The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cuts & Colt

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

Kevin was back today and started with the beginning of Washington's cut-down from 90 to 53 along with the news that Arizona released the presumed Cardinals' opening-day starter, Colt McCoy. So who will Washington face on September 10th at Fed Ex Field? Kevin recapped briefly the Commanders' 21-19 preseason finale capping off an unbeaten exhibition season. Albert Breer wrote extensively about Sam Howell and Ron Rivera today...Kevin weighed in on that as well. Go to https://www.mybookie.ag/sportsbook/ for your sports betting needs. Use promo code KEVINDC 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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Two weeks from today, I'll be doing on this podcast, a recap, a game take of what happened the day before. Yeah, two weeks from today, we're going to know what happened in the season opener at FedEx Field in front of a frenzied, sold-out crowd when Washington takes on Arizona. game that will not include Colt McCoy as the Arizona Cardinals starter.

The presumed Cardinals starter for much of the offseason, and really much of this month of August, Colt McCoy was released today by the Cardinals. More on that coming up in a minute. It's good to be back. I took a few days off at the end of last week. was down in South Carolina playing some golf and enjoying a few beach days. Yeah, it was hot down there, but it was breezy. You know, it's hot here during the summer as well. I'm going to take another day or two this week as well, but I should have shows completed for each of the days this week

leading into, by the way, the first full college football weekend of the season. I left you last week with the show that I did with Cooley. He had watched the Baltimore first half, the offense anyway. He liked Sam Howell. And Cooley will be a part of the podcast this year. We'll get him to watch games. We'll certainly get him to watch the All-22 and produce some level of film breakdown during the season.

And then Sean King was on with me. I recorded that interview before I left to go away. And that show was Thursday's show. He's excellent as a guest, excellent. And he is a huge Sam Howl fan. Oh, for those that reached out about a smell test for last weekend, for week zero of the college football season, Notre Dame pounded Navy and USC actually had a seven-point lead against San Jose State

in their opener, Caleb Williams, through four touchdown passes, including if you haven't seen that one highlight. The ball gets snapped sort of away from him. He backtracks, picks it up and throws a deep ball for a touchdown. He looked great in their opener. I did not have a smell test. I would have put it out on Twitter if I had had one, but I don't think I've ever had a week zero smell test selection.

I played one game. It's probably best that I wasn't on for a Friday show because I would have told you that I would have leaned in the direction of Ohio versus San Diego State taking the short number. They were getting a short number, and the number wasn't big enough. The game did not get there. It was not a winner for me. But the first smell test of the year comes up this Friday.

It's possible I might have a Thursday night pick, but probably not. Friday will be the first smell test for the. the first big weekend of college football. 18th season of the smell test coming up. 18 years. I've been doing this smell test. 12 winning seasons, five losing seasons. Last year was a winning season.

100 wins, 84 losses, three pushes on the season. But again, you didn't miss anything last week. If you want to get involved in all of this, my recommendation is MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.ag. Take advantage of the welcome bonus using my promo code Kevin D.C. By the way, at MyBooky, Washington now a seven-point favorite. The line has not moved since the Colt McCoy News. It wouldn't surprise me if Washington ends up going off.

as a larger than seven-point favorite for the opener against the Cardinals. The total has dropped to 38.5. That's the lowest over under on the board for week one at MyBooky. But football season is back. NFL college football. And a brand new cash out system at MyBooky gives you options to bet and win all season long. First two legs of your parlay hit, cash out early and use the funds on another bet. or let it ride for the chance at a bigger payday. Use early cashouts as a tool to stay in control of the action at MyBooky. Again, go to mybooky.ag.

Registering for an account is free. When you're ready to make your first deposit, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., to grab a welcome bonus on the house. That's promo code Kevin D.C. to claim your deposit bonus. And for a limited time, a free chip to you. in the MyBooky online casino. You can bet anything anytime, anywhere, only with My Booky. So the cut down has started from 90 down to 53.

The deadline is 4 p.m. tomorrow to have rosters down to 53 from 90, right? That's 37 players released in one fell swoop. First time we've seen that happen. typically it was kind of staggered in terms of the cut down dates. As of the recording of this show right now, just one released Washington player that might disappoint some of you. They've got plenty more to come, but the list is like nine players as of this moment per Ben Standig.

The two players released today so far with, I would say, recognizable names, even for the few of you that are deep into the 90-man roster. Wide receiver Marcus Kemp, cut Kemp, remember, came here with a shot to make the team, A, because of his size, and B, because he had played in Kansas City for Eric B. enemy. The other cut of note is running back Jared Patterson. You know, he's become a bit of a fan favorite. I like him a lot, too. got cut remember this time last year, made it back to the practice squad. I don't know that the

same will happen this summer, in part because the position on the team is, you know, dare I say it, deep. Yeah, the running back room on this team, I think it's better than most people think it is, and there's some depth in that room as well. Jonathan Williams and Derek Gore remain as of now with Robinson Jr., Gibson, and Rodriguez. Those three are making it, all right? Robinson, Jr., Gibson, and Rodriguez are Givens. And I think with Williams, they've always liked him, and he plays special teams.

Patterson didn't play special teams as much as Williams did, with the exception of being the occasional kickoff returner. I think Patterson had four or five kickoff returns, last year. You know, they've got the fullback, Alex Arma, on the roster as of now. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with Williams and Gore. They're not going to keep both of them, but, you know, it does kind of reflect some depth not only at that position, but as we've discussed really since the end of last year, the overall roster is better than it's been in a long time. And Ron Rivera spoke to that Saturday night. He was at.

asked about the improved roster and the challenge with cutting it down this year versus previous years. Here's what he said. No, I think it is a little bit of a sign of the roster build. You know, we do feel that this is going to be one of the toughest conversations we have, especially when it gets down to the depth. I mean, you know, if we keep, you know, nine or ten offensive linemen, you know, whoever seven, eight, nine, ten are going to be, I mean, we're, there's a huge conversation. is going to go on. That really is.

And it's going to be true for every position. Those last couple, there's a lot of good young players. I mean, it's funny because if you go through our roster and look at the age and where everybody is, you know, we feel like we're in a really good spot. And hopefully, you know, these guys mature and continue to grow and get better and better as a

football team for us. The roster is much better than it's been in a long, long time. And that's why when Ron was riffing a few months ago about how now is the time to start the roster build. I pushed back on it because they've actually been building out the roster. They've changed the culture of the locker room. They've added good young players to this roster. Quarterback's been an area.

Obviously, they have not gotten right. And maybe Sam Howell will be the answer there. But they've done a nice job building out the roster. And it was actually recognized to a certain degree. Again, these three players, not their players, but three players that they have kept here with contract extensions. Terry McClorn, John Allen, and Duran Payne made the ESPN.com top 100 NFL player list, which came out earlier today. Terry came in at 36, the ninth ranked wide receiver in the league. John Allen came in at 64 and Duran Payne came in at 70. You know, they've got three players in their prime now, or entering their prime, under contract, on the ESPN.com top 100 player list.

I mean, I don't know how many times they've had three players in the top 100. It just, it hasn't happened a lot over the years. Terry, by the way, recognized in a big way at 36, only eight receivers ahead of him in the ranking. By the way, I'll have a few thoughts on the Saturday night preseason finale coming up in the next segment. Not a complete game take. That game does not deserve a complete game take. You know, one of the interesting decisions, by the way, in thinking about cut down here the next 24-hour. hours. I think a big decision for Ron and his staff will be whether or not to keep third string

quarterback Jake Fromm on the 53-man roster. You know, he played well in the preseason, hard to judge sometimes based on when he's in the game, who he's playing against and who he's playing with. But the new third QB rule, all right, the third quarterback rule, if you don't know what that is, I'm going to explain it to you, but it can only be utilized if you've got a third quarterback on the 53-man roster. So the third quarterback rule, which by the way was in effect for a long period of time, and then I think they pulled it in 2010. But after that disastrous NFC championship game, when the 49ers went through all of their quarterbacks and had Christian McCaffrey in the Wildcat in Philly in the second half of that game, the league.

brought back the third QB rule. If you lose two quarterbacks due to legitimate injury, or if one of the quarterbacks gets disqualified, like thrown out of the game, if you have a third quarterback on your 53-man roster, he can come into the game even though he doesn't count as an active game day player. He'll be dressed, but not an active play. player unless the first two QBs go down. According to the rule, the coach can't use this rule as a way to bench the first two quarterbacks and bring in the third. There will be a monitoring system there so that if either of the first two quarterbacks

are cleared to come back into the game, then the third quarterback would have to be removed from the game. So if you lose your starter to injury, the backup comes in and gets injured. and then you've got a third quarterback on your 53-man roster, even though he's not an active player, he will be allowed to come into the game. But if one of those first two quarterbacks are cleared to come back into the game, then they have to come back in and the third quarterback has to be removed.

Imagine, all right, just imagine your starting quarterback gets injured, hobbles off the field, second quarterback comes in, he gets injured, he gets carted off the field, field. Third quarterback comes in and all the sudden he's, you know, he's 10 of 11 for 148 yards and two touchdowns and the doctor clears the starter to come back into the game with an ankle injury. And then they got to pull the third quarterback out. I doubt that that will ever happen. But that's essentially the rule. But Jake Fromm to be eligible as the third. third quarterback in, you know, what would be an emergency situation, he's got to be on the 53-man

roster. You know, without that new rule, I would say Fromm's not going to make the team. I don't even think with the new rule that he makes the team. Now, I think he could easily be brought back to the practice squad, and they could activate him to the 53-man roster at some point. You know, like if your starter got hurt or was hobbled, you know, at that point, you know, at that point, might want to bring up the third quarterback from the practice squad to the 53-man roster in advance of a week where you would be going in with a hobbled starter and then one backup. You know, you might do that. But right now, they've got too much competition at other spots. Other spots where players who make the team will see playing time, you know, at the very

least on special teams. So it's hard to keep Jake Fromm for the sole purpose of covering yourself in the event of an absolute in-game disaster at quarterback. And no, I don't think Jake Fromm's going to be the backup quarterback to Sam Hal. I don't think that they're going to release Jacoby Brissette. I know a lot of you believe that that's the move they should be making after watching three preseason games. Anyway, another 28 or, by the way, if that happened, I'd be sure. Shocked.

Shocked. And let me just say, I don't think Jacoby Brissette has played well in the preseason since the first game against Cleveland. More on that coming up when I look back at the big game Saturday night against the Bengals. But I think Jacoby Brissette in his $8 million guaranteed salary, actually I think it's seven and a half million that's guaranteed of the $8 million. But I pretty much can guarantee you that he is the backup quarterback. on this roster. But anyway, so another 28 or so players have to be cut by 4 p.m. tomorrow. But moments ago, right before I started to record this podcast, I saw the news that Colt McCoy had been released by Arizona today. Now, it's not a major surprise after the Cardinals traded for

Joshua Dobbs, Josh Dobbs, the other day. Kyler Murray, by the way, it was reported. He's not coming off the Pup list before the deadline, which is also tomorrow. That means he's out for the first four games of the season. So what it means is that Josh Dobbs is most likely the starter in Landover on September 10th. Dobbs, by the way, if you recall from Washington's first preseason game earlier this month, he played in the game. game. He was beaten out by Dorian Thompson, Robinson, the UCLA quarterback, as the backup to Deshawn Watson in Cleveland. Dobbs threw the pick to Percy Butler, where Butler had that big return. I think Dobbs stinks personally. He has started only two NFL games, one of which was last

year's season finale between Tennessee and Jacksonville. Tennessee had all their injured quarterbacks out. They started Dobbs in the next to last game of the year, and then in the season finale, that game was nationally televised on Saturday night. They were playing in Jacksonville for the AFC South title. He didn't have a terrible game until it mattered, and that came in the fourth quarter. When they were up 16 to 13, he got sacked. He was. fumbled and the fumble got returned for a touchdown and Jacksonville won the AFC South, went on to beat the Chargers, remember in that big comeback in the wildcard weekend, and then lost in a competitive game in the divisional round at Kansas City. I just don't think Dobbs is very good.

To me, the Cardinals are telegraphing the move for the upcoming season. They are embracing the idea of being terrible. They are embracing the idea of being as bad as they can be and riding that right into the April 2024 number one overall selection of Caleb Williams, quarterback, Southern Cal. Remember this too. They have Houston's first round pick also. So they've got a great chance. as bad as they're expected to be. Houston's expected to be not getting Kyler Murray back until October, so they're not going to be very competitive here in the first part of the season, if at all this year.

They've got an excellent chance to getting the number one pick in the April 2024 draft. They are in great position, and it certainly would appear that they are all in for tanking for Caleb Williams or maybe Drake May, the North Carolina quarterback. Who knows by the time we get to the draft in the spring of 2024, who will be one and who will be two. I would guess it's going to be Caleb Williams.

I know a few years ago we talked about this, remember with the dolphins, you know, tanking for Tua, and then all of a sudden they took Josh Rosen out and put Ryan Fitzpatrick into the game and he nearly beat Washington. Colt McCoy is a professional quarterback who's actually played well for the Cardinals at times in his time in Arizona. He clearly would have given them a better shot at Washington than Dobbs. Or, by the way, let me just mention rookie quarterback Clayton Tune, who was drafted in the fifth round out of Houston by the Cardinals. By the way, when he got picked, he said the Cardinals just got the best.

quarterback in the draft. But look it, as Tommy would say, look it. The opener for Washington, if it wasn't must win before Colt McCoy got released, it's must win now. I mean, two weeks from today, we better not be talking about anything other than a W. Washington's the second biggest favorite on the week one board. The Ravens are 10-point favorites over Houston, and Washington is currently a seven-point favorite at my bookie over Arizona. You can't lose that game. This was a nice gift from the league's schedule makers. You know, they knew a few things about Washington's season opener against Arizona, and I, it's why I picked it in my mock schedule. They knew this would be the first first game without Dan Snyder as the owner in 24 years.

And there would be a celebratory, as I've called it, atmosphere because of it. They knew that Arizona has no fan base that travels. So the crowd would be all Washington for the first time in a while. They also knew the Cardinals were going to stink. They knew this back in the spring because they knew Kyler Murray wouldn't be ready for the first part of the season. So giving Washington, Arizona in the opener, serving up a homecoming opponent for the opener, I mean a total in boxing parlance, a total tomato can of an opponent for the season opener was a gift. One and O.

I mean, just saying that makes this game feel like it's got a lot of pressure to it. You know, it's, and look, nobody knows this better than I do as a better of NFL football. I've told you guys this a million times. It's crazy in the NFL. Once you think a game is a lock, it isn't. But this one should be. And now with Josh Dobbs at the helm, you can't lose this game. Some might say that this game just became a can't.

win situation because of the overwhelming expectation of winning and, you know, look, a loss just is hideously ugly. A win is just expected. But you know what I would say to that? This game does feel like a should win game. And I called it a must win game, I guess, moments ago, or you can't lose this game. But the truth of the matter is, as Ron, Rivera might say, we've already gotten our win for this upcoming season. You know, we need to remind ourselves that this season is already a success because Dan is gone. Dan Snyder is gone. It's going to take some time to set the course for a winning organization. You know, Josh Harris needs this season to sit back and observe. And I don't. I don't.

think that there's any way that this season is a measuring stick for anything moving forward. It's more likely than not. A year from now, it's a whole new operation out there with new people. And I know that's hard to say with the season, you know, right around the corner, you know, in late August, early September, it's always that, why not, you know, why not us time of the year? And look, for this team, why not us? Why not us? isn't crazy crazy. Now, not why not us to win the Super Bowl, but it's not nuts that Washington's team could be a competitive playoff contender

in the wide open NFC this year. So I do, on one hand, acknowledge that the season's already won with Dan gone and that more likely than not a year from now will be the beginning. It'll be the first year. where you really start to measure the Josh Harris ownership situation. But at the same time, you know, on the verge of a new season,

you always, as an NFL fan, think your team has a chance. Unless you're an Arizona Cardinals fan this year. They don't have a chance. Anyway, chalk it up, 1 and 0. The Cardinals are looking to lose games this year. as many as possible. I cringe as I say that. It's the kiss of death,

but 1 and 0 certainly seems like a pretty safe bet. I'm telling you, by the time we get to kick off, that line's going to be approaching double digits. Prediction right here, that it's higher than 7, less than 10, but higher than 7. It's at 7 right now. Would not be surprised to see 8.5.9 by opening day. All right.

Up next, I'll have some thoughts on the final preseason game. And Albert Breer wrote a story in Sports Illustrated today about Sam Howell as the starter in D.C. That more after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought you by the Circa Million and the Circa Survivor pools out in Las Vegas. The Circa Million guarantees $6 million in prizes, a million to the winner. You pick five games in the NFL with the spread each week, top 100 pays at the end of the year, and the person with the best overall record takes home a million dollars.

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No rake, so if entries go above the guarantee, all the extra money will go into the prize pool. Entries close September 9th at 2 p.m. That's the Saturday before the first full Sunday of NFL action. You must register in person at the Circus Sportsbook at a circus sports book, excuse me, Nevada weekly picks can be made through a proxy from anywhere. All right. I just wrote down a bunch of notes after watching the game high speed-wise from Saturday night.

First of all, 3 and 0 in the preseason. First time Washington's gone undefeated in the preseason since the 2013 season. Remember what 2013 was all in for week one. they went three and 13 in 2013. I don't think I needed to remind you of that. So here are the notes that I had down. I'm just going to, I don't even know if these are in order, but I think they are. First of all, I was surprised to see Diami Brown out there.

I mean, he had a concussion or had concussion-like symptoms in the game against Baltimore on Monday night. So I was kind of surprised to see him out there. I thought that Dax Milne, who Ben had told us, was really a guy that was impressive as a receiver. And I'm not going to tell you that one preseason game should change anybody's mind on Dax Milne out there. But he had a drop in the game, had another opportunity to make a catch and couldn't pull it in. And, you know, that was a note that I wrote down. I thought Khali Kudson looked really good. Look, they've liked Kali Kudson since the moment he got here. Last year, we were promised big things from Klee Kudson. And this year we're going to be promised

that Kulikudson will make the roster and will be a big participant on defense as well. We'll see. But he did play well the other night. I thought Jacoby Brissette did not look good the other night. He made a nice touchdown pass to Mitchell Tinsley, a great footwork in the pocket, escape, and then a throw to a wide open receiver. But I thought he looked uncomfortable again. But again, it doesn't phase me at all. I mean, he's playing against twos and threes.

He actually had a couple of starters out there. A couple of their interior offensive linemen were out there as starters, at least for the first drive. And he did have Diami Brown and Cole Turner. Turner out there. It doesn't matter. I mean, Brissette's the backup quarterback, you know, and these are pre-season games. He's got a proven track record as a high-end backup in the league and as a low-end starter. So Jacoby Brissette, I can say that he didn't play well last week, which I didn't think he played well last week, and he didn't look great the other night. But

what does it mean? It's pre-season. Chris Rodriguez. I mean, I like him every time I watch him. And this is one of those positions. Of course, you know, who you're playing against matters. And Cincinnati didn't have any of their starters out there on defense, like Baltimore didn't the week before. And I know 25 yards of his 52 came on that draw at the end of the first half when the defense was just playing back and not giving up a big play. but even with that said, he was six for 27 at four and a half yards per carry. I think he averaged overall seven yards plus per carry in the preseason. He's got excellent vision, excellent power, and really, really good feet in tight spaces. I like Rodriguez a lot as a back.

By the way, another note that I made, Chase Brown, who was one of those running backs I was advocating for, before the draft, the Illinois back, I thought looked impressive for Cincinnati. I don't know if he's going to make the team or not. He was picked in the fifth round, I think Chase Brown was, but I think he's had a pretty good preseason for Cincinnati. The other guy that I liked coming out in the draft that plays for the Bengals, Charlie Jones, the receiver from Purdue, who was at Iowa before that, was a fourth round pick.

I thought he looked good, giving you a couple of things. Cincinnati notes that I wrote down. Mitchell Tinsley, he looked great, you know, and he's apparently been impressive throughout training camp. I don't know what that means to whether or not he makes this roster. We know that Kemp is gone, and it depends on how many receivers Washington keeps. We know that Terry, Jahan, Curtis, and Diami are Givens. And then after that, you know, is it Pringle in Tinsley?

especially with Kaz Allen muffing a punt in the game the other night. Maybe they cut Kaz Allen, bring them back to the practice squad and start with Milne and perhaps Gibson on kickoff returns, Milne on punt returns. But then with Milne on the roster, does Tinsley make it? I mean, Pringles a guy that has played a bunch? I don't know.

Kaz Allen was the other note that I had that it was unfortunate that he had that muff on that punt. I wrote down even before the cuts today, Washington's running backs all have talent. They've all got ability. We've seen it from obviously Robinson Jr. and Gibson, and even to a lesser extent, Williams and Patterson before he got released in regular season games. I think Rodriguez has got a lot of talent. And I think Derek Gore looks good every time he runs the football.

What else do I have here on my notes from the game the other night? I like Ricky Stromberg. I mentioned this last week, and I think I mentioned it after the Cleveland game. I think they may have gotten it right with Stromberg in the third round. I'm not saying it because of the actual results. I'm saying it because he looks. super quick and really agile. And we already know that he's versatile. He's got position versatility. He can play center. He can play guard. So I certainly expect that he will be on the

roster. The question is whether or not he's ready to play or not. Look, the offensive line right now looks like Wiley Leno, Cosme, Sadiq Charles, and Gates. But the offensive line, They've got Lucas, they've got Paul, and they've got Stromberg. And then, by the way, you've also got Tyler Larson, if he makes the team. But maybe Stromberg's your backup center, and he's got the ability to play guard. How many offensive linemen are they going to keep? This is going to be a really interesting cutdown, as we've been talking about. So those were my notes from the game the other night.

I wanted to mention that Albert Breyer wrote a very long story in the MMQB Sports Illustrated thing today. The commander's bet on Sam Hal has been a long time coming. Washington coach Ron Rivera's confidence is unwavering as he gives the second year quarterback the reins this fall. Now, I'll be honest with you. For us, I don't think there's a lot of new in this story. There are some quotes in here from Ron, though.

But before I get to those, It starts with Albert Breer telling the story that obviously Ron told him, which is on the night of January 8th, that was the night after beating the Cowboys in the season finale. Ron Rivera was making the hour-long commute from FedEx Field in the Maryland suburbs back to his Virginia home. Sitting shotgun was his wife, Stephanie, and it didn't take long for Rivera to bend her ear with the 26-6-6-6-win. over the Cowboys to close out and up and down 2022 season. The topic, the topic, quarterbacks, and really not quarterbacks, plural, but one in particular. The coach made the decision to turn to Sam Hal a week earlier, starting him instead of going

with his initial instinct to start Taylor Heineke, then go to Hal. And by the time Rivera climbed into his car, he not only had affirmation that the final call was the right one. Howell's numbers weren't spectacular, but he also was comfortable and in command during the win. But Rivera also knew he had a rookie who had played well enough to invite new questions. And then here are the quotes from Rivera. Quote, you can ask Stephanie, all we effing talked about was the quarterback, what the quarterback did, who he was. I kept saying F as in F-U-C-K. If I would have known this, I would have played him sooner.

When you only have so much time to show it, it's hard. I kept thinking, God, but after that game, everything told me this kid, give him the opportunity and see what he does with it. Closed quote. I mean, there's just a lot of revisionism. here. I'm not saying that as of now, right now, they're not really legitimately optimistic about Sam Hal. I'm not saying that. But this idea that this Dallas game, and then all of the sudden, it was like the light bulb came on and it's like, oh my God, why didn't I start him

sooner? This guy's the guy. I don't know. It sounds a little it sounds a little exaggerated at the very least. Sam Howell wasn't great in that game. He was fine. And I told you, I went back and watched that game a few weeks ago. There are some things in that game that were really, really positive. I love the deep ball. I love the way he throws the football.

No doubt. But it's not like he lit the Cowboys up. They had a pick six and a drop punt fumble in the game that set up half their points. I just This selling of Sam Howe to the level in which he is selling it right now I don't know, man, I'm suspicious. That's all.

I'm just a little suspicious. And yet, my eyes told me watching Sam Hal in the preseason that he does have a lot of skill and a lot of ability. So let's see. Let's see how this thing plays out. looking forward to it just as much as you guys are. But, I mean, the whole idea that this ride home was all about Sam Howl. And, man, you know, if it really was all about Sam Howl, then you should be embarrassed that you didn't figure it out sooner with the season on the line.

There's more in this story. It's a lot of the stuff that we all know. There was one other part here. Hold on for one second. Eric B. Enemy in Kansas City had a second round grade on how it was revealed in this story. If you didn't know that before, I don't think I knew that before. Oh, there's one other quote here. Ron says that if they had a quarterback need and they hadn't gone out

gotten Carson Wentz, then they would have taken Howell in the second round. But they didn't have quarterback on their mind heading into the 2022 draft until Sam Howell was still on the board at the beginning of the fifth round, and it was just so glaring that they just decided to take him. All right. The actual quote here, if I can find it, because this story is long. I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this, if we were in a situation where we were going to draft him because we needed a quarterback, we would have taken him no later than the second round, close quote. So, you know, they would have taken him three rounds too early,

considering that the rest of the league didn't take them before they took him at the beginning of the fifth round either. But anyway, again, none of this has anything to do with anything. We're going to watch and we're going to get to evaluate ourselves, and they're going to get to evaluate in real time with real games. But the selling of Sam Howl in this offseason right through this story with Albert Breer is, I think, a little bit too much of a pre-sell. All right, a few more things before we wrap things up for the day.

We'll get to those right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This last segment of the show is brought to you by our good friends at Shelley's back room. Birthdays can pop up quickly and then the need for a present arrives as well. Whether it's a present for your husband, boyfriend, or father, heck, wife or girlfriend,

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as $250. Go to shelley's backroom.com to learn more about the gift cards. Tommy wrote that one for me, too. He'll be back a week from tomorrow. Some news since we started to record this podcast. Washington's fourth round selection, Braden Daniels, he's headed to injured reserve with a torn rotator cuff that happened in the preseason finale against Cincinnati. That according to Matt Paris from the Washington Times.

way, did you see this? I did not see it as I was fast forwarding through the game. But I guess Jason Wright joined Chick Hernandez and Brian Mitchell on the broadcast Saturday night. And he said, quote, we're back, we're back. It's night and day in the business and the business and what you see on the field. And more importantly, the fans, they are back together and unified, once again, closed quote. Everybody out there is pitching it hard right now. You know, And they should be. They've got a business to build. We all knew the business would rebound or start to rebound day one when Dan was gone.

I mean, we've talked about this before, but Josh Harrison, his business plan pitched his co-investors on revenue increasing day one once Dan left because Dan was gone. And so it's an easier day for Jason Wright in that side of the building. Jason Wright was talking about it with Dan still as the owner. about how much easier it would be when he and Tony were gone. They've increased their corporate sponsorships. We've seen that. I guarantee you they've increased their season ticket base. Their premium tickets, you know, club, sweet sales, I'm sure are up.

Now, look, I don't know where their season ticket base was at the end of last year. I think we did a quick back of the envelope at some point and had it at like 13 or 14,000, 15,000 maybe season ticket holders. It was way down there. They're not going to sell out this season with season ticket sales, but they're going to make some headway there. And I think the opener is going to be sold out. I bet you Buffalo week three will be close to a sellout, especially with all of the Buffalo fans that travel. But it's exciting times for the business side. Now, for Jason Wright to say it's night and day in the bit, we're back, we're back. It's night and day in the business and what you see on the field.

Okay, just we don't, we can be excited about Sam Howe, we can be excited about what they have on the field, be excited about the job that Ron and Marty and Martin and everybody's doing. But let's pump the brakes on we're back. The record at this point, I'm just checking the NFL standings, is still oh and dough for the upcoming 20-23 season. It's zero wins, zero losses. It should be 1-0 two weeks from now. It should be.

I just wanted to mention, because one of the things I was following while I was away was just the Nat series from over the weekend, because as they had a chance to sweep the Marlins after taking two of three against the Yankees, then they took the first two in Miami, and they lost a tough one yesterday, two to one, to the Marlins. Outstanding pitching performance, by the way,

from Trevor Williams. The pitching all weekend long was great. But the Nats, at one point, I think it'd gotten to seven and a half in the wild card race before losing yesterday. They're eight back now. But they've won five straight series. They've won seven of their last eight series.

Amazing. The run they are on. And they get Toronto tonight. Toronto's in, you know, a big-time race of their own. I mean, right now in the wild card race in the American League, Toronto's two and a half out from third where Houston and Texas are deadlocked. Tampa is going to be Tampa or Baltimore, who doesn't, whoever, whomever doesn't win the American League East will be the first wild card team. And then you've got Texas, Houston, Toronto, and Boston. all vying for the other two spots.

In the National League, the Marlins, you know, the Nats damaged them over the weekend, taking two or three. They're three back of that third wild card spot with the Giants and the Reds in between them in the third spot, which is held down right now by Arizona. The Diamondbacks have been rolling recently. And the Nats are eight back. But the other thing that happened while I was... traveling and vacationing a little bit is that the Nats are no longer in last place, the Mets are.

All right, that is it for today. I'll be back tomorrow and we'll have probably all of the final cuts. I'll wait for everything to be done before putting out the show tomorrow. See ya.