The Kevin Sheehan Show - Daron Payne Staying?

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

Kevin opened with Ben Standig's report that Daron Payne is likely to play next year on the final year of his contract rather than the team moving on from him with a big salary cap savings. Kevin recapped both the AFC and NFC Championship games. Fred Smoot jumped on to talk about both games as well as his thoughts on the Commanders' offseason. Kevin finished with thoughts on the next big storm (this coming weekend) and what happened 34 years ago tonight. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Here we go. You can try to beat him with his legs because Alice runs after him. And May got there. Drake May out, races the defender.

Fort down. Stafford looking, rolling in. Seattle takes over. New England versus Seattle. Super Bowl 60. We're all set, and it's exactly what we all thought it would be before the season began. Not really. The show's presenting sponsor is always Window Nation, 86690 Nation, or Windonation.com, if you need new windows. It'll be a rematch of Super Bowl 49, a Super Bowl won by the Patriots, when Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson at the one-yard line with 20 seconds left in the game, a play forever known as the play where Seattle should have just given the ball to

Marshawn Lynch and won the game. On the show today, I will here in this opening segment, recap both championship games. Then Fred Smoot will jump on with me. It's been a few months since we've had Smoot on the show. And then I'll finish up with, is another storm heading our way this coming weekend? maybe. I'll also reminisce for a few minutes about what happened 34 years ago today. I'll start with this. Ben Standing this morning in his substack column reported that Washington is likely to welcome Duran Payne back for his final year on his current contract as the contract currently exists.

This is a surprise to me, and I think many. of you as well, but I totally believe in Ben's reporting. I thought it personally would have made sense to move on from Duran Payne for what would have been a $16 to $17 million cap savings off the 26 cap. Instead of either letting them play at the current cap number, which is $28 million in 2026, or somehow restructuring or extending the deal, adding more money and more years to the deal, but lowering the cap number in 2026. By the way, his cap number just over 28 million is, as of now, the largest cap number of any player on the roster next year, if he does, as Ben is reporting, come back and play on the current contract. Ben citing sources close to the

situation reported this, quote, discussions between the two sides have focused on playing out the final year of his contract without a financial restructure, pay cut, or extension, a source close to the situation tells last man standing. That's the name of Ben's substack column. It's also the name of his podcast. So why would they do this? When the truth is, his 25 season, his 2025 season wasn't really that good. or at least not a very consistent season.

Steve Suter's film breakdown each week singled out pain repeatedly as a guy that just was subpar from a consistency and effort standpoint. It was nearly a weekly thing with Suter who was not a big No. 94 fan this year. I've always been a big Duran Payne fan, especially when it comes to his, talent and his ability, but even I've recognized over the years that it's never truly been realized in a consistent manner, with the exception of 2022 when he was playing on a contract year. But here's why you would do it. All right, here's why you would bring back Duran Payne to play on his current deal. Number one is this. You don't have anybody else on your roster as talented as Duran is on defense up front. I think Kinlaw is a better player.

Duran's talent is unmistakable and you just have so many needs and you don't have obvious answers without Duran at this point. Number two, you would do this because you can kind of justify if you're the team his inconsistent performance this year, chalking it up to, you know, all of the injuries at defensive end. You know, Dorrance Armstrong, Dietrich Wies, etc. That A, gave him and Kinlaw, nobody else on the line to take pressure off both of them. And then B, both of them had to move around and play out of position a ton, especially in the back half of the season because there just weren't enough capable, healthy bodies.

Number three, they would do this because they do. have the cap space to absorb his big 2026 number. Number four, why would they do this? Well, maybe in a contract year, he'll be incentivized to have a great season. The last time he had a consistently great season was the season that was the last of his contract. He was on a contract year. He's 29 years old. You know, he is still a player that should be in his prime years. And this will be one of the last opportunities for him to get big money in a next contract on the open market in 2027. And then lastly, number five in terms of, you know, reasons why they would do this, if he leaves next off season after having a decent season this year and signs elsewhere,

they'll get a compensation pick for him. So those would be the reasons for keeping him and then letting him play out the final year of his contract. They have so many, so many needs, and Duran is a talented player. They can justify this performance this year because of all of the players missing around him. They can handle the big hit cap-wise

in 2026 because they have so much space. They probably think he'll be incentivized to go out and ball out in 2026. And then if they do lose him and he does walk after the 2026 season and he signs elsewhere, they'll get a comp pick for him. So there you go. Still no defensive coordinator. But there was a lot of news over the weekend. A lot of hires and moving around around the league.

I mean, look, this is an active offseason, 10 head coaching openings and then plenty coordinator openings as well. But from over the weekend, if you missed it with the storm and with the actual games, a couple of things. Number one, Mike McCarthy to Pittsburgh. Mike McCarthy is going to coach the Steelers. Not exactly the direction they've gone in the past with Noel Cower and Tomlin. A 62-year-old Mike McCarthy from Western PA will coach the Steelers.

You would think there's a chance. Aaron Rogers will come back to play for his former coach. A couple of hirings this weekend. Jonathan Gannon goes to the Packers, so he's off Washington's board as the Packers' defensive coordinator. Dernard Wilson, you know, ex-Turp and the Titans defensive coordinator. He goes to New York to be the defensive coordinator for John Harbaugh's Giants. Washington interviewed Vikings DB's coach and defensive passing game coordinator Durante Jones this weekend. So that means, as of now, in terms of who they've interviewed

that is still available, Patrick Graham, Vegas, Carl Scott, Seattle, Joe Cullen, Kansas City, Al Harris, Chicago, Terrell Austin, Pittsburgh, Durante Jones, now Vikings. Because Flores, Gannon, and Dinnard Wilson, all three of whom were interviewed, have all now committed elsewhere. Flores back to Minnesota, Gannon to Green Bay, Dernard Wilson, to the Giants. The big name that's out there still is Rahim Morris. He's not going to Green Bay as a defensive coordinator because Gannon's going there, even though he's got ties to Lefleur.

He at this point doesn't have a head coaching job. He apparently is in the running for the Arizona job. And then the Rams defensive coordinator position may not be a vacancy because Chris Shula's defense over the last month and a half of the season wasn't very good, including in the game yesterday against Seattle. So Chris Shula was thought to be a hot commodity and perhaps would be a hire of somebody in this coaching cycle.

And then it would have been fairly obvious to project Rahim Morris back to L.A. to be the defensive coordinator for Sean McVeigh, where he won a Super Bowl in 2021 as the Rams defensive coordinator. So again, right now, it's Graham, Scott, Cullen, Harris, Austin, Jones, and then the wild card out there is Rahim Morris. Jeff Ulbrook never interviewed because immediately Kevin Stefansky kept him in Atlanta.

I did just a quick sort of exercise. I think I'm right about this. But including Washington, there are 12. available defensive coordinator jobs, 12 current vacancies. That includes the four open head coaching vacancies in Cleveland, Vegas, Arizona, and Buffalo, at least as of the recording of this podcast. Those jobs have not yet been filled. And then in addition to Cleveland, Arizona, Vegas, and Buffalo, you know, assuming they will have needs for a defensive coordinator, you also have openings in L.A. with the Chargers, Miami, Jets, Steelers, 49ers, Titans, and Washington.

Because Dallas filled theirs end of last week, and then the Packers and the Giants filled their needs. So Washington, in a lot of competition for defensive coordinators, and their talent is the worst out of all of these openings. All right, the two championship games from yesterday. Let's start with the first one. I'll begin by saying this. I actually like a game like this. A defensive battle, a game that's field position, you know, oriented, a game in which it feels like, you know, one mistake. One more mistake by either team is going to doom the team that makes that mistake.

and then to introduce the weather situation that came in the second half was really cinematic as it was last Saturday night or Sunday night, excuse me, in Chicago with the Rams. Man, we have had some snow games. We've had some weather games in this postseason. But I enjoyed, very much enjoyed that game. I enjoyed it a lot in part because I had Denver plus the points. and they did get there. That was a winner. The Rams plus the points was a loser.

So one and one on the smell test this weekend. But a couple of things from this game. Number one, other than the big throw that Stidham had early in the game, he was terrible. He legitimately was bad in this football game. He made terrible decisions. The fumble was an absolute killer, an absolute killer of a play cannot have that play in a game that was so tightly contested and low scoring.

That set up New England's only touchdown of the day on a super short field. It actually should have been a touchdown, but they blew the whistle and the play dead, thinking that it was an incomplete pass and what would have been intentional grounding. Stidham was really, really bad, and that mistake killed them. sticking with Denver for a moment. Their defense is awesome, and it's been awesome for much of the season. Their corners were outstanding. They were healthy yesterday.

I mean, how good is Pat Sertan? He is spectacular, and I really thought that Riley Moss played very well. Hufanga should have had a pick six on Drake May's first, on the Patriots first drive, and I think it was Drake May's first pass. the first third down of the game. That was a pick six right in his hands, and he dropped it. That would have been one of those mistakes that would have cost New England dearly. I absolutely thought in the moment, and it was clear as, you know, as Crystal after the game,

that Sean Payton should have taken the three points in the second quarter when they had driven it down to the, New England 14-yard line, and they were faced with a fourth and one. They were up 7-0. They had eaten some clock off of that drive, and there were nine minutes left in the first half. And these coaches are just way too reckless, in my opinion. I don't care what the analytics say about that fourth and one. Look, almost any fourth and one, essentially from the 35, your own 35 on, I know what the analytics are going to say, fourth and one or fourth and two. It's going to be go for it, go for it, based on historicals. Yesterday's game, you had a backup quarterback in the game. You were playing

an exceptional defensive football team. You knew this was going to be a low-scoring game because you knew that New England was going to have a difficult time scoring against your defense in your building. And then, if you're Sean Payton, you got to know that there's a chance that some weather's coming in the second half. Those teams understand that. Now, I will say in his defense, I was kind of paying attention to the Denver forecast for the game. And there was a chance, you know, going back to like Saturday morning of a snow shower or two with some cold temperatures. And then yesterday morning, there was a chance of light snow, one to two inches, but not

starting until 5 o'clock local time. Well, the Denver game started at 1. It was over at 415. So now the forecast gets updated and somebody should be paying attention to the radar. Somebody should. Hey, this thing's coming in sooner, coach. Just so you know, it's going to turn pretty interesting. weather-wise in the second half.

I just think a two-score lead on a very short field goal in that particular instance would have been gold for Denver. They would have had Jarrett Stidham, who had thrown a deep pass on the opening drive of their second drive, excuse me, of the game. That 52-yarder to Mims, and then the bootleg touchdown, he was feeling it a little bit at that point. And he hadn't yet made any big mistakes. And you're going to take a 10-0-0-0 lead.

And it's a field position game in 10-0 in a game like that with weather coming has to be thought of as an even bigger advantage. I thought it was a big mistake. I think there is aggression and then I think there is reckless. I think this is somewhere between aggression and recklessness because nobody can really say fourth and one. is reckless, but I think context so mattered there and 10 to nothing would have made sense. It was the next offensive drive after another stop and another New England punt. I mean, New England

went three and out punt, punt, three and out punt, punt, and then got that turnover. They had been dominated. Their offense had been. And the one mistake got him back into the game at 7 to 7. I actually did not think that at the end of the first half, Sean Payton, before that missed Lutz field goal, did a good job managing the clock. Stidham went out of bounds to stop the clock with 24 seconds to go. He needed to stay in bounds. I don't think New England would have called timeout, although Vrabel's super smart, and he may have, but you would have forced them to call a timeout and use a timeout before that field goal.

They could have gotten a field goal team out there and kicked that field goal with. a lot less time, which would have given New England no time to get in range for their own field goal. Now, their kicker missed a 63-yarder, and we went to half at 7-7. Now, from a Patriot standpoint, this was a brilliant game by their head coach, Mike Rabel. And it was the opposite of what Houston did against New England last week. Houston should have been content with punting the football. against New England last week in Foxborough. If they had been okay with punting a lot, they probably would have won the football game,

even without Nico Collins, even without their tight end, who exited the game early. But they didn't. They kept dropping CJ Stroud back over and over and over again, and he kept turning the ball over and over again, turning it over and over again. And Vrable wasn't taking any chance.

chances. He knew it was a backup quarterback on the other side. He knew how good Denver's defense was. He also knew that his offense is struggling. His offense is struggling. His quarterback has been struggling against better defenses for the first time this year in the postseason. He got sacked another five times. That's 15 in the postseason. He also had turned the ball over a bunch in the first two playoff games, but they had survived a Chargers team that was ravaged along their offensive line injury-wise, a Houston team that didn't have their best receiver and had a quarterback that was being asked to do something he shouldn't have been doing. And then he knows how well his defense is playing. New England's defense has been lights out and he knew

it was going to be a problem for Denver to score. He never put it on the offense. Never. Everything was conservative. And if there was a play to be made, that's fine. And they did run a trick play, a flea flicker, and it was the biggest play of the day offensively in terms of pass yardage. I mean, Drake May had 86 yards passing in a game, and they won. And 31 yards was that flea flicker to Mack Hollins. And taking that kind of shot was okay. But without that, he would have had 55 yards passing and would have had more rushing yards than he had passing yards. Vrable took the ball and the game out of the offense's hands, and he put it on his defense and even special teams to a certain degree. They blocked a kick, and he knew that that

would likely be enough as long as they didn't make the mistakes, and the other team did. Now, that opening drive of the third quarter, which was primarily Stevenson on the ground, a nine-minute drive that ended with a field goal was really the only offense. drive of the day for them. But I thought Vrable played it smart the entire day. He did the opposite of what D'Amico Ryans did a week ago. Now, complimenting New England defensively outstanding, just really, really solid. Denver could not run the football, and they needed to run the football with this backup

quarterback to give him an opportunity. And then offensively, as bad as he was throwing the football, and he was off, Drake May was yesterday. He was outstanding as a runner. He was excellent off schedule as a runner. Rushed for 65 yards. Had big ones, including that final third and five run that iced the game, literally. put the game on ice.

But it was a struggle through this postseason to get to the Super Bowl. They're there, the Patriots are. But they beat a Chargers team that was banged up, a Houston team that didn't have their best receiver and a backup quarterback. They essentially got to the Super Bowl with no offense for three straight playoff games. Their 18 points per game is the lowest since 19. 1979 for a Super Bowl participant.

But man, is their defense outstanding. And let me just be clear on one thing. I do like Drake May. I do, and I think he's going to be really good. But he's also in his second year, and they just played in a row three of the best defensive teams in the league. And you could see it was much different playing that caliber versus the schedule they had during the regular season.

But the Patriots are there. I don't think they win that game yesterday if Bo Nix is playing. Jarrett Stidham was terrible. And I think Denver would have been in the Super Bowl, but they're not, and New England moves on. Now, the second game, obviously a completely different game than the first game. I mean, this one, an offensive shootout, 31, 27 Seattle. it was 31 to 27 through three quarters.

That third quarter was insane. You had the muffed punt and then the touchdown by Seattle that created a two-scorer lead at 24 to 13. And then Stafford says, enough of that. And he heats up in a hurry. Four plays 75 yards touchdown. Then Seattle answers nine plays 65 yards touchdown. And then here come the Rams again. Five plays 87 yards touchdown.

And it's 31, 27. at the end of the third quarter. Now, that last touchdown drive by the Rams was aided by that 15-yard taunting penalty on Rieck Wollin. That was a justifiable call, in my opinion. He crossed the line literally into that white area by the Rams sideline. Just a stupid play on a day in which officiating was pretty good. I mean, there were only three penalties called in the first game,

and only 10 total in the second. second game, I think four on the Rams, six on Seattle. They let things go, man. They let a defensive hold and a defensive pass interference slide on Seattle in the first half. And the next play, after they didn't call it, Stafford had his helmet ripped face mask and all, and they didn't call that. That, though, I thought on Wolland, I think was justified. I think it was the right call. That aided the Rams and their touchdown drive there at the end of the third quarter. I mean, it was right after Wulin after that play with Pukunakua, great catch touchdown. And then in the fourth quarter, you just didn't have many drives. I mean, Seattle punted on that one drive in which

Darnold got sacked for a big loss. And then here come the Rams for the lead. You know, they're driving down the field, five minutes to go fourth and four at the Seattle. I think it was debatable as to whether or not they should have kicked the field goal. I do. Now, I had the Rams plus the three, plus two and a half in the smell test. But I actually thought on a condensed field, fourth and four, they could have gotten a first down, but they're throwing that ball into the end zone. Condensed field against that defense on the road, and all you need if you kick that field goal

is one more stop, and they had held Seattle on their previous. drive. They had sacked Sam Darnold for a big loss. And all you need is one more stop, and then you're going to get in field goal range, because you have not been stopped in the second half. And it's going to be a field goal that you need to win the game 33, 31. But in this time that we're living in, field goals apparently aren't worth it. I would have kicked the field goal there. I think a condensed field against that defense was going to be a problem.

It was. They didn't get it. And Seattle basically didn't give up the ball until there were 25 seconds left. And then at that point, the Rams had no shot. 31 to 27. I thought a couple of things about this game. Matt Stafford, sensational. Do you know that Matt Stafford in his two games against Seattle, or the last two this year, the one in December on Thursday night and last night?

How about 831 yards passing six touchdowns? no interceptions, and he got sacked one time. Matt Stafford was insanely good in this game. And I know that the MVP has nothing to do with postseason. But when you watch the postseason, is there any doubt that Matt Stafford should be the MVP? I mean, again, it's not a postseason award. It's a regular season award. But Matt Stafford's so much better than Drake May.

And I think Drake May is going to get there. I do. I think he's got tremendous talent. and I think New England's got themselves something, no doubt, with Drake May. But Stafford, wow, did he have a season and did he have a game last night? The Rams, once again, were the only team this year to really make Seattle's defense look ordinary. Look at what Seattle's defense did to San Francisco in those final two games. Now, Seattle's defense was good on third down, and that was a huge key in the game.

The Rams' lack of success on third down. But 479 yards. They had 580 yards in the overtime loss. They had over 1,000 yards of offense against Seattle's defense in two games. The 49ers could barely make forward progress with their offense against Seattle's defense. Yeah. Really, really impressive. Matt Stafford and Puka Nakuwa.

And I'll tell you, Devante Adams had himself a game. And I thought Blake Quorum actually looked really good for the Rams this year yesterday in particular. On the other side, I mean, I've not, I actually always felt Sam Darnold could play. And then it looked like, as it has, with other quarterbacks, you just kind of bail. He got with Kyle in San Francisco, got with Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota. but I think his biggest problem has always been he just doesn't see it quickly enough. That's why he's taking so many sacks.

That's why he's, you know, really hurt his team with a lot of bad plays. But there's no denying he had a great game yesterday. Now, he did drop a shotgun snap. He did take three sacks in the game. But I mean, come on, 346 yards, three touchdowns, no picks. Incredible performance. Sam Darnold's going to the Super Bowl, New York Jets. Carolina Panthers.

Kenneth Walker, the third, was exceptional early in the game, and Jackson Smith, Nijgibah, 10 catches, 153 yards. Insane. Yeah, Sam Darnold is going to the Super Bowl. Good for him, man. Good for him. It's a hell of a story, and he was really good. He was very good on third down.

He was very good against pressure yesterday. I do think part of the story of, yesterday's game and the Rams not making the Super Bowl is twofold. The Rams defense basically folded like a cheap suit over the last two months of the season, and their special teams were horrendous all year. They fired their special teams coach late in the season, hired Ben Kotweka, and they had the muff fumble that they did recover, and then Smith lost that key one early in the third quarter.

Their special teams were bad all season long. Seattle, New England, Seattle, right now at My Booky. Let me just look it up real quickly. They are a four and a half point favorite currently at My Booky. Use my promo code, DC Reload for a 50% cash bonus. Hell of a championship Sunday. Last real Sunday of football. Now we're into the part of the year.

where we're waiting for football, pretty much, because the Super Bowl for me is always anti-climactic. It is. All right, Fred Smoot next, after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I want to tell you about Chime. Chime is changing the way people bank. It's fee-free and smarter banking built for people like us, not for the 1%.

Chime isn't just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like MyPay, giving you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. There are so many benefits banking with Chime. Chime will help you build credit history stress-free. You can earn up to 3.5% APY on savings. That's eight times higher than a traditional bank.

The Chime card? It's the cashback card that helps you build credit with your own money. Two things you don't typically see come together until now. And no annual fees, no interest, and no strings attached. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. It takes just a few minutes to sign up.

Head to chime.com slash sheen. That is chime.com slash shan. Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking Services, a secured chime visa credit card, and my pay line of credit provided by the Bankor Bank N.A or Stride Bank N.A. My pay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Option. Option.com may have fees or charges. See chime.com slash fees info. Advertised annual percentage yield with chime plus status only. Otherwise, 1.00% APY applies.

No min balance required. Chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit. Results may vary. See chime.com for details and applicable terms. So can we talk about New Year's resolutions? January used to be about totally reinventing yourself. Now it's more like doing an honest audit of what's actually working and doubling down on that. For me, that means taking my skin health seriously, which for me is meant using one skin. And with one skin, I know I'm supporting my long-term skin health at the cellular level. At the core is One Skin's patented OS1 peptide, the first ingredient proven to target the root cause of wrinkles. Customers consistently rave about how their skin is smoother,

firmer and healthier looking with results that get better over time improving both the appearance and the overall health of their skin. No wonder OneSkin's products have over 10,000 five-star reviews. Born from over 10 years of longevity research, One Skin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the cells that cause the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. and for a limited time, OneSkin is making it even easier to stay consistent with up to 30% off your first three subscription orders when you use code Shian at Onskin.com.

That's up to 30% off with code Shian. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support this show and tell them that I sent you. This segment of the show brought you by Windonation for just a few more days. this month, Wind Donation is offering four free windows with every four purchased with no money paid for two years, no down payment, no monthly payments, and no interest charged for two full years. So you'll get the new windows into your home, you'll benefit from lower utility bills, and you don't have to pay for them until the year 2020. and 28. Reach out to Windonation today at 86690 Nation or go towindonation.com.

Mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free in-home estimate. It takes an hour or less. You'll actually find out which windows in your home need to be replaced. And then you can make the call. If you decide to move forward with them again, for free with every four purchased, no money down, no monthly payments and no interest for two full years. Take advantage of that deal by the end of the month, 86690 Nation, WindowNation.com. Joining me right now, Fred Smoot, it's been a while. I think it was like mid-season, maybe later in November,

right before everything started to fall apart. First of all, are you in town or out of town? I'm in town, brother. I'm in town. I'm in town. I'm in snowy getting. I'm enduring what y'all enduring, and I'm fine with it, man. Like I said, I've been trained by the Midwest.

city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, how to endure, how to endure a winner across the wall. Yeah, you were in Minnesota for two years, but you were always looking for a warm boat to get on. Hey, that's the one thing about it. People forget that it's a home of 10,000 lakes, I mean, 10,000 lakes now. It is, 10,000 lakes, and they're all beautiful lakes. You know, I was watching something, so I guess about three weeks ago, it was the first. 40th anniversary of Purple Rain the movie going to number one as I think the first rock or music movie to go to number one. And there was this like hour long thing I found on YouTube because I'm a big Prince guy.

And that's my era, man. I'm in college. I saw Prince three different times during that Purple Rain tour. And they were talking about the making of the movie. and when Apollonia jumps in Lake Minnetonka, but it's not Lake Minnetonka, they filmed that the day after it had gone from 70 degrees to 20 degrees. She jumped in to a near frozen lake,

jumped back out. They were afraid she had hypothermia. They asked her to do it again, and she said, no, I'm not doing it again. And so they had her jumping in in Minneapolis. and then coming out in Los Angeles like three months later when they filmed that. Hey, nothing wrong with that, man.

I have to tell you my story out there. All right. But when you lived in Minneapolis for those few years, were you outdoorsy? Because it's one of those places where you kind of have to be outdoorsy. There's so much to do. Yeah, most definitely.

I got into ice fishing because if you live in Minneapolis, You live near a lake. It's always going to be a lake near you. And it's just, I was caught off guard by how quick that they freeze over. Then I just started to see people ride a pickup truck across the ice. And I'm like, what is going on? And they was like, no, it's solid enough to do that. Come on.

And they invited me to ice fish. So they build a little house. You put the heater. You cut the hole in the ice. And the fish are so hungry. They basically just jumping out of the ice into the fishing house. And it's fine, man. I really got it to ice fishing.

I took to that. That's something that I would have never thought that I would have got into. And you've got to realize that's where the Mississippi River starts that. It starts in Minnesota. Right. Now, were you catching, like, northern pike? Like, what would, do you remember the fish? It'd be a lot of crappy, a lot of crappy.

Some pike, it depends on which lake you're at. So it's really a lot of cold water species of fish. Right. But you're seeing, when you're on the ice, you're sitting in a hut that's warmed by, like, you got a little fire going? Is that what it is? You've got a heater in there. Okay.

So you have the heater inside of there because the ISO thick is not going to milk. All right, so you have the little heater inside of the woodhouse. What's time of the woodhouse, now you know, with technology, you got your rubble, you've got your all kind of fancy ones. But usually they use a little woodhouse that they just assemble and put together. And it's just really to block the wind. Oh, man. You would have actually made out okay in Winterfell if you had to live there rather than Kings'

I think you would have chosen King's Landing, though, for the weather. I would have chosen North of the Wall. That's where I belong. No, you wouldn't make it there. You wouldn't make it there. I'm way around it. I am the 10-time Daniel Boone Award winner because Mississippi taught me how to hunt and fish and I went and I braved the north, so I can do it all.

All right. Let's talk some football. What did you, let's take each of the two games. I'm just curious because we'll talk about our team here in a moment. But the Denver, you know, what's the worst weather game you've ever played in? And that's the funny thing about it. Me and Santana just talked about that on the podcast. I, in my rookie year, played a game in Denver where it was 70 degrees in the first quarter. It rained in the second quarter.

it snowed in the third quarter. That's what it did. It happened so quick. I remember because I had to change and upgrade and put on sweat and stuff that I didn't think I was going to have to wear that day. And the weather was crazy. And for me to see that game, I started to reminisce about their game. That game is one of my favorite games from that season. And I'm going to tell you why.

You guys started off 0-and-5. You and I've talked about how the Carolina, game with LeVar's pick six turned around the whole season. You go to Denver, you're a big underdog, and the weather turns, and Tony Banks, who was the starting quarterback, he was too cold to play, so they put in Kent Graham, and Kent Graham had a great half of football, and you guys won that game at Denver outright, 17 to 10, And it was Kent Graham who came in off the bench to lead it. Now, you guys were excellent defensively that day.

And then the next week was the week. I'm pretty sure it was the next week you went to Philadelphia with Kajana Carter and won. And then, and you were 5 and 5. You went from 0.5 to 5 and 5, and we're right in the thick of the playoff race. I've told you this many times. The Marty season of 2001 is one of my favorite seasons because as a, fan, I knew it was heading in the right direction.

And I knew it was, we were going to win, we were going to win divisions, we were going to be in the postseason, and that turnaround from 0-and-5 to 5-and-5 was amazing. Amazing. I, I'm going to actually dig deep. I'm going to actually dig deep on this.

Now that I am a part of the media, of course, when I first got here as a rookie, I'm not listening to local sports radio. I just the father's staying in from my mind. Tell me what, take me back to the morning season. What was y'all thinking and saying about a young friend's mood that did that? Oh, I remember liking you a lot.

I mean, first of all, this season really turned because of the defense. It was a really good defensive team. LeVar was playing. Remember, I mean, LeVar had more sacks with Marvin Lewis and Spurier, but he was playing all over the place, and I think he was turning into an absolute monster in 2001. I don't know about what you thought. But that team, you know, which still had Daryl Green on it, had, you know, had champ on it, had you coming in.

The play, I remember thinking very highly of you. I absolutely remember that. What I remember about that season, though, is that offensively we were so limited at quarterback. and we had, you know, like Flemister and Ratsby, and Marty's just, he's barely figuring it out. Now, we had Stephen Davis, and he was big time. He told it us. He told it us through the city. Like, let me tell you some, one of the most underrated athlete in running backs of all time is Stephen

Davis. People don't know that I think he ran like a 10-3 in a hundred meters. Stephen David was one of the biggest fastest backs, and his hands. was softer than people knew. I'm talking to ski with something. He was a load. Oh, a total load. And then he, well, he went to Carolina and got to the Super Bowl.

He led them, really, that team that got to the Super Bowl was really the year that he was a pro bowler and rushed for like 1,500 yards and a bunch of touchdowns, right? I mean, he had some big years in Washington, but that year that he went to Carolina, that was the year that they lost on a field goal in the Super Bowl. That was the Janet Jackson. Super Bowl. Yes, the infamous. Yeah.

No, I remember thinking very highly of you. I think, you know, I know we've talked about this. I'm sure we've talked about this. That's 2001. That's 9-11 after week one. Yes, it is. And so we have just an unbelievable environment in this country. They skipped a week of NFL football because of 9-11.

You guys came back and were the first Monday night game. at Lambo and got absolutely blown out. And then all of the sudden, it was a Dallas game on Monday night football, and you basically had the game locked up. And correct me if I'm wrong, because I think it was Stephen Davis. I think Stephen Davis fumbled late in the game. When you guys were up seven to six, Dallas took over. They ended up kicking a field goal and winning nine to seven.

I'm pretty sure was the final score. I'm pulling it up right now. And then the next week, I think it was the next week was the Carolina win. And then that, and you're down 14-0-0 against Carolina. And LeVar- And the pick six, yeah, 9-7 against Cowboys dropped you to 0-5, and then down 14-0 in the fourth quarter. LeVar picks off a pass, returns it, and then Rod Gardner from Tony Banks, 85-yard touchdown pass.

Yes. 50-50. Rod had a thousand yards. Rod had a thousand yards as a rookie. Yeah. I mean, did you guys refer to him as 50-50 to also? No, no. We referred to him as family.

His name was famed, that was what we called him. And his first year to be a rookie, he really, he jumped on the scene and realized this. If anybody suffered from us not having a quarterback, it was our receivers. Yeah. No, I hear you. No doubt. Not to mention it was a very conservative offense because of the quarterback. Yeah.

Because Tony Banks was very limited in what he could do. But, you know, the 50-50 nickname was because he'd catch 50% of the passes and drop 50% of the passes. Oh, no, no. I understand what I totally understand. But if you look at that Ricky Klan, we were a pretty good rookie class. We got the first two picks were started, so you got two starters out of it. Yeah.

Who else was in that draft in 2001? We had Antonio Pierce who went undrained. We had Efeo and Latte. We had the Narian McCants. We had, who else was parted at that, Claude, Sage, Rosenfeld. Right. We had, yeah, trying to see,

we had a defensive line, if I'm not mistaken. take from Missouri. I'm trying to think right now. Brian Schottenheimer was on the staff, right? Staff. He was on the staff with Kurt Schoenheimer, who was with my defensive coordinator. Yes, exactly. I remember his brother was your defensive coordinator, but why am I blanking on the offensive coordinator? I'm looking at it right now.

Jimmy Ray. Jimmy Ray was the offensive coordinator. Jimmy Ray, the great Jimmy Ray. Yeah. Do you know who was basically the, you know, Marty was the first coach of Dan's that demanded control. You know, he was not going to let Dan, you know, have Vinny around and participate in picking players. And after a year, that's why, you know, Dan got sick of it, wanted to have more fun. And so he moved on from Marty. But do you know who was the, I don't know that he had the GM title, but I think he was head of player personnel.

Do you know who that was in 2001? Are you talking about Vinicorado? No, Vinnie, Marty would not have Vinny anywhere near the building. Marty got rid of Vinny. And told Dan, I'm not coming if I'm bringing my own people. And Dan gave Marty, that was the one coach, the only coach, unless you want to say Rivera, that Dan gave full control to. But the head of personnel was John Schneider, who's been the longtime GM in Seattle.

at Seattle, yeah. And has done a phenomenal job. Oh, if you want to talk about names that have been through our building, you would think we would have had for a Super Bowl. Yeah, because Marty brought Schneider into Washington. He's the one that brought him in, and he was at that point. He was a young guy. Like, I want to say, I'm looking up his age right now,

because that's 25 years ago. He had to be, he's 54 now, so 25 years of, ago. I mean, he was 29 years old. And Marty clearly saw something in him. He had been the director of pro personnel in Kansas City when Marty was there. So that's where they got to know each other. And if he stays with Marty, if Dan says, I'm good with this, Schneider, he was VP of player personnel. So in essence, the general manager. Yeah. The GM of the team. And I feel good since I was his first picks here. How do you have been about that?

Yeah, you were. You were the first pick. But I know we've done this before and we'll move on, but that year, that's funny that that that's the worst weather game that you played in because I do remember it turning to cold rain and then sleep. And Tony Banks was over there with a parka on the bench on one of those heated seats. He couldn't deal with it. And Kent Graham, who never really had a, I mean, did he have?

ever have a real season in which he was a starter in the league? Maybe with the Giants? No, no, no. He had the most coveted job in the NFL. That's backup quarterback. It's the most coveted job. Until you have to be sent them and go in in the AFC championship game and try to reinforce a city, that's pretty hard to ask. I got a question for you about that season, and it'll be the last one. Once you beat Denver and Philly to go from O and 5 to 5 and 5. You came back home, you were now very much in the thick of the playoff race. And you played a game at home against the Cowboys who were terrible that year.

Do you remember who quarterbacked the Cowboys that day to what turned? Very good. Very good. Yeah. Yeah. Quincy Carter, Georgia. And you guys lost that game. And you were big favorites to get to six and five.

And that was a disappointing loss because, because the skins were one of the hottest teams in the league at that point. All right. So the weather you played in in Denver that day didn't match yesterday. It almost did. They just didn't have the 70 degree at kickoff. You got to realize that's 30-some degrees. They got to drop just to snow.

Right, right, right. That was insane. You know, I was listening to something this morning, and I'm curious how a former player thinks. You play all season long, you know, and then you get to the biggest games of the season in the post season. And a game like yesterday's game can be completely influenced by weather. Look, to me, it's a part of the NFL. I love it. I've always loved it.

And one of these days, not too far out, more places are going to have domes. and these games are going to be fewer, and they're going to be harder to find. They're going to be harder to find. But as a player or as a former player, do you think it takes away from the game not being able to see the two teams at their best in the biggest games?

It hurts. It's almost like, would you want to see it regulated, or do you want to see Mother Nature intrude on the game? Right. And it's one of these things where something can be poetic and still not be right, right? Like, it's something about playing in snow. It's very poetic.

It looks good on the strings, the aesthetic. But you are correct. Now the game is in flawed, it's flawed in its influence by something from the outside other than skill set. Other than, like, it affects, all right, think about this.

Once the weather turns, now the offensive coordinator don't even call him, his plays like he was going to call him regularly. Like, it's a cause and effect that Merck's, up the game. And when you mark up the game now, on a defensive side of the ball, being a cornerback, we use snow defensively. We use it as offensively because it's harder for the

receiver to stop than it is for us. We actually get better in the snow, and now the route tree shrinks. If you notice, time they seem to snow hit the ground, the comers walk up in press. Needs our time to shine out. I actually thought it was the opposite because the receivers know where they're going and putting becomes a problem. It becomes advantage offense. I've always felt like in snow, not wind, but snow favors the offense. You're saying different. No, it favors us because now they are less likely to call routes with more than one or two variations.

I feel like they won't call like a 15 year or dig route if it's snowing outside. Right. They're going to be prone to call stop routes. They're going to be prone to call jump balls. They're going to be prone to hand the ball off on reverses. Like they're going to try to be safe as possible. Now when you in turn start to be safe, me as a cornerback, I play on top of the receiver. You have to stop. I'm just going to play through you. You know what you can't do in snow? you can't stop.

So if they cannot stop, you play into me. And now also your trigger man, the quarterback, his way of throwing the ball, he's going to throw the ball south of snow. For some reason, and I know why they do it because the ball becomes slippery, but they take a lot of heat off their balls when we play them in snow, and they throw them south. So before we get to the specifics of that game and then the game last night, what do you make of this season from this standpoint?

I think we're going to look back on this season, and maybe it started last year with Philadelphia and their run to the Super Bowl led by their defense. I know Sequin Barclay was awesome, but their defense, it was awesome. And this year, the best teams this year have been the best defensive teams. You know, Seattle, Houston, Denver. You know, Philly was really good defensively at the end of the year. They just had no offense. I mean, the only team that was great defensively that wasn't a good team this year was Cleveland.

That's basically it may be Minnesota. Minnesota was a great defense, but they didn't make the postseason. Are we seeing a change in football where we've been dominated by offense for two, three decades, and now the defense is coming back? Well, I can't say two, three decades, because people in terms of, of my day and age when I was playing, like the greatest show on turf was revolutionizing offense until let's put up in points.

You had Green Bay and the gunsling up there. They threw the ball around, but everybody ran the ball. It was a physical brand of ball, so therefore it made it more defensive. Now what we're seeing now, and I'm glad you brought that up because your guy, Grandpa,

and me and Grant talks, and he loved to bring up offensive court. He thinks you cannot have a defensive coach no more. And I'm like, why? When one of the best coaches of all time is because of coaching, right now we've got a Super Bowl with two defensive head coaches. What you see when you get a defensive team is you're going to be a real-rounded team. And that's what wins now.

You can't have one-sided team. I see Kansas City, even though Patrick Mahomes was doing so much on the offense, they always had Chris Jones in a defense. Like most teams in the last 10 years have been a complete team. Seattle is a complete team. And how about that? That draft of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, now Baker Mayfield, will be known as the Sam Donald Draft. You know why?

Because out of all those quarterbacks, he's the only one that been to a Super Bowl, and let me tell you the kind of action, why. He gets paid around them $100 million. That allows Seattle to build a roster around them. And that allows them to have a – think about Seattle as a team. They have no weaknesses. They have no room in their building is a weak room. And neither does New England. So that goes to the case is we get there at different times.

And Sam Donald had the harder route to get to the Super Bowl than the other guy, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield, where Baker, similar to Sam Donald. But just having that full roster changes everything. Yeah, I mean, look, back to the defense versus. offense. The matchup here in the Super Bowl are two teams led by defensive, you know, head coaches in Vrable and McDonald. Yeah, I mean, I think the bottom line is you need a great coach regardless of whether he's defensive-oriented or offensive-oriented. The only reason

I would prefer offensive-oriented is if I'm led by my offense with a quarterback, at least then I'm not looking for a coordinator every couple of years. All right, real quickly on that game. Sean Payton's decision to go for the fourth and one in the first half instead of taking a field goal to go up 10-0. What did you think of that decision? In real time, I thought it was the right decision. In hindsight, because the weather turned, it was the wrong decision. This football, this Monday quarterbacking, like, could you go back and wish you would have did something different? Yes, but in the flow of the game, I understand him saying we can get one yard.

I understand him saying, no coach. in the NFL is going to say we can't get one yard. So I totally understand the decision, but it's a decision that he'll have to live with, and sometimes you have to ask yourself that the football guys intervened and just did not want to force us to see Statham in the Super Bowl. Right, right. Yeah, because he was not good after that one deep shot that he hit.

Well, he's a backup for a reason. I tell people all the time, you don't go from Starved to back. cup, and think your team going to get better. Like, this year, that's what people expected of Washington. They expected us to go to our third-screen guys and get better. That just doesn't happen. It's a reason. It's a pay

bracket in football. All right, I want to take a quick break, and when we come back with Fred, we'll talk about Matt Stafford's performance last night, and we'll get to our team. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I've been

telling you about Goldbelly now for a It's this amazing site that I order from where you can get the most iconic famous foods from restaurants all across the United States. And it's perfect for game day. It's perfect for Valentine's Day or anything else you've got going on. Gold Belly will ship you iconic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

from Lumulnotties. We fired one up the other day. It was so good. They've got original Buffalo wings from Anchor Bar in Buffalo and real Philly cheese steaks from Johns. So good. With Valentine's Day coming up, they've got great gifts like award-winning dinners from Peter Lugar's Steakhouse.

So whether you're looking to turn game day into an unforgettable experience with friends or want to impress a loved one on Valentine's Day, go to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code Sheehan. That's goldbelly.com code sheen for 20% off your first order. The big game's almost here and there's no better way to cash in during America's biggest sporting event than with prize picks where it always feels good to be right. And since the big games right around the corner, that also means it's your last chance to get into the football action before next season. So close the season out right with prize picks by getting $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. prize picks is fun. It's exciting. It's a game of skill, and it's so easy to play. Prize picks will present you with stat projections, and all you've got to do is pick more or less.

Like this weekend, how many yards will Drake May throw for? Prize picks will present you with a number, and you pick more or less. How many touchdown passes for Matt Stafford? You'll see the number. You feel good one way or the other, and you select more or less. That's all it is, more or less on stat projections. If you get your picks right, you cash in. Price Picks now has a new feature called Early Payouts. If your player gets off to a hot start, you now have the option to cash out those winnings before the game even finishes.

Download the Prize Picks app today and use Code Sheehan to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's Code Sheehan to get $50 in line up. lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It's good to be right. If you haven't done it, you don't mind doing it. Take 30 to 60 seconds to rate and review this podcast. It's really easy on Apple and Spotify.

They give you an opportunity to give us up to five stars if you think the show deserves it. Those high ratings and reviews are really important for us. So if you haven't done it, especially on Apple and Spotify, I would appreciate if you could take the time to do it. Also, following us, just hit the plus button or the follow button. That's Big For us as well. All right, we've talked about Darnold. What did you think is Stafford last night? Stafford is he playing himself? I always felt like he was a Cust of Hall of Fame. Is he playing himself to First Ballet? I think he's a first Valley Hall of Fame because he's going to get MVP. Drew Breeze never won MVP. Like, I think he's a big. I think.

we have to start to put some respect on his name. And I think we never do because of the stench that was left in Detroit. But Stelford, to me, is a first ballot hall of fame. So that's an interesting question. To me, there's been no debate about him being a Hall of Famer, and that's before this year. But first ballot when ultimately he'll have three Pro Bowls, that's it. But he's going to end up with an MVP.

And that's a big differentiator. I think if he goes to the Super Bowl this year, leading them to a Super Bowl and wins it first ballot. But I'll tell you what, man, your point is, I'm with you. I think for all of those years in Detroit, if you just watched him and watched the games and didn't know the results of the season record-wise or how bad of an organization Detroit was,

you would have felt like you were watching an elite quarterback. when he played. And they went to the playoffs, Detroit did, with him three different times. You know, I think they won 10 games, nine games once, 10 games twice, maybe 11 one year. And they got screwed one year in a playoff game at Dallas. They should have won that game. But yeah, no, I'm with you, man. I think most people consider Eli Manning a Cush Hall of Fame or Hall of Fame. So if you're going to say Eli is a Hall of Fame, well, I'm sorry. Matthew Stafford is better than Eli Manning. 100%.

But you know what I think sometimes in the Eli Manning conversation gets lost because people will say, well, you know, first family of football. And the only reason he's there are the two Super Bowls. I'm not denying the Super Bowls. But he had some really good seasons. Like there were some years there in New York where he played at a very high level. I'm pulling up his resume here because he had. had 4,500-yard seasons regularly.

So he was a four-time pro bowler. Not that he ever, you know, sniffed an MVP, but Stafford never did until this year. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he threw for over 4,000 yards seven times in his career. And he had some good seasons. I always thought Eli was a clutch quarterback, too. I don't know if you felt that way.

More clutch than explosive. He was more clutch and had ice water and his veins in the moments. And that's what I'll say. He had more moments than stats. Yeah, yeah, 100%. But those moments were massive moments. No, no, no, they're mad because they're Super Bowl moments. Yeah.

Everybody was... But he had playoff moments, too. You know what, Lambo. Yeah, but think about this moment. me. Eli is sacked. He breaks out of the sack. He throws it up. And the receiver catches the ball, Tyree, on his helmet. You'll never forget it. Then you'll never forget the one he dropped in on the sideline on the last drive against the most decorated quarterback of all time. Tom Brady. So it's just, it's poetry in motion.

And it's going to be hard. You cannot tell the story of the NFL without Eli. I mean. But you're right. He's not comparable to Matt Stafford as a quarterback. Not stat. Not stat, why? Yeah. All right. So, Sam Darnold. Last thought on that particular game. Let me just tell you real quickly where I've been. I've been on the side that said, uh-oh, he's going to blow it. He's going to hold on to it too long. He's going to take eight sacks when it should have been two. He's going to throw it to the wrong. team two or three times and he's going to cost his team the game. He obviously didn't do that

last night and he's going to the Super Bowl and I've always felt about Sam Darnold. He can throw it, man. Coming out of SC, he could always throw it. There was no doubt about that, just like Baker Mayfield. There was no doubt that he could spin it. But I just never thought that Sam Darnold would be the reason. And overall, Seattle's defense is kind of led to. them. I mean, they're two wins over the 49ers. Defensive dominating. But, yeah, go ahead. You're still trying to take it from him.

You still don't want to just give it to him. Come on, this land has earned it this. Let me tell you something. It ain't many people that have survived the boughs of the New York Jet franchise only to go to succeed. It ain't too many people in the NFL that had the pressure of being a high-drafted quarterback. when the clock is ticking from your first snap to your last snap

because they're ready to say that you're a bus. Come on. How bad is Carolina they had Sam Donna and Baker-Mayfield at the same time and said neither one of y'all can play? So then you go to the quarterback school of Minnesota and you take them to the playoffs only to say you should leave because even though you took us to 14 wins, we still don't believe in. Listen, this story is a story of resilience.

This story is this is the golden ruling football. I always try to tell people this. We are all not going to be ready at the same time. Thank Lord when I got to the NFL, I had started, I had literally started every year of my career from 10th grade to I retired. I never had a chance that I rode the bench. I started every year. So by the time I made it to the NFL, I had played so much football.

I was ready to go. Where everybody's not like that, and just because somebody takes a little bit more time than others, because we're in a microwave society, people don't want grandmama to cook it up. You just have to wait for Baker the Blossom. You have to wait for Sam Donald to Blossom. So I believe in Sam Donald.

And right now, Sam Donald is playing better than any quarterback that's going to be playing on Super Bowl Sunday. I love Drake's May. You know how high I was on Drake's making out. But Drake has him played his best football. in the playoffs, why Sam Dunner has. You're so spot on, on just, you got to wait. I mean, this is why I get upset with people, and they talk about our drafts from this

year or last year. I'm like, you don't know anything for three years minimum, and when it comes to certain positions, sometimes you don't know for, I mean, we're talking about Darnold. I mean, the list of Darnold and Baker Mayfield, in Gino, Smith, and Daniel Jones this year. I mean, the number of quarterbacks that have been given up on, and sometimes as you described, it's their circumstance. It's that they were in New York with

the Jets, or they were in Cleveland. I mean, look at what Chase Young did this year, in New Orleans. And look at the... I've seen Chase talk about this. Chase was so right. He said, man, I went to a franchise in Washington to ask me to be a leader the day I made it.

I needed to be learning how to lead. Right. Right. of course. I mean, you know, we were in the same category as Cleveland and the Jets for quarterbacks for for anybody. When you're asking a rookie and you're slapping a C on his chest before he's even barely played. But yeah, there's no doubt.

You got to give it time. All right. Let's talk about our team because I haven't talked to you in a while. I think last time we talked to was maybe late October, early November. You've already referenced this. and I've mentioned it 100 times until I'm blue in the face. I don't know how you evaluate this season when basically the best players on the team barely played. You know, and that's got to be hard for Adam Peters as a GM because you don't know if your experiment worked or not.

You know what the end game was. It didn't work because of injuries. But you know, now I can do the same thing and take a different approach to it. The one thing we need to do is we have to in the free age. It's like everybody worried about this draft. I hate to report the news to y'all, but that draft picks are not guaranteed to hit. All right. Look how many draft picks in the first round got drafted last year that did not help their team at all.

So it's all about getting the right free agents in that around 25, 26, 27 years old that can be congrue to this team. And that's what you want to do. Everybody is always worried about high-end talent. You need to make sure the middle talent is that it is thickest. once you got a lot of guys that grade out around an 85 type player, if I got 12, 85 players, I could be in a team. Seattle doesn't have the best cornerbacks in the league. They got the best group in the league.

They ain't got the best de-Liaming in the league. They got the best group of the D-Liaming in the league. It goes to the point, like, even when it comes to Jackson Smith and Jigma and Shaheed, that's just the right ingredients. one that can take the top off, explosive. I got one that runs routes like a wizard. He is, I love, I make my sons watch him all the time. Like the one thing, he doesn't stop out of his cuts.

Everything is natural. So when you have, I don't need the top talent. I need a lot of good guys. I don't need a lot of great guys. Yeah, I mean, I know what you're saying, and by the way, you know, basically hitting on one, out of three in the draft. I mean, if you get up to 38, 39%, three years after your draft, and you've got those players contributing, that's a successful draft. There isn't anything,

there isn't anything we know less about as fans than the draft, even though we spend so much time talking about it, because those that do it for a living only hit on one out of three. Yes. But with that said, because I know how big of a college football fan you are and how much of a draft guy you are. Who's the guy that at number seven you'd like our team to take? All right, all right. In a regular world

where everything goes free and smooth's way, of course, I would love to have it, bang. I think it's something about him. He reminds me of a Hugh Douglas type of defense being a, it's keeping my mind. He'd be bigger than Hugh Douglas? He is, but the White,

Frini. I'm talking about the lowest in the gravity dudes. He reminds me of them. And you know what? Wait to the draft stuff. They're like, ah, his arms ain't longer. I want to hear that. Turn the film on. Like, I'm so tired of people that won't draft these to come in its perfect package. As you see, the oddities of what make people good in the NFL, the people that look like they should not be there that makes them good. I also like the kid in Texas Tech. He's a sack machine. My God. I'm just hoping, because he looks like a combined, like, robocop type dude. Like, he really going to turn you on when he takes his shirt out, that type of dude. And I'm hoping he don't shoot up the drab board. I'm hoping a couple late quarterbacks do.

I don't know which ones would. Maybe Chamberliss from Ole Miss. Might start to shoot up some drab boards. But I want a defensive end, a pass rush at that. position. And if I cannot get the past rush, I'm telling you this now. I told you this about Brock Bowers. I'm saying now

the Deke from Oregon, the tight end, if somebody like the chief get hold of him, he will be unstoppable. I thought you were going to say, Jeremiah, I love. I think Jeremiah love going to be, I think he's going to be a classic overdraft

with him similar to what just happened with Ashton Genty. Now, the one thing I do like about J.M. I remind me of a fair. I don't know if he faster, but he reminded me of Darren McFadden. Darren McFadden, had he stayed, had he been healthy for a longer period of time, probably would have been a much better player, right? Yes, yes, he would have. McFadden, who was the other Arkansas back? It was McFadden and who was the other.

Felix, Felix Jones. Felix Jones, yeah. And Payton Hillis was part of their group, too. Right. The tight end from Oregon, by the way, is the guy, Sadiq. Yeah, him. All right. What about, I mean, look, defense, defense, defense for me, because that was the worst defense

I've ever seen in franchise history. It was impacted by injuries, no doubt. But I've said Fred for the last two months plus, I think even if Dorrance Armstrong and Dietrich-wise and the corners and everybody's healthy, I still don't think it was going to be a very good defense. they have to fix that. And that's, how many new starters do they need? I think you need to add some high-end guys,

some guys to raise the stakes type of guys is what I mean. Like, I'm going to tell you a guy to keep down. He might drop on some guys' boys because of injuries, but he is a top-notch athlete. And this Harold Perkins, Jr. Yeah, LSU. Yeah. If I could steal him somewhere, you know,

getting back in the third round or something like that, that'll be a blessing. You just need to add some young explosive guys. You know, the one thing I do love about young guys when we first entered the league, we like puppies. We don't know no better. Like where other people see a pressure situation, somebody's been in the league, eight, nine years, been waiting on this day whole life.

The guy, the first-year guy, they just happy to be there. They don't care. They don't care. Sometimes it's good not to know the depths of something. They're going to be active in free agency. after me, right? Most definitely, they're going to be active. That's going to be their time to shine.

I'm looking more forward to the free agency than I am, the draft. And I love that now all the locals in the DMV has to see how I feel to live north for the wall while while I'm right here. I'm about to take a walk and walk to Baltimore just for the hell of it. Because, you know, I'm used to living in it. Yeah, well, I mean, you got to be careful because we don't want you ending up a white walker. All right, I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for doing this.

And it's our brother. Fred Smoot, everybody. I'll finish up the show with, yes, a look ahead to this weekend and another potential storm and also what happened 34 years ago today. We'll get to that after these words from a few of our sponsors. This time they take a little more time. This is an accepted by Kurt Colbert out of pounds and about the two and the Redskins are in business again. 34 years ago tonight, the late great Pat Summerall on the call of the first play of the third quarter in Super Bowl 26 in Minneapolis's Metrodome, Washington, 37, Buffalo 24, January 26th, 1992.

The 91 skins were world champs. They were world champs for the third time. over a 10-year span. And that play, the reason I brought you in to this segment with that Kurt Guvea interception to open up the third quarter, is that story, the way it's been told to me over the years, is one of my favorites. Richie Pettibone, I think the greatest defensive coordinator in NFL history, certainly the greatest defensive coordinator in the history of our franchise. The story goes from players who played on his defense.

At halftime in a game in which Washington was dominating, up 17-0, Richie came in and said, this is what we're going to do on the first play of the third quarter. We're going to blitz, Andre Collins, you're going up the A-gap, and Jim Kelly's going to feel the heat, and he's going to throw the ball right to here, and he pointed on a board where Jim Kelly was going to throw it, and he said, Kurt, I want you to be right here.

It's going to be an interception, and it's going to be a return for a touchdown. Now, he didn't score on that play, but he was close to scoring. He got down to the two-yard line. Gerald Riggs went in on the first snap, offensive snap of the third quarter, and it was 24-0 game over. Amazing that it's been that long. Washington certainly waited a long time before even sniffing a Super Bowl. That came last year when they got back to their first NFC championship game. Actually, a year ago to the day in Philadelphia, January 26th, 2025.

55 to 23 was the final. It was Philadelphia onto the Super Bowl, not Washington. But man, those 91 skins. The best team in franchise history, it's not even close, in my opinion. I think the 83 team that lost to the Raiders in the Super Bowl was arguably the best offensive team in franchise history, but the most complete team in franchise history, the 91 skins who have repeatedly over the years been lauded as one of the great teams of all time. DVOA has Washington's 91 team as the third greatest team in NFL history. They were prolific on offense. They were absolute shut down on defense, and they had the best special teams unit in the league.

That game was never, ever sort of reflective final score-wise of how much Washington dominated. 37 to 24 was the final, but they led in that game 37 to 10 midway through the fourth quarter. There was something at the end of that broadcast that I played for you, I don't know, maybe on another anniversary of this Super Bowl win. And I wanted to play it for you again because it just sort of popped up when I was, you know, trying to pull the highlights or the one highlight that I played for you from the game. At the very end of the game, as they are celebrating on the sideline, and they, I think they get Gibbs with the Gatorade bath or Gibbs smiles for the first time. you'll hear John Madden say something about Joe Gibbs that should have been somewhat of an indication of what would happen about a month and a half later, which is that Joe Gibbs retired. We had no clue that retirement was coming. But Madden implied that it was a possibility as he talked about Gibbs at the very end of the game. Joe Gibbs, the final is smiling. Yeah, he's been more relaxed and enjoyed this.

Super Bowl more than any time I've seen him. Somebody asked him what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to win a marathon and build a house, win a Super Bowl, what else did he say? I don't know, you wonder how long that he's going to be in this. Madden was an old friend of Gibbs. I think he knew that that was it for Joe Gibbs. Of course, he would come back 11 years later for Act 2.

34 years ago, the 91 Skins won Super Bowl. 26. All right, I'll end with this. You probably know by now, certainly through Twitter weather, social media weather, that there is another storm potentially for us this weekend. The forecast is going to change a lot over the next 24 to 48 hours, but there is likely going to be a blizzard somewhere on the East Coast Saturday and Sunday. The question is where. It could happen offshore out to sea. It could happen for the Virginias and the Carolinas on the coast, or it could happen more inland coming up the coast.

This is more of a thread-the-needle situation than yesterday was, but if it happens, it's going to be snow on snow because the snow and ice we got yesterday isn't going anywhere. very, very cold for the rest of the week and really for the foreseeable future. So stay tuned. There will be more on this, but I'm sure you've seen some of the maps, some of the digital snow on social media. If this were to come together, and I would put it at like a, at this point, a one in five shot, maybe a one and four shot. But there's certainly no guarantee.

The odds favor that we won't get this big storm than we do. But it is something to keep an eye on because with the cold already in place, this one could be a monster nor'easter. What we just had yesterday wasn't a true nor'easter. It was a big storm. There was a lot of pre-sip, but it wasn't, you know, the kind of nor'easter that we've seen. before. So we'll see. More on that coming up, I'm sure, tomorrow and through the rest of the week as we keep you up to date on DMV storms.

All right, that's it for the day back tomorrow with Tommy, where we will talk about the Washington Post situation. It looks like their sports section may be going away.