The Kevin Sheehan Show - Countdown to Washington-Chargers

Episode Date: September 7, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on the countdown to Washington's opener against the Chargers this coming Sunday. You'll hear the guys react to Ron Rivera yesterday on what he thinks of Justin Herbert, last year's NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Kevin recapped Maryland's big win over West Virginia and a few other college games from the weekend. The boys finished the show with a discussion about Naomi Osaka saying she will take a break from tennis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Happy fall, everybody. Tuesday, September 7th. Technically, Tommy, it's not fall yet.

But it's starting to feel like fall a little bit. And we know what time of year it is on the day after Labor Day. It's high season for sports talkers and yackers, especially in this town. The podcast will be with you, I promise now, five days a week, and who knows, sometimes six, right through the end of the upcoming football season. I love this time of year, Tommy. It's like there's a rhythm to the fall. Now, I don't have this situation that many who are listening, which is getting kids back to school. My kids are grown.

I've got one in college still. But still, there's a certain comfort rhythm to the fall. fall into football season in general. Do you know, I had my wife say to me a few years back, and she doesn't even like sports. She just said, isn't there football on or something tonight? Because there's a comfort in just having football on television for non-sports people. I like this time of year. Now, my wife, which says the same thing about baseball, having the same.

of baseball in the background reminds her that it's summer. Okay. Well, there's a rhythm to that as well. But I think there's a more scheduled rhythm to the fall and football season. People back to work, people back to school. The NFL is a scheduled sport. You know what nights it's going to be on. And there's just something about it. I don't know.

Before we know it, we're going to be into, you know, leaves changing pumpkins on doorsteps. and then we'll be eating turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, and then it'll be chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Let's eat. The fall is my favorite season. I love the fall. And I don't really experience winter anymore because we leave town.

Yeah. Well, you know, I like winter, too. As long... I know you do. I don't like just cold. I think everybody would agree on that. I don't like just cold weather. I just like the threat.

of winter weather, which would include, you know, snow and that kind of thing. I enjoy that, but I am, as I'm getting older, Tommy, I enjoy this time of year, I think. I think I enjoy the next two months out of the calendar as much as any two for our area. Like, it's the most beautiful time of the year, September, October, typically. I mean, September can still be hot early in September. But when we get to the middle end of the month and then October, it's so pretty around here. Would you be going to festivals and fairs and stuff like that? No.

It's a time for festivals. Will you be going to pick an apple to the apple orchard? Well, I won't be, but when the kids were young, those were activities, you know, going to Butler's Orchard, way out in Montgomery County, out near where you live, almost. Right. And, you know, taking hay rides and going through the pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins, that was always a fall ritual for the Sheeans. It would have to be like on a Saturday, not a Sunday. I was willing to interrupt a college football morning, early afternoon for that,

but couldn't do it for the NFL Sundays. But, yeah, no, I think there's something comfortable about this time of year for certainly a lot of the people that are listening. and I am excited about this coming week. Now, not as excited as you were mentioning right before the show started. Not as excited, apparently, as Mike Greenberg is for the Washington football team. Holy shit. People were sending me this. I still haven't watched it, to be honest with you.

I just know that he apparently said Washington's like his pick to win the whole thing or something. I don't know. Well, basically, he said there this year's 49ers. The 49ers from two years ago? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's basically what he said. You know, I mean, he's operating on a level of pure ignorance with a comment like that.

But I watched it. So a bunch of people sent it to me, and then I started to watch it, and I realized, what am I doing here? It's Greenberg. I mean, who cares what Greenberg thinks? I mean, let me just mention. me make sure I'm clear on this. Mike Greenberg is one of the best hosts and facilitators and traffic cops and teasers. He knows how to do a talk format radio TV as well as anybody does. And I think he's in the top three or four guys in terms of compensation at ESPN. I think he's very good at what he does.

I've never been necessarily a big fan of him or like his knowledge of sports or his opinions on things, but he's excellent at what he does. And that is he does a great job of setting people up. We call it playing traffic cop in the talk business, you know. And I've been fortunate enough to sort of been with, you know, work with people like Tommy and Cooley over the years where we've all sort of done. You know, I've done more of the heavy lifting on the traffic stop stuff. I'll admit that. But in terms of the opinions, it was always that's the kind of a show it was.

Everybody opining on things that they felt passionate about. That's really not Greenberg's thing, except occasionally. People were sending me this thing as if, like, oh my God, Mike Greenberg sees it, so it has to be true. What? Well, I think there's kind of a snowball effect going on this week. Hasn't a line moved in this game in Washington's favor? Well, I haven't checked it. That was my prediction a couple of months ago.

I did predict that by the time we got to game time, Washington would be, it would either be a pickum or Washington would be favored. No, the line is still pretty much chargers across the board, minus one. Okay, because I had read somewhere, I thought on one sports book it had gone to Washington plus one. It wouldn't surprise me if that happens, but remember, sharp money moves point spreads. Public money or public perception really doesn't.

So I just, well, actually, I just pull it up on one of my sites. Two of my three sites are still chargers minus one. and on another one it's now a pick. I thought it would move a little bit in Washington's favor as we approached the start of the game. I can tell you this, the public loves Washington this week. That's not a surprise. They're going to like Washington early. I mean, especially when people like Mike Greenberg, you know,

proclaim they're going to be the 49ers of two years ago and win the NFC championship. Now, in his comment, and I mentioned this to you before the show, but you don't seem to understand what I'm getting at here. He said Rivera, he talks about the coach and how great the coach is, and he said, Ron Rivera had four out of five winning seasons in Carolina. Right. Which is not true.

No, he went to the playoffs in four out of five seasons, won three division titles in five years, but in one of those years... He wasn't there for five years. He was there for nine years. Oh, you're saying that he represented that Rivera was only the coaching Carolina for five years? Well, he didn't, he said it for, you know, he had winning, four out of five winning seasons. What does that mean?

Well, I think when you said it to me, I thought maybe he was saying he had a stretch of four playoff seasons in five years. Well, he didn't say it that way. If that's what he meant, he didn't say it that way. Let's be clear, Ron Rivera had pre-winning seasons in nine years in Carolina. Yeah. You've been clear. The other thing he talks about is the quarterback. Oh, it's not nine seasons.

It's just over eight and a half. Right. Well, I count the one he gets fired in for not winning as a season. Yeah, well, they were five and three at that point, but they lost whatever in a row. Yeah. but it is what it is. So keep going. So he talks about the quarterback.

He's got the Fitzmagic disease. He talked about how, you know, that Fitzpatrick had one year, had a better, one stat that was better in Dak Prescott, another year in the past three, one stat that was better than Tom Brady. And, you know, he talks about how great Fitzpatrick was for the last. last three seasons. Right. And that people were sleeping on that.

And my argument has always been among the others is he's not with those teams anymore. He was so great. And for whatever reason, he's not there. Right.

He's not with those teams. No, he's not. So they were well. And going into this season, according to Fitzpatrick himself, there was only one other team in the league that was going to offer, I'm a starting job.

Mm-hmm. So, I mean, for this guy who was playing better, and Dak Prescott and Tom Brady, they weren't banging down the door to have Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starting quarterback. Right. Well, where do I start?

You know, Ryan Fitzpatrick was replaced by, not Brady in Tampa. He was replaced by, James Winston in Tampa. Right. Am I right about that? I believe so, yes. Yeah.

Yeah, that's the year he threw 33 touchdowns. He had 30 interceptions. And then last year in Miami, they drafted somebody with the third overall pick in the draft or fourth overall pick, whatever it was, I'm forgetting now, into a Tunga Vailoa. That's true that the teams. that he was most recently with moved on from him. But it's also true that he's had two and a half of the best years of his career in the most recent two and a half years.

On Ron Rivera, on Ron Rivera, it's also true that he's with a new team and perhaps a team with actually a better roster than the teams that he had his best two and a half years with over the last two and a half years. So the Rivera thing, we've gone over this, so it's covered ground. But Ron Rivera inherited a team that was 2 and 14 and drafted Cam Newton in 2011 with the first overall pick and went 6 in that first year. I think that that's a massive improvement. That's a four-game improvement from where he was.

Then in the second year, they finished second in the division and went 7 and 9. And then in the quarterback's third season, which is, you know, the time where you start to see a quarterback, a young quarterback start to come around, they went 12 and 4 and lost in the divisional round of the 49ers. The next year they went 7, 8, and 1 won the division with a losing record, won a playoff game, then lost in the divisional round to Seattle.

The third year, they went 15 and 1, and lost in the Super Bowl. The next year they went six and ten with a quarterback who was injured. The next year they went 11 and 5 and made the playoffs and lost to the Saints. And then with the quarterback really banged up for about a year, year and a half, they went 7 and 9, and then he got fired when they were 5 and 7. He was 76, 63, and 1 overall in his 8 and a half seasons, you know, 13. games over 500, which would qualify as Lombardi-esque for this program in this town here recently.

But you're right, there were only out of the eight and a half seasons, three winning seasons, because one of those playoff seasons, they were 7, 8, and 1. I'll move away from the actual numbers and why they were what they were. He never had a terrible season in Carolina. And every single non-playoff season was quarterback, injury impacted, which that team really was about Cam Newton as much as it was anything else. Look, he proved here last year he can make the playoffs with a losing record for the second time with no quarterbacks. I would move away from the actual results, which aren't bad, 13 games

over 500, a Super Bowl trip, four trips to the playoffs, a three and four overall playoff record. So that's not great, but he did coach in seven playoff games and moved to, you know, what you thought Carolina's teams were when you watch them. And to me, when they hired him, I said it, and I still feel the same way, and I'm seeing some of the same stuff here. They were tough, they were tough, they were disciplined, they were smart teams that, you know, didn't always have the greatest of talent. But, you know, I thought that they were well coached. teams. Look, I agree with you on that.

My point is you can, and we've talked about this because this is that this describes this team. It could go one way or the other way for this team. You can make the case that there's reason to be optimistic.

You could also make the case that those are shaking reasons. Yes, you can. Look, has he been to overcome injuries to the most important position over, well, last year he did, but, you know, it was lucky, right? I mean, seven and nine to win a division. But whatever, I feel like we've done this before. I want to go back to Greenberg because he's the latest in, you know, a long, on a

long list going back several months of people that are really high on this football team. And to me, it comes down to something that I just think all of them are missing. If they had not made the playoffs at 7 and 9 last year, first of all, there would be no discussion like there's been discussion of this team about the upcoming season. Do you agree with that? Yes. I think making the playoffs and being in a playoff game and actually being competitive against the eventual Super Bowl champions really has influenced a lot of this conversation.

And what gets lost is 7 and 9, the seven wins coming against teams that had Carson Wentz as a starter, and Ben Rathesberger as a starter. Those would be the two most impressive wins, and Carson Wentz was not very good, as we know last year. and Ben Rathesberger, when they beat them, look, that was a good win. The Steelers were undefeated, but it was the beginning of the Steelers swoon to mediocrity at the end of the year and a blowout playoff loss in their first game. The other wins came against Ben Danucci, Andy Dalton, Ryan Finley in the second half after Joe Burrow had Cincinnati in the game in the first half, Nick Mullins, and Jalen Hertz slash Nate. Sudfeld. And, you know, the close losses were to Teddy Bridgewater to Daniel Jones twice. Those were some of the close losses that were included. So I think they overlook why they played in that playoff game last year. I've said this a million times, I'll say it again. If you're high

on Washington and it's based on last year's results, that's naive and that's foolhardy. If you're high on Washington because of what they did in the off season to add to a pretty good talent base and what I believe is a pretty good coaching staff, but really it's about what they did in the off season, then have at it. That's fair because I think they had on paper a really good off season and they already had good young talent on defense, and they had changed their coaching staff last year. By the way, the offseason also includes major front office restructuring. But if you're high on them because they were surging at the end of the year, and they

took Tampa to the brink, well, that's a narrative that is not fact-based. they beat a bunch of, you know, back up in third string quarterbacks. They got run over in the playoff game with the part that people are identifying as the strongest part of the team, which is the defense. They got absolutely torched to the tune to 31 points in 500 plus yards, and Chris Godwin dropped five passes in the game. Five. That's almost hard to do. And so if you're basing it on. that and they ended up winning the division because the rest of the division was starting their third and fourth quarterbacks of the year as well. But if you want to say they had a great

offseason and it's year two of Rivera and the young players that you liked on defense are a year older, but really they added a quarterback. They upgraded the offense with a guy that I don't think is going to play on Sunday. Curtis Samuel and Diami Brown and some offensive linemen. have at that. I mean, I've said all along, I think they're going to be a better team, but with not better results necessarily. They might win a game or two more than they won last year, so that would be better, but you also have a 17th game to make that happen. But I would be a little bit, not shocked, but I would be a little bit surprised if they ultimately had better results when it came to the overall season and postseason than they had a year ago.

Look, I mean, do I think it's absurd to think that this team could win 10 games and be a playoff team? I don't think it's absurd. Me neither. I mean, I'm more pessimistic about the quarterback than a lot of fans would be. I think he's going to, I think he's going to regret. to being a back, Ryan Fitzpatrick, backup quarterback. And they have a stretch of games in the middle of the season before they're by,

where I think he's going to collapse. And I think he's going to lose games for them. And I don't think the coach is going to tolerate that. I think they're a really hard team. I think it's a really hard division to predict. But I just want to remind everybody, as the Mike Greenbergs of the world are picking Washington. There are nine teams in the NFC that have higher win total projections than Washington. So nine. They only take seven in the postseason. So they've got like the 10th best out of 16

teams in terms of their over under win total at eight and a half. The Cardinals, the Cowboys, the Packers, the Rams, Vikings, Maints, 49ers, Seahawks, Buccaneers, all have higher win totals. I don't know if I just ripped off eight teams or nine teams. They're either the ninth highest or the tenth highest. I think they're the tenth highest. So, you know, I always prefer to look at that, as you know, rather than listening to the Mike Greenbergs of the world.

And I'm just telling you as somebody who, you know, fancies him. self to be a, you know, like many of you, like many of you, an informed football fan. I think it's really hard to predict the NFL just in general year to year, but I would put Washington and the NFC East in a really hard to predict year. Like anything is possible. Ross Tucker was on this podcast three weeks ago or four weeks ago and he said, I see everybody in the NFC East winning between seven and ten games. I just don't know which team is going to win seven and which is going to win ten.

And I totally agree with that. I think that it's wide open, health per usual will decide a lot. I do like a lot of what Washington has, but I'm skeptical about Fitzpatrick, although I'm excited about Fitzpatrick too. but I'm hardly predicting a big year for Fitzpatrick, but I'm excited because he's coming off two really good seasons for him. And he's got some weapons and he's got a defense on paper and he's got a coaching staff right now.

So he could end up having his best year of his career. And if he does, they're going to win 10 games. Yes, yes, I would agree with that. And if they win 10, they're going to be in the postseason. A lot of it comes down to the quarterback, like it usually does. It usually does with all of these teams. It's going to come down to the quarterback in New York with Daniel Jones. It's going to come down to the quarterback for, in my opinion, in Philadelphia and how well Jalen Hertz plays.

And obviously in Dallas, it's going to come down to the quarterback staying upright and being healthy. And that's just in the division. There are 20 other teams or 23 other teams we could say that about. But I think a lot of people believe that Washington could be, you know, look, this is also the time of the year where everybody's doing their sleeper pick segment. You know, who in trying to pick the 49ers of two years ago, the teams that are coming out of nowhere to be a threat. So Washington's not a bad one to pick because if everything goes right, they do have enough people. pieces to win nine, ten games and be in the postseason? Yeah.

I don't think they can win 12. Not against that schedule the way it's shaping up. No, no, I don't think so, but I think they could be, because I do, there's weapons, obviously, Terry McClaren will probably have his best season yet with the other weapons that they have available at, you know, to the quarterback, whoever that may be. I really like Antonio Gibson if he stays healthy, you know, in terms of having a very productive full season,

considering what he did in 10 games last year. And everyone loves their defense with good reason. A defense, though, that gave up 500 yards against Tampa last year in that playoff game. Right. Now, everybody loves Tampa as, you know, a team that could, repeat. And we're going to get to see them in, you know, about 54 hours or whatever. And they're going to be into Cowboys or without Zach Martin who tested positive for COVID, even though he was vaccinated.

And with the short week, he could still get two negatives before the game and play. But, you know, this is going to be an ongoing thing. I'm actually starting to wonder if it's going to be a bigger issue this year than it was last year on some level in terms of the players that'll miss. and games that will be impacted. But anyway... Well, you know, I mean, for what I've been reading lately, and I don't want to get into this whole debate, it looks like we may have peaked on the variant,

and it may be going in the opposite direction. But here's the problem. The problem already unvaccinated players and the impact if they come into contact with somebody, even if they come into contact with somebody who has COVID. and the protocols involved pretty unvaccinated. That's the difference between now, between this year and last year. There's also a new variant.

I'm sure you've been following. Have you gotten a booster shot? No. But, you know, they're available now. No, you got to have eight months in between. No, you don't. Yeah, yes, you do. Well, no you don't, because I know people who haven't had it.

There's been no booster for the Moderna. Oh, you had the Moderna. Quite frankly, they like the way the job the moderners do it. Okay. Well, that's good. I know people who have gotten the booster for the Pfizer, you know, short of eight months. Apparently, you know, whatever. So this is a week, by the way, and an opponent that brings up an interesting question

that we have discussed before, but we're going to discuss it again. And that is it's a matchup on Sunday between last year's offensive rookie of the year and last year's defensive rookie of the year. We'll discuss the 2020 draft and what could have been right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Just a reminder to subscribe to the podcast, if you haven't done that, really helps us If you do that, it doesn't cost you a thing. Also, rate us and review us, especially on Apple, Spotify, and Google. I've read a lot of your recent reviews.

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If you could rate us and review us where you get a chance, it's really helpful. By the way, Ron Rivera will be a guest on the radio show, all right, my Team 980 radio show, Friday mornings at 8 a.m. during football season, starting this Friday morning. So I'm looking forward to that. So Tommy, I wanted to play two Ron Rivera sound bites and react to them. These are two questions back to back that Ben Standick, our good friend from the athletic, asked Ron Rivera about Justin Herbert, the quarterback of the Chargers this weekend. He, the offensive rookie of the year last year, facing the defensive rookie of the year,

Chase Young, both selected in the 2020 draft, Chase Young at number two, and Herbert at number six. Listen to these two questions and answers, and then I want to react to them. Ron, we finally get to ask you about an upcoming opponent for a game. So I'm just curious with regards to Justin Herbert, somebody you guys took a look at the draft. Last year, what were your thoughts on him sort of at that time? And how have you sort of seen him progress? Well, you know, when we looked at him, we really liked who he is,

as a football player, he's got a nice strong arm. He's built for the position. He's very athletic for a big guy. He's got a tremendous arm. He sees the field very well and he's a good decision maker. I mean, you put the tape on from last year, you get an opportunity to watch him make all the throws, literally make all the throws. You know, it's just one of those things that, you know, you draft who you think you need, and that's what we did. But I really think that this is a good football player.

He's a young guy who's going to continue to develop and grow, and he'll be a formidable player for a long time in this league. Is there anything about him that stands out in terms of where the league is right now? He obviously has really good size and a lot of strength, but anything that sort of stands out with kind of just where, the league is right now? No, I think probably the biggest thing, though, is, you know, when, when you get an opportunity and you find that, that quarterback like a kid like him, you know, a young man like him, that's what you want to get and hold on to. You know, I mean, part of it also is always hindsight, because now you get a chance to see that he's had success and he's capable of that success. I mean, he was offensive rookie the year last year for a reason, obviously. So there are two

parts of the two answers, Tommy, that I wanted to focus in on. He said after Ben's first question, you know, when we looked at him, you know, we liked what we saw, but you draft who you think you need, and that's what we did. And then in the follow-up question, he uses the word hindsight about seeing Herbert play last year, and in hindsight, you know, how good he was, essentially. I want to just refresh everybody and their memories of the 2020 draft. draft. You know, the question was not Justin Herbert for Washington at number two. If anybody was even discussing it, the question was Tuatunga Viloa at number two. Joe Burrow went number one to

Cincinnati, and then Washington was on the clock. And I've discussed this many times. I wanted them to draft Chase Young. I wanted them to lose the Giants game, the Chase Young game the year before when some of you were like, no, this is a division game. You got to win. I'm like, no, no, no, Chase Young could be a transcendent defensive player and a dominant one over the next 10 years. You cannot win this game over the – you can't beat the Giants in this game. I wanted them to draft Chase Young. I wasn't a fan of Justin Herbert. I thought he choked in some of Oregon's biggest games, especially his senior year.

And I thought Tua's injury was too high risk. I liked Tua, but I wanted Chase Young and Tommy. The context also includes Dwayne Haskins coming off his – rookie year, having played a decent game against the Eagles and the Giants, a half a game against the Giants. And I wanted to see Haskins for 16 games. And by the way, I think the owner wanted to see him for 16 games. And I think even Rivera understood that 2020 wasn't going to be a contention year.

And remember, he said that he had Haskins as a first round grade. You know, he and the powers that be in Carolina. So even though I think he was not a big Haskins fan, I think the Haskins thing was hovering over this thing, but I think they made the right call in the moment drafting Chase Young. The issue is if you had to go back and draft 2020 again, would you still take Young or would you take Herbert? I think Ron may have said there with the hindsight comment

that if he were a caller into the radio station asked about what he would do if he could redraft 2020, he would have said, hey, Kev, Tom, it's Ron from Ashburn, and I would have taken Justin Herbert. Because I'll tell you what, as much as I love Chase Young, and I do, and I'm glad he's with this team.

One guy plays quarterback, and the other guy is a defensive end. I wouldn't even have to think for more than a blink if I had a chance to redraft 2020 after watching Justin Herbert last year with the Chargers. I would take Herbert number two. Listen, I agree with all that. What's interesting is, though,

Rivera said you draft what you need. I thought you didn't draft based on need. That's, God, here we go. I don't. Charlie doesn't. I would. I would draft based on what I need. I know.

Charlie Casserly, who was a general manager in this league, says all the time, when you start drafting for need, that's when you make your biggest mistakes. There have been a lot of mistakes made draft on best player available, too. I'm not sure one is particularly a bigger mistake-prone action than the other. But Rivera did say, you know, we needed this guy. Well, because he's a defensive guy. you know, Rivera was a linebacker, of course.

And he was right. I agree with you. I would have drafted Chase Young with that pick. Absolutely. But if you do it now, you're right. I mean, Justin Herbert was amazing last year as a rookie quarterback for a team that was going to fire its coach. 31 touchdowns, 10 picks.

Yes. I mean, that's your quarterback. Absolutely. And forget the numbers. If you watch that team, which I did a lot of, and some of you did too, they were on national TV, probably too much for what they had last year. But that guy can play. You know, they were seven and nine, same record as Washington, and they lost, I've done this before. They lost two games in overtime and another five games by one score or less. They were only out of two games, Buffalo and New England on the entire slate.

That's why a lot of people like the Chargers to be a playoff team this year. Can I just say one thing? Because I think I don't want to lose this thought. I think the need versus best player on the board is really way too much of a black-white topic because it's just not. There's a lot of subtlety and nuance to it. You would always take the player at a need position if it's really close. And more times than not, it is really close. When you get to the spot on the board where you are in these rounds,

you have a couple of players that are pretty close. Now, if they had two great defensive ends and pass rushers and there weren't any quarterbacks in the draft that were worth taking and they passed on Chase Young, that would have been a mistake. Because to me, Chase Young would have been the highest rated player on their board by miles. But he was that and they had a need. But anyway. Did you hurt yourself backing up there at all?

No. I think we've had this conversation. The two of us have had this conversation. I've had this conversation with lots of people. And, you know, lots of people agree, lots of people disagree on the subject. I just think that it's not, more times than not, it's not, oh, this is obviously the highest rated player on the board, but he doesn't fill a need, so we're going to take him. I think more times than not, there are a lot of players that are close, and one of them fills a need more than the others. But you're right.

I mean, it sure sounded like if you're asking me today and you're. you inject truth serum in me, I feel a lot better with that guy behind center than Ryan Fitzpatrick. And it's not the wrong answer. No. Because here's, they're thrilled. Chase Young is a, is going, it was a really, really good player as a rookie, and he's going to be a great player. He has the chance to become one of the all-time great Washington football team players. I believe that.

And I was totally in favor. But if you were to redraft 2020 and you understand the importance of the quarterback position versus any other position on the field, including, by the way, a dominant pass rusher, and they are important. Pro football focus will now tell you that a corner is more important than a pass rusher, given the quick throws in the RPO game, etc. And by the way, interior pass rushers, they'll tell you are more important than edge pass rushers. But whatever, the bottom line is nothing comes close to how important the quarterback.

is. And so many teams, including this one, for decades, have been in search of a franchise version of a quarterback. And if you went back and had the chance to draft 2020 all over again, franchise quarterback one went to Cincinnati and franchise quarterback two, Justin Herbert, would be going to whomever, had the number two pick no matter who was on the board, including Chase Young. I think that's, I think any football. person would tell you that. That if they went back and drafted 2020 and they had Washington selection, they'd be like, oh, God, man, Chase Young's so good.

But Herbert looks like the real deal. Yeah. Yes. So. I agree. So there were a couple of things that I wanted to mention that came out of the weekend. And I know you want to talk a little tennis, actually. And so do I.

So I'm going to save that for a little bit. But I have not had a chance to weigh in on Maryland's win over West Virginia, which really was an exciting game. It was a great crowd. I was not there, but I know a lot of people who were there. Phenomenal crowd, apparently. A lot of West Virginia fans, which even back in the day when Maryland played West Virginia, West Virginia fans travel. We had Steve Suter on the show.

the other day and Souter said, you know, he remembers how West Virginia fans traveled. And they did. And they probably made up 25, 30 percent of the crowd based on, you know, people that I talked to that were there. But I was so impressed, Tommy, with Maryland's talent. And this is the thing that's building here since Loxley took the job. They have multiple top 20, top 25 recruiting classes in a row. And there's another one, you know, coming in next year. And what you see, even Big Tony, who's super skeptical about everything, he's texting me going, Maryland's receivers are the best in the Big Ten, and that might include Ohio State. Look, Ohio State has ridiculous talent. And Ohio State has pulled away from the rest of the Big Ten. It's amazing

how they've been able to do that. But Maryland's skill position players on offense and defense are exceptional. Like they're pros. They've got several pros on their team, and they've been producing pros from the skill position players. But I'll start with their starting wide receivers, Dante Deemis and Rakeem Jared. Jarrett was a five-star kid. These are both NFL draft picks. They combined against West Virginia, who was the best defensive team in the Big 12 last year,

They combined 12 catches, 155 yards, two touchdowns. They averaged, Demis did 22.2 yards per reception, Jarrett 20.3 yards per reception. Teon Fleet Davis, 18 carries 123 yards. But Leah, as he's known to all of those in the program, Tullya is his first name, full first name. Leah Tunga Viloa, two his younger brother, who we saw last year play really well at times and then make a lot of mistakes at times, but he had a couple of incredible games last year against Minnesota and Penn State in particular. Tommy, he had one of the best days of any quarterback in the nation on Saturday. 26 to 36, 32 yards, three touchdowns,

had a huge third-down run conversion late, and Maryland beat West Virginia 30 to 24. Now, there were some things that made this a Maryland win, made a Maryland win much more possible, like four turnovers from West Virginia. They turned it over four times and Maryland didn't turn it over once. Maryland was a minus seven in turnover margin in just five games. Remember the shortened season last year and in the first game they're plus four. And so some might say, well, plus four, they should have won that game going away. Well, there's some truth to that.

They had some crucial penalties, a couple of crucial drops by Deimos in particular. They missed a field goal in the game, but they did put up 500 yards of offense, score 30 points and win a game over West Virginia. That Steve Suter, when he was on the show on Friday, he's part of the broadcast team with Johnny, said was the key to the season, believe it or not. Because if they beat West Virginia, they got a really good chance to win six games. go to a bowl. I'll net it out without getting into a true breakdown of the game, which I took a ton of notes, but I'm going to pass on them for now. They've got a lot of talent at the skill positions, and they've got some really good talent on defense as well, and exceptional team speed. I don't know if Mike Loxley and his staff can really coach or not, but I can tell you this,

they can really recruit. And if they coach these guys up, him and and that staff. This is going to be a program that isn't going to be Ohio State. I'm not suggesting that, or Penn State, or Michigan, all three of whom are in the Big Ten East. But it's going to be a program that's going to threaten seven, eight, nine wins a year. And consistent bowl eligibility.

And really, the most success Maryland football's had since Ralph left in 2010. when he completed 10 years of going to bowls in seven years and winning five of those bowls. I'm not sure Maryland football has ever had this much team speed on the field and this many skill position NFL talent caliber players. But they're an interesting team to watch in the Big Ten, but nationally as well. And really important is they've got a quarterback who plays like Russell Wilson. First time I saw him last year. I said, man, he plays like Russell Wilson. Then I had him on the show, and he said, well, I model my game after Russell Wilson.

You can see that in the way he plays. He's not Russell Wilson. I'm not saying that. But he has something that I think could turn him into a special quarterback this year and next. He is as good as they've had in a while. But I was excited about that. I'm excited about Maryland football. They've got a chance to, you know, they play Howard this week,

and they've got a huge game at Illinois. Then they play Kent State. It's possible they could be 4-0 and ranked well inside the top 25 when a highly ranked Iowa comes to town for a Friday night game on October 1st. So anyway, there's my Maryland stuff. Your thoughts. Okay. I have no particular thoughts on Maryland.

It looked like it was a fun game to be at. look, I'd be happy if Maryland football went back to the days of Ralph and how relevant it was back then. And I remember covering some of those games and how exciting it was to be at those games compared to the tomb it's been for the past few years of Maryland football. You know, the first time I had Loxley on the show, I asked them a lot. about, you know, the old days when, you know, Bobby Ross, he was, he was, he was a part of Freed. Remember, he recruited and was a big part of Freedian staff for those first few years when they won like 35 games in three years. Ralph's first three years, you know, a lot of it were players that Loxley recruited. But I also, and I can't believe I forgot to mention this, they wore their 80s throwback uniforms. They should make those. permanent, please, my God. They looked so good. And young people like them too, because my kids and

their friends were like, these are phenomenal uniforms. And, you know, we're the Terps. Like there was this push when Kevin Anderson came into the program to move away from Terps and to be Maryland and have Maryland be the brand. But for sports, Terps has always been a big part of the brand, you know, and I, you know, the script on the helmet of Terps, they wore, now apparently these are all uniforms or their one-off uniforms. That's a shame because the stuff they've been wearing here in the last few years, it's hard for me to watch it. But I'm excited about Maryland football.

I've got Loxley on the radio show Friday. And look, in the Big Ten, it's different than the ACC. better get players. Because in the ACC, if you coached up what you had, you could win seven, eight games, go to a bowl every year, which is what Ralph did. Bobby Ross did. Bobby Ross before Florida State was in the league,

was winning league titles. And Ralph won a league title too. In the Big Ten East, you got to get talent or you're not going to have any chance. And I think what comes next for Maryland is big athletic linemen. Because you need that in the Big Ten. Skill position-wise, team speed-wise, I mean, they're up there. They're not Penn State or Ohio State, but they're way up there in the Big Ten in terms of overall team speed and playmakers.

So it's, they could be a fun team to watch. I know that I think we said this a couple of years ago when they, you know, crushed. In 2019, they beat Howard 79 to nothing. And then the next week they beat Syracuse, 63 to 20. And everybody was going nuts. It was Loxley's first year. But Howard was Howard. And Syracuse, even though they were ranked that particular day, it turned out that they sucked that year.

And so Maryland promptly lost a temple and then got blown out by Penn State at home and the rest is history. They just weren't ready yet. But they're getting closer to being ready to be a six, seven, seven. eight win team and push everybody not named Ohio State in the Big Ten. I think they are ready for that. I wanted to just point out a couple of other things from the college football weekend. I mentioned Ohio State. I think we talked about this.

Maybe I didn't talk about this on the podcast. Ohio State and Ohio State's doing what Clemson did in the ACC, Tommy. they've put so much distance between them and everybody else. It's really interesting in a conference with Michigan and Penn State and Michigan State and Iowa and Nebraska, you know, all these big heavyweight names. Ohio State is so much better than these teams. It's what Clemson's done in the ACC over the last many years. They've put massive distance between themselves and the rest of the team.

of the league like Florida State. You know, Florida State and Miami. Clemsons just dominated. And Ohio State's done that in the Big Ten. And I don't, it's impressive, you know, especially given that they've done it with multiple coaches. Nobody's close to them in the league. I may be proven wrong on this. They just have too much talent.

I think Bama looks the same way. Now, the SEC's had teams like LSU two years ago with Burrow pop up and Auburn done it. But Bama, you know, has their separation there. But, man, Ohio State, they won 4531 over Minnesota. But watching some of the other Big Ten teams, it's clear to me that I just don't see Ohio State losing this year. I don't see Bama losing either, but they have a tougher road. Ohio State plays Oregon this week. But their Big Ten schedule, yeah, they've got to play Michigan, but they play Penn State at home. And that's kind of it. You know, they don't have to play Iowa. They play Indiana who got run by Iowa. Anyway,

that's one observation. Smell test went two, two, and one over the weekend. So a 500-yard start. I also just wanted to mention Navy. They lost 49 to 7 to Marshall. And I just thought it was somewhat interesting because I can't remember, and maybe it's happened, I can't remember in recent years Navy losing by that one-sided of a score. I'm sure it's happened, and I think they played BYU a couple of years ago and got blown out. Maybe the 2020 season wasn't a good one, but they lost 49 to 7, and there was an odd box score stat from that game. Navy had four players, throw passes, but they only threw five passes. Four passers through five balls. In a game in which they were getting crushed, they still rushed it 76 times. I thought the McKenzie Milton story

in the Florida State Notre Dame game was a great one if you don't know it. Look it up, but basically McKenzie Milton had a devastating knee injury when he was playing at UCF a few years ago, transferred to Florida State. Doctor said that he was lucky to save his leg and that he would never walk the same way again. And that was great. Florida State lost the game. Notre Dame won it in overtime.

That was a cool story to watch. And then the Georgia-South Carolina game, I can't tell you if it's great defense the other night, 10 to 3, and they're going to be crushed by good offense. teams or not. I think it's too early to tell. Penn State, Wisconsin played a game like that, too, that was scoreless at halftime. But anyway, that's it on the college football front. You didn't watch any college football, did you? No, I didn't. Didn't watch a lick. Not one bit. Yeah. Okay. Let's finish this up with other things on our list. I know you've got some thoughts on Naomi Osaka, and I have some thoughts on the

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So what did you want to say about Naomi Osaka, who said she was going to take a big break after losing a thrilling three-set match to this Canadian 18-year-old Fernandez? Yeah, Layla Fernandez. I guess answering questions at a press conference really wasn't the problem, was it? it may not have been the whole problem no no may not have been the problem as it turned out and you're saying and you're saying this because she's obvious she's got a lot of issues with everything that's going on yeah yeah there's something going on with her that's actually keeping her from competing right now yeah and uh she needs to address that and i think she's doing her right thing But you got a glimpse of what it's like to be rich and pampered and have people around you,

you know, who work for you. They're not going to tell you what you need to know. I mean, you know, remember, this is, this is her agent last week. Ripped apart the reporter in Cincinnati who asked her a question at a press conference, calling her, calling him a bully. I didn't hear him call Layla Fernandez a bully and he certainly bullied her all over the court all over the court

my point is my experience is people in power with money don't have people around them who tell them what they need to know well I wouldn't say that's a uniform thing no but it's my general rule that's your experience yeah right

That's my experience. And, you know, Naomi Osaka probably needed to be told something when he did, she did her little tantro about not answering questions at the French Open that said, you know, this is not the problem you're going through right now here. You've got other issues that you need to face. And here's the other thing. I know this is cold, heartless, and whatever. but when did rich pampered and tortured become so sympathetic? I mean, really, it's like, you know, the guy who from ESPN, Kevin Van Valkberg or whatever they did.

Right, who wrote a Deschambeau article that you fought over. Right. Did the same thing with Osaka. Watch from the stand, or wrote blow by blow from the stance about the pain she was going through on the court. I just don't know when this became. and in thing. Yeah. I mean, we wouldn't care about Naomi Osaka if she wasn't a tennis player.

She said after the match, quote, this is very hard to articulate. Basically, I feel like I'm kind of at the point where I'm trying to figure out what I want to do, and I honestly don't know when I'm going to play my next tennis match. Sorry, and she broke down. And she said, I think I'm going to take a break from playing for a while. How do I go around saying this? I feel like for me recently, when I win, I don't feel. happy. I feel more like relief. And when I lose, I feel very sad. I don't think that's normal.

I didn't really want to cry. This is a lot more clearly than just, you know, doing press conferences. That may be an angst-ridden portion of her tennis week that she doesn't look forward to, but she's obviously got a lot of issues. And here's the thing. You know, nobody's forcing her to play tennis. although I'm sure there's a lot of pressure with sponsors and with coaches and with family and the whole thing. And that's probably, I'm guessing, you know, there's a lot of pressure there when you become rich and famous, Tommy, to please everybody around you. And I think that this young girl isn't able to do that right now. And I hope she does really take a break. And this wasn't just a reaction to losing a third round hard fought match.

But I think she clearly needs time off. She needs to figure it out. She needs to put herself into a position, which 98% of professional athletes, team sports or individual sports, are in, which is they're able to handle the pressure and face adversity without having it turn into mental illness. I'm not knocking her for it at all. I understand this is a problem with not just rich and famous people, it's a problem with a lot of people and a lot of young people in this day and age, especially young people who spend a lot of time and put a lot of credence into what is said about them on social media. Shelby Rogers, who pulled off the upset of the number one player in the women's draw, Ash Barty, lost yesterday to, by the way, the next story. in women's tennis. Emma Raducano, she's a Brit. She said in her press conference, now she's going to have to deal with, quote, nine million death threats on her social media accounts

from strangers who are unhappy with her loss. Well, that's terrible. But I can tell you, and Tommy can tell you the same thing. Anybody that's on social media with even the minimal of profile is going to take a lot of heat and a lot of threat and a lot of angry sentiment. And so if you can't handle it and if it really affects you mentally, stay the fuck off social media. You don't have to see those. First of all, nine million is a little bit exaggerated. But if it's nine, which is probably closer to the truth, That's nine too many for her to see.

She shouldn't be seeing that. She's 28 years old. Get off social media. Well, she said, unfortunately, we have to use social media as, you know, a promotional tool. Use it as a promotional tool. But don't read people who tweet you. Don't read your responses. Use it as an output.

Don't use it as an input. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. like so many of these companies do on social media to sell their product. Sell yourself. Sell yourself. Sell the tournament you're going to be in. Sell for your sponsors.

Do everything they want you to do. But don't read anything that anybody says about you. And here's the irony is, you know, when people said, you know, when people defended Naomi Osaka about the press conferences, they would bring up social media and they'd say, why does she need to talk to reporters? She's got her social media account. She could talk directly to her fans. Well, that's not so pretty.

No, no. Sloan Stevens, you know, talking about the abusive, the harassment, the racist messages on Instagram that she got after she lost to Angie Kerber in the third round. She called it exhausting and never-ending. Now, she didn't go much beyond that, but you don't have to read those messages on Instagram. Nobody's forcing you to do that. It's terrible. And let me just add this. I wonder if this is even one of the reasons for the increase, but it just occurred to me.

You know, as more and more people, especially dumbass, naive people who are betting for the first time because of legalized sports betting, and they don't realize that you lose when you bet a lot. And sometimes it's some player that does something, stupid that cost you a loss. I would bet you, Tommy, that the increase in the number of new gamblers in particular, especially given that it's a lot of younger new betters who are really, you know, immersed

in social media, that a lot of these professional athletes are getting it worse than ever before. I bet you gambling on sports leads to. even more angry, hurtful, harassing, abusive social media attack. Because let me tell you something. I've had some losses in my lifetime where if the player that costs me or the coach that cost me a loss in that moment, if I had had social media, I would have unloaded. I probably wouldn't have.

But my point is, now you've got the ability to communicate directly with them instantaneously. And if those people are reading, I think you're right. I bet you, I bet you it's increasing because of that. I think you're right. Because I'll tell you, there's nothing worse than a gambler after a bad beat. It is because, and I'm talking about a bad beat that was really initiated by something stupid that a player or a coach did. Oh, those are the worst. The worst. Now, Shelby Rogers got her ass kicked by this 18-year-old Brit. By the way, just as an aside, the tennis, which I've not been a fan of for a long period of time, a long period of time. You know I used to be really into tennis, and I'm not and haven't been for years.

But being on vacation last week, from radio anyway, I watched a lot of tennis. It has been phenomenal, the U.S. Open. There have been so many... Not one American in the quarterfinals, men or women. That's true. But there were a lot of Americans making their way further in the draw than anybody expected. But you're right. None in the quarters.

Look, the biggest story in the U.S. Open is Novak Djokovic going for the first Grand Slam since Rod Labor did it in 1969. 52 years, if he ends up winning this. Grand Slam, all four majors, same year. He's a machine. but the number of matches that have gone to a fifth set or a third set, and the number of those deciding sets that have been decided in tiebreakers are an all-time high for any major championship.

Brad Gilbert was talking with McEnroe on the air. I think tennis, the broadcast of tennis on ESPN, with McEnroe, and with Brad Gilbert and with Everett and with all of the announcers. I think they're all so good. I think it's a really good broadcast. That aside, Brad Gilbert said last night, this is the greatest first eight days of a Grand Slam major of all time. There's never been a major with this many compelling, exciting matches.

And I have to agree. And Tommy, I don't know half the names of the people I'm watching. Half, 80% of the names that I'm watching. I'm talking about the highest-seeded players. I don't know who these people are. There were names, there was an American, a couple of American players that everybody's talking about. And they made their way through the draw and did pretty well. Last night, the guy that Djokovic beat last night was this guy, Brooksby.

Never heard of him before. He was into the fourth round. some guy named O'Kelpie I think what his name was I don't even think I have that right at this point hold on I'm going to get this right Last night it was

Opelca Opelca He lost last night to a South African I do know Francis Tiafo He's part of that whole college park thing And he got to the fourth round And lost to a Canadian last night Or two nights ago There have been more young players, 18-year-olds advancing.

This guy, this Spaniard Al-Karez, has advanced to the quarterfinals. Youngest quarter-final appearance for a player and like, you know, ever in the open era. It's actually been very exciting. The problem, of course, is you don't know any of these people except for Djokovic, unless you're a real tennis fan. And there's no Nadal, no Federer, and no Serena. Those are the big draws every year. and you don't have any of them. Like the women, I don't know, I honestly don't know really the players that are left.

I've heard of Plishkova because I think she's won a major, but the other player, I have no idea who these people are. But it's been great tennis to watch. Tennis, I always feel like is, like you say about the Olympics, it's for the non-sports fan, these tennis majors. That's interesting. That's interesting because, of course, friend of mine is going to the U.S. Open.

And he doesn't play tennis, but it's the only sporting event he would go to. Yeah. I think he has no interest in watching football, baseball, basketball, hockey, none of it. I think tennis, these majors, especially the U.S. Open in Wimbledon, I think non-sports fans enjoy it. You know, tennis players are so exposed and you end up, I guess, having more of an attachment to a player because they're so exposed for hours upon hours. It's why tennis players get the biggest endorsements because of the exposure they have when they're playing a match, much more exposure than a golfer gets. And obviously in the team sports, you know, they're among other players. and in football they got helmets on.

But anyway, I actually have enjoyed the tennis, and I really hope Osaka takes the time off. You know, everybody is supportive of her. I mean, I don't think that you're being unsupportive of her. You're being more, you know, how she's being handled by the people around her. Right? Is that fair? Yes. Yes, I hope. I don't care that much about tennis,

but no one likes to see anyone going through pain. Yeah. So, you know, I hope she gets her act together and is able to come back and compete like she did before. Yeah. You had one more thing that you wanted to mention before the end of the show. What was it? Rest in peace, Michael K. Williams.

Oh, my God, I know. Michael K. Williams, who played Omar, the greatest character maybe in the history of television. More than Walter White. Oh, oh, no. I mean, Michael K. Williams was a gay black criminal, and he was the hero of the show. You rooted for him, okay?

He was the most decent guy in the whole show. I mean, it was just an amazing character. What he did with it was amazing, and you really should watch the wire. I know. It's my biggest blank hole. I can tell you that my sons were so upset about that death. They've been all watched the wire. He was great in that. He was great and happened. Leonard, the series that was on Sundance. He was in the night of. He was great in the night of. Right. He was great. Yeah. Yeah. But The Wire, Omar, unforgettable character.

All right. That's it for me. You got anything else? That's it for me, boss. All right. Tomorrow's show, I'm going to take tomorrow and make my NFL season picks. That'll be a part of the show tomorrow. Have a great rest of the day.

Back tomorrow.