The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cowboys Crushed + Smoot

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

Kevin opened with the Cowboys' embarrassing 48-32 playoff loss to the Packers. He recapped the other games from the weekend as well and updated the Commanders' coaching search. Fred Smoot jumped on to talk NFL Playoffs, Washington coaching search, and the QBs he likes in the upcoming draft at the Commanders' #2 spot. Kevin closed the show with a recap of Maryland's stunning upset win at 10th-ranked Illinois yesterday.  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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Only has one catch on four targets. Second and two here, though. Here's Prescott.

The middle that's going to be picked off. And no one in front of him. Darnel Savage. Touchdown. That pick by the Terp, Darnel Savage, made it 27 to nothing. in the first half, Packers over the Cowboys. I know we've had it bad for a long time being fans of the team here, and I'm not about to say that our level of having it bad is anywhere near what Dallas fans have had.

I mean, we've been a truly horrible franchise for 30 years. We've had not one, not one season of 11 or more wins in the last 32, Dallas has won 11 or more 11 times during that same stretch. They've won a lot more games than we've won. They've had more division titles, a lot more playoff appearances than our team. But man, their playoff failures, their playoff disappointments since their last Super Bowl, which is now 28 years ago, epic. And man, that was kind of entertaining to watch.

The show today presented, as always, by Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com for new windows. Use my name. You'll get a free estimate and they'll take excellent care of you. Fred Smoot on the show today coming up in the next segment. And for Turp basketball fans, I'll do a recap of yesterday's upset shocker in Champaign-Urbana, beating the 10th ranked Fighting a Lion Eye

76 to 67. Where did that come from? A monster win for Kevin Willard also a total shocker given the way they played recently. I'll do that in the final segment of the show an update on Washington's coaching search coming up as well. But we start with the Cowboys

on the show today. I mean, are you kidding me? I didn't think that they would lose this game. I did not give Green Bay out. The action was actually kind of split, although I'll tell you what, I bet you there were a lot of Dallas teasers and a lot of Dallas money line bets in this game. We talked a little bit. It was either on radio or on the podcast last week about if Green Bay can run the football with Aaron Jones, who had been healthy in recent weeks. Dallas at times this year got beat up at the line of scrimmage by teams that run.

ran it at them. If you think back to week three, Arizona had 222 rushing yards in their 28 to 16 win over the Cowboys. The 49ers did anything they wanted and ran it for like a buck 70 on the ground. Weirdly, the Panthers in a 33 to 10 loss in early December, I think it was. They actually ran it. The game was actually close going into the fourth quarter. It was like 17 to 10. and Hubbard and Miles Sanders were averaging over five yards per carry. Buffalo completely ran it down Dallas's throats. 266 yards. That was the massive day by Dalvin Cook's little brother James Cook in the 31 to 10 blowout loss in Orchard Park. The Lions rushed it against Dallas a little bit in that one-point loss. They were vulnerable to a team that committed to the run.

and Aaron Jones since coming back has allowed Green Bay to commit to the run. Jones in his last three regular season games before yesterday, 21 carries 127 yards, 20 carries 120 yards, 22 carries 111 yards, and then yesterday 21 for 118 and three touchdowns. By the way, Aaron Jones over the last three regular season games in the playoff game, 476 yards rushing in his last four games, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He gutted the Cowboys. And then off of that, the play action and the throws and the playmaking ability of Jordan Love made Dallas look like yesterday, one of the worst defenses in the league.

You know, it was, as Doc would say, it was a manhood issue at times, but it was also Matt LaFleur. by knockout over Cowboys' defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn. You know, a guy who several have reported is on Washington's shortlist. You know, it was scheme, it was formations, it was motions, it was brute force up front, along with, I think, a very good and I think at times a very underrated back in Aaron Jones. And then clearly a quarterback in Jordan Love who felt none of the pressure of the moment and played more freely all day long than his counterpart did. More on him coming up.

The Packers' offense dominated Dallas's defense physically, mentally, every way imaginable. And to me, that was the game. I'm not going to take Dak off the hook. I'm not going to take Mike McCarthy off the hook. Trust me. More on them coming up. But Dallas's defense got dominated. And because of it, I'm not sure there's anything,

Dallas could have done on offense to overcome how bad its defense was. I saw this stat this morning. Listen to this. 54 defensive snaps for Dallas, 54 offensive snaps for Green Bay. I mean, that's a hell of a lot of offense that they generated in just 54 offensive snaps. But out of the 54 defensive snaps for the Cowboys, they were in nickel or dime on 48 of them. why would you have a smaller group of players on the field when you're getting bludgeoned to death up front? Dan Quinn, a bad day. He's got a lot of answering for a game plan or a lack there of one that was just completely outwitted and outmatched by Matt LaFleurr all day long.

I think Dallas's pathetic defensive performance was the number one reason. they lost the game and lost it as badly as they did. 48 to 32 was the final, a 16-point margin. But that margin, which is a lot in the NFL, was still nowhere near a true reflection of how one-sided this blowout was. I mean, they were down 27 to nothing. They were down 32 points in the fourth quarter, 48 to 16. Dallas defense, the number one reason for me for the loss. By the way, Green Bay, 41 points on 54 plays.

41 offensive points on 54 plays. They had the other seven on the Savage pick six. But here are some more numbers for them. 415 total yards on just 54 plays. 7.7 yards per play. They averaged over nine yards on first. down. They went six of 10, that's 60%. You can do that math on third down, one for one with a touchdown throw on fourth down. They had seven first down runs, seven of eight or more yards.

Oh my God. Eight or more yards seven times on first and ten with a run. Just chunks. They couldn't stop anything. And that just made it so much easier for a guy who really did perform at a high level in Jordan Love. He was great. Backfoot throws, off both feet throws, big third down throws. People were wide open, that's for sure, because coverage sucked for Dallas too. But that zero coverage blitz, all out blitz in the red zone when he threw that touchdown pass to number 13 wicks, I think it was. I mean, that is an incredible. It's under duress, all-out blitz. You've got to throw with anticipation. You've got to let it go early. It's got to have some zip and very good accuracy. It was perfection against that defensive call. Defense, number one reason. Dallas lost the way they did to Green Bay yesterday. But I'm not letting Prescott off the hook. So what I'm going to say about DAC is multifold, I guess. Some of its opinion, a lot of it is fact.

I'll start with the opinion. I thought he looked tight. I thought he looked tight the moment he took the field for the first time. They were down 7-0 after Green Bay, took 7 minutes, 52 seconds, drove it right down the field and scored to take a 7-0 lead. It looked like, ooh, that was a lot of clock, and there's a lot of pressure on this first drive. I felt that way. That's opinion.

I thought he looked tight. Now, he made a nice run for a first down on that first third down for them on their first offensive possession, but after that, it was a total disaster for him. That next third down on that Dallas opening drive down 7-0. It's 3rd and 8, I think, 3rd and 7. And Lamb may have, you know, had a chance to catch it. Maybe he should have caught it. It was catchable, but it was not on target.

DAC was off on a slant over the middle, which should have been easy pitch catch first down, move the chains, and the ball was thrown too far out in front of him. And then he throws a pick on the next drive. When it looked like that was the last place, he should have been throwing it. It looked like he was confused and rattled.

You're throwing to your number two or number three receiver against their best corner and he's covered? Look, I haven't watched the All-22, but that can't be where you throw the football. I mean, Alexander, Jayor, Alexander made a great play, but I would imagine the ball needed to go somewhere else. And then on the next drive, down 14-0-0,

he looks fidgety in the pocket, he takes off and he gets sacked out of field goal range. You can't do that. You're down 14-0. You're in field-goal range. You cannot take a sack. You know, that happened in the Philly game. Remember, at the end of the Philadelphia game,

at the Link, that big sack. You know, as a veteran quarterback, you cannot take those kinds of sacks. You know, that was at least 14 to 3 and you're kicking off. Instead, you're punting. The stare down on the pick six to Savage, that's just, that's terrible. You know, I got to go back and look at what the coverage is, but I would bet you that he's just sitting there baiting him into it. There had to be a different place for him to go. Again, the defense was the number one culprit for the loss, in my opinion, but DAC was awful. Tight, rattled, you know, and of course, when you get down the way they got down and every drive offensively becomes a must-have drive,

like we got to get seven on this drive or we're not going to win the game. Like the pressure early because of the score, I understand that, but I think he looked rattled and tight before that. Look, I think Dax's a good quarterback, but he now has a history, or at least a recent history, of being a bit of a front runner. You know, in their 12 wins this year, I went and looked this up, in their 12 wins this year, they never trailed, never trailed in 8 of the 12 wins. In 8 of the 12, they were just off to the races, and a lot of those wins were blowouts. I mean, they jumped off quickly against the Giants won 40 to nothing. They beat the Jets 30 to 10. The Patriots 38 to 3.

The Rams 43 to 20. The Giants 49 17. The Panthers 3310. The commanders 45 to 10. The Eagles 33 13. I mean, Washington again 3810. I mean, they just didn't really get pushed that much in their wins. Again, 12 wins.

never trailed an eight of them. In three of the other four wins they had, they only trailed briefly, and it was by a touchdown or less. You know, the game in which he did a nice job under severe game pressure was the win over Seattle, because they were down by eight in the second half, and they ended up, you know, winning that game 41 to 35. They took the lead after being down nine against the dolphins. I give him credit for that because when he left the field, they were up in that game. And then Dallas's defense couldn't get them off the field and they had a walk off field goal on Christmas Eve to win the game. But for the most part, the games the Cowboys won, they just weren't pushed that much. When they got off to Leeds, they rolled. When they

didn't, for the most part, they lost. Yesterday, there was immediate game pressure because of how bad the defense was, and DAC didn't respond very well. You know, two picks and a sack that took them out of field goal range as they fell behind 27-0 nothing in the first half. That was game over. Even the touchdown at the end of the first half that made it 27 to 7 should have been negated by a false start on the left guard. The refs just missed it. His numbers yesterday, the ultimate example of stat padding, okay? They were down 27, they were down 32 in the fourth quarter, so what that he threw for 400 plus yards and three touchdowns? Dack wasn't anywhere. good enough to keep the game within reach, which was going to be a hard game to keep within reach

because of how bad the defense was, but he did not elevate the team at all to keep it, you know, in a game that was at least a shootout back and forth and put some game pressure on Green Bay. You know, if Dak had played his best game of the year, I'm not sure they would have won, but he wasn't very good in the game. Big decision for probably, you know, the off season and maybe, you know, in part the next head coach, because I think there's going to be one there. And that decision is to pay him $60 million or not pay him $60 million. Problem is like with all of these quarterbacks that aren't truly elite, but they're good enough, you know, there are only a true, there are only a few truly elite quarterbacks. I get that. If you don't

pay them, like who's playing quarterback for you? I mean, maybe a better coaching staff will help Prescott. maybe it'll be his third because McCarthy's got to be on his way out, right? Three straight 12 win seasons, I get it. But Dallas was the higher-seated team two years ago and lost at home, and then they got the doors blown off them by the seven-seed at home yesterday. I mean, getting beat the way they got beat yesterday versus, let's say, a close heartbreaking loss on a bad call or a fluke play, They were embarrassed in the game yesterday, and Jerry just, he ain't having this.

They were completely out-coached. McCarthy's one and three in the postseason, and the only win was against a bad and struggling Tampa Bay team last year on the road. In the three playoff losses under McCarthy, Dax got five touchdowns, five interceptions. And McCarthy has been completely. outmatched by Kyle Shanahan twice and now Matt LaFleur once. The Shanahan tree has completely covered up McCarthy here and put him in, I think, forever shade now after yesterday. Because you add that playoff humiliation to the fact that Belichick, Vrable,

Harbaugh, a slew of perceived top-notch assistants are out there in this hiring cycle. McCarthy's got to be done. He might be done by the time you listen to this. I thought one of the worst comments from Greg Olson, who does a decent job, you know, as their lead analyst. But his rambling about Mike McCarthy towards the end of the game, suggesting that if he gets fired, there will be a line of teams waiting to hire him. That is a reach. That is way off to me. McCarthy's teams in Dallas have won a lot of games, but they have been undisciplined teams. They have gagged big time in the postseason. I can't imagine there's anybody in line for Mike McCarthy to be a head coach in this hiring cycle anyway, not with the names that are out there.

Credit to the Packers, I mean, I've mentioned many of them already, but Matt LaFlec and coach, that's clear. Joe Barry was under siege by Packer. fans during much of the year. We remember that. And he completely outmarked McCarthy. His defense had them flustered. And Jordan Love, man, he looked apart. 49ers up next for the Packers in Santa Clara on Saturday night where weather is going to be a factor. Heavy rains apparently in San Francisco in the long range for that game. Now, as far as the other playoff games from the weekend go, I was really rooting for Detroit. For those fans that have waited forever for a home game, 30 years since their last one, that place was popping through the TV. Both quarterbacks in the game were great. The game was

intense offensively in the first half, lights out, settled down, there were stops, there were punts in the second half after virtually none in the first half. The difference in the game was the red zone. The lions were three for three and the Rams were 0 for three. settling for field goals and a 24 to 23 loss. Now, the last Rams drive. I'm a big Sean McVeigh fan, as I'm sure most of you know, that have listened to the podcast. But I think he made a mistake. I think he should have gone for the fourth and 14 with one timeout left and just over four minutes left with the ball at the Detroit 44-yard line.

He punted, never saw the ball back. easy to say in hindsight, but he burned two timeouts in the second half, both on offense before third and longs, not having those timeouts crucial. It meant that, you know, despite the odds of picking up fourth and 14, you with just one timeout left, I think you got to take your shot with Stafford and a player like Nakua, who by the way, I think on the third down in completion got held, got interfered with and got hit late. No flags on the third down before the fourth and 14. No flags there. Detroit got lucky on that one. But yeah, fourth and 14, here's the thing, even if you don't get it, and you probably won't. The lost yardage, you know, looking at what it

would have been with a punt versus a fourth and 14, say, in completion or completion short, it's just not as big of a deal because with one time out and four minutes left, you basically have a chance to get one stop on a third down. You know, you basically have a chance. If they get a first down on first down, you've got a chance to go through, get another opportunity to get a stop. But basically you're looking at yardage being less important when you've got one chance to get a stop.

You know, you've got to, you've got to, force a punt before they get a first down. A first down pretty much buries you. That's why I would have gone for 4th and 14. Now, three timeouts left, maybe even 2 timeouts left, I probably punt it at 4th and 14, and I really try to pin them deep, which they didn't do. You also have to consider Dan Campbell on the other side. You know his nature. He's not messing around and getting conservative and running the ball three times and punting it. You know, he's not going to do that. He's going to try to end the

game on offense regardless of where the ball is. I think Sean made a mistake there. Now, if his position is we had gotten a few stops on defense in the second half, and I felt confident we could get another stop, that's fine. And he did. Detroit only had the ball, actually, for three possessions in the second half before that final possession. And they did on their last two drives go four-and-out punt.

three and out punt, but you're going to need a three and out punt, basically, to get the ball back with one time out. So I think personally I would have gone for the fourth and 14. How good is Matt Stafford? I mean, that is one tough SOB for starters. I thought he got knocked out on that hit where he hit his head on the turf. It looked like his eyes were rolling around in the back of his head. I mean, it looked like a boxer who took a punt.

And he came back. I would assume he got looked at. I'm assuming he did. Carson Wentz, it looked like was starting to warm up maybe. He also had the hand or the finger injury from earlier in the game. Man, he is a great quarterback. I have always been a fan. When he was in Detroit, I was a fan now in L.A. a Super Bowl champion. Stafford is one tough bastard, man, and a good quarterback. He can really throw it. And what he's gotten better at in his years as he's gotten older, and the games changed a little bit, and the platforms and the angles, he's gotten even better with that. There are throws he makes that sometimes look Mahomes-esque. Gough was great, especially in the first half. I mean, the quarterbacking in this game was outstanding. But I'm happy for long-suffering

Lions fans. They love that team. And they've had misery even longer. than we've had it here. That place was electric, and they get another chance at home next week against the winner of the Eagles Bucks game tonight. The Saturday games, C.J. Stroud was great, so good, so poised. But what happened to Cleveland's defense? I know that they were beaten up and had a lot of injuries, but they gave up 24 points in nearly 300 yards in the first half.

Flacco was unbelievable in the first half. And then he had two bad throws. They typically don't both go for touchdowns, but they were bad throws, and they were pressing a little bit because they had gotten down by two scores. But that Brown's first half defense got shredded by Stroud and his group. I mean, chunk plays. Singletary had big runs.

Amazing how wide open Houston receivers were in that game and Green Bay receivers were in the Dallas game. By the way, Strout had a couple of balls in the first half dropped. That would have been big plays. Cleveland's defense, yeah, they were missing some pieces, and they were banged up along the offensive line as well. But, man, that defense had been the best in the league all year, and they gave up $294 in the first half and 24 points. The game Saturday night, most streamed event ever since streaming was introduced, streaming broadcasting. You knew that was coming. Look, it was cold, clearly fourth coldest game in NFL history. It looked cold.

Sometimes those really cold games don't look that cold on TV, but this one did. I was looking at something real quickly. If Kansas City hosts a game next weekend and it would happen if Pittsburgh beats Buffalo, today, the projected game time temperature in Kansas City for a game on Saturday night against, or Saturday afternoon, I think it would be against the Texans, four above. So not that much warmer. But anyway, that only happens if Buffalo loses to Pittsburgh, and I don't think they're going to lose to Pittsburgh.

By the way, the move to today on the Buffalo game, my view on that is this. I mean, there is some old school in me. It's like, play the damn game, but there was a travel ban. You can't play the game. game when people aren't allowed to travel legally unless it's an emergency. You know, regular snow and cold is one thing. There were 50 mile an hour wins. It was not, you weren't able to travel unless it was an emergency.

So I didn't, I kind of saw that coming, to be honest with you. When I, I think it was Friday night, I started looking at it and it was like blizzard conditions were going to persist for much of the day. even when it wasn't snowing, the blowing and drifting snow was going to be impossible to travel in. So I didn't actually have a major problem with that in the moment. It's not going to be a lot warmer today, but it'll be less windy with less snow. But back to Casey, Miami. Tua, my God, was he out of his element or what?

I mean, he couldn't throw bubble screens. He couldn't throw drop off behind the line of scrimmage throws to running backs coming out of the back. field. He really struggled. Miami struggled with good teams. That was the bottom line this year, you know. From that period early in the season when they were really the second coming at the greatest show on turf, I mean, they were putting big numbers up against, you know, Denver and the giants and the Panthers, but they got their ass kicked early in the season by Buffalo. They got beat by Philadelphia on a Sunday night. They got beat by Kansas City in Germany.

They got beat by the Ravens big time. Like every good team they played, they lost to, with the exception, I think, of the Cowboys. I think that may have been the only team with a winning record that the dolphins beat all year long. So that is pretty telling as far as their team goes. I thought Pacheco was great. I thought Mahomes and Rishie Rice, you know.

know, he's becoming a go-to for Mahomes in a big way. Smell test, by the way, over the weekend two and two, no picks on today's games. I had Houston winner, Miami loser. I had Detroit minus the three loser, but I had the under in the game. I have no idea how that game stayed under. I mean, it was 24, 23. The total was 52. It went to 53.

I gave it out at 52, and the halftime score was 2117. So it was well ahead of schedule for the overplays, but that happens sometimes. All right, we'll talk a lot of Washington commanders with Fred in the next segment. But the update on the coaching search basically is this as of the recording of this podcast. Anthony Weaver, Mike McDonald from Baltimore, according to reports, have both been virtually interviewed by the team. Weaver is the D-Line coach, the assistant associate head coach as well. And then there's the list of requested interviews. Ben Johnson, Dan Quinn, Aaron Glenn, Rahim Morris, and Bobby Slowick, who has worked some magic in Houston for sure.

And was in, remember, the 49ers organization when Adam Peters was there. The reports from over the weekend since we last talked are that Ben Johnson is their top target. reports having Dan Quinn at or near the top of their list. Recent impression on Dan Quinn, not very good. We saw a matchup last night between Ben Johnson and Rahim Morris, you know, the Detroit O.C. against the Rams, D.C. We saw Aaron Glenn, you know, lead a Detroit, a Detroit defense, which got better in the second half. My guess is, is that Ben Johnson is probably their number one, They can't interview him in person until January 22nd a week from today. And he could be prepping for an NFC title game at that point because they're going to be favored over Philly or Tampa at home next week.

Adam Peters being here, his input is going to be significant from what I've been told on the next head coach. I don't personally have a number one, but I would definitely be interviewing or at least requesting interviews with very. Rabel, Harbaugh, and yes, even Belichick, I think you know my opinion on that. I don't think Belichick's a candidate. I don't think they will interview him. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Belichick because the talk is Atlanta, but now if Dallas comes open, what if Philly comes open if they lose tonight? I mean, this is going to get wild here over the next couple of days with potentially more openings.

I just think the brushing off Belichick is if this franchise can't use Bill Belichick is just insane. I'm all right with the answer. You know, we don't want to give him control, or we just want to go with the young guy that gives us a chance to have someone here for the next decade. That's reasonable. But the I don't want him because he can't coach without Brady is a terrible take. I'd much rather have Ben Johnson coaching my team or Bobby Slowerk or Mike McDonald. I mean, they've done a much better job here in recent years.

No, that's not a good take either. If he just coached and didn't pick players, you'd have the best coach or one of the two or three best coaches in the league, period. And with some of the assistants, you're not sure what you're going to get. Like I said on Friday's show, as it relates to Adam Peters, it's the same when you hire assistant coaches, you know, when you hire coordinators that haven't been head coaches. It's a bit of a one in three, one and four, you know, shot there. But, you know, I'm excited at this point with any direction they take. Unproven, proven. I just want to see adults in the room making the decisions off the field and on it.

You know, I am looking forward to that. Something else I'm looking forward to that I want to tell you about is something that we are doing at the radio station, the team 980, in conjunction with our sister station 1067 the fan. On February 2nd in Bethesda at the Bethesda Theater, 8 p.m. start. It's 1067 the fan and the Team 980, including yours truly, live. We will have, you know, the sports junkies will be there. Grant and Danny will be there. Brian Mitchell, J.P. Finley, Chris Russell, Craig Hoffman will be there with me.

as well. I think Doc's going to be there. He should be there. You can get tickets today at Bethesda Theatre.com. It's presented by Main Street Bank. Cheer local, bank local, put their team in your office. Visit Mstreetbank.com for more information. But it'll give me a chance to meet a lot of you that I've met before but haven't seen in a while. And then a lot of you, I just have never met. So if you're in the area, it's a really nice theater, be a good crowd. February 2nd, 8 p.m. You've got to go to Bethesda Theater.com. We'll

hang out, we'll have a couple beers, and we'll have some fun. So, February 2nd, at 8 p.m. It's a Friday at that Bethesda Theater. Yes, on Wisconsin Avenue. 7719 Wisconsin Avenue.

All right. Fred Smoot next right after these words, from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought you by our good friends at Duce South and Navy Yard. It's Restaurant Week this week, January 15th through the 21st, and Duce South is turning up the heat with a three-course price-fixed dinner for just $40. That's right, a starter, a mouth-watering entree, a sweet treat to finish it off, all for a deliciously affordable price. Whether you're craving some crispy fried Brussels sprouts or diving into a plate of slow-cooked pulled pork, Do South's got your taste buds covered, and that's not all.

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That's how they do it down south. And they're bringing it all to D.C. Learn more at DuesouthDC.com. Jumping on with us right now is one of my favorites and one of your favorites is the second round pick of these Washington Redskins back in 2001 at a Mississippi. Mississippi State. Cornerback, Fred Smoot, started 104 games in his career, 21 career interceptions. We'll get to all that we want to get to as it relates to our team. You know, coach, quarterback, number two overall, et cetera. But let's start with Dallas Green Bay, Fred. I mean, Dallas went in as a favorite. There were high expectations. They got their

ass kicked. Why did it happen? Professor, I'm going to start it out like this. First of all, Happy holidays to you. To you too. Second of all, I have to say this. I watched Jerry Jones sit up there in that booth and look down. And for a second, you know, I'm a big House of Dragons guy. He looked like Various Targary. And he's like he would just falling apart, like right in front of our face.

It was just, it was great to watch. Second of all, it just that they had the Cowboys number. They went in there, they studied what do they do well, and we're not going to, Green Bay. He said, I'm not going to let them do that. That's very Bill Belichicking end of them. They like to run those inside slants with C.D. Lamb. They stopped most of those.

They knew that Stefan Gilmore loved the undercut crossing routes. They start to run sevens behind it. They had an answer for everything the Cowboys had. And let's be honest, if the Cowboys are not turning the ball over at home at Cowboys Stadium, then they do not win. Green Bay did not turn the ball over. Jordan Love came out there and played a perfect game, if you look at my eyes. And I think that set them back.

Real quickly. So I did not watch House of the Dragon. As much as you and I always, you know, make references to our favorite show of all time, Game of Thrones. I have not watched House of the Dragon. It sounds like you did. Yes, of course I have. I can't wait on season two. You got to watch it.

In Veris, he's the Targaryian. We just watch him fall apart. He had something like leprosy or something. Every episode, one body part would be missing. Like, so it's crazy. You got to really, really watch it. It's great. All right.

I'm going to load that up when we get to the summer or the spring. All right. I guess the big questions, if you're Jerry Jones, what do you do? Is Mike McCarthy gone today or at some point this week? Well, you've got to tell me what is this based off of? It is based off the coaching job he did because he's the first Cowboys coach to take them to the playoffs and win 12-plus games four years in a row. I think in 25 years, 30 years. So he's accomplishing things, but I don't think this is based off of what he's accomplished.

And I think this is based off the mortality of one Jerry Jones who wants it now. I have never, Professor, you tell me, am I wrong? I have never seen the off-season with this many qualified coaches. We've got the greatest coach of all time Bill Belichick. You got, Carol, you got, like, I have never seen this many qualified coaching. If you're going to throw in another coach, like another Super Bowl winning coach, this would be the hardest off-season for me as an owner, because even if I have a coach that I like,

it's tempting to get a Bill Belichick in there when I'm supposed to have a team that's ready to win a Super Bowl. It's very tempting when I got a quarterback that's bubbling right there on the edge of winning the Super Bowl. I have no weaknesses. So if Dallas goes in and then say, what are we weak at? They would probably say maybe the head coach. Yeah, I mean, to me, it's a no-brainer. You have a guy who has proven he can win as a front-running regular season coach with this group of players.

And look, they lost to the 49ers, a better team in the postseason last year. They lost to the 49ers the first year they were in the postseason and the wild card round. That game was at home. They got destroyed by the seven seed at home yesterday, and I thought they were a tight football team. Looked it from the jump, and in a lot of these big games they've had over the years, even the regular season games that they've lost, they've looked tight. You've got to move on, given what you just described, which is, an unbelievable availability of top-notch

or at least perceived top-notch coaches. Yeah, and I think that's opening a lot of owners eyes, not just our ownership group, not just teams that had that coach three or four years. Like I said, it's a couple of characters in here that is hard to turn down, especially if you're at Dallas perceived to be where they're in. And that means we in now mode, we're in Super Bowl mode. I'm sorry.

The team that coach was coaching, Belichick was coaching in New England, never had a chance to win anything. But if you put him with a Dak Prescott and a Michael Parsons and a Stefan Gilmoh, who's already had, if you asked me personally, who would take the team father? Bill Belichick or Mike McCarthy? I have to say Bill Belichick, I'm sorry. Yeah, me too. I would say Vrabel, same thing. I think that there are coaches that with that group of players,

they'd still be playing today. They'd have a game scheduled for next weekend. No doubt. Well, I know this. I know this for a fact. If Bill Belichick is coaching that Dallas Cowboy team, Dak Prescott will be crossing his teeth and dot in his eyes, and Michael Parsons would not have a podcast.

So those two things right there will make the team better instantly. All right. So you and I agree on McCarthy, especially given what's out there in terms of choices for Jerry. What do you think about Dak Prescott? Ah, Dax. That's my dude. You know, that's my boy, dog, bro.

I know. The thing about it is, bawled out all year. I'm talking about inches away from the MVP only to get to the first playoff game and pee down his leg. I don't, like, it's one of those things where

I know he's not afraid of the big game, but I have to ask the question, what happens in the big game? Like, I have to be true to myself and say, you know what? He has to, I don't know if it's game playing, which I had already felt like this. I felt like Tony Pollitt was not enough. I felt like they missed Zique.

They had no element of power running. And I knew it was going to catch up with him eventually. And I thought it was going to be against the 49ers because that's a team that power run right back at you. But it came up against Green Bay. Like, I think they realized they're going to have to get a back that can run between the A and the B gap. All right, because if you can't get one yard, if you can't get the two yards, then you cannot get the first yard. you need against a team like the Green Bay Packers, our playoff team, period.

So I think it's a lot about how they're built. They're so finesse that when physicality comes in the name of the 49ers, the Finicality come in the name of the Green Bay Packers, they cannot answer the bell. They've got to get more physical. Dak and his last three playoff losses, two to the 49ers and one yesterday to the Packers, has five interceptions, five touchdowns in those games. And I don't even look yesterday at the touchdowns that came late. They were down 4816 in the fourth quarter when a lot of the yardage and a lot of the touchdowns came.

I view him as a guy that when things are going well and they're ahead, he's phenomenal. But man, I saw a guy that even after that first drive, when Green Bay took it down the field, and went up 7-0. Looked tight, looked a little bit like he was pressing. Oh, so basically he's saying he's a front-runner. When things are going well, he can just easily do what he do. But when it get tight, he ain't the guy to dig you out to have a ledge. He's not the guy can lead you.

What do you say to that? I say you're right right now because you're only who you show me you are. Until he goes into the playoffs and goes deep down in the playoffs and be the reason that they go to the playoffs. I mean, be the reason why they're advancing the playoffs. I got to believe and see what you see. Professor, it is what it is. If it's a duck, it's a duck.

But I do know this. It's not just him. It's the whole damn team. All right, they, they, they, how they're built, like I say, they'll build so finesse. When finesse doesn't work no more, what's your change up.

That's what I love about the 49ers. You want us to power run? We'll power run. You want us to push the ball down the field? We'll push the ball down the field. You want to go to the tug of the world. on with us, we can do. Like, the best built teams, the Ravens, and the 49ers are built to play however you

need me to play. I felt like the 49ers were built one-dimensional. They were built finesse. They were built to like the score up. I'll give you an example. The 49ers, I mean the Dallas Cowboys, I built exactly like the Indianapolis when Payton Manor was there. They were built to play with leads.

They had those fast-rushed ends. They didn't play the wrong well, but they did pass. Bruttsdale, and they was built to play with a 14-point lead. The Cavalors are built to play with a lead. That's why running teams can run at them because they're not the most physical team. They're not the most physical present. They were built to play the opposite game of what we had yesterday. But you're not comparing Dak Prescott to Peyton Manning.

No, no. I'm saying the philosophy of how the team is built. I wonder, though, after yesterday, and we're in a reactionary business, but I think fans in general are very reactionary, and I think even teams tend to be at times incredibly reactionary. Because that loss was so bad, and look, I put it on the defense. I think the defense lost that game. They got completely outwitted, and they got manhandled in every way, shape, and form. but Dack did not play well. He didn't play well at all.

And they're contemplating giving him a new deal that would pay him $60 million a year. You know, plus, do you give him that kind of a deal? We are prisoner to quarterbacks. 8 billion people on the planet. We can't find 32 good ones at one time. I'm sorry, we are prisoner to the quarterback. I'm sorry, Debt Prescott is a top 10 quarterback. in his league. You got to pay them top 10 money. You cannot be

rasping and say, nah, he ain't the guy because when you asked me, because when I ask you the next question, you need to know the answer to it, and who are you moving on? I understand that. I understand that. And that itself is the biggest negotiation piece that that Prescott got, you know? They say, turn over me, fix your interceptions. He fixed his interceptions and pit his playoff game. They said, we need you to put more points up. You put more points up. We're a prisoner to the quarterback room. It's just not a lot of them on Earth.

There just aren't a lot of them on Earth. It's so, I know. Eight billion people, and we can't find 32 at the same year to be good. Imagine that we had one golden year. When everybody had a good quarterback in the NFL, everybody would go eight and eight. Well, it's not just that. It's that a guy like Dak Prescott,

had an all-pro season. A guy like Tua at one point was considered an MVP candidate. And then you look at these guys after the most meaningful games of the season, and you're like, but they're just not good enough probably to win at all. But like you said, what are we going to do if we don't pay them? It's tough. I mean, because both of those guys can play well enough. if you put enough around them to win 12 games and to be in the tournament at the end of the year.

And that gives you a chance. And that's what I say is one of those love me, hate me position. I'm sorry. The Miami Dolphins will be a fool not to pay to her. Long as they went without a quarterback since then, Marino, you have to pay the gap. I guess. To me, he's a little bit different than Dak just because of all of the weapons that they have to me a better offensive

scheme guy and McDaniel. But look, the proofs in the pudding, when they played good teams this year, they failed offensively. When they played big games down the stretch, they failed. And I thought he looked terrible in the cold. And there are a lot of quarterbacks

that would look terrible in the cold, but he couldn't even throw a bubble screen accurately in that game. Yeah. That's what happens when you live in Hawaii. Hawaii, Alabama, and Miami. You're not built to play. Listen, I have played cold games before. I could feel the cold coming through the TV watching that game.

Like, I don't, I ain't looking for nobody's best in a day like that. But like you said, that game aside, when they played the big teams, he did not come with the big ballets. Like, that's what you're worried about. But you also want to say, how long has he been in his office? Not that long. Can he get better in his office? Yes, he can. I thought when he came here and played us, he threw some of the best balls I've seen all year.

So it's these times that when these things happen that make you say, you know what, I can't get rid of this quarterback. I have nowhere to go. Yeah. What's the coldest game you ever played in? Green Bay, two below. And that's the game. I think I got an intercepting out of Redfarl, ran it back for a test out.

I limbo leaped into the stand. Yeah. They threw Milwaukee's best all over me. Well, the last time you talked about that play, I went and found it on YouTube, and I played it at the end of the show, the call of your pick six, because I think it was either a Sunday night or Monday night game. It was a night game. I'm pretty sure. He was a Monday night game. All right. We've talked, I guess, enough about Dallas. We didn't mention how great Jordan Love was. So what was your impression of him? He is a mimic. He is very much what I think all players should do. I'm glad I had the tutelich I had with Dale Green, Dion, and champ.

I cherry picked so many pieces of him and put it added to my game. When you watch him play, he looked like a mirror image of Aaron Rogers, from the way he lets the ball go to the way that he leans his feet, to the way that you could tell a player that's just been sitting back mimicking the guy, mimicking the guy. And he went out there looking cool at the other side of the pillar last night. So at the end of the day, I'm proud of joining Love. And all the doubt is he the guy that we started the year like,

is he the guy, is he the guy, he got better week in and week out. I think, and this is what I really do hate about Green Bay. Love organization has had 40, 35 years of consecutive Hall of Fame quarterback, and I think these guys are about to go 50. It's really, it would be incredible. If he is the answer and he looked at, he looked at a few times this year. I mean, let's be honest, if you watched him, this year in some of those games, the Thanksgiving Day game, the game against the Chiefs.

I mean, and then obviously last night, Jordan Love looks like the real deal. You know, it was funny when we were having conversations about him during the off season. They played a game last year, and Aaron Rogers got banged up in the game. The game was at Philly, and it was a Sunday night game, and I'm pretty sure it was the first game Jordan Love came in and played. And he was slinging it all around the field. Now, they were down, you know, a bunch in that game. And, you know, maybe the score was a little bit sideways,

which is why they gave him some opportunities. But you could see he could sling it. That's for sure. All right, what did you think of the game last night? Detroit and the Rams. Man, that Pooka Nakua, that was one of the best performances of the weekend, certainly in a losing cause.

Because Pooking the Coor is D. Truth, outright truth, youngster playing above his day. And he does everything good. He's not great at anything. He's stronger than you think, I can watch the D.B. He has problems getting him down. He's relentless. He's a run after the catch guy. I know people don't want to think this name when you say Pookin Nacour, but he gives DB's

problem like Debo Samuel when it comes to the eye. I got the ball in my hand. Now you get me down. He's big. He's strong. He's horrible for linebackers to cover. All for safety is to cover. And Matthew Stafford, Lord, listen, I'm glad we finally get Matthew Stafford in his prop.

Me too. Me too. Better than anybody in the league. Matthew Stafford is God's gift to receive. But Detroit, wake up, Detroit. Hey, listen, if I'm pulling for anybody, is the Detroit. The line fans have been down for a hundred years. Listen, I could feel the stadium through my TV erupted.

I don't know how the Rams even call play. I do not. That was 60 years of pent up, frustration, never having a chance for a playoff game. They let it out, and they let them have it. They let the other team physically have to fill it. The Rams for four, for four quarters. And like I said, I'm proud of Detroit as a city.

Long time coming. They are a physical group. They can beat you so many different ways. That will make the play out so good. I love it. I said the same thing in the open of the show. Last night, I was just, I was rooting for anybody that's been a sports fan their whole life in that city. Because that city really, the football team is the number one love, all right? The Tigers are a big deal. The hockey team, basketball team, the basketball teams had a lot of success.

They've won titles, you know, over the last 40 years. Michigan football is a big deal in Detroit and they just won a championship but man they have been waiting for the lines and now they get a second home playoff game next weekend because of the Packers beating the Cowboys so they'll play either Tampa or Philadelphia at home. I felt the same exact way

and I totally agree with you on Stafford. I remember getting pushback from a lot of listeners and a lot of callers when Stafford was available. He ended up getting traded. to the Rams. We made a pretty good offer. It was a first and a third. It wasn't what Sean McVeigh and Les Need and the Rams ended up offering. And look, I think Detroit was going to do the right thing by Matt Stafford. He wanted to go to L.A. He didn't want to come here. Yep. We was not set up for him at the time. No, but a lot of people said, well, look at his record.

I'm like, look at his record. Look at the team around him and how he's elevated that team. Hey, first of all, tell your fans this. When they graduate college, and let's just say they end up going to check, they're going to end up going to Apple. When we graduate college, if you're good, you get picked by the worst team. Matthew Stafford got taken number one. That means zero went before him. He was taken to the Detroit Lions where he was in old Biss for 10 years. But see, they weren't watching no Matthew Staff again.

I had to study Matthews Staff because I had to play against him. At the end of the day, I knew he could make every throw. I knew he had a cannon like no other. I knew he could put the ball anywhere it needs to be. They don't know because they don't watch. They don't know because they don't care. They don't know because they believe anything that they hear on ESPN or FOC. So at the end of the day, sometimes you've got to watch people for yourself.

He's also just one of the toughest MFers at that position we've ever seen. I mean, last night you got the hand bleeding. Then he took – I thought he looked knocked out on that one play. I'm surprised he came back in as quickly as he did. But he's been doing this his whole career. But those eyes were rolling around in the back of his head on that hit. Oh, most definitely. He was Batman for like three days.

I mean, three hours and we didn't know it. But like you said, he went right back out there, got back on the horse and played football. He did the thing that nobody knows besides the people that play football player. You ex-ed football player in the league about Matthew Stafford. They're going to be out of top five easy. Like they're going to say, hey, he's top-out quarterback in league. I don't care what you said. Nobody else say I have played against him.

I try to tell people this about Tony Romo all the time. Tony Romo was one of the most talented guys I played. He just had that impact about him. But everybody else was like, no, Tony won out of that. You go out there and take a couple of those deep balls from Tony. You tell me. I thought Tony Romo was a really good quarterback. But Tony Romo, in some way similar to Dak, but I don't think yesterday was

Dax's fault primarily. But in the biggest spots, Romo did not necessarily deliver. He had the same issue in the postseason that Dax had. I mean, the Cowboys are four and 13 in their last 17 playoff games. They haven't won two playoff games in a postseason since their last Super Bowl back in 95. But they've had a lot of swings at the postseason. It's more than we can say rooting for our franchise. Real quickly from Saturday, C.J. St. St. in the win over the Browns, and did you see the Chiefs coming to life at all with their win over Miami? C.J. Scrow looks the part, is the part.

Coaching job that's being done down there. It's unbelievable. That's how you rebuild. That's how you retool. That's how you have a youth movement. I want to say about C.J. Scrave. Everybody gave him all that flag coming out. And I simply said to this to everybody, do not look at him through the lens of your average Ohio State quarterback. I knew he wouldn't. A average Ohio State quarterback with a five-style for the lineman and five-star wire receives and five-star tight-in and throw two. He had something different, an it factor about him. Then he comes out in the draft, everybody's telling him what he cannot do, what he ain't going to be.

All he does is go in there, take his team to the playoff, win a playoff game for the city of Houston. I think he's unbelievable, and he's going to scare a part about C.J. Schrois. He's just scratching the surface. He's just starting to scratch the surface. So if he's going to have this big game demeanor that he has right now as a youngster, you're looking to somebody that's going to start to end of the playoffs all the time and have a Tom Brady-esque business way of handling the playoffs different because it didn't look too big for him. At one point, at no point that I see him rattled. And that's scary to me. Yeah, I was surprised as good as the Brown's defense has been all year long. They gave up nearly 300 yards and 24 points in the first half of that game.

But I thought he also made some incredible throws as he has for a while now. Look, they would probably be in a better position had he not missed those few games. I mean, in terms of seating. But what about the Chiefs? Did you see life from them? First of all, Andy Reed, Pat Mahomes, Kemp, I don't doubt them with anything with the word playoffs on it. I don't. They can always push that button.

They can always get ready for you. And I'm sorry, Miami had lost their game when the plane landed, and it was 10. It was 10 below. They had already lost it. Fish out of water, fishing cold water just don't work. They physically, mentally lost that game. but Kansas City is always going to be a threat with this duo. Mahomes and Andy Reed, I'm sorry.

Even given Sunday, they can beat anybody. So, shocked professor, no, I'm not shocked. It went exactly the way I wanted to go. But am I ready to say that I'm right with Kansas City all the way to the Super Bowl? No, I actually think the Ravens are the best put-together team in the AFC right now. If I had to pick right day today who's going to the Super Bowl, I would most definitely say the law firm or Lamar Lamar and Lamar, they'll be going the Ravens to the Super Bowl.

Yeah, actually, I think next week, if it is Houston at Baltimore, and we won't know that until the Buffalo Pittsburgh game's over tonight. But if Buffalo wins and it's Houston at Baltimore, that's going to be a tough one for Stroud. Yeah, yeah, anybody who has to play the Ravens, it's going to be tough. I'm sorry. The Ravens are the Ravens in the 49ers are put together. the same. They can throw, they can run, they can do whatever. They got third elements. They got

fifth elements. They can make things happen. To play them at home is really to your detriment. Like I'm telling you that now, to play them, but to play them in San Francisco is to your detriment. All right. Let's finish up with our team. Who's the coach that you want? Now that we've got the general manager and the head of football ops in Adam Peters, who's the coach you want them to hire? I love the Adam Peters Highers. I love how quick it happened. I love how decisive it was. Get your man, run with him, keep him here for 20 plus years. That's a job you can have a long time.

Love that pick. Now, I know what everybody's going to say. Everybody's Starbucks coffee at a week is being just. And I know you professed, so I know he's probably high on your list. He's probably number one. I know you. I know you. You're wrong, but go ahead. right, that's good. I'm happy I'm wrong. I am a Jim Harbaugh guy. I am a guy that wants, he's just youthful enough. He's won everywhere he's been. You want to coach a

bunch of someone that changes coach him? Jim Harbaugh. One thing we know about Harbaugh, our team going to be physical. We're going to run the ball and we're going to throw the ball very creatively. We're going to play hard, knock, defense. Last time he was at the 40 with Petty Willis and the rest of those guys. Identity, identity, identity. I know one thing about him, too. He knows how to make a roster. If you get him in here this year, that means for the next four years,

he's recruited everybody that he's going to draft, so he knows the college landscape better than any coach in the NFL. It's Harbaugh. Could you imagine the better of the bent way? This is a better of blood. This is a better of brother. Like, nobody can bring what he brings. He burned out on us in like five, six, seven season and go out to lash out a little bit.

Yes, but we'd have probably had a Super Bowl by then. All I'm saying is Jim Harbaugh is my guy. I know everybody got good and bad to say about him. I take the good to bad and ugly. I don't really have a number one, but I am definitely in your camp of not being opposed to guys like Harbaugh, Brable, or even Belichick. Like, I would much rather have a known great coach and know that we're going to be. be well-coached for the first time in a long time. As long as, you know, like to me, the people that say absolutely no to Belichick, I don't

understand that at all. I mean, he's only the greatest coach that's ever lived, and your team's going to be very well-coached. Just don't let him construct the roster. That's fine. What? They can say that because they don't think the timing lines up. He's getting older.

He won a championship on the way out. we're not built for a championship yet, so they don't match us with him out of the timing. Like, if it was like six years ago, a little younger, Belichick. That's fine. And that's reasonable. Like, if somebody says, no, it's not that I don't think he's a great coach, I just don't want a 72-year-old because I want the guy that's going to be here for the next 10 years, or at least five.

And that's fair. Harbaugh, you know, fits the way you described Harbaugh is exactly the way I would describe them. I think Vrable's been a great coach in this league for a while, but I think they're going to end up going with, you know, probably the Ben Johnson type. I think the problem with these hot coordinators who have never been head coaches, same with, by the way, the assistant GMs who have never been GMs before, just like quarterbacks in the draft, it's like a one out of three business. You know, sometimes one out of four. You know, for every Brad Holmes in Detroit, you've got two or three guys that didn't work out that were the hot GM candidate that year or the year before.

For all of the young coaches that come in, a lot of them two, three years later, it's over. They're not D'Amico Ryan's in their first year. So we'll see. But your preference would be Harbaugh. What about now that we have not talked since they nailed down the number two seed, the number two pick, excuse me, in the draft. So who's the quarterback you want? Let's assume right now you had your choice of any of the three.

All right. Caleb Williams, Drake, May, Jaden Daniels, who would you take? Well, you know how I feel about RG4. All right. I'm right there, too, so I'm guaranteed Drake, all right? I'm guaranteed Drake, May, if I want to. Let me just clarify for those that don't know what you meant by that statement. You think Caleb Williams could be RG4?

No, I think Jalen Daniels is RG4. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, Jane Daniels had a almost, it's almost like identical year to RG3. Both of them slender, more straight line speed guys, not a lot of wiggle there, can wing the ball, can throw the ball, chose flashes. I don't know if he could put that together. I just watched Jane Daniel with two first round wide receivers, two of the dummy wire receivers in college football.

I watch him go down there and beat and win. average games at LSU and win and lose all the big games. Now, when it comes to Caleb Williams, I think he's the secret sauce of the bunch, makes most of his plays off schedule. You're going to have to teach him to make own schedule throws. But I think he has the highest ceiling, and we're so close to him that I have to make some type of move to get him here. Okay.

You're talking about starting a new era with a local kid. And the local kid, I usually don't write local kids staying at home. But since he's a quarterback, which they are politicians anyway, I think it would be okay with him. He would be my flavor of the week. I'm going Caleb Williams because when I look at Drake May, I see Justin Herbert there. I really do. I really do see Justin Herbert, but I see an early little stench, a little fall off the tree, a little ryan leaf in there.

Where I was so good in college, I didn't have to really work that hard. I got to ask myself, how much better is he going to get in the league? We know this and we watch this happen every year, Professor. we build these quarterbacks up, like three, four, five of them into the first round, only to watch one come out and be good, two, be good. It's going to happen the same way this year. Everybody falls in love with the Bowdo Knicks of the world. The Boe Knicks of the World is Zach Wilson, too.

It's just simply as that. He's the old kid on campus that refused to leave after graduation. Like we see it, Michael Pinnis, the same guy. I'm not leaving yet. And by the way, he played in the bowl game and threw six touchdown passes. The old guy on campus who buying the beer for everybody. Yeah. That's what it is.

Well, there's nothing wrong with being on. I'd love to be back on campus, too. But we don't have any eligibility left. So when you said, okay, so hold on for one second. Before we get back to Jaden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Drake, mate for a moment. Yeah. Have you finally gotten to the point after 17 games of Sam? And you have to throw this in here that we have the second pick in the draft.

Are you ready to say, yeah, we have to draft a quarterback here too. If we like one of these guys, you have to take them. I just think it's bad timing for Sam. And I can say this to say if you didn't want us to draft a quarterback out, you had to do is win four more games and make sure we went in the top ten. It simply is that. Now, I have to tell you personally, mean. My homework on Sam, if I had to write a report right now, it'll be incomplete. I don't have

enough intel. I just watch the guy Terl off at the end of the year because he hit the rookie wall. Let's be honest. And he ain't hit the rookie wall because it's just 20 weeks of hard court. He hit the rookie wall because he got tossed up for the first 10 weeks of the season. It's incomplete in my book. Like, it's so incomplete in my books that I would be afraid to have him on the team. Like, if I draft the quarterback this year, Jacobi Bressett is the old guy around him. I can't keep

all three of them, so I have to call the foul and maybe try to get a fifth round pick or something for Sam. But if you ask me, I don't have enough intel on him. His highs was too high, and his load was too low for me to, because if I watch and say, this is

Sam's floor, what we saw this year with Sam Flore, if his floor is our 4,000, yards, double-digit touchdowns, what happens when we got a line that protects him? What happened when we got some tall-wire-received that you can throw bad passes to? What happened when we got different tight ends that can press and push down the field? Like, I am incomplete on Sam Howe, but timing is not on his side. New ownership.

Top five pick out. Like I said, Sam had a chance to make sure we didn't get a quarterback. Now, he could have made sure we ended up with Bo Knicks on the roster. That would have gave him chance to keep his job. But now that we're in the top two picks, I think it's going to be hard for him. It's going to be hard for the end up to turn down a quarterback. You may not have enough intel, but you've got enough to have a hunch. So what's your hunch?

I don't. And look at this. We look at this guy because he's a second-year player. He's a rookie. I'm looking at a rookie quarterback, basically come out here and throw for 4,000 yards, and he did this under the rest. I'm looking at a quarterback that defeated all odds. I had no home field advantage.

I looked at him come out here. and just keep on wrecking. The one thing we know about Sam is he's tougher than a $2 steak. He's got took a licking and kept on kick and got back up time after time again. Anybody will follow him into a red hole. I have no information, not enough information on him because we set him up to fail, and when he failed, we act like we were shocked. I agree with you on the toughness.

I agree with you on the kid, the whole thing. But if I let you throw 10,000 times in a season, you'd throw for 4,000 yards, too. I mean. I'm only doing what I'm asked to do. Like everybody get on me and try to talk transom with me out by four. I tell them all the time. Hey, everybody in here to see him bad parents. Bad parents, you have bad kids.

Well, guess what? Bad coach and each are bad players. Because no DB had a good year in the defensive back field this year because they all had bad coach. I know. But, and I'm glad you answered it on Forbes. It's too early, not enough in. bad parents, the whole thing. But on how? There are just a couple of things that stuck out.

Even when there were moments that were sort of trumped by really encouraging play in good games. And that is, he doesn't see it. He holds it. He's shorter. There are some limitations. There are some flaws that are borderline near fatal. You played. You don't see that? No, I see what I see from a young quarterback. Like, he showed that he was a young quarterback. The guy want him to be a finished product?

The NFL. See, that's the problem with us, especially in the DMV. We ain't used to having a quarterback so we don't know how to treat him. I nurture. You try to love them. You join in love on them. That's what you do. But now, not us.

You need to be ready right now. But guess what? That's how we end up with the fifth magics of the world. That's we end up with the Alex Smith in the world. You want a finished product. He was never going to be a finish product. He was never going to be a finished product. Let's talk about what he did, though.

He did do good. He threw deep very well. When he finally learned how to get the ball out of his hands, the sack went down because he learned during the year. He had to have something to clean up. The things he need to clean up pocket presence. Things he need to clean up timing. Like, we've been talking back and forth. I've been having conversations, me and Logan, about, like, is Terry a true number one?

I've been having, do we have a thread that tied in? I like, if I'm a cat of things you can point in. Yeah, but everybody wants to talk to that Graham How and say what he is and say where he ain't because we ain't used to watching plants grow. We ain't used to going our own food. We want to go in the grocery store and get it right now because we're a part of a microwave society. And guess what? That's why the food ain't as nutrition that they used to be with Grandma's made.

But I bet she was a great cook. But I, but the problem that is you're a little bit straw man. arguing this because nobody expected him to be, you know, great in his rookie year. What you wanted to see is you wanted to see something there that said investable to build around. And you wanted to see progress. And instead, let's be honest, it regressed significantly once they started to play better defensive teams. It was bad. It was bad. You just sit here and told me too, franchise quarterbacks did the same thing and tour and Dak Prescott. Right.

You can't see him and told me this. It happens to the best of them. It happens to the best of a man. And the rest of them. It's part of the match. Comparing Sam to Dak Prescott, come on. Why not? Compared to that Desk Scott, they were both late around down.

Dax played at an all pro borderline MVP level at times. And just because they team and organization gave that attention. to grow. They gave him a chance to grow because they saw something in him. He was outstanding. The first year he got a chance to play. And then he regressed the second year. They were still patient with him. Yep. They were. We ain't patient parents. We want our kids to be good without reinforcing. So here's the exit question on Sam Halvin. Let's pretend that we didn't have the number two overall pick in the draft because we traded it. We still had the same season, four and

13. You saw everything you saw from Sam, but we didn't have the number two pick. We had the number you know, we didn't have a first round pick because we traded it or whatever. Would your plan be to build around Sam how for 2020?

He would be my stopgap quarterback at that time until he proved different. I would give him first chance to do it because I don't want Russell to stay. You go to Atlanta. Okay. So my options that I have, if I'm not drafting a quarterback, he would be the guy because now I need to get his men in the office.

I need to feel so many of the holes on the team, he would be the one country that I say, you know what, let's keep him here, let's keep Jacoby set here, and let's just build a rest of the roster. So when we do, and if we do find out he the quarterback, then that's fine. But if we find out we need another one, that's fine. I would say I would roll with Sam in that way, but because we had a second pick, I think it's just irresistible. Like I said, I think it's bad timing for Sam.

And I think the one thing I could say, and I love Ron to death. Thank you, Rob, for everything you did for the team. Thank you. I think the one thing that if he could do over, he would have done would start Sam as a rookie. Because I think that set both of them up to have a better ending to everything. Well, you certainly wouldn't have traded draft choices and picked up the whole salary on Carson Wentz. If you had to do it over again, whether you drafted Sam or not, you wouldn't have gone. in that direction.

All right. I just, I think Jaden Daniels your comparison, because usually I love your evaluations of college players because you love college football. I love college football. Not all of our fans watch as much college football, but you're

into it like I am. I see the body that worries me, like, you know, the thin frame. That's the number one concern for me, but I see a completely different vision runner, open field runner than RG3. Jaden Daniels has point guard vision.

RG3 was a straight line track guy. He never saw it coming. Jaden Daniels makes people miss in tight spaces. He made people miss, but he also will be missing touchdowns. And he also not like a win. I always judge, guys, what do a quarterback is a point guard? What do you do with the people around you? I went personally to the LSU-Missive State game

and watched them carve us up. Neighbors, the Yerce the Yerceiver is the truth. Thomas Dutter, the Yer Receive on the other side is the truth. They are some of these best Yen receivers in it. As I watched them, and I kept watching Jane Daniels, and I'm like, what is he missing? Because in my, I'm like, as a quarterback, it's something that he's missing.

What? And it's the it. You know, the it factor that they always say somebody got that we can't describe what it is. he's missing that it. Now, do he has other stuff? You're right. He got a cannon of a home to make every throw.

He's legitly fads. I'm talking about it could be four or four, four, four, three fad. He has all of it. I don't know what type of leader he is. I don't know if he gave it and I don't know if he bringing locker rooms together. Because what I saw was a team full of talent that at LSU that can't win big game. Well, they were terrible on defense. That was the worst defense in the SEC, one of the worst defenses in the country.

Well, they set us down to like, 10 points. So I couldn't tell they were stinking that day. Well, they, I mean, they gave up, I mean, Florida scored 35 against them. I mean, they were a bad defensive football team. They in Florida were the two horrible SEC defenses this year. All right, I, professor, out of the quarterbacks, we on the average, we get two first-round quarterbacks that's good.

They just say we got five going. Right. What two are you putting your money on? Because I know for a fact, I'm picking Caleb. Williams, if I got to put my house up, I'm going Caleb Williams, Drake May, even though Jake May got a stench of Matt Ryan on him, I would most definitely stay right there in my wheel but you, I think Jane Daniels is one of your favorites, right? 100%. It would be, it would be Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels for me if I had to pick two out of the,

you know, if you throw in McCarthy and Pennix Jr. and Bo Nix's potential first rounders, those would be the two. But like you said, I mean, it's like, even, Even in the top half, most of the great quarterbacks come from the first round and the top half of the first round, but there are still more misses and many more misses than hits. And that'll happen with the upcoming draft too. I mean, that's why, you know, you should be swinging for one every year, no matter where you're drafting, but if you don't have one. But yeah, I would say Daniels, my concern being, by the way, we don't know anything about these guys. if we had a chance to do all of the interviews and the due diligence and the talking to coaches and teammates,

we'd have a much better picture, but we'll never have that access. This is where you've got to trust in your ownership and your management to get it right on the person. And a lot of times that's been the issue. And so I don't know what, you know, I had somebody on talking about Jaden Daniels that covered LSU and he said, an incredible guy, incredible work ethic. But we've heard that before about guys that come out and they end up, you know, losing it once they get paid. But those would be my two. Caleb Williams has the – and Jaden Daniels have the most upside of any of the quarterbacks in this draft, in my opinion.

I think you're sleeping on Drake May, though. I think you really are. I don't dislike Drake, May. I don't dislike Drake, May. You ask me, you give me two. I did give you two. One thing about Drake May, just like Sam, in North Carolina, they don't really do a good job of teaching quarterbacks how to throw with their feet,

so their feet don't match their arm. So when you get them off Carolina quarterback, the first thing you have to do is clean up their footwork. But other than that, like, Drake May is almost one of them can't miss prospects. Like if you look at him on paper, you'd be like, yeah, this right here is what it looks like Peyton Manning. It just can run, like Archmanage. So at the end of the day, yeah, it's different. Like, I think it's something there with Drake May.

All right. Um, always great. Always appreciate, uh, having these conversations with you. I hope you will. And I need you, I need you to go watch House of the Drag. I know. I know. It's a... He is Baceresis. He is Bacarion. If he sit there and fall apart one eye and one ear at a time, I know, he is. I need you to watch. It's, it's, you know, it's basically like the 150 years before the birth of, of, of, of, of Dinerius. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. And it shows you why her brother are the only Targary. Because of the Tigarians here for war, this killed out all of the Tagarians and stuff like that. So it shows you what happening and why.

All right, Little Finger. I'm going to let you run. You're the best. I'll talk to you soon. Perfect. Thanks so much. Appreciate it, man. That was awesome.

I'll talk to you soon. Bye. The one and only Fred Smoot, everybody. We'll finish up the show. Terp fans with a quick recap of Maryland's stunning win at 10th ranked Illinois yesterday. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. By Geronimo. Quick shot and Geronimo there to defend.

Up ahead quickly. Geronimo with the flush. Wow, that was an absolute stunner yesterday. I did not expect to see Maryland with the way they've been playing go on the road against the 10th ranked team. team in the country and win by nine. But that's what happened. More on that for you Terp Hoop fans like I am in a moment.

This segment of the show brought to you by MyBooky, go to mybooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. We get a double header of playoff football with the Buffalo Pittsburgh game being moved. Right now, Buffalo is a 10-point favorite at My Boogie with the total backup to 38 and a half. It had fallen to 33-3.33 and a half if that game had been played in those white-out conditions yesterday. It's going to be cold today, but not as windy. Some light snow in the forecast, but it might not fall during the game. Philly tonight in the final of the six wild card round weekend games. Three-point favorites over the bucks. The total is 43. The winner of that

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right and you're going to get free cash using my promo code. Kevin D.C. at my bookie.orgie.orgie. All right, Maryland yesterday. So at halftime the other night against Michigan, they were down 33 to 21 against a Michigan team that was down one of their best players. And it really did look like it was going to be a disastrous season in that moment. They had lost two straight Big Ten games to Purdue at home, to Minnesota on the road. They blew a big lead and lost that one. They didn't really have one non-conference win of note. They lost a Davidson and UAB early on in Asheville, North Carolina. They got blown out by Villanova, couldn't score. They beat UCLA, but UCLA lost the other night to Utah by 46 points. It's not a good UCLA team.

And when they were down 3321 at half against Michigan and could not score and just kept turning the ball over, again. It was like, wow, this is going to be, this may be the most offensively challenged Maryland team in years, maybe the least talented Maryland team in a long time. And this could be a bad season. You know, Maryland just hasn't had many bad seasons, you know, in the history of their program. And this team was supposed to be a top three finisher in the Big Ten this year and a potential, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood of a four to a six year. in the NCAA tournament. They're like, prior to yesterday's game,

I think they were like 141 in the net rankings, way down the list. But if you want to jump start a season, come out in the second half and get red hot against Michigan and overcome a 12-point deficit and win going away, and then go on the road a few days later and beat the 10th ranked team in the country. You know, Maryland's beaten,

highly ranked Illinois teams on the road before and highly ranked Illinois teams at home, including last year. They've really had a lot of good success against Illinois in their run in the Big Ten. And yesterday, it was funny because early in that game, if you were watching this game, they were down 9, 20 to 11. Illinois had made everything that they looked at. And I texted my sons who were watching the game, run a group text during the game, and a couple of friends and I said, I know we're down nine,

but I feel like this is the best we have looked on offense in terms of just being organized and running really good stuff and getting really good looks that I've seen all year long. And yeah, it started to pay off. They only had two turnovers in the first half, Maryland did. Marilyn didn't shoot it well in the first half at all, but they were dominant down low in absolutely. at the rim. And it started really with Juju Reese being a difficult matchup in the post. He scored. He made some good decisions on, you know, moving the ball back out and having plays end in a shot at the rim. He's been inconsistent. Look, they had Hawkins on them. They had other guys on them when they switched. And it was a really outstanding game by Juju Reese. 20 points, 11 rebounds, had a couple of block shots. You know, had a couple of big time plays, shot four for seven from the free throw line.

By the way, I've noticed just in recent games, that terrible free throw stroke has a little bit more arc to it than recently. Just something to keep in mind. He has shot it a little bit better recently. And then Jemir Young was incredible again. I mean, this guy is going to be first team all big 10. He's going to be in the running for the runner up to Zach Eadie for play. player of the year in the league. He was outstanding. He was sick for a couple of games following that

trip back from Pauley Pavilion. But he had 28, eight assists in the game, had some big time hustle plays for loose balls. And I thought yesterday they got more contribution from more players than they have in a while. Big time plays by Jordan Geronimo, you know, loose balls, block shots, hit a huge three from the corner. Deshawn Harris-Smith has been a really kind of long-armed, good defender, rebounder. He hit a huge three in the game, and you've seen his stroke. It doesn't look like there's much of a shot.

He missed two free throws, though, late. Kaiser Jr. couldn't make anything that he looked at and was a bit of a defensive liability, but had six or seven rebounds in the game. How about Caleb Swanton Roger? The big 6-11 kid from Canada, from Calgary who backs up Juju, he came in and played well. Bachelor hit a three. Jihari Long came in. He's been injured and he got in yesterday with a little bit of time, very little, turned it over once.

But just, you know, they were four for 17 from behind the arc, and they won by nine. It's funny about them as three-point shooting, as a terrible three-point shooting team. I still think when Dante shoots it, it's got a chance of going in. Jamir, obviously, the same thing. Bachelor and Kaiser Jr. have good strokes. If they start shooting the three even just poorly rather than just horrifically, they're going to be tough. That's a big win for Maryland, a gutty win.

I mean, Illinois looked to be a little bit, you know, off after they beat Michigan State the other night. But that's a home game for them. they were a nine and a half point favorite, and Maryland went in and beat them up. Beat them up physically. You know, they were 30 of 65 from the field. Keep in mind, that's 26. They made 26 field goals out of 48 from 2, and a lot of those were at the rim. Good for them.

A big win really puts the season. at least for the moment, back in play, because it looked like they were out of it, especially if they had lost to Michigan the other night. They play Northwestern on Wednesday night. Northwestern is 12 and 4. They're 3 and 2 in the league. They've got to win early in the season over Purdue. They lost to Illinois at Illinois by 30.

But recently, they beat Michigan State. They beat Penn State, but they lost to Wisconsin. This is an opportunity. Maryland has not played great at Northwestern. It's usually a harrowing game, even if Northwestern isn't good. But with that win, the Terps moved to 11 and 6 overall, but 3 and 3 in the Big 10, and it's bunched up at Wisconsin's 5 and 0. A bit of a surprise at the top at 5 and 0, but Purdue's lost twice.

You know, they got run out of the building by Nebraska. Indiana's 4 and 2, and then, you know, Illinois and Minnesota are both 3 and 2 along with Northwestern and the Maryland's right there at 3 and 3. If they can get Northwestern tomorrow night, then they come home Sunday to face Michigan State. All of a sudden, you start putting yourself back into the conversation for top five-ish in the Big Ten and a tournament bid. The problem with them is they're going to have to win 13 or 14 in the Big Ten because their non-conference is totally unimpressive. The Big Ten is a league right now, not super impressive. but good win for the Terps.

All right. Done for the day. I want to mention Wind Donations deal. 50% off all window styles and 0% interest for the next five years. So with the cold weather and the snow out there today and more snow at the end of this week, your heating bills are going to be much higher if you've got older windows. If you've been thinking about new windows, call them at 86690 Nation or go towindonation.com. Give them a shot.

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I'm back tomorrow with Tommy.