The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley

Episode Date: October 3, 2018

Chris Cooley is FINALLY back with Kevin, and the show starts with the two of them chatting for nearly an hour. After talking about how much they missed each other, they discuss what Cooley has seen from the Redskins over the first three weeks. How has Alex Smith and the offense looked? Cooley goes position by position about who has stood out to him in September and what he sees for the rest of the year. This includes Adrian Peterson, the defensive line and its usage, as well as the rest of the defense. Also, they look over the NFC East and where the Redskins stand in the division. After Cooley, Kevin brings on Joe Beninati to talk about the opener for the Capitals. Did he ever think he'd get to see a banner raised like he'll see today? Does the departure of Barry Trotz put a damper on the celebration even slightly? And what about Tom Wilson? Kevin finishes the show by touching on Tuesday's NL Wild Card game, and responds to a message he received about Adrian Peterson. <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. I'm here. Aaron's here. The show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for windows, new windows, call before Sunday. You'll save big 86690 Nation or WindowNation.com. Tell them I told you to call. Guess what, everybody? Coolie's here. Woo! And we start the show like we always did with What Do You Got? What do you got there, Chris? Oh, Kevin, I love you, buddy. Here's what I got. 7,000 messages on Twitter and text and everywhere you can imagine saying, Get on the Kevin Shee had podcast already. And I'm on it.

Yeah, you are. Hopefully this isn't the last time, and we will update people on that because we don't have an update on that at some point in the future. But that was going to be my What Do You Got? This is true. This is not an exaggeration. Chris and I over the last two months now, it's been about two months, have received tens and tens of thousands of social media responses, emails, texts, everything with one simple question. And that is, where did you guys go? Well, I'm here on the podcast. The question that I've gotten most recently from everybody is, Can't Cooley just come on with you at least one day a week to do the film breakdown? And my answer has been, well, yeah, I want that to happen, but it's not in my control. How have you answered that question over the last month?

You just made me the bad guy. I love that, which you can do. Listen, first of all, we're friends. Yes. To anybody that thought there was anything between us, of course there's not. The logistics of everything that's went on. over the last three months, it was not necessarily in either of our control, per se.

Right. Right? It's not about you and I and what we want to do. Some of it's what we can and can't do. And yeah, dude, I'd love to be on every day and do the film breakdown. I miss it. I haven't really got to do it. I grade them.

And then I just sit there and think, well, I got my grades. What am I doing this for? Well, maybe we can get some of those grades here shortly. No, you know what? You brought something up, and I, I am asked this every single day multiple times. And I'm not even talking about via social media, but people that I run into.

And I just say, look, we are the best of friends. We have been for a long time now. Even before we started to do the show together, we were friends. And I miss doing our show very much, very much. This podcast thing, you and I have talked a lot about it. I've been doing it here. for a while. I've been doing this podcast now for three and a half weeks, and it's going well. You know, you and I've talked about it a lot here over the last three minutes. I live it every day. That's very

nice of you. I would love to be doing so much with you, and I miss doing that. But enough of that. Let's get to some things. And I'll start with this, because... Oh, before you get to that, I would just say this. The off-air conversation is a much easier conversation as to what is actually going on. I know. But it's just a, if you're sitting down drinking a beer with somebody, this is exactly what's going on. It's not necessarily a, on the podcast conversation.

Right. But it's all good. I mean, it's all good and we both miss it. I got to say this, though. I can't tell you how much I miss your preparation, your creativity, your excitement for what you're doing. I mean, you give it to everyone every day at this point for the last three and a half weeks and you're going to continue to do that.

But I don't want to say that I took it for granted, but you're amazing in what you do, and I appreciate it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on for a second. I didn't anticipate you saying any nice things. That means I've got to come back with a couple of nice things. No, I don't know. You don't have to come back with anything. You were fishing.

It was just what we've done over the last couple years has been so awesome. I've loved every minute of it. And I do it every day. I wake up and I'm like, oh, no show today. Still feels that way. All right. So netting it out, Chris and I wish we were still doing something together on radio, really, but in some form.

The reasons for not happening are really hard to explain because they're not within our control items. We're just going to have to leave it at that. Chris has now decided after a few weeks that he actually legitimately misses my ability to do the show with him. But I would say this, and I've said this about you both to your face and behind your back, and on this podcast. I do what people, when people have asked me over the years, what is Cooley really like, including, by the way, people in your organization that don't know you that well.

I've said to them so many times, he is one of the smartest people I know. He is innately off the charts high IQ, which you are, but you also have this incredibly eclectic, artistic creativity around you vibe that really has always been something

that has attracted a lot of people to you and I miss that I miss that a lot you know it's hard Tommy's on with me as you know two days a week and I love

that he and I are able to do something together and I and I but I missed him terribly as you know over the years because I would always mention him I love you and I loved what we've been able to do together. It's always easier. For those that actually host a show by themselves every day,

there are certain people that can do that. And by the way, you can do that and I can do that. But my preference has been, and I think yours has always been as well, is to be with somebody you've got chemistry with, somebody that you like, somebody that challenges you, pushes you to a certain extent. and I think that's what we had for two and a half years. And so I miss that.

I miss that a lot. Enough of that now. Through three weeks, are the Redskins a team on the rise, on the decline, or do you see a lot of what we've seen in the last two years? I think there's a big difference from the last two years to this team as it stands today. I look at this team and I say, as the roster currently stands with health,

they're a good football team. They're a much better defense. You're no longer going to have to win games by overcoming what you're doing defensively. Now, it might be different against the same because they're incredible on offense. But this is a very good defense, and there's some talent. You look at the D-line, and you see, it's been 20 years. It's been back to Buts since they had a detackle. You and I've went through that, and they have three of them right now.

In Allen, Payne and Ionitis. And Payne's only going to get better. I think Payne has been the lesser of the three, but he's a rookie. he's green. Alan's been outstanding and Ionitis is great. Now, up front rush is changing everything that they're doing. It allows them to marry things in the secondary to start to understand this ball's got to be out in a certain amount of time based on what we're bringing. They've never had that. It's been three different units on the field defensively, and at this point they're operating at one unit for the most part, which I think is a huge plus. Offensively, you can't have injuries. But if you're healthy as it stands with Reed, Thompson on the field, receivers that you currently have, Robinson on the field, Robinson, Doxon, on the field,

Crowder, on the field, the guys that you have on the field, you're in good shape. AP, huge key to this offense right now. But all of those are unknown keys to this offense or unknown entities in terms of health and longevity through the season because, frankly, Kevin, all of them have been hurt throughout major parts of their career. Right. And so, yeah, as it stands, the offense is going to be very good. I do like Jay as a scheme guy.

I do think Jay is capable of getting it. guys open and getting guys the ball in his offense and operating, especially with the quarterback that he likes trust like Alex Smith and Alex will grow. But at the same time, you can't go weaponless or you can't have a week where Jordan's down and oh my gosh, Chris Thompson's also down because you don't have the skills anywhere else to overcome some of the matchup problems that you have with guys hurt. But as of right now, it's different than it's been. There's some actual talent on this team.

You know, I always like to describe it as like ABC players. I don't think there are a ton of A players. There's some growing into A players on the C more than there's ever been. But if you look at the roster over the last 10 years, there were 20 plus C players. You don't have that right now with this team right now. You have way more B and upper-level players. You know, during the off-season, I think you and I both talked about this. And we talked about it last year that we felt last year had the defense stayed healthy.

And that was without Duran Payne on the defense. We felt like it had a chance to be much better. the first three and a half games through that arrowhead game, first half of that arrowhead game on a Monday night last year, it looked like a much improved defense. And then the defense started to take injury hits. And then the offense was ravaged by injuries. And the season, you know, basically went south from there. Adding pain, this defense, I agree with you. It's been the reason I've been optimistic about this season for a while now. With that said, you know, Monday night's the first real test. Because they, got a dead-on-arrival opponent in week one. The Colts, let's be fair here, they had 370-yard-plus

drives against this defense. And then you got Aaron Rogers at less than 100% on a day that just sort of set up perfectly for them. I think Monday night- They had a lot of luck. There was no question. A lot of drop passes. And there was some absolute luck in that game. So Monday night, Monday night is the night where I think we are going to really get a true reading on the defense. Doesn't that actually feel like last year? Wait, so? Week four that we played the Chiefs on Monday night last year? Yeah, it was week four.

But remember in that game, I think that game was Ionitis, Norman, and then two games later, I think was Allen, and then all of a sudden you couldn't stop the run after being able to stop the run with Ionitis and Alan, and once you couldn't stop the run, you know, it was a disaster the rest of the season. And then you just continue to build with injuries offensively throughout the entire year as well. But yeah, you were in the exact same position as you were last year. You were two and one. You'd had a good performance against the Rams, maybe a little like the Cardinals performance,

a dominant performance against the Raiders. And we said, and you're going to say this this week, this is the true test. Yeah, this is the test because you're getting an offense that has really so far been very explosive. even if they weren't against the Giants, and I think the Giants are a good defensive team. They have been in their other games. What grade did you give Alex Smith in the Arizona game? Do you remember? It was a tale of two halves, really.

Okay. But I thought Alex Smith played at a high level in the Arizona game. It was also aided by Adrian Peterson running the ball so well in the first half that game, but he had a bunch of conversions. I think he has a bunch of good throws in that. that game, his accuracy is really good. It was a B in that game. B plus at best. All right. Next question. What grade did you give?

You can't do this. What grade did you give Alex Smith in the Colt game? Oh my gosh. How bad was the Colt game? It's terrible. Here's my thought from the Colt game. As much as I love and respect Jay and as much as I love and respect this team, I thought there was some lack of preparation for what the Colts did. I didn't think there was enough cover two concepts to beat them in the past game.

and it was really, they were really hurt by their inefficiency to run the football against this defensive line that stunted like crazy. I don't think there was good preparation in the run game for how they wanted to execute some of their schemes. And so I see some of the scheme stuff that they're doing, and I say, not necessarily want to put a bad grade on someone because I see what they're doing and the way they're trying to do it. I just disagree with that approach for that particular game. I didn't like their run scheme in that game.

I thought they, maybe, I don't think they went in with lack of emotion. in the Colt game. And I don't think it was a lack of preparation. I just think it was an underappreciation for what a Colts stunting type defense could do. Okay. So in that Colt game, and I know what you're saying because we've had this conversation before, but I want to do it with you on this podcast. I felt like watching that first half that Jay and Alex just weren't in sync

because they should have been playing easy pitch and catch. you know, six to 10 yards per chunk throwing underneath against soft zone coverage. By the way, just like Jay and Kirk did together very often over the last couple of years when teams were sort of in that type of defense. Would you chalk it up to, look, it's still early between Alex and Jay and they've got to develop this chemistry and this rhythm and get into sync? or did they just whiff on what should have been executed against that soft zone? If you think back to that game, think of how creative Jay was trying to be.

And I also think of how creative he was early in the Arizona game as a play caller with all the motions and all the things that they were doing and some of the jet sweep stuff and the cute things that he was doing. Like to Crowler on the first play of the game. Yeah, which was the second most yards from scrimmage of any play in that game. But I just go back and I look at that game and I say four plays punt, six plays punt, five plays, field goal, three. They didn't get into, I think they had some good stuff planned as they got into some of their drives. But I don't think he was able to get into some of those drives.

And on the other side of the ball, Indy did a very good job controlling the ball in the first half of that game. You know, they had a drive where they ended up throwing a pick, but it was a seven plays into a drive, I think. They had a touchdown drive. there was eight plays. They possessed the ball. And although they weren't an offensive juggernaut, they control the ball. And we didn't, I don't think the Redskins necessarily got into what they truly wanted to build into as a game plan. I don't think anything, I think there was loose ends throughout the entire game and nothing tied together. There was no rug to tie the room together, nothing.

And personally, I don't know if they ran the ball better, had they given it to AP more in the game? Because I don't think they were really ready for what that stunting defensive front did. But honestly, Kevin, they showed you a two-shell the entire game. For most of the game, they showed you a two-shell, which means you had two safeties deep, and that is an advantageous look to run the football, and you should have been able to pound the football early and often throughout that game. But I still don't know what they had if that would have been the case. Yeah, the rug just had a terrible design in that particular game.

There was nothing tying the whole thing together. It just didn't match any part of the room. Bad colors. Terrible colors. Terrible did just overall design. And the interception that he threw in that game on this podcast, I said I didn't think it was his fault. I thought Jordan Reed cut his route off, and I thought he was actually contact. There was some contact beyond five yards.

I didn't put that on Alex. Did you? No, I didn't put on Alex in any way. He also had pressure up front, so he couldn't work the front side of the concept. He wanted to work as long as he needed to. And I think Jordan was surprised by the contact and was not expecting a ball because of the contact, because once he was contacted, he wasn't necessarily open, and Alex was looking for an out.

And the worst-case scenario should have been that that's a broken-up pass. So Alex Smith in the Indianapolis game was what in the C-area? Yeah, he's definitely in the C-area in the indie game. How did he play against Green Bay? What kind of grade would you have given him had you been doing a radio show with the film breakdown for the Green Bay game? Well, again, you're looking at a tell of two halves of the game. I thought the first half he played on fire.

I thought he made big throws. I thought he was an A in the first half of the game. don't even think it's a debate. And then the accuracy to allow guys to run after the catch, even the early ones that he threw to read, you're looking at saying that. Those extra yards, that ball being on the right shoulder is so key to that. And he made some huge throws in that game. The Richardson throw was awesome because he's getting hit as he lets that ball go. If he's not getting hit, Richardson's five yards behind the secondary. That's a big time throw with pressure in his face. In the second half of that game, I thought it was Alex Smith being more conservative that he should have been.

I think there were some RPO's early in the second half of that game where he chose to give it to the back where he probably could have made throws. He had things available. They had concepts that were built and diversified from their early RPO's in that game. And again, they're a team to me that struggles if they don't get three or four plays into a drive or five plays into a drive. They don't get rolling on a drive. I think that there's, especially with the lead, a little bit too much of a conservative attitude. And I don't know if that's Jay or if that's Alex, but I will tell you this, buddy. Saints are a team that's capable of coming back from a two-score deficit.

I don't know, let's call it five minutes left in the game. So you better stop. You better not say, let's just hold them. You better continue to score points in that game. So it's sort of an A and a C, so it would be great for the greenback game. Yeah, but it's hard to say C, because how many plays did they have a second? I have that ball. And how many plays?

You know what I mean? And how many plays were run plays? Right. I'm messing with you, obviously, to try to get the grades on Alex Smith. But here's one point. about the second half of the Green Bay game, that I noticed, tell me if I am correct, that Green Bay started to send more pressure,

which did a couple of things. First of all, it kept Chris Thompson in the backfield more than I think Jay Gruden would have wanted him to stay back there because they needed him to block the extra man or two on the pressures. And I thought that Alex in the second half, with pressure, sort of got out of the pocket too quickly and ended up sort of giving up on plays.

your thoughts on that. Yeah, and first of all, I thought Green Bay did a good job in the second half of the game with pressures that weren't actually what you would consider pressures. Bringing two backers and bailing defensive linemen in that game isn't necessarily a pressure. True. You go back to the first half on a big completion he made to Jordan Reed on a third down over the middle. It looks like it's a pressure. Chris Thompson has to stay in and pick up the front-side linebacker,

but he should have just lit his line. It was a four-man rush, and so Chris doesn't essentially get out. But behind it, they zone blitz. behind it and Clay Matthews really is no business being in his own beat, behind Jordan Reed or in front of Jordan Reed, you can't play that ball. So yeah, they kept Chris Thompson in with some creative pressures. But honestly, Kevin, if it's not a six-man pressure, you should be able to find a way to get your back out.

And so you have to figure out how you want to slide your line, how you want to scheme things up because they're going to start to see more of that stuff. They're going to see more stunts and some of the E.T.E.s with backers coming from different locations. And if it's a five-man pressure, you should be able to block five-for-five with your offensive line. That's essentially getting your own. other 20% of your eligible is what you're trying to do as a scheme offensive play-calling

mindset. How can we get Chris out in the game plan? Yeah, they did do a good job. My biggest concern, and this is what I think you'll start to see more than anything else, is can our receivers beat man-to-man coverage? And if Jordan Reed is not in the game, why would you not play man-to-man on every single snap? I think Doxon has struggled to separate from coverage. I'm not convinced yet if I'm watching tape that Richardson's going to smoke me in man-a-man coverage. And Crowder is a guy that you really have to worry about. Vernon's the guy that a lot of people can cover man-a-man. Even safeties don't really, he's not a natural separator.

So my biggest concern would be this group of receivers, can they truly beat man-a-man coverage? Because if they can't, then it's a problem. And right now with Jordan not playing more than 60% of snaps, you should see man-a-man coverage a lot. Right. Well, if they can't, then, you know, as has been the case recently, certainly last year without Garson and Jackson, you have to have Reed and Thompson and Crowder on the field or you're really limited skill-wise, what you can do. But back to the Green Bay game, one thing you do have to be impressed with is the way they beat some of the soft zone coverage in the first half of the game. Right. If you're a Green Bay and you just watch the Colt game saying yourself, like, let's just play a soft two shell and softball.

quarter shells. These guys ain't being zone coverage at all. And the Redskins did have a good plan and did execute against zone coverage well in that game. And the Packers, they also did adjust. So it's the growing curve of Alex knowing as receivers where they're going to be. It's a growing curve of Jay knowing exactly how to call things to fit Alex in certain situations. I think their adjustments they've been making through the first couple weeks that I've been impressed with. Like I just said, the Green Bay adjustment in the first half. They beat South Zone coverage. They did in the week before. Is Adrian Peterson's start to the season sustainable?

Yes, no, maybe. Maybe. Maybe. What's your gut feel? What's your gut feel? His ability to run the football, sustainable the way he's running the football, yeah, if he's healthy, there's no question about it. Look at what he's done.

What's been most impressive? Here's the most impressive about Adrian Peterson. Let me give you an individual play. I think it was a 41-yard carry. It's duo, Kevin. You know he talks about duo all the time, or Mike Shannon called a pound drop. Essentially dive with double team up front. Bren and Sheriff gets beat off the ball immediately.

And I think it's Kenny Clark in the backfield in one second. He's a free hitter in the backfield. Nader Peterson makes a miss. And then he's got to bounce that out to the tight ends, and then he's got to break two tackles to get through the line of scrimmage. That play was designed to get negative three. And if he makes Kenny Clark miss, essentially that should be a one-yard game. gain. But it's Adrian Peterson that makes it a 40-yard gain. And oh, by the way, he carries

two Packer defenders at the end of the play for eight yards. That's what healthy Adrian Peterson can do. A healthy Adrian Peterson can do. If he's banged up, can he do that? I don't know. Can he he stay healthy? He's sure working hard. And that's the thing that I've been impressed, and everyone here talks about is, and you want to know one thing about AP, he will work. But also, he's 33, and he's had a trillion carries in his career. And it's harder, as everybody in the world knows to, to, uh, what do you call it? To overcome injury or battle through injury. Right.

Or be resilient to getting, to getting better on a faster, look, if I sprained my ankle when I was 22, I felt better in a week. If I sprained my ankle today, it'd be a month. If you sprained your ankle today, you wouldn't play basketball for the next four months. You'd sit and eat ice cream on your couch every day. That's what's been happening. I'm out with a back injury right now. Oh, I'm sure you are. But I, you know, I mean, maybe call Tiger Woods, and he can tell you how to treat that. Well, I mean, we've had long conversations, Tiger and I have about our back injuries and surgeries.

What, you just mentioned something that, of course, was a major, you know, issue with you over the years, and that is that duo play, the pound draw play, really for most of it, it's just the dive play, where they just hand it off to the running back and he tries to run it up the middle. And it seemed to have generated an average of mind. minus one over the last three years. And Jay would tell you, no, I think the play will work pretty good. We just need a running back. Yeah, maybe he's right.

Is he right? You know how many two yards or less carries AP had? Green Bay won, and it was a negative two on an outside zone, which was poorly blocked and poorly run. I mean, one negative carry in that game. How are the tight ends blocking? Better. I think better.

Vernon was not as good in the Green Bay game as he'd been in the first couple games. I'd been really impressed with his hand placement, with his ability to stretch and blocks out in the first couple games. I think there were some wet down there in the Green Bay game. Jordan's been better, but Jordan's not asked a block very much. I'm fascinated by this Jordan Reed thing. What, the snap count every game? The snap count every game. I don't know why even allows himself to come off the field.

I feel like Jordan has enough say. If you were to go in and talk to West Phillips or talk to him. to Jay and say, look, I know I can play more. I can't see how they would say no to him. And if he blocks just a little bit better, and there's some easy things, that's by the way, that's why I like zone run, because it's way easier to block, especially for tight ends if they just step properly. You don't have to drive them downfield.

You don't have to hold them for a long time. You put Jordan on the backside of a zone. Let me paint a picture for you here. You know that little weak side zone run where Trent Williams doesn't have anything next to him, It's just him on an open edge, and he just mauls the defensive end, and we get out. Put Jordan on the backside of that play and say, just get in front. That's a creative, easy way to get Jordan involved in the run game. Oh, by the way, if you can't do that, let's go with a little Sean McVeigh-fly sweep action

to Jordan's side to hold that defensive end for one second longer. I think that he should be in more, personally. Yeah, I don't see. Snap count increased in the Green Bay game, and Jay said that they were sort of just easing him. back into it that they didn't want to rush it. So hopefully after a by week, we see him in there for as many snaps as at least some of the receivers that are producing nothing. I'd like to... Yeah, you hope that, but we've never seen that. I know. You understand, though, last week, and maybe it'll change a little bit. There was a massive

difference in terms of the rotation that you know that I hate, right? Ziggy Hood and Tim Settle didn't play a snap. Oh, yeah, yeah, right. They didn't play one snap, you had your best players on the field for the majority of the time. If I own a football team, granted, if I'm coaching a football team, it's one thing. But if I own a football team, and I spend my first round pick on John Allen, and then I spend my other first round pick on Durant Payne, and I get a guy like Ionitis who can really, truly play, I'm going to walk in and I'm going to say, they're playing. I paid them, I drafted them, I took your word on what you wanted to get them for,

and they're here, they're playing. I don't want to take anything away from what a guy like Tim Settle could be. I don't want to take anything away from what Ziggy can add, but he's not Jonathan Allen. And so if Jonathan Allen isn't tired, isn't hurt, he's on the field. And a story. And a story. There's a bench. Players can sit on the bench if they're not good enough.

They're as good as the other players that could be on the field. You know, I'm looking at this right now. in the Green Bay game. Allen played 65 of the 69 defensive snaps. Payne played 64 of the 69 defensive snaps. Meantime, Ionitis played 18 of the 69 snaps. So he rotated less in their nickel package. And you did not have Settle or Hood play one defensive snap in the game.

They played some special team snaps, but not one defensive snap in the game. Well, they'll be all the fresher if something happens in week eight and they have to come in. Yeah, they should be. Who's played really well so far, either side of the ball that you've been blown away, impressed with, and who has struggled that you are concerned about? You love Montaickelson. And other than he's missed some tackles that I don't think he should miss, he has been very good. He's got redline-to-red-line speed as a safety. I think he reacts really high as a free. I think he does it. nice job marrying a matching route combinations. He's been

very impressive in my opinion. I can't say enough about what Monta's done so far in the secondary. Fabian Moreau is another guy who maybe has benefited from a couple of drops, but we were so worried about Kendall Fuller and Fabian Moro has stepped right in and I think that a very

good job in the slot being able to stay with guys. He's not, I mean I can't even remember the names, but the nickel position has been a train wreck. over the past five years, and I think that was the concern. He's not blowing coverages. He's not out of place.

He's not in the wrong spots. If he's beat, it's on a man-to-man route where it's just a tick behind. I can deal with that all day, buddy. So I've been impressed with Fabian. I think he's done a nice job. Also, Dunning, I think, has done a pretty good job coming in. Maybe one play last week where there was an out-and-up, and he got a PI. He didn't need to put his hands on the receiver, but he was still in good position.

You're just saying to him, don't put your hands on him. You're fine. Everything was fine, then. So I've been impressed across the board with those guys. I think the biggest concern, if you want to be concerned right now, is some spots on the offensive line. You would say, you know, Ruié probably is a better guard. You think so?

Than he is a center. He's a natural guard. But, I mean, he struggled a guard last week. Well, how did Tony Bergstrom do it at safety? Todd? Todd? Todd. Todd?

Todd. He didn't play. That's right. His real name is Tony. I was actually thinking that I got the wrong name. He played zero snaps of safety this week, so he was fine there. That's good. You asked me how he did it safety. He didn't play. How did he do it? Center. I thought he was consistent. I don't think that he's ever going to drive a guy off the ball.

In the past game, the center is kind of the scan guy, so it's not often that they're going to have the one-on-one matchups. If I were playing the Redskins, I would go one-on-one with Berksner. every snap. Sheriff, I think Sheriff's got something. I think he's played better. I think he can play better than he's played through the first three weeks. I think he's a good enough player that he should never miss a block. I think he's a good enough player that he shouldn't give up pressures.

I do. I think he's better than he's played. And so, you know, we've done this over and over. Is he heard some wrong? I know he's battling through some stuff, but is it really that bad? I think his technique's got to improve a little bit. And then defensively, you know, you want to get some outside pressure outside pressure some more outside pressure and i don't think

that ryan or president has played poorly they they've been close a few times but i just don't see either of them as a natural off the edge win right now guy right but i'm not to say that i would bet you right now i would honestly i would bet you ryan carrigan still finds a way to end up with 10 sacks and i would bet you president smith still ends up with seven plus sacks they're still going to get their numbers. They're still going to get those plays. You're going to have a harder time trying to chip outside and bang outside with tight ends and receivers when you have the inside pressure that you've had. Why not move Zach Brown outside on third down, on obvious passing downs? He has the speed. He can't cut out to rush? To rush. Can you cite any plays

where you saw Zach Brown beat a tackle in a pass rush situation? It's not an easy thing to do. I think he has the only, I think he and Nicholson are the two fast guys that that actually it shows up. It's obvious how fast both of them are. And we've seen him rush, not necessarily from the edge, to your point, but we've seen him be an effective rusher against Seattle last year, against Philadelphia on Monday night last year. Let me play coach for you for a second here with this.

I think Zach Brown's more of a liability in coverage, and that's why you see him coming out. And my name recognition is so bad. Who's 40? Harvey Clemens. Yeah, that's why you see Harvey Clemens go in. You like that? Harvey Clemens.

So if I'm going to give you a Zach Brown rush tendency on any past situation, oh, Zach Brown's in the game here, comes with Blitz. And if you bring Zach Brown, who are you going to drop if you wanted to drop anybody? You can't drop Ryan, you can't drop Preston. They're not good drop guys. I'm just looking for somebody with some speed that can actually pressure the quarterback. Here's what you need. You need exactly what you've got.

Harvey Clemens was in on 19 snaps in the Green Bay game at a 69. And it was all nickel-pass situations. Right. Because they're like having coverage. What about McPhee? McPhee is flashed once or twice in the first three weeks. You know, it's funny. You know, I don't necessarily love pro football focus,

but they have him as like the highest pressure per rush of anyone in the league over 25. Do they really? Because I made a note on him twice that when he's been in the game, there's actually been a difference watching him rush the past. versus our two outside guys? All I want from our outside guys at this point with the interior pressure we're getting is keep a quarterback in the pocket. I don't want Aaron Rogers scrambling outside down the sideline because all he had to do

a step up a little bit because Ryan Kerrigan took a hard upfield angle and now we allow an outside rush. It's so funny because you always say, or I used to say interior, let's just push the pocket and you allow the outside guys to turn the corner and get there. I think it's a little bit the opposite for us. I think it's let's just control the edge and let our inside guys win. Right. The push the pocket, we might be a better push the pocket from the outside and let our inside guys create the pressure.

Because we do have three good interior, well, two very good interior rushers, and another in pain who can get there and is going to get better. A question that I would have wanted and would have asked you after the Indianapolis game, because it happened a lot last year, and I don't know, I'm sure there's a reason for this, But sometimes on run-down situations, Kerrigan and Smith play super wide. It drives me nuts. It does drive you nuts still,

because it appears to open up running gaps, which Indianapolis actually ran on them a little bit, especially in that first half. Look, I'm not coaching defense, and they're playing a responsibility gaps on defense or trying to play a gap defense, and they're trying to play one gap. And so let's just say,

the outside gap all the way to the sideline would be called the D gap. So they're playing the D gap. But to me, there's just a time when the D gap becomes inside a little bit. You can't have six yards of separation between the C gap and the D gap. And so maybe there's a risk to be taken. And I don't see, especially Ryan, as a big risk-to-take type of player. Like, if I were blocking Ryan and I knew he was outside leverage, I wouldn't try to block him hard.

I'd just go to the sideline. He'd go with me because he's playing his responsibility. That was what DeMarcus Ware always did. He'll play DeGap. He does not want to jump inside because he doesn't want to get beat there. So meantime, it opens up a big lane inside. Yeah, I think that there's a lot of that. Some of the other stuff, especially in the first half of the Green Bay game,

and back to the Colt game, was also poor angles taken by backers to inside and poor separation from some of the blocks that they had. Letting their offensive linemen get your hands on Zach Brown. and it's a delayed angle or a bad angle, and then that gap's way bigger because you do have a C-gap player. And a lot of times it's those backers playing that C-gap that are late to fill. What do you make of the division so far? Let's move off the Redskins. We just spent 35 minutes on that.

What do you make of the division so far? I don't think Dallas is a great football team, but that D-line is really, really good, and they should hold people to under 25 points a game in a lot of games, especially with the ball. I mean, I mean... Well, it's the new NFL. That's the new NFL under 25's good. How many week threes have we been? Like four teams over 30 points a game?

How many 400-yard passers have we had in the first four weeks of the season? It's out of control. Now, the roughing-the-passer stuff got knocked back. I mean, we can do that. It got knocked back, though, last weekend. You know that it was dialed way back. Five calls the entire weekend versus... Yeah, and it's going to continue to get knocked back.

I agree. By the way, the lowering the helmet calls, I think there's only been five throughout the entire season. haven't even not even noticeable. The big off-season topic about lowering the helmet hasn't even been noticeable. No, it's been a nothing. And the rushing the passer, I think, is one of those cases where, like, we're going to punish you really hard right now, right away,

so you don't even dare do it anymore, and then you're going to stop calling it. I think by the time you get to the week, I just hope they're not waiting for the playoffs. I don't want to see a week 12 where you have nine roughing the passer calls, and five of them were actually good calls. I hope it goes away by week five, week six. I think they dialed it back. I think you had two outrageous calls, both on Clay Matthews, Jr. And back-to-back weeks that, you know, I don't think we've talked about this off the air.

We certainly haven't talked about it on the air. But I think one of the problems with it is it's not a comparable to the hitting of a defenseless receiver. The two are totally different animals altogether. most people, most fans understand, even though they don't like it, that these hits on defenseless receivers, especially helmet-to-helmet hits, are really dangerous and to a certain extent they understand trying to legislate some of that out of the game. They don't understand the appropriate, the correct tackling of a quarterback being legislated out of the game. Two totally different things.

It's hard on every level, Kevin. It's hard. If you're looking at a defenseless receiver, where was the ball thrown? If the ball was thrown where it was expected to be thrown, then yeah, you could potentially say it was a hit on a defenseless receiver. But let's say the ball's thrown out in front where that receiver's got to really open up and extend. DB can't determine where the ball was from. Put that on the go. Find the quarterback. I'm not going to, I'm not saying that there isn't debate there on the defenseless receiver hit and trying to legislate that out of the game. All I'm saying is that it's completely different than what we saw in back-to-back weeks with Matthews,

juniors sacking a quarterback, hitting a quarterback right after he had thrown the ball in a completely legal play. And people, fans, consumers of the sport, don't want the sacking of the quarterback taken out of the game. And that's essentially what people were left with after those two plays is like, well, what's next? Are we going to literally put flags or yellow jerseys on the quarterback and not allow sacking of the quarterbacks? Just give them a flag. back to the NFC East. What do you make of it? So Dallas, I agree with you.

They're very good on defense. They may have the best pass rush in the division, if not the conference, but they have one player offensively. One. Now, if you can run the ball and you can stay balanced and Prescott can make a few plays, maybe they're capable. I actually liked the Giants' talent, but clearly they are not aggressive enough offensively,

and maybe it's because of the quarterback. What do you think about all three? the other three teams. And the Redskins position. Just on Dallas for a minute. I mean, we've been doing this forever. I think Dak is an okay player. And as I watched the Cowboys play over the last three years, their offense hasn't evolved. It's so simplistic and it's so simplified. And there's a reason for that.

It's because that's what the quarterback can handle. I think Cole Beasley said last week, look, we're open. Go watch film. We've got guys open. We're not getting the ball to open receivers. Now, it was a little better last week, but DAC is DAC. He needs a big dose of run game, and he needs to compliment that run game with him running the ball. Yes.

And he's good in play action, but by the way, when you're running the football, everyone's good in play action. So if you can have that, then that's fine. I think they're hurting from not having a guy like Des Bryant, and I think they're hurting a little bit from even not having a guy like Witton where you know you can rely on a guy. So offensively, I wouldn't be surprised to see Dallas have five or six weeks where they don't score 20 points.

And so can they hang on defensively? They'll have to see. I think Dallas is mediocre, which means they're probably an 8-nate type of team. Things can change, but I don't see them with a ton of talent offensively. What do you think about the Giants? The Giants have Eli Manning playing quarterback right now,

who I think looks like he is playing old man softball. You know, anybody that ever played softball, You got to the realization where you had to place the ball now. Like you had to just try to hit it where they're not putting their rover because you can't smash one out in the field. Eli Manning's got a place when he actually lets the ball go and when he knows he's getting hit. And I don't think he wants to spend more than three seconds in the pocket. He looks like his brother in the last year that Peyton had in Denver. And I think he looked like that last year as well.

So I think there's some real concern with what Eli Manning's actually capable of. because if you give another quarterback that offense right now, look at the weapons. Oh, my God. Sterling Shepherd is a good receiver. Everyone knows who Adele Beckham is. Sequin Barclay's been phenomenal. Ingram.

Ingram has been out, but Red Ellison is actually a pretty good tight end in there for them, making some play. So I think they have a group of weapons. They're better up front on the offensive line. I just, I'm not going to buy that Eli Manning's going to torch me in any given game. and because of that, teams are going to give up 300 yards passing, but they're not going to be killer yards. So he'll get a bunch of yards passing,

but you're going to have sacks and they're going to punt a lot. What about Philly? Philly's in a hangover mode, and I don't think they're anywhere near as good defensively. I'm not going to quit on Philly because I think that they're a good football team in Wince is going to get better throughout the year. They've had a bunch of injuries.

They got out of them. Alshon Jeffrey back. Ertz is still a baller. But they're not the team. There's not the magic that you saw last year at this point. And I think a big thing is people have been able to move the ball on them a little bit. I don't know. The insider trading thing was crazy, by the way, with Kendrick.

Yeah, well, they just cut him too. I know. He lost his appeal on that. But I think Phillies, I think Philly's a 10-win team. I would have a hard time saying they're not a team that could win 10 games. Now, if they have the injuries that they had last year, they're not going to be. They don't have the magic.

They don't have that special thing about them this year. And isn't that amazing in the NFL? Same team. And didn't Fletchicott got hurt last week as well. I didn't. I didn't see that. I didn't know. I don't know if he's out or not this week.

They lost a corner last week, too. But by extension now, off of the last three minutes of conversation, do you think the Redskins can win the NFC East? I think they can. I'm not going to say that they're going to at this point. Are they the biggest challenger to Philadelphia? This is where it's really interesting. The Giants aren't because they just haven't gotten there yet.

They're one and three. It's tough to battle back from that to win a division. Dallas, I just don't see it. So yeah, I'd say the Redskins right now are the biggest challenger, but this is a tough schedule, man. You've got to go and play in New Orleans, and this is a test. You've got to come home and you've got to play the Panthers, and then you start playing the division.

I believe if the Redskins can win the division games that they play, that they are a true challenger and can win this division. They can afford to lose a game to the Saints. They can afford to lose a game to the Panthers, but you have to beat the teams in the division. You can't be worse than four and two in this division. This may be one of those years where the six division games versus the other 10 that you play are super important because maybe nine or 10 gets it done.

So if you can get four to five, if you can get five of them, out of the six, you're in great shape in the division. Is anybody close to the Rams right now? No. The Chiefs, maybe. The Chiefs are terrible in defense. Terrible. That's okay.

Patrick Mahomes has 47 touchdowns through the first four weeks of the season. And my God, he looked good on Monday Night Football. Oh, man. Are you saying that? Because I went off yesterday on everybody inducting him into the Hall of Fame already. I'm not going to induct him into the Hall of Fame already. name. God, he looked good on Monday night.

I thought he looked good at the end. I thought for the first time, through the first two and a half, three quarters, he looked rattled, he looked inaccurate and didn't look that good at all. Vaughn Miller and Bradley Chubb. I understand that. And why didn't Chris Harris continue to cover the tight end, Kelsey? Yeah. It's amazing.

Because they locked them up in the first time. That was an awesome game. And yeah, they're not very good on defense. They're terrible on defense. You can run it right down their throat, and Jacksonville's going to do that this. week. Here's the crazy thing about the Kansas City defense over the last couple years. They've been terrible on defense, but they find ways to get stops when they need to get stops and they get turnovers. So you can be terrible on defense if you can get off to fill

a couple times a game and get a couple turnovers, which, by the way, all the Reds can have to do this week. But, I mean, that's another story. The Rams are, no one's even close because when you play the Rams, Sean's creativity is fun. It's fun to watch. It's not even that special. It's just pre-snap creativity. He's running basic West Coast concepts, which I love, which you should be able to do because they're easy to execute. But all those red zone touch sounds, they're coming off like a stick flat with a jet sweep away, and everyone's enamored with the flight action because they can't decide whether or not there's two, two guys, two eligibles on one side of the field, or there's three, or when there's going to be two or when there's going to be three.

No, by the way, there's girly, and so now we've got to adjust in the run game to two or three. His pre-snap stuff has been phenomenal. So that's going to be tough, and they got weapons. Adding the guy like Cook is going to be special for them. Cooper Cup looks amazing. Woods is a good player. They block as well as anyone up front I've seen in the run game. That's another thing I've been impressed with

how they have them working as a unit up front in the run game. And then defensively, there's not a, maybe Minnesota, but there's not a more talented defense. I know they, well, Minnesota's defense is a mess right now. You talk about one of the biggest shockers of the first four weeks is that Minnesota's defense, which was dominant last year, and I know there's been no Everson Griffin,

here recently, but it's a terrible defense the last three weeks. It won't. It won't stay a terrible defense. They've got too much talent for it to stay terrible, but something's not right there defensively. Well, it's a buffalo's kind of an anomaly because they had the fumbles and stuff from Kirk. Josh Allen moved the ball up and down the field. He still looked pretty good. And then you play the Rams, and right now no one's stopping the Rams.

By the way, hold on for one second, because that pre-snap, creativity that you talked about with Sean. Did you see some of the stuff Andy Reid was running the other night? Yeah. I've never seen that. With the four players basically on one play going in sort of jet sweep motion from one side to the other. Oh, it's awesome. And a lot of the stuff people are, that Sean's been doing with Jet because I watch what they're doing every week.

It's not always jet sweep action. They're shifting it. Yeah. They're using the jet as a shift on a dummy cadence. So you get a jet one way. but he says the receivers right there gives a little pause and then goes and sets up and shifts, and then they're jet sweeping with someone else. I think he calls it wizard.

That's his shit. It's his code name. Andy Reid does? No, Sean does. I am a little bit fascinated with when you put three kill in the backfield. Right. And run them in some weird looking motion. Just play man coverage with outside leverage.

And there was a play later in the game where there was a play later in the game where the Broncos did exactly that. Harris just comes and he plays outside leverage and they try to throw a screen to Hill and it's playing in that coverage when he's in the backfield. I guess it's hard if he's running some option around. There was some weird motion with Tyree Kill too. Like he went into the backfield and did like a little S design.

Like running around sideways and curves and all backwards. It's a lot like with more motion element and more creative, you know, why is the receiver bubbling eight yards backwards into the backfield element and not as much shift? But it's, I'll be interested in how defenses start to adjust to some of that stuff. Like I'm amazed with some of the jet sweep stuff.

Yeah, me too. We're leaving a defensive end free to jet sweep. And so our biggest concern is that receiver jet sweeping is going to out leverage our D-end and the guy that's unblocked. is not going to be able to make a play. Yeah, you don't want to move him out so wide that he can't play the run, but just put him in a wide nine technique and make sure that he doesn't allow the jet sweeper outside and then crash after that or blitz inside of him and allow him to play that.

And then don't react at all with linebacker eyes to the jet action. Just say, it's almost like you have to play the triple option in high school. Like one guy has the dive. One guy has the pitch guy. One guy has the coach. And so give the defensive end on the jet action, you have the jet guy. And no one else is going to react to the jet guy. All right.

What are you doing every day? What do you do every day? What can people watch you do every day out at Redskins Park? I'm trying to think of fun things to do, man. We're trying to make, here's what, first of all, the new management with Brian and with Zip and with everybody here, It's the real deal. And they have to prove it. And everyone has to prove it in whatever they do.

And they have a lot to overcome in terms of saying, like, we're going to provide the best possible entertainment and value for our fan base. So one of the things that everybody here is trying to do, not me, is create better content. And my biggest goal, Kevin, is this. We don't know our players as well as we should know our players. And players are always told that they have to brand themselves to make their own brand. But I think there's a way to make the players look amazing, get the fans to know them,

have the trusted content that they can make, that if something doesn't go, well, we don't put it out there as a team. But get to know the players. I thought this was really fun. The six of them read bedtime stories yesterday. Who was the best? Ryan Anderson, I think is going to come out tonight on Instagram or Facebook at 6 o'clock. Really? was amazing, and I had to coach him through it two or three times.

But I had him doing voices. I had reacting. So how will I, how do I get that? Redskins.com? It'll be on the Redskins' Instagram or Redskins.com. It should go out this evening. But just for example, I don't know if in two years I've had more than a, hey, what's up with Ryan Anderson. We interviewed him after he was drafted.

Yeah, remember that? know if I've seen him smile because he's very serious. He isn't that serious. He was awesome. He's a great guy. I personally had a chance to get to know a player that I didn't really get to know. And I think there are so many sides of these guys that the team can show. And if you really think about what you cheer for in sports now, you cheer for people.

So my example is, why do I watch the Rams? One reason, because I love the head coach. She's my guy. I want everyone to feel like these players. They're your guy. Like, you know about them. And it doesn't have to be like goofing around stuff. It should all be in this building.

It shouldn't be them going home doing something where fans are going to say, why aren't you watching film? They all have great personalities, and the goal should be, what can we bring out in their personality that everybody needs to see? And how can we do it? And my thought is if I can do some fun stuff with some of these guys, Like I got Jordan Reed coming in to teach his wife how to run a choice route this week. Teach his wife how to run a choice route.

But see, my thought process on this. Is she an athlete? Do we know if she's an athlete? I don't know. We're going to find out. But it'll be funny if she isn't. How many interviews have you heard with Jordan? And how many times have you seen Jordan do something where he's in a shell?

Jordan ain't going to be in a show with his wife. He'll be him. So you'll see him. I like it. I think that's great. Now, what I want, like my thing, like, yes, there's some stuff that I'm I'm doing, and we're going to do some more film stuff. I'm trying to get a great software so I can produce some better film video content and some of the things.

But to me, it should be about the players. Okay. And so my goal for this season is to help fans get closer to our players and to make our players look like the awesome dudes that they are. I love the goal. You will achieve it. I was just curious if perhaps maybe an ancillary goal could be a semi-referial. regular appearance on this podcast. You, okay. What?

You know that it's not my decision, right? I know, but can we do this? Like, what we just did, can we just do this occasionally? I think we can do it occasionally. There we go. That's all, I didn't push. I know you do. I know you do.

And I didn't push and hope, and I don't think we made anybody upset. So, you know, a semi-regular slash weekly appearance would be awesome. It would be great. So we're going to work on that, and this was a lot of fun. We didn't even talk about the caps who are going to be hanging a banner tonight. Joe Beninotti's coming up with me to talk about that. I actually heard on a side note that they did a lot of analytics in the sharpness of skates and how fast they can skate with the sharper blade.

Well, look, there's no doubt that for the first time ever in their postseason, they sharpened their skates last May in June. And that was the difference. It was a total difference. And because of it, they were able to charge for tickets, which was great. All right, enough of that on a day, which, by the way, is a great day for that. Yeah, Todd Reardon, old Trotsie left. I'm not going to lie to you.

What? I'm not. I know. You knew Trotsy left. I am happy as a. could possibly be to be dismissive of hockey. I know, but how much fun did we have, though, at the parade when we did the show down at the parade? That was actually really good. I think hockey deserves a day. There's no doubt

about that. You've got to have a day of hockey. I'll talk to you later. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. It was fun. Thanks for having me, Kevin. Oh, that's so nice. I will call you later, and I'm glad we were able to at least sort of just nail down the possibility that this could become a an occurrence again. I won't even say semi-regular. I'll talk to you later. See you. See you. Well, that was fun, catching up with Coolly. We do it every day off the air. It was nice to do it

on the air, so to speak. Can you say on the air when you do a podcast? It's not live on the air, although we're looking into that possibility too. We may have some sort of live offering at some point down the road, but that was so much fun. He and I used to say to each other after every four-hour radio show because people say,

man, four hours is a long time. Well, I mean, it's typical for a radio show, you know, in morning drive to be somewhere between three and four hours. And the time always flew with Cooley. It always did. I've been very, very lucky to have, you know, people like Cooley to do a show with, Tommy to do a show with, Doc years ago to do a show with Rigo years ago to do a show with.

It's always, for whatever reason, been a situation where, you know, it flies by, which means, you know, you're having fun and you're not, you know, you're not stressing about what's next. I've known a lot of people that have done this stuff that are like, whoa, four hours. I mean, what I'm going to talk about after a half an hour? Andy's, Andy Poland's favorite saying with everybody that used to say, hey, I can do that. Andy would be like, yeah, you can do that the day after a Redskins game. But what's your Wednesday, June 12th show? That's a little bit more difficult. It was never difficult for me with Chris and with Tom and the people I've worked with.

So it was great to catch up with Cooley, and hopefully we can do that more often. Let me thank Window Nation right now. I've mentioned this since we launched this podcast. Harley and Aaron from Window Nation were the first to reach out and say, we got your back on whatever you're going to do. And I can't begin to thank them for it, which is why the ability to thank them comes from telling you that if you're thinking about new windows, please call Window Nation. They'll give you a free quote.

There's no risk in calling Window Nation if you've been thinking about new windows. If you tell them that I told you to call, they're going to take good care of you. Halloween is this month. Thanksgiving is next month, and then Christmas is two months away. That means winter is coming, and now is the time you need to start acting when it comes to winterizing your home. and you can do it with brand new window nation windows. If you wait, it's too late to replace those old drafty windows because the nasty winter weather will have already hit.

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For the balance of the month, you'll get 50% off all styles of windows plus no down payment. No payments and no interest for over one full year. There's more, though. If you purchase a house of windows this week, Window Nation will pay your utility bills until your new windows are installed. Call 86690 Nation or go to Wendon. Window Nation.com. That's 86690 Nation or WindowNation.com by this Sunday. And you'll get that deal and tell them, I told you to call. All right, let's bring in Joe Beninotti. One of my favorite people

to have on any show that I've ever hosted or co-hosted. He's the voice of the caps, of course, on NBC Sports Washington. And he is really one of the best play-by-play guys in all sports and one of the best guests in this format. And I love talking to you. And I had you. in mind for this particular day when I launched this podcast three and a half weeks ago. And my first question for you is, did you ever think, did you ever think that tonight would happen? Kevin, first off, thanks for saying what you said. And I really do appreciate it coming from you. Yes, I fully expected this team would win a championship. And I say that, I'm not being cavalier when I say that. I had a belief in this team. And I think one of the major,

of reasons why they went to the heights that they went, is that all of a sudden the confidence finally suck in. The self-belief actually sunk in for them that they could do it. And it all goes back to being able to get past Pittsburgh in round two, and we can go through all the stages of it. But yes, I thought this time would come. I felt like this team was deserving of it. And for once, for once in the spring, they earned it, and they played to the best of their

abilities and they were ultimately rewarded for it. What's tonight going to be like? Let me ask it from a personal standpoint. What's it going to be like for you to sort of witness this? You know, and you did expect it. And I think everybody expected it. But after many years of falling short, I'm sure there was a lot of doubt. But what's tonight going to be like for you personally?

And then what do you think that town's reaction will be, you know, from a standpoint of, you know, the crowd in the arena, the crowd outside of the arena, the number of people watching. Give me your sense of all of that. Kevin, you remember how good the fans were in April, May, and in June. Incredible. It was an experience unlike any that I've ever had since I've been in the marketplace. And I arrived here in 1994, and sure, the caps would have, could have and should have won multiple Stanley Cups. But they picked off 2018, and the fan base reacted as I thought they would.

and they grew to incredibly exceptional numbers throughout the parade route and the rally and the viewing parties. So tonight is just the – it's the closing chapter. It's the end of that chapter for the team on the ice. And I think the fans will forever bask in the glow of it and be able to and be able to speak confidently about their favorite team actually getting it done. The players know they have a season now to prepare for and to hopefully defend all it is that they earn. last spring. But for this group, it's the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of incredibly passionate fan support and great work off the ice and on it by executives, by scouts. I mean, there's a lot of people who are involved in putting together professional sports

franchises. And there are a lot of people whose careers and whose day-to-day lives swings, you know, with these emotional moves and with every ebb and flow of a team's performing well or going through a funk. And then all of a sudden, when you get to realize the highest of highs and actually see a sign of it raised to the rafters at your home arena forever, that they can never take away, that's got to be a fabulous, fabulous achievement for the guys who earned it on the ice, for the coaches who helped them earn it behind the bench for everybody, for the trainers, for the athletic trainers, for the equipment managers, on and on and on. But for me personally, I look at it with a sense of pride, almost in a big brotherly kind of way, Kevin.

I've known a number of these caps since they were teenagers, and to see them now, some of them 10, 11, 12 years later, with families of their own, actually, you know, crying over their accomplishments, enjoying it as much as they did throughout the summer. I'm just so proud for them, happy for them. When that banner goes up tonight, it's one final thumbs up to a really great group of guys. Is there any tarnish on this with Barry Trots not being there tonight?

No, I don't think it's tarnished. You know, Todd Reardon takes over, and Todd Reardon was an instrumental part of the team winning last spring. I'm not going to say that personally I would prefer that Barry be there today. I wish he were in the head coaching capacity. It didn't turn out that way. This is a business. People have to make decisions for the best of the business and for the best of their families, and the decision was made for Barry to move on.

I don't believe it's tarnished. There's a part of me that would wish that Barry were here, definitely, absolutely. There's a part of me that would wish that Peter Bonder and Oly Colzig were Stanley Cup Chan. You go all the way back, you know. I wish Craig Lockland was on the ice. There's, you know, that's a romanticized version of it. But from a Barry Trott's standpoint, I know where you're coming from. Optically, it does not have the appeal that you would want.

But I think the franchise is ready to make a seamless transition to, someone that they really value very highly and whose relationships with the team are really sound, Kevin. This is a head coach who doesn't have to introduce himself to this group at all. They know him extremely well, and as long as he remains himself and doesn't become something different as a head coach, and I don't think he will, I think they're going to get along extremely well. You know, it is interesting. I mean, it's really a fascinating storyline to tonight, the fact that the head coach, the guy that finally was the coach that got this particular franchise over the top, leaves after winning a title, is not retained, however it is to be described.

But I do think that there is an analogy here, and it's football season, Joe, but the Redskins potentially could have done the same thing with the guy that they valued very highly in Sean McVeigh. and they didn't, and they weren't coming off a Super Bowl win, and Sean McVease tearing it up, and I think part of why Reardon's here is because there was so much respect for him, and the fear of losing him to somewhere else where he would become a head coach was a significant factor in this.

Do you agree or disagree? Oh, absolutely, Kevin, and I would think that, you know, Barry's departure may go back as far as to the beginning of last season, before the team was ever thought of as a Stanley Cup champion. You know, when you made a coaching contract extension to Todd Reardon to Blaine Forsy, but you didn't to Barry Trott's your head coach or Lane Lambert, one of the primary assistants, you had almost played your cards.

You almost showed them. And, you know, that I'm sure bristled Barry. I know it did. And there were times early in last season. There were several times, Kevin, where we weren't sure that Barry. was going to survive the 17-18 season, that there was going to be a change. There wasn't. And then as karma would have it, you know, the team everything worked so nicely late in the season.

They got their game straight. They were able to overcome adversity in pretty much every round. And then, oh, look at this. The guy that we didn't extend just brought us our first championship. But to me, I think a lot of the seeds could have been sown a long, long time ago that, No, Todd, we want you here. We're developing you here. We have high hopes for you in the future. We're not going to let you interview outside the organization. I think the organization knew what they had in Todd, and now it's Todd's turn to show them. None of the 18 experts on NHL.com or so-called

experts are picking the capitals to win the East. In fact, only five of the 18 predict them to win the Metropolitan Division. Do you agree with that sort of preseason forecast? I've seen it from time to time with other squads that were very formidable Stanley Cup champs. I don't necessarily believe in a lot of the indicators that I've seen so far that I've read through some of those polls and power rankings that you've sorted through. I think the Washington Capitals are a much better team than people are giving them credit for. Those experts are giving them credit for. But I can firmly understand why the experts believe it will be difficult for them to repeat, just because it's a fact of life.

But to me, I think this capital's group has a little extra special motivation. They have been so often compared rightfully or wrongfully and held up as a measuring stick to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Penguins were the first team in almost two decades to actually go back to back. Washington spoiled a potential three-peat for them last year, knocked them out in the second round. So the caps are going to sit there, and I think to themselves will say, okay, we have to prove we're as good as the Penguins, we'll go back and make another Stanley Cup run.

Most people would sit there and tell you that it's so difficult, both physically and mentally, Kevin. I was behind the scenes for those eight months. I know exactly how much it took out of these guys. It would be remarkable if they were to do it back to back. It hasn't happened prior to Pittsburgh. It hadn't happened since the late 90s with Detroit. Pittsburgh was trying to do something in winning three straight

that the Islanders hadn't done since the 80s. So we're talking about different leagues, different types of performers, but in incredibly taxing eight months. It's eight full months. And they're not looking at it like that, but I know for a fact, Kevin, that they are speaking confidently about getting back there and getting the chance to defend it, if not win it again. Tom Wilson, how, Joe, does he stay the physical force he has been, the important contributor he has been, and at the same time not miss games?

Kevin, that is a fabulously tough question to answer, and it's one that I've been trying to wrap my head around for the last 48 hours, 72 hours since things went down on Sunday. It is going to be very difficult, and I have my fingers crossed as I'm saying this. I'm hoping that the league really doesn't come down extremely hard on him today. I haven't seen the news if it has already broken. I haven't seen it either. But I have a bad feeling, Kevin, it's going to be significant. and I am hopeful, I'm hopeful that they're going to let Tom play in October. I'm not so sure that they will.

And that's upwards of double-digit. Well, that's more than the sixth that some have predicted. No, Kevin, I got a bad feeling. I just do. And I have a feeling that I have defended Tom Wilson a lot in the last two season, three seasons. I think the world of him. I don't think he's a dirty player at all. He checks ferociously, but he does so cleanly.

But the problem is, you know, you're going to hear the oxymoron when I say this. It's a clean hit to the head. There are no more. There's no such thing. You cannot get contact with a player's head. You just can't do it. And Tom has to remove himself from those situations or at the very least minimize those. I don't know what got into him on that particular shift.

And yes, we can blame the player, Sunquist, for cutting laterally, head down, but this is not a dirty elbow. This is not a forearm. This is not late, but it is a shot to the head. And the league, and it's the, it is the absolute textbook hit that the league is trying to remove. And now here's Tom, who is disciplined in the playoffs, who is disciplined at the start of last season for a preseason game infraction. I just, I hope that the league is not going to go out of its way to make an example of him,

but I have a feeling that this time the penalty is going to be extremely significant. Thanks for the time. I know you're busy today. Tonight's going to be quite the spectacle down there, and it'll be a lot of fun to watch. I always appreciate catching up with you. I'll talk to you soon, Joe. Kevin, my pleasure.

Let's do it again soon. Always great to catch up with Joe B. I think one of the smartest hockey people and one of the true great guests and great guys for any radio show, any podcast, Joe's great. Tonight should be a lot of fun to watch. I'm looking forward to seeing that banner hung to see Alex Ovechkin and teammates celebrating.

And the Tom Wilson thing, you know, as of this recording, we don't know what the suspension will be. Joe thinking that it could go beyond, you know, into November, that he may not be available until November. Most of the projections, the predictions on the suspension that I've seen were in that six-game range. But Joe thinks it will be worse. give me a moment to thank Ralph Perkins and Kevin Farish from Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. They have been an advertiser with me on 980. They were for 11 years sponsoring the same segment in both of the shows that I was involved in over the last 11 years. Redskins at one with Tommy for seven years and Redskins at 8 a.m. with Cooley for the last two and a half years.

They were among the first with Windon Nation and a few others to reach out to wish me the best after I left 980 and say that they would support me in any new venture that I got involved in, and they are doing it. They're backing up their word, and I can't begin to thank them enough. And that's why I'd ask you, if you are thinking about something new, a new truck, a new SUV, a new vehicle, think about Ferrisch, Chrysler, Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. They have great deals consistently on everything that they sell. Right now, you're going to get a great deal on any Jeep.

you'll save big. They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. If you walk in there, Ralph Perkins is basically in the shop, in the store every single day. You can walk right through the showroom, ask for Ralph. He'll come out and say hello. Tell them that you've heard me talk about Ralph on this podcast and on radio over the years. And Ralph will set you up with the right salesperson. They've got a great sales team. They've got a terrific service staff as well. You can see everything Farish has right. now, including live inventory and live pricing at ferrishcars.com. That's fairishcars.com. A couple of things real quickly before we say goodbye for the day. First of all, it's great to have Cooley on. And hopefully, you know, it's all up to sort of him and other people as to whether or not he can come on on a more regular basis. I'd love to have that happen. And I think we both made that clear that we'd both love to have that happen. I wanted to mention a couple of things. First of all, that baseball game last night, I stayed up until after 1 a.m. for the entirety of it. It's great now, not having to get up at 4.30 every morning, which is what I used to do. I'd get up between 4.30 and

5.15 basically every single morning for the morning show that I did. Now it's like, I'm sleeping in until about 535-45. It's great. So I'm able to stay up later. And I stayed up. That The drama of a win or go home postseason game in any sport is incredible. In baseball, it's unique because it's pitch by pitch. Every pitch, there is a tension, there is a stress, there is an excitement with it, and you saw that last night to kick off the playoffs, and it was a phenomenal baseball game. I will tell you that I was rooting for the Cubs. Why?

because I wanted to see Daniel Murphy. I wanted to see Murphy be in the postseason for a longer period of time. He's a clutch player. He's a great player. And he had opportunities in that game to come through and didn't necessarily, although he had a couple of hard hit balls. But that was a great baseball game. So I'm looking forward to watching tonight,

even though I actually will be very focused in on the whole cap celebration. I think that's going to be fun to watch. But A's Yankees in a winner go home game, after the season the Yankees had of 100 plus wins, and they may be out after one game. Did you see what the A's are doing tonight? Yeah, they're starting all their relief. They're going to go with their relievers. They're going to go with that, you know, analytic strategy of not worrying about when you pitch guys,

but you take your best guys and you pitch them early and you worry about everything else later. You don't worry about starting with your closers and your setup guys. That will be interesting to watch as well. Another thing I wanted to mention real quickly, Neil and Rockville, the legal contributor to every show I've ever been on and a good friend, and now the official legal contributor to the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast. He sent me a text yesterday, and I never thought of it this way. And I'm going to bring it up with Tommy tomorrow,

and we're going to discuss this tomorrow with Tom. But he said about the conversation about the owner's involvement with Doug Williams on the Adrian Peterson workout. Remember that Doug Williams on 980 with Doc said that he was sort of taken to the woodshed and scolded a little bit by the owner and Bruce Allen for not telling them that he was bringing in Adrian Peterson. And Neil sent me a text and he said, look, when you bring in somebody with Adrian Peterson's recent past history of being a convicted child abuser, okay? And he's right. You've got to bounce that off the owner. I didn't even think of it, nor did Tommy. We didn't even think of it in that context. And that is smart and it makes total sense. And I get it now.

Now, Doug didn't specifically say that as why he was, you know, reprimanded to a certain degree for not telling the owner and Bruce Allen about bringing in Adrian Peterson. But I get it now. You're right, Neil. You're 100. percent right. In that particular case, I don't put that on anybody as over-involvement, you know, or getting too much involved again in the owner's case. I think that's specifically a situation where you have to go to the owner. You have to go to Bruce, and then Bruce has got to take it to the owner and say, we're thinking about bringing in Adrian Peterson, Peterson, with his recent history for a workout. Is that okay? I think that that makes a lot of sense to me. I do. The one other thing I wanted to just mention real quickly.

Cooley pointed this out in our conversation, and I made a note of this. I didn't pick up on this, and this is why I miss having daily conversations with him. And I do have at least every other day conversations with him. They're just not on the air. And this hadn't come up in any of our conversations. But Tim Settle and Ziggy Hood didn't play one defensive snap. in that game. And Duran Payne and Jonathan Allen played 64 out of 69 and 65 at a 69 snaps against the Packers, respectively. The rotation of those interior defensive linemen did not happen like it has happened. And I said to Chris, well, that's keeping your best players on the field. I'd like to see that. I'd like to see that more with Jordan Reed, and he agrees with that. And he made the comment, he said, well, if I own the team, that's exactly what I would do too. I should have followed up by asking him, was this some sort of mandate from management to play their best players more?

I will say this, it's the right strategy, ultimately. And, you know, right now defensively, Allen and Payne and I think Foster and Brown and Nicholson and Sweringer, you know, these are the guys you've got to have out on the field most of the time. You've got some young, talented players defensively that are going to make a difference this year if they can stay on the field. Just something that I wanted to bring up real quickly. We are going to eventually move into a new studio that may happen here any day now. We're still using Tony's studio here at Chatter. Jennifer Streets and Wisconsin Avenue Northwest.

Great food, great place to come watch games. Come watch the Caps game down here to next. night, come watch football here tomorrow night, football all weekend long, plenty of high-deaf screens, et cetera. But we are going to move into a new place. And I wanted to mention that if you live in the Bethesda Chevy Chase or Upper Northwest D.C. areas and you don't want a long commute, and it's too hard to get work done from home, I urge you to check out launch workplaces in Bethesda.

They have flexible and affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. It's a beautiful new space right over in the Sumner, Fort Sumner area of Bethesda off a Sangamore Road, which is right off of Massachusetts Avenue. So if you live anywhere near that area and you've been looking for something outside of the home to get some work done, this is a great spot. They have beautiful new furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks with high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, a cafe, parking is free, access is 24-7, to launchworkplaces.com to find out more today. You can also call them at 240-800-6714. 240-800-6714. Thank you, Aaron. Thanks to Chris Cooley today. That was so much fun. Thanks to Joe Beninati. Have a great day, everybody.