he's been playing and defensively can Philadelphia do a much better job against New Orleans, than they did when they got blown out 48-7. I think they will. I don't think it's going to be enough.

But I think Fletcher Cox right now is playing at a level that's really off the charts and that he wasn't playing at that level early to mid-season, but he is now. I'm looking forward to all four of these games. I'm going to get to the smell test here in a moment, but I give the Colts a chance, I give the Cowboys a chance, I give the Chargers a chance,

It's all three divisional round games with road teams as under touchdown underdogs. I don't personally give Philadelphia a chance to win the game. I think most of you do. I would be surprised if we saw 48 to 7 again. But I don't think 34 to 21 or 34 to 17 is out of the question when we get to late Sunday. All right, let me tell you real quickly about launch workplaces in Bethes. If you live in the Bethesda Upper Northwest D.C. area, Chevy Chase, just over the bridge, the American Legion Bridge in northern Virginia, and you're looking for a convenient place to work out of home, you know, a place with, you know, co-working desks or a small office.

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Launchworkplaces.com today. Try it. Or call 240-86714. Let's get to the smell test. looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right, last week, just one play. I gave out the Bears minus six and a half. I felt really good about it. It didn't work.

So a loser last weekend, 107 wins, 84 losses, and four pushes on the 2018, 2019 smell test season. This weekend I got two plays. Let me just say that the one game that I would, was hoping I wasn't going to be forced to play based on the way the smell test works, which is very much a contrarian style of handicapping, you know, looking primarily for where most of the public money, most of the public numbers of wagers are and betting against that sentiment. There's more to it, and I've mentioned this many times. I have access to information about

where certain sharp action is. But for the most part, it's just that. the realization over many years that the house wins more than it loses. And the house advantage and the house winnings come from much more than just the built-in vigorous, the fee that you pay for losing. The lines

we use are Friday lines from Covers.com and Scoresandodds.com usually I'll pick one of them and use them and not necessarily the one that benefits me the most. It's just the one that I happen to look up in the moment. And right now,

I'll use covers, covers.com for their lines. I don't anticipate a lot of line movement in these games anyway. The Chicago pick last week, let me just mention that I just, I know I talked about this on Monday. I really, I'm disappointed Chicago's not moving forward in the postseason. I'm disappointed that Cody Parky missed that field goal because I think they played that game nervously and too conservatively early in the first half. I think they were lucky to be up at halftime in that game. Philadelphia outplayed them in the first half.

But I really think Chicago had a chance moving forward to beat the Rams and then give the Saints a really good game in the Superdome. And I don't feel that way about Philadelphia or Dallas in particular. The Rams could go to the Superdome and we could have an entertaining game like we did the first go-around. But anyway, here are the two plays. The first one is on Saturday night. The Kansas City indie game, I actually thought that I might be giving out

Kansas City because there's public action on the Colts. There's also some sharp action on the Colts. I actually would lean over in that game and I would lean Kansas City in that game, but neither is a smell test pick. And the reason I'd lean over is there's supposed to be bad weather. You're going to get a lot of public action. Here's something to keep an eye on. As the public becomes more aware of the weather in Kansas City, which is dicey. Like, it could be snow or the snow may just end before kickoff, which if that's the case, the field will probably be fine. And wind is more of a factor typically than snow and ice anyway.

But I think that the public will play the under, and they rarely play unders, but they'll play unders in bad weather games. And if that line goes up on the total, then you want to go over. If the public is coming in on the under, and the total, is going up, then play the over. Try to get it now. But that's a lien, not an official smell test pick. And the lien would be on the Chiefs, too, Lang 5, because there's some public action on the Colts. All right, Saturday night, I'm giving out the Rams. Official smell test pick, the Rams, Lange 7. The public is on Dallas in this game. Recent impressions, they saw him beat Seattle.

Dallas has a hell of a defense. Jared Gough hasn't played great over the last month. And the Rams have struggled with really good defense. teams. That line has stayed at seven, so they've continued to sort of incent more Dallas action. If that line dropped to six and a half or six, you'd see, you know, the books evened out a little bit, but they don't mind. Vegas offshore, your guy, you know, around the corner, he doesn't mind taking all the Dallas action that Dallas fans and average betters want to throw out there. It's rare when you get the public like they have been in the last two weekends on dogs. but they are on Dallas. Give me the Rams laying 7.

Sunday, I thought I was going to have to give out the Patriots, but I'm not. The action is definitely, the public action is more on the Chargers than it is on the Patriots, but not overwhelmingly, and there is sharp money on Los Angeles. So I am off that game, not playing that game, and I fortunately for me, because I'm rooting for the Chargers, can sit back and just root for the Chargers rather than rooting for the smell test needing the Patriots, but it doesn't need the Patriots. So no play on that game.

The Saints are a smell test pick on Sunday afternoon. They're laying eight. That number is stayed at eight. I thought it might be a little bit higher, but the public is solidly right now on Philadelphia, the defending champs. They believe that they've caught fire again with Nick Foles and that they can definitely cover the number,

even if the average better doesn't think Philadelphia is going to win this game outright. They think they're going to keep it close. I like New Orleans. I think this feels like 34 to 14, 34 to 21, something like that. Take the Saints Lady 8. So there you go. Two smell test picks. Both favorites, usually not the case with me.

But the Rams are an anti-public play and the Saints are an anti-public play. Both teams being the one and two seeds at home or in the Rams case, it'll be a neutral environment at best. But the Rams Lang 7 and the Saints laying 8. All right, let's bring in Andy Poland for his weekly visit. Divisional Round. We'll get to some of our favorite Redskins' divisional round memories here in a moment. But you've got another anniversary date. This is what you do better than anybody. Our key anniversary dates, and sometimes they're not the 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 variety. Sometimes they're just a random odd number somewhere. What do you have for me today? Well, this time of year you can usually find a Redskin coach firing. I'll look back on. And I'm looking back on the firing of Marty Schottenheimer, which will be 17 years ago. Of course, 17.

Big anniversary date. Well, you know, I think it's worth noting because when you do this, you dig up things that kind of relate to what's happening now. And this was a week of negotiation after the season end. Remember, Marty started 0 and 5, got to 5 and 5, finished the year 8, 8, and most of us, well, redskin, and thought, okay, he's got this thing turned around. It's going in the right direction. But there was a week of meetings between Snyder and Marty with Snyder trying to grab back some of the power that he'd given Marty,

particularly the general manager's duties. And they reached an impasse where Marty said, no, you agreed for four years, four-year contract worth $10 million that I would have control over everything, and I'm not giving it back. So finally, on a Sunday night, it was January 13, 2002. Marty was fired. He was owed $7.5 million on three-year contract remaining. He brought in Steve Spurrier. It was not announced until the following day, but everybody knew on that Sunday night Spurier was coming in. And he got significantly more money than Marty, five years, $25 million.

And although you could say, wow, nobody else but Snyder would want Spurier, apparently that wasn't the case. Carolina wanted him badly. And there was a bidding war that was going on. And the Redskins just were not going to be outbid on this, and they settled on five years $25 million. This is when Dan Snyder was speaking to the post. This is before they did the story on the cutting down of trees on his property. He talked to Mark Maskey, and he said, quote, I think Marty is a fine coach.

I wish we could have worked it out, but it became clear that the Redskins and Marty Schottnheimer had irreconcilable differences. Spurrier was reached at home. This is great. And he says on the phone, Maskey, I can't confirm or deny that, but said that he had contacted some college coaches about joining his staff just in case he got the job. Yeah. Well, I mean, that story, and I just pulled it up from January 14, 2002, you know, the title of the story is Schottenheimer

is fired, but in the first paragraph, the Redskins have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract worth, you know, slightly less than $25 million with Steve Spurrier. Yeah. Also, in that story, the report that negotiations with Bobby Betherd had broken down. Right, right. Now, Spurrier, in recent years in an interviewer said he was hired under the pretense that Betherd would be the GF. He told him that.

And he thought that that was going to be something he wouldn't have to worry about. And they got in a guy who was built Super Bowl teams. And, you know, that would be a great thing for him moving forward. they said, well, since he was out of it, the other contenders were Ron Wolf, whose name always used to surface with the Redskins, Ken Herock, who is Wolf's right-hand man, and a guy in Oakland by the name of Bruce Allen.

And then Snyder said, we are conducting a search for the head of player personnel. No, they weren't. They were bringing back Vinnie who had been thrown out of Redskin Park the year before by Marty. And so Spurrier became the fourth head coach in 13 months,

and as you know, that's how it played out in the two years that he was here and that he was gone. And, you know, this story about, God, why do I always blank on the other owner that really hated Marty? Oh, Drasner. Fred Drasner. Fred Drasner. Drasner was told by Marty, you can't even show up at Redskins Park. He took his parking spot away, right? Yeah, well, you know, and again, while the Redskins were in this search for a head coach after Norv had been fired after it was clear Robisky was not going to be retained. And an interview with Rich Eisen and Marty was working for ESPN at the time. He said he could never work for an owner like Dan Snyder.

And then, you know, Marty had a dinner with Snyder and he came out saying what all people who work for Dan Snyder say, oh, Dan just wants to win. Yeah. Well, yeah, he does, but he doesn't want to win your way. and that's what it ultimately came down to. But that was what it was all about that Dan thought after a year that he could grab back to general manager's duties. And Marty said, no, that's not what we agreed to. So they parted ways. You know, one of the things, and I've thought about this in recent years, and you know my view,

is that this is the single biggest mistake that Dan Snyder ever made. It was within a year of his first year of ownership or just over a year. he had a guy that had won eight of his final 11 games with Tony Banks, and as you always say, you know, one audible. And Kent Graham as the quarterbacks. It was a culture that was being created that was much more similar to the culture that it existed when they won here. But, you know, one of the things I've also thought about, you know, when I've always thought about that particular era, and it was brief, is a guy like Darrell Gras. who is an all-time legend in this organization, and he hated Marty so much and celebrated his departure. And it just, it's always occurred to me to ask Darrell one of these days, this was the guy. This was the guy that we had one guy in this organization until Gibbs came back for a second go-round that actually was going to make this thing legitimately, give this.

this thing, a legitimate chance of succeeding and keeping the owner out of it, but Green as a veteran along with Bruce Smith and the other veterans just couldn't stand the way Marty treated everybody, which was equally. Well, Bruce Smith came around. Bruce Smith at the end realized, okay, Marty had really changed the culture here. Our defense was really playing well. And it was. In the case of Darrell Green, I think Marty set out to chase him away and embarrassed him

by coaching him on the field. Bad technique, bad technique. This guy's been in the league 18 years at that point. And was instructing him how to catch a punt. He had one of the most legendary punt returns in team history, if not the most. So, you know, when he went out to do that, of course Darryl Green was going to react negatively. And I think Marty saw Green as having too much power for one player, and that's why he had to change that. Here was Darrell Green's quote, and I just found it from that story about Marty.

I just felt like we never really established any continuity. We never reached that level of family, which I think is important to be successful. You see it in Baltimore. You see it in St. Louis, at the time. So much of that is generated by the boss. That's one of the things I could see as a player, closed quote. Look, the young players, like Lovar Arrington at the time,

who was the future star of the organization, or at least we thought, they realized that this guy was the real deal. and that this was going in the right direction. Let me say this, and I'll give you this from Daryl's side, because Zabe and I were doing a weekly show with Daryl at that point. Yeah, I remember. And off the air, he told me, he said, look,

LeVar Erington looks like he's making some great plays, but Marty's brother, who is the defensive coordinator, he's letting him do whatever he wants, and that's not the way to run a defense. So, you know, maybe that was Daryl spreading, you know, bad stuff about Marty because he wanted Marty out as well. Yeah. But Marvin Lewis, when he took over and he realized that LeVar was basically uncoachable, he turned him into a defensive end with his hand in the dirt.

He said, you know, rush the passer because that's all you can really do. And, you know, that's not the guy who was supposed to be the second pick of the draft and, you know, the next Lawrence Taylor or whatever you want. So I think there was a lot of things going on there in that one year. And Snyder had apparently bailed on Marty by about the fifth game when they were on five and began. going to Florida games with Vinnie allegedly to scout talent to the draft, but he was there to Shmoos Sparrier. Oh my God. Well, you know, the bottom line is that, I mean, this is obviously projection and conjecture and could have, would have should have, but I think Marty would have won multiple division titles, would have had that team in the playoffs more often than not. You know, he always

suffered from playoffitis, you know, nervousitis, chokeitis, whatever you want to call it when he got to the postseason. But everywhere he went, he won, and he won division titles, and he had big seasons, you know, 14 win seasons, 13 win seasons. And I think the organization was headed towards that. And I don't think at any point since then, since 2001, there's been a level of confidence that I've had as a fan that this thing is definitely on the right long-term track. I mean, With Gibbs, of course, we felt that way because of the nostalgia and the experience that we had had. But you also realized in year two that Joe didn't have the confidence he had the first go-round, which is why he brought in Al Saunders when I thought 2005 had worked out just fine, but he brought him in for 2006.

Anyway, so this is divisional, you know, round weekend. The Redskins under Dan Snyder have been in this weekend twice. The first year, which was really not a year of his doing. when they lost to Tampa in the divisional round in a game that they led 13-0. That's the closest they have been to a conference championship game since 1992, when they nearly beat the 49ers to get to the NFC championship game. I mean, you can say, and I've said this many times, Carlos Rogers, if he holds on to a clear pick six and they've got a 10-0 lead at Seattle in the division round in 2005,

that they may have gone on to win that game. But the Tampa game, they had a 13-0 lead in the game. that game. But you and I were talking before this segment. They've played in this round up until, you know, the Snyder era a lot of times. And this is the basis for a lot of our memories and a lot of the fans' memories. Give me your number one divisional round memory. Well, I was at this game, and this was the Redskins playing the Bears. It was December 30th, 1984. And the The bears were a year away from being, you know, the 85 bears, but they were coming. And that was the game where Gibbs had installed the shotgun.

Yep. And apparently in those days, reporters were allowed to watch practice, but there was some kind of code. They weren't supposed to say anything. And Christine Brennan said something about the shotgun, and Gibbs just winged out on that. They used it once in the game, and it was Rich Donnelly, because Bostick was hurt. snapped it over Seisman's head, and Gibbs never used it again until the second year of the second go-round. But in that game, Walter Payton threw a touchdown pass. And you just see, it was like, that was clearly the end of the era.

The Redskins had been to the Super Bowl the year before, but that was really the end of the Riggins-Thysman era, even though they each played into the following season. Of course, Riggins broke his leg, and then Riggins was benched about, you know, halfway or a little more than halfway through the season. But you could just see that that was the end of it, and that's the most memorable division game for me. That's interesting that your number one memory is a loss, and I remember that game as well.

Thysman got sacked, I think, seven or eight times in that game. And that was the beginning of all of us understanding what that bear defense was, and the next year was the 85 bears. And they lost the NFC championship game that year after beating the skins at RFK. The thing that I loved about, you know, the Redskins had these outside the division rivalries during their stretch of winning big in the 80s and early 90s. And, you know, the 49ers, they played multiple times in the playoffs, and they played the Bears three times in four seasons in the postseason.

They lost the home game to Chicago and won both of the road games in Chicago. And that's where I would start. I think maybe the most memorable divisional round game for me is the Darrell Green punt return. game in the 87 playoffs. It was January of 88, the year that Doug Williams led them to the Super Bowl winning over Denver and San Diego. But that game was played on a frigid, frigid day. It would turn out it was Walter Payton's final game of his career. You know, there's that iconic shot of the game ending and him with his, you know, head in his hands on the sideline on the bench warmer. Temperature was like 8 degrees, minus 15 wind chill.

And the Redskins fell behind in that game, 14 to nothing early in that game. And then just slowly came back. And then there was Gibbs. He always saved Darrell Green for a big moment to put him back there on a punt return. And on that punt return, Darrell Green, you know, fractured a rib on the return with a hard cut. And there's the image of him, you know, getting into the end zone, holding his ribs. But, you know, a lot of people remember that to be like a final late possession game. It was actually the third quarter where Daryl Green returned that punt return.

And it gave the Redskins there. It was a 21, you know, nothing run to take the lead 2114. They won the game 2117. But it was, you know, the Bears that year, Andy, the year before they had to start Doug Flutie, if you recall, because Jim McMahon was hurt. The Bears, though, in the year that the Redskins, beat him in Walter Payton's final game. The game I'm talking about did have Jim McMahon. I thought it was Fuller, no?

No, no. Fuller was the game you referenced. McMahon was the starter in this game. They had all their, you know, all their 85, you know, Super Bowl winning key players on offense. You know, McMahon, Peyton, you know, the Willie Galt, et cetera. And the Redskins went in there as, you know, a sizable underdog. If I recall they were a five, six, seven point underdog, something like that, and beat Chicago for the second time in his many years.

Let me give you one more footnote on your game when the Darrell Green punt returned. Darrell told me this, that he was not going to play the following week when they played the NFC championship game against Minnesota. And he got into it with Richie Pettibone, who said, you owe it to this team to do that. And Gerald said, I'm not going to take a shot to do it in the meeting a painkiller. and finally, after much discussion, and he talked over with his wife, he finally decided to take the shot at who makes the key play at the end of the game to not to fall away from Darren Nelson, but Darrow Green. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, there's so many, they had so many memorable games in this round. I mean, it'd be hard not to mention the Rigo, you know, 185 yards on 37 carries against the Vikings in January of 83. That was an odd playoff setup. Yes. of the strike. A tournament. That's right.

Yeah, they had to play, they had to play a round of 16 game against the Lions, you know, a round of eight game in the conference before they got to what was the divisional round, the Vikings game, and they won that game going away 21 to 7. And Rigo took the bow at the end of the game. And, you know, the first one really was,

in terms of memorable, was George Allen's Super Bowl team. that he got to the Super Bowl game against the Packers, where he played, you know, five, you know, added Manny Sistrunk to the defensive front, played five men along the defensive line to stop John Brockington in 172. And McArthur Lane. And McArthur Lane. They had, they had, forget the quarterback.

Scott Hunter. Hunter. Yeah, he wasn't much of a passer, and they ran two running backs. And so George Allen, that was considered defensive genius in those things. I know. It was. It was. The defensive linemen out there.

Well, think about this. George Allen was essentially the punt. of the nickel defense, you know, adding a fifth defensive back. And then in that particular game, he added a fifth defensive lineman against a team that couldn't run the football. And John Brockington that year, I think, was a pro bower and all pro, you know, that year. And they held him to, you know, like 10 yards or something like that. Yeah, wasn't much. Yeah. But anyway, one of these days, they might play in one of these games again. I mean, this isn't even the championship weekend. We're talking about, we're talking about just advancing.

to the second weekend of the postseason. So, yeah, I was at the gym this morning, and there was a guy there who had his kid must have been eight or nine. He said to me, he's a Redskinned optimist, and he said to his dad, he said, Dad, if the Redskins make the Super Bowl, can I stay up and watch it? And I said to him, they make the Super Bowl, you ought to guarantee that you'll take him. Yeah. It's a safe bet at this point.

Yeah, chances are it ain't going to happen. Right. All right. You have any feelings about the games this weekend? A strong feeling about any of the four games or not? No, I mean, unless there's just this incredible Nick Foles magic somehow. You know, I don't see any really big upsets. But, you know, it is kind of interesting to look at the divisional round

and see the Cowboys and the Eagles in it and to hear this, we're close, we're close talk from the Redskins. Are you really close? Maybe you're close to being a team that can make the football. playoffs, but I don't think you're close to being a team that can make this weekend, do you? Oh, no, no. I mean, they'll be picked, they're going to be picked dead last in the division next year. So, I mean, that doesn't mean anything, as we know, but, you know, I don't know if you saw this, and I mentioned this earlier. Dallas is the first playoff team in 31 years

to play in the, to win a playoff game without a starter over 30 years of age. Really? Yeah. Dallas has the second youngest roster in the league. The Browns are the youngest. The Cowboys are the second youngest roster. I read that somewhere yesterday. But it's, yeah, the last team with no starters over the age of 30 to win a playoff game,

the Saints in 1988. So it's three years ago. Well, that's interesting because if you go to Dallas, all you'll hear is people griping about Jerry Jones running the team. But Jerry Jones, the GM, has obviously done a much better job of running this than Alan McClewin, Snyder, whoever's been in charge. And he just goes to show you what Jerry may be Jerry, but there is a little bit of knowledge. Now, some of them said that his son, Stephen, has stepped in and talked some sense into him. But that's pretty impressive to do it in the

stat you just gave out. That really is. Well, here's what Dallas has done in recent years. And I, you know, It's just the cowboy fans that I know, you know, Clay and my friend Kenny in particular, that follow everything about the Cowboys. They'll tell you that basically Jerry in recent years, you know, and even his son, Stephen, have basically turned, you know, player acquisition over to this guy, Will McLeigh. He's their VP of player personnel, and apparently he is, I mean, look, they have added a lot of young talent. This is a very, very good defensive football team with a lot of good young defensive talent. a team that doesn't even need to rely on Sean Lee being healthy anymore to be really good because

of Leighton Vanderash. Yeah. So they used to hear the whole key to their defense with Sean Lee. And now he's a backup. You know, a friend of mine mentioned this to me, a cowboy friend of mine, mentioned to me that they've got an ex-redskin in the organization that's a key part of their college scouting staff. Remember Lionel Vatel?

He played as a scab player for them in 87. They kept him on the team. He's part of that. But Will McLeigh is a general manager, head of football operations possibility. Look, I think when you rise to that level in the Cowboys organization, they'll keep him, they'll find a way to keep him. But, you know, I'm sure a team could make a big move to pay him big money and give him a title that Jarrah wouldn't want to give him. because Stephen's got that title, you know, to pull him away. But, yeah, they've got a young, obviously they've got a young team.

Philly's got, you know, a team that's clearly showing some postseason medal here the last two years. The Giants are, you know, on the come. I think most people would look at their roster and say it's a much better roster than the Redskins roster. So, yeah, I mean, they're not close. I mean, this is what we've talked about. I mean, on the podcast here, they're, there, not only are the, they not close? But if you thought that Alex Smith was one of the reasons that they would be close, and at six and three, technically they had a two-game lead and they were close, you don't have

a quarterback answer right now moving forward. You know, you don't have one that's, that's, that's, that's clear cut anyway. But, well, I mean, it's called McCoy by default, but you can't come on it for more than three of them. But McCoy, at least is, you know, he knows your system. He has look good in flashes, but after four games, you can't count on him. Maybe three games. He's brittle. Yeah, it's 100% right. All right. Have a good weekend. Enjoy the football. You too. I've mentioned this before, but if you don't mind, subscribe to the podcast, it helps us. It doesn't cost you anything. You don't have to give out information. But if you subscribe through Apple Podcasts or iTunes and you review it, it's a big help to us.

So if you can do that, that would be great. A few things, and I mentioned this at the top of the show, that I wanted to touch on. First of all, the Caps won, again last night, beat the Bruins, four to two. The Nats signed a second baseman, second baseman in Dozier to a one-year, $9 million deal. I think that was a great signing. Yeah, I mean, are they wait, what are they waiting on at second base? They're waiting on Carter Keyboom. Carter Keyboom should be ready by 2020. Okay. I think they're planning on having him ready later this season and then starting opening Day 2020. And that's why a guy like Dozier, who, you know, had a lesser year for him last year in Los Angeles than he had in previous years gets a one-million, a one-year deal rather than a multi-year deal.

Right. Two basketball games last night, I wanted to mention. First of all, in the NBA, if you didn't hear about what happened last night in San Antonio, the Spurs all of a sudden are playing great. Lamarcus Aldridge last night in a double overtime win over Oklahoma City 154 to 147 had 56 points in the game without attempting a three-pointer. First player to do that since Shaquille O'Neal did it. First player to go over 50 without a three-point attempt since Shaq did it in 2000. Shaq had a 60-point night in 2000, 19 years ago, without attempting a three-pointer. Lamarcus Aldridge didn't have a three, didn't attempt a three, ended up with 56 in the game in a 154-147 double overtime win over OKC. He was 20 of 33 from the floor, 16 to 16 from the free throw line. I have said this about Lamarcus Aldridge before.

I think he's a terrific talent. I have never, ever seen a player shrink more than he does in postseason play. He would not be a player that I would build, try to build a championship team around. You know, they obviously, they traded for DeRosen. DeRosen, you know, has had moments here. They still have Gasol on the team. But, you know, Aldridge is a big part of it along with DeRosen. Aldridge is averaging, you know, somewhere around 21 a game.

but what a game he had last night. But there was one other stat line that I wanted to point out from this game. In this game, Russell Westbrook, 24 points, 24 assists, and 13 rebounds. So not your typical triple double for Russ, you know, but the 24 points, 24 assists, I think I read was the first time that that's ever happened. I was going to say, I was going to ask, there can't be a time someone had more than 20 points and had as many or more assists. That just doesn't happen.

Yeah, I believe that I read, and I'm looking for it right now, that that was the first time any players ever had plus 20 and plus 20 on the assist. Although, God, I would have thought Rondo would have done it, and that maybe Magic had had a game like that, or Stockton had had a game like that. But anyway, 24 points, 24 assists, 13 rebounds for Russ. The one thing about Oklahoma City, if you've watched them this year, This is much different than the teams before.

He really trusts Paul George. You know, Westbrook's always felt this need to do it all on his own, especially at the end of games. Watching them this year, now maybe it'll change in the postseason, but he really trusts Paul George, and that thing is really working. You know, along with Stephen Adams and along with Grant, and Trudor's a great guy coming off the bench as a backup guard.

and he gives you, you know, he gives you 25 to 35 minutes, somewhere around 30 minutes a night as well. He's one of those guys, I wish the Wizards had thought about. Then there was this other basketball game last night, which I guarantee you most of you have not heard about. West Coast game, late game, UCLA and Oregon. UCLA was down by nine points with a minute to go in the game. And they became just the sixth,

it was the sixth largest final minute comeback in Division I history. Now, we know Maryland fans about one of them. You know, the gone-in-62nd game, gone-in-54-second game against Duke in the 2001 regular season at Cole Fieldhouse. I happened to have been there that night, and that was one of the worst defeats for any of my favorite teams ever. The biggest comeback in the final minute was Texas A&M, if you recall, a couple of years ago against Northern Iowa in the NCAA tournament was down 12 with a minute to. go came back and won the game in overtime. UCLA was not only down by nine last night and came back and forced overtime and then won the game

in overtime, 8784. They actually had a chance to win the game in regulation. They were down three, and Oregon fouled in the final seconds of the game. UCLA went to the line, made the first free throw to cut it to two, missed intentionally on the and got the offensive rebound, and Chris Smith put it in and got fouled at the buzzer. And he missed the free throw. So they had a chance to win it outright at the end, missed the free throw, but they did go to overtime in UCLA won the game.

And, you know, if you missed this, and I haven't mentioned it on the podcast, but Steve Alford got fired a few weeks ago, and Murray Bartow's been coaching that team, and that is going to be an opening that you're going to hear like Petino's name mentioned with. a lot, you know, over the next few months. But anyway, that was an incredible finish to that game as well. I had a couple of other things that I wanted to mention briefly. Atlanta hired a clock management coach.

Kyle Flood was hired by Dan Quinn to serve as a senior assistant with responsibilities over replay challenges and clock management situations. Your dream job. It's my dream job. Dan Quinn is taking over all of the plate calling duties on defense. Let me just say that I actually think Dan Quinn's been a good clock management coach in recent years. Kyle Flood was the coach at Rutgers, you know, a few years ago. He replaced Shiano, I think, when Shiano left Rutgers, and then he was the coach there.

And correct me if I'm wrong, I think Flood was the one that had Ralph Regen as a year as the offensive coordinator. So that's the job. I don't understand why coaches and organizations all over the league just don't have one guy that handles all that is in the ear of the head coach telling the head coach when to call a time out and when not to call a time out and when to go for two versus when to kicking the PAT. And I actually think the replay thing is a separate job altogether. I think you have another guy that just focuses on the replay issues. But I'm sure they're just trying to save some money there. Yeah, that is one of the many dream jobs I have. I've got others that I would love to do as well.

And who knows, maybe I'll get that opportunity one day. No, I won't. It's just the Rams and Balkans who have a clock management coach now, right? Yes. Yeah, that's right. Sean has one too. Last thing I wanted to mention. Actually, it's not the last thing.

I lied. I do this all the time. I forgot to mention in talking about the NFL games this weekend. Did you see the Chargers signed Nick Rose? I did see that. He's going to handle just kickoff. They're afraid of Patterson. Badgley.

Oh, they're afraid of Cordell Patterson. Yes. They're afraid of Patterson. They're afraid of Cordell Patterson. But Badgley's been their best answer at kicker in a long time, but they don't feel comfortable in a cold weather game with him kicking it out of the end zone each time. And remember, Nick Rose here kicked a 55-yard field goal outdoors against the Vikings last year. And then for some reason the following week, Jay wouldn't let him kick a 54-yard or a 55-yard or indoors in the Superdome against the Saints.

I never understood that in particular. So that was one of the things. Antonio Brown, the Rooney family is essentially saying that, you know, they're not cutting him, but basically giving indication that he is on the trading block now. And then here's one other odd story that only cowboy fans have been following. and I was told about this by my friend Kenny, a cowboy fan, the other night, is that David Irving, remember what a great pass rusher, David Irving has been. David Irving came off whatever list he was on, you know, in December, I think it was, and became eligible and is on the 53-man roster right now.

But has not been from all reports even at the facility. He's counting as a 53-man roster guy, but hasn't even been at the facility. And apparently cowboy reporters are steering clear of this story. And something interesting is going on there. He's already been ruled out of the playoff game tomorrow night. But I think there's a story there that's going to emerge when this season is over related to David Irving. So just something to keep an eye on. Lastly is this.

I have seen everybody tweet me the defensive player survey that the defensive players in the league said that Kirk Cousins is the most overrated quarterback but did you see what the Vikings tweeted out yesterday? I did see this. Right when I saw this I'm like, should I retweet it or should I just save it for the show?

Because this is going to really tweak many of you. The Vikings put this out yesterday on Twitter. Kirk Cousins became the first player in NFL history to pass for 4,000 plus yards, 30 touchdowns, complete at least 70% of his passes, and throw 10 or fewer interceptions in a season. Congratulations, Kirk. Another great statistical season that nobody will give you credit for. Historical season. Historical season.

Another record-setting season for Kirk Cousins. I say that because I am not taking him off the hook for some of his performances down the stretch against really good teams, mind you. But, you know, he was partially responsible for them not advancing to the playoffs. I understand that. He didn't play well enough in the big games down the stretch, and it hurt his team. Now, any Minnesota fan that watched every single minute of every game, that's reasonable, guys like Paul Chartian, Charche used to be a guest on the pregame show every week doing fantasy football stuff. he lives in Minneapolis, huge Vikings fan,

has mentioned multiple times that, you know, outside of Minneapolis, people think that it's all Kirk. He said, if you watched every game this year, and you put the blame anywhere beyond the offensive line for their record this year, then you weren't watching their team. Their offensive line was dreadful this year. Horrible offensive line.

But yeah, Kirk had another record setting year. It just seems to be what he does. actually the one number there that I think shocks most Kirk haters is that he only threw 10 interceptions on the year. I think he was 20th in the league and starters. They're closer to the bottom of the list of interceptions. He had some fumbles, though, had a lot of fumbles this year. He did not have a good season. His season right now in 2016, to me, was his best season. And I thought he would improve and get better in a more stable organization. And he didn't this year. And that's why, more than anything else, I referred to it at the end of the season as a step-back year, because I anticipated him getting better and producing better team results.

And he didn't. Anyway, all right, that's it. Wait, wait, wait, that can't be it. There's something really important this weekend you need to tell us about what's happening with the weather. Oh, Jesus. I almost forgot about that. All right. The weather.

I this is what I told Tommy yesterday like it could be a total bust and we could end up with like an inch maybe two or and I'm talking about the metro area I can't I don't get enthused about those of you that live in you know Baltimore or north of Baltimore or in Fredericksburg or south of Fredericksburg I'm not forecasting for your area sorry I'm very interested in the immediate DC metro area so I think, you know, I think it'll probably end up being somewhere around two to four inches, somewhere around that. Starting tomorrow afternoon, continuing through the day Sunday, mostly light snow. It's possible that we could get more what they call Aaron energy from the coastal redevelopment, but that looks now that it's going to stay primarily to our south and east. But if we got that, we could be into the four to six range, you know, maybe a little bit more than that. but if we don't get that, I think it's a two to four inch storm.

That's what I think. I'm not going to sit here and break down all the models because the information is going to change between now and the storm starting anyway. But that's what I would guess right now. So timing wise. You asked me a question that's going to be completely outdated by the time most people listen to this. Yeah, but I just need to know from my personal.

I need to get down to D.C. for the Caps game tomorrow night. You're going to be a pain? We're not having the kind of storm that's going to prevent people from getting to Safeway or Giant and getting a loaf of bread. You know, this is not January 2016. This isn't, we have, in this area, we are prone to major blizzards. You know, the northeast and the mid-Atlantic, you know, it's one of those areas because of the Atlantic Ocean and the temperatures and where they can be.

We can get major blizzards. We've seen in the last eight to nine years four storms of two feet or more. That's a lot. This is not that tomorrow. This is not that. Now, that could be next weekend. The big one could be next weekend or the weekend after that. But for now, I would say this weekend is like a two to four incher.

And, you know, I'm hoping for a little bit more, but I think we'd be safe in saying, you know, everybody in the metro area is going to get at least two inches. And what's the difference between two and four? Not that much. All right. Anything else you have for me? Maryland, a little bit.

Oh, yeah. I'm not going tonight. You are, right? I am. I think I'm going Monday night against Wisconsin. I'm not going tonight, but they are a six-point favorite over Indiana tonight right now. A little weird. I think they're better than Indiana.

I think they've got more talent than Indiana. Romeo Langford's one of the best freshmen in the country. And there's some good freshmen in the country. Indiana's good. They're ranked 22nd in the country, something like that. I think Maryland's starting to get the attention. The latest brackatology, what's his face on ESPN.

Lenardi. Lenardi has Maryland as a seven seed climbing from last week. They were 10 seed. You know, they've got a chance here with tonight and Monday night to really create some incredible tournament momentum. They'd be six and one in the league.

They'd have three wins potentially over ranked teams, although Wisconsin's not ranked right now, right? I don't think they're ranked right now. They're not ranked right now. Now, Monday they could be ranked, although they lost a game this week, didn't they? I don't, Maryland, if Maryland wins tonight, they should be ranked on Monday. Oh, they'll almost definitely be ranked.

Wisconsin lost to Minnesota. They beat Penn State last, Wisconsin's recent games, they beat Penn State recently, whenever that was. That may have been over the weekend. Anyway, we're, we're getting, we're rambling on here. I like Marilyn's chances tonight. I like their chances Monday night. I think they're a really good team. I'm going to be disappointed if they don't win these big games at home.

Indiana is good. They're well coached. I think Archie Miller is going to really get it done at Indiana. But I like Maryland tonight to win the game. I do. That's it, right? No more. No more. All right. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the football. I'm looking forward to watching all four of these games. Mike Shanahan will be here on Monday.