The Kevin Sheehan Show - Davante Adams...Yes or No?

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

Kevin opened with the likely availability of Raiders' WR Davante Adams via trade and whether or not Washington is interested and should be interested. Kevin had Taylor Kelly on the show. Kelly trains Jayden Daniels during the off-season at 3DQB, a QB training academy in Southern California. He also watches each game and provides Jayden with notes on his performance. And then it was former Redskins' QB Gus Frerotte joining Kevin to talk Daniels and the Commanders' offense. He also shared some fun stories/memories from the past.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. And you've played in Washington when the Cowboys have had great road crowds here. I wonder what it would mean for you now here to have a good home crowd, get a real home field advantage at the audience. Yeah.

And so no difference to anybody else, but just the home field crowd, like anywhere that I've been that really got rocking, like it's a huge advantage, you know, for the team. because as loud as it can get and silent cadences and all that goes with that, it's just an absolute blast. The energy goes through the roof. So that's what we'll dig for and keep battling for it. And the better that we can play, the more we can create that together.

And then it becomes like, man, this is a really hard place to play when you tie all of the things together. Dan Quinn earlier today out in Ashburn answering a question from Sam, 40A and describing the benefits of home field advantage. He also did something else in that answer that I absolutely loved, and I'll share that with you here momentarily. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com. Mention my name for a free, no obligation in-home estimate.

I've got two guests on the show today. So this opening segment, I'm going to keep relatively short. Taylor Kelly will be up first. Taylor is working with Jaden Daniels at 3DQB, the Southern California quarterback training academy. He's been working with him for a few years. John Beck has worked with Jaden Daniels. We had John on the show late spring, early summer, but Taylor's been really the guy more so than anybody else. at 3DQB, who's been working with Jaden Daniels for a few years.

Taylor was a quarterback himself at Arizona State in the 2010s, the early 2010s. I think you're going to really enjoy this conversation with Taylor Kelly. I've already recorded that part of the show. It's up next. This is kind of like a film breakdown of Jaden Daniels against Arizona, at least a few of the key plays. Gus Ferrat will be on after Taylor Kelly. Love having Gus on the show.

Gus has a great memory. He's a good storyteller. But beyond going down memory lane with Gus, we will talk about his thoughts on the team so far and the quarterback in particular. So what I loved about Dan Quinn's answer is that he didn't ask for support. He didn't lecture anybody about.

expecting the support, needing the support. He basically told you after he described the benefits of home field advantage. He told you that they need to earn the support. That's not something Ron Rivera did. Ron Rivera lectured the media at times about being more supportive and how the fans should be out there to support the team. He told you, we'll dig for this, we'll battle for it. The better we play, the more we can create that. He told you that they intend on earning it. They're not expecting it. That is a really good answer to the question about developing, you know, a legitimate home field advantage for the first time in a long, long time. That is an awareness of what's happened around here, I believe. Or maybe it's just the way he is.

He's not going to ask for things. He's going to earn it. He and the rest of the team will earn the right to have a really good home field advantage. I'm sure some of you think that it should just be provided. And you know what? In certain circumstances, that's fine. But given what's gone on here for a long, long time, they have to earn it back. everybody in that organization needs to earn the trust that they hope will come because it hasn't

been there in a long time and it was justifiably not there for a long time. I love that answer from Dan Quinn. So let's tackle the biggest NFL storyline of the last 24 hours, the likely availability of Devante Adams via a trade. And from Washington's perspective, A, are they interested? B, should they be interested? So I'll answer the first one first. I don't think they're interested in trading for Devante Adams.

I don't know that for sure. But my guess is, based on a few conversations, they are likely not going to be in the Devante Adams' trade discussions. I do think they were interested in Brandon Ayyuk, but I think the price for Brandon Ayuk was too high. And I think ultimately everybody that was pursuing Brandon Ayuk knew that it might ultimately be a waste of energy because the 49ers really never wanted to trade him to begin with. But do I think they're interested? I don't. That would be my hard lean.

and Dan Quinn did answer a question earlier today about not necessarily Devante Adams. I'll play for you the question and you'll hear the answer. I'm not sure the question was specific to Devante Adams as much as it was to the number two receiver on the team. But this is what Dan Quinn said. There's still some lingering conversations outside the organization on a wide receiver number two. Is that any type of concern of really establishing that firm second guy or is a game-to-game kind of who evolves and who steps up? Yeah, no, I'll let you and the guys outside have those ones.

For us, you know, we're really focused on the guys that are here, honestly, just absolutely battling for it. What you will see sometimes each week is some reps may change, you know, by the position what's needed maybe for that game plan or for how we'd want to attack. But we're really pleased with the group and their competitive nature, what they stand for. Even if that question wasn't intended specifically to be about Devante Adams, I think Dan Quinn may have thought it was. But regardless, you know, Dan Quinn in answering a question about any receiver outside of the building is going to answer the question the same way in week five. You know, in week five, you're not talking about other players outside the building to media people, even if you are interested in acquiring another receiver.

think they are. Now, as it relates to should they be interested in Devante Adams, I'll give you my answer here in a moment. I do want to talk a little bit about Devante Adams because there was a lot of feedback when this, you know, it sort of percolated yesterday and even today, and I did this on radio earlier today. Just a lot of people that were like, absolutely not. Don't do that. And, that that would be crazy. He's old. We're not in win now mode. And, you know, I kind of get the sense that it's the same group of people a lot of the time that felt like in April. We got Sam Hal. Now we should trade back, accumulate more picks, you know, build up the offensive line, draft Joe Alt, build up the defense. And then if Sam doesn't work out in this first year with Dan,

Quinn and Cliff Kingsbury, we can go to the quarterback store in 2025 and get the quarterback then. You know, there's a lot of that talk when it comes to swinging big. Look, swinging big to me has always been the way to go when it comes to quarterback. Swinging big, meaning in the draft or other paths to great quarterback play or potentially very good quarterback play. Because I just don't feel like you can legitimately have a sustained winner over time without one in today's NFL. I don't feel that way about the wide receiver position. Yes, I was into Brandon Ayuk over the summer, different than Devante Adams. I mean, he's 26 years old. He would have been a part of growing with Jaden Daniels. And the caveat always on the Brandon Ayuk conversation from the moment we

started to have it was if Adam Peters is interested, because he's the one, that was familiar with the player. And I do think they were interested in Brandon Ayuk. I just think the cost was too high. But Devante Adams is one of the best wide receivers in the league. He's in that conversation of the best wide receiver debate. Age aside, my top two would be Jefferson and Chase, and then maybe Hill. but Adams is in the conversation for what comes after that, for me anyway.

As far as a route runner, there is no better route runner, clearly, than Devante Adams. There may be route runners that are just as good as Devante Adams, but he has been pretty much the default answer to who's the best route runner in the NFL for several years now. He immediately makes the team that he gets traded to, much better at that position than they were before. Now, will you get the level of production that a Devante Adams is capable of providing when he gets to his new team? A lot of factors in that.

You know, the quarterback, the coordinator, the supporting cast. But if you just look at what he's done in Vegas with hardly anything around him, I mean, he did have Derek Carr in year one, but Derek Carr, to me, is a decent quarterback. Last year, he was primarily working with a rookie quarterback in Aden O'Connell. In the two years in Vegas, number one, he didn't miss a game until last week. But in those two years with not a very good team around them and not very good quarterback play other than Derek Carr in that first year, 203 catches, 2,660 yards, and 22 touchdowns. that is elite production with not a lot of support.

You know, we've had the conversation about Terry. I don't want to go down that path too much, but what would he be with, you know, less than, what would he be with a great quarterback versus this less than ideal situation a quarterback that he's dealt with? Well, an elite receiver, it really doesn't matter with, you know, see Devante Adams in Vegas. The conversation about him being a great receiver,

is an easy conversation. The rest of it is more complex, and the rest of it really deals with, would he be a good fit here? First of all, to me, it feels like trading for Devante Adams, who's going to turn 32 years old in December, and he's probably entering that period of his career

where his best days will soon be behind him, not to mention that it's going to cost you a second rounder, Plus, you know, Steph Diggs was a second and two later round picks. You know, maybe Adams is a cut above Stefan Diggs, same age. Maybe he is a second and a third. Who knows? He's also got a hefty cap number the next two years under contract, close to $44 million each year.

This feels to me because of those reasons that you do it only if you are in the mode of we think we can win it all now. Is Washington in win-it-all mode now? No, they're not. This conversation could be different two weeks from now if they beat Cleveland, if they beat Baltimore. They could put themselves into a position of, wait a minute, maybe we are in win-it-all mode right now.

But as of this moment, no. They've put themselves into a position where, hey, we can win probably a lot more games than people thought we could win and make the playoffs in the process. But as I mentioned on yesterday's show, no rookie quarterback has ever made it to a Super Bowl or won a Super Bowl. And only five rookie quarterbacks have made it to championship games. And those five rookie quarterbacks, Sean King, Ben Rathesberger, Joe Flacco,

Mark Sanchez, and Brock Purdy all had outstanding. defenses. My personal view is no, do not trade for Devante Adams. What you have right now is working. The other part of this, too, is that, you know, Cliff Kingsbury's already made it clear that, you know, Terry McCluren isn't a force-feed wide receiver, that they don't have an offense that is a force-feed-wide-receiver offense, that he likes Jaden to go, where the process takes him. And would that change with the Devante Adams? Would he demand targets, et cetera?

I don't want to see that interrupted right now. You know, in two weeks, if they're in win-it-all mode because they've beaten Cleveland and they've gone on the road and beaten Baltimore, then I may be in win-it-all mode in terms of trying to add to the team, but I'd be looking at defense. I'd be looking at Hassan Reddick. You know, I'd be looking at a game changer on defense if that game changer is available, not at wide receiver, not Devante Adams at 32 years old,

and you're not going to get, you know, a lot more of his best moving forward. But if they got into that win now mode, I would be thinking more about adding defense, not Devante Adams. So my answer to should they is he's a great player. He would make them better on offense. He would give them much more firepower. But my answer would be no for the reason stated. They're not in that mode of win it all now. Now they're not in that mode. Maybe two weeks from now. They might be. They could be. We'll feel a lot differently about this year. already feel, I think, most of you do, I certainly do, much different about this year than maybe you did before the season started. And if they were to beat Cleveland and go on the road and

beat Baltimore and they're five and one and Philadelphia is floundering and Dallas is floundering and San Francisco is still banged up, then the whole, you know, outlook becomes more, boy, look what we could do this year. But again, if that's the case, I'm going after defense before the trade deadline, which is on November 5th, the same day as the election. All right, I want to mention something real quickly, and then we will get to our two guests, Taylor Kelly and Gus Ferrat. MyBooky.ag has updated their division odds for the NFL.

Right now, the NFC East odds to win the division, Philadelphia is the favorite at plus 110. But then, tied for the second favorite are Dallas and Washington, both at plus 240. Washington started the year at plus 800. They are now plus 240 to win the NFC East. They are climbing, and they are not the long shot that they were a few weeks ago. For those of you that don't understand, you bet $100 on Washington to win the division, If they do, you win $240.

MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin D.C. for a cash bonus of up to $1,000 on your initial deposit. Right now, Cleveland is a three-point underdog at Washington Sunday. I'm going to tell you right now, this is going to be a big public play. Washington is going to be a huge public side. And that line was at three and a half. It's down to three. More on that when we get to Friday's show.

It does feel like, doesn't it? One of the first games in a while that feels like a should-win game, at least the perception of most NFL fans. Washington has become a bit of an early-season darling. Jaden Daniels, obviously, an early-season star. But they are three-point favorites at my bookie. The total is 43 and a half. Everything you need for college football, NFL.

All of the baseball, the Orioles last night. Ooh, you were late yesterday afternoon. Scott, by the way, great first pitch for the Orioles Royals game one. He was a good pitcher in high school. And from the mound, he threw a really good ball. He said it was nerve-wracking and quite the experience, but he threw it very well. Joe Witt, Jr., not Joe Witt Jr., Bobby Witt, Jr., of Kansas City with that RBI. The Orioles, look, if they don't win today, back-to-back sweeps in the postseason.

So let's get it done up at Camden Yards. All right. Up next, Taylor Kelly, I think you guys are going to love this, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I feel healthier, younger, and full of energy, all things being said about mitopure, the newest sponsor on the podcast, and the first product to offer a precise dose. of urolithin A. What's urolithin A? It's a postbiotic. It's good for your gut. It's been clinically shown to energize cells, increase muscle strength, and improve endurance, and that's just the beginning. Do you want to get older and still run, hike, play with your kids, your grandkids?

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And he joins us right now. So thank you, first of all, Taylor, for making time. Before we get started, just tell everybody, I think we're all sort of familiar. with these quarterback training places and the different, you know, outside of organization groups that quarterbacks tend to work with. But just give everybody a sense of what 3D QB does and with whom you're working. Yeah, so we're based out of Southern California right here in Huntington Beach. And, you know, the company's 3DQB and Adam Dato, John Beck, and myself,

there's three of us coaches that work with, you know, all levels of our coaching. from youth, high school, college, and NFL, and then we have a couple younger coaches as well. But yeah, what we do is we focus on a lot of the biomechanic work with each client to find their strengths and weaknesses from throwing the football, whether it's from a consistency standpoint, accuracy, functional strength, different footworks. And we try to find their weaknesses and grow upon those

to make them their strengths. And, you know, with a lot of these guys, we start with them young, and, you know, we've had opportunities to have some guys that, you know, we've had since, you know, eighth grade and high school and now are starting to trickle into the NFL. And, you know, we got Jaden when he was a sophomore right before he got into, went to LSU. All right. Let's get to it. And I want to start with kind of right now, and if we need to go backwards to some of the, you know, the time that you spent with him preparing him for this NFL start that he's gotten off to. We can do that. But just give me your impressions of what you've seen so far through four games. You know, Jayden's, you know, he's done a great job this year.

You know, has had a fast start. You know, he's been, he had a great, you know, a couple years at LSU. And, you know, the last year that he was there, him went in the Hizman and, you know, putting a beautiful campaign together to roll off of and, you know, feed into now going in the NFL. And, you know, he hasn't dropped off since. The dude's an extremely hard worker. He's always, you know, biting at the bit to come out and throw and better his craft. And that's the one thing with that kid is he's super consistent with his process.

And you can kind of see that it hasn't slowed down since his days at LSU. And, you know, he's gone into a. great fit with being in Washington with Cliff and Dan Quinn and what they got going on over there. And it's been fun to watch through these first four games. So were you expecting him to be this good this quickly? You know, I wasn't expecting him to obviously, you know, have a completion percentage of, you know, 80 plus. You know, that's kind of unheard of. Yeah.

But the dude is, he's extremely accurate and he's extremely bright. he processes the game. And for being able to have that as a rookie, there's, there's, there's a reason why he is thrown above 80 percent. And that's because of how fast he does process the game. And he's not taking, he's not getting stuck on. Reeds too long. You know, if it's not there, he's progressing super fast. And, you know, Cliff Kingsbury does a great job of presenting a bunch of different looks on the offensive side, whether it's, you know, different formations, personnel, and they're all doing, they're all doing a great job in one page, fully understanding the offense and taking what the defense gives them.

Are you watching every one of his games start to finish live, or do you go back and watch it after the fact? How are you consuming his work so far? Yeah, you know, I'm trying to watch all of our guys live, but then, yes, on, you know, Monday or whenever they play, Mondays and Tuesdays, we'll sit down and watch their film and go back and watch all their games. And so we're giving them, you know, weekly corrections, weekly little feedbacks on, you know, different things from a mechanical standpoint of what we're seeing to make sure that they are, you know, they don't continue to have those drop off and they just have those little reminders every single week. So give us an idea of some of the

weekly, you know, communication with him. Like, I mean, like you said, he's at 82.1 percent. He just had, an historic start to the season for any quarterback, not just a rookie quarterback, but take us sort of behind the scenes, like after the game Sunday against Arizona, what were your notes for him? Yeah, you know, there was a few just from him when a couple of them just, you know, some balls, you know, that he may have sailed a little bit. You know, there was just a few feedbacks of just, hey, little reminders of making sure that your feet stay underneath you.

you're getting, like, make sure your weight shifting and putting your chest on a target so it doesn't sell on you. There are a few of those little things. And then also on some of the completions where, yes, the ball was completed, but it could, it might have been a little bit behind them on, you know, a shallow or a crosser. And just little reminders, like, yes, you completed it, but just make sure that you don't fall off of it too quick through a release point. And some of those little minor things that just little reminders, yeah, you're, completed it, but if you keep doing that or you happen to do fall off the throw a little quick, that's going to be incompletion. So just those little reminders and then obviously, you know, given feedback on, you know, some of the amazing throws that he is doing in the game

and just keep reminding him like, hey, make sure you continue to do that throughout the week. What was your favorite throw of his from Sunday's game in Arizona? One of my favorite throws was he threw a crosser route to McCaffrey. And it was a little off platform. He had pressure in his face. He slid right a little bit, and his feet were completely in their correct position. But how quick he got to that throw and how wippy he was and accurate on a crucial down. and then my other one was when he escaped out of the pocket to his right and threw a,

it was like a third and 16 to Noah Brown. Yeah. That little dash throw, like that's extremely hard when you have guys rushing you from all sorts angles, you get it out on your third step and deliver a great spot. So those were a couple of my favorite throws from last week. You use the word whippy. and I, on that throw to McCaffrey, like I described it as like the release is so quick and it's such a flick kind of wristy throw. And yet it's so accurate and it gets there so quickly.

Is that what you mean by Whippy? Exactly. You know, he's got an extremely quick release and he has an extremely strong arm. And so being able to tie both of those into the same throwing delivery, you're going to get that quick action, flicky, wippy feeling from a quarterback. And to tie that onto it, you tie onto the unbelievable accuracy that he has with it, you know, puts it right in front of him, the guy on his hip, and it's a first down. I'll tell you what, that wristy-wippy action, he'll be able to absolute annihilate a golf ball when he starts playing golf.

Does he play golf? He does not play golf, but we do some baseball swings and golf swings in the off season, just to work on some of the movement, just so that we're physically right from a rotational standpoint. I mean, that'll generate some bat speed, that kind of whippiness, doesn't it? It sure will. So the Noah Brown throw, which by the way, was a third and 13, and he threw it to him basically at 12 yards, and Noah Brown got that last yard when he made the catch and turned it up field. But I talked about that play the other day as well

because I thought it was a sign of kind of progress in that they had talked about him keeping his eyes down the field, even when he gets out of the pocket. Now, he wasn't way outside the pocket. on this one. You know, he seemed to go through, you know, the progression of the play almost twice because he had a bunch of time. But I'm curious as to why you liked that play, and you pointed that one out. Yeah, you know, and they did bring some pressure, and he felt that and got out of the pocket. And, like, that's the one thing is how quick can you be able to be able to keep your

eyes down the field while filling the pressure and still getting the ball out on time, on those scrans because if you take five steps or seven steps, you know, a defender might be getting you, but with his athleticism and speed, he can kind of get away from a lot of it. But he was able to do it in three steps. And to do that and have your eyes down the field on a third down, is pretty impressive.

So let's go to the interception that he threw, the first one and the only one he's thrown so far through four games. My first question would be, should he have thrown the ball to Terry? You know, I think, you know, from a, I'm not fully, you know, in the meeting rooms in the nose of, you know, where I should have been, but, you know, I thought, you know, Terry was open on that scene. And I think it just got away from a little bit,

and he might have been a little bit late to it, whether it was, you know, Terry clearing that backer, and he just waited just a little bit longer to see him, but, you know, but it wasn't a bad decision. that I didn't think so. Obviously, I don't know his progression of that play and what he's being coached to do. But it looked like he rushed it a little bit right at the end

to try to fit it in a window. And, you know, if he was there a little bit earlier or his eyes were, like maybe he's ripping that, you know, three yards before that and be able to put it on him. So he got rushed a little bit. And then from a mechanical standpoint, you know, we got our front foot. kind of got a little bit long and we rushed it and didn't get through the throw

and that's where it kind of filled on. What about a completion he made that you gave him some constructive notes on? You know, there was one where he had a deep curl to Terry on the left-hand side and it was a little bit low and he tried to fit it in a window and, you know, it was a great, it was probably one of the only spots that it could have been. but from a movement standpoint of just, you know, making sure that his feet were, they were a little outside of his framework and having that front foot down, that timing of that in the throw would have had that ball up a little bit more.

But, you know, to his extent, like, you know, there's two defenders driving on it from the side and from behind. And so, you know, he was able to put it in a good spot where Terry made a great catch to get down on it and complete it. God, you've mentioned some of the plays that I went back. and talked about because I thought that that throw, where he put that was the only spot that it could be put without it being in harm's way and that Terry went down and made a great catch, but you're saying that he could have gotten to it earlier?

He could have, yeah, he could have not gotten to it earlier. He could have just kind of got his feet underneath him a little bit more, and that ball would have maybe stayed up a little bit higher as opposed to a little bit lower and kind of die out on him a little bit. It was a good catch. It was a great catch. What about the touchdown pass to Terry? Was he late with that?

Should the ball have come out earlier? You know, I thought, because Terry is on the back side of that. So he is one of the last options from looking at that concept. And so, you know, maybe he was making sure that he was holding, you know, that safety that could be floating and making sure he stayed onto that crosser route. So maybe he was purposely holding there so that he could. you know, make sure that safety does stay there and he's had time to rip it in there to Terry.

And Terry ran a great route, made the guy fall a little bit, and that's what probably made it look like he was a little bit more open or it should have been earlier because of, you know, Terry's route and the defender's slipping a little bit. But I thought from the most part, you know, the timing, whereas eyes weren't how he was trying to manipulate defenders, was pretty solid. Here's a question that kind of goes back to the Cincinnati game primarily,

not really the Tampa game, the giant game, or the Arizona game. Did you think there were opportunities for him to keep it on the zone read more than he did? Yeah, you know, I think from remembering there might have been a couple of them. And I know for sure one of them, you know, like as he gave the ball, the camera kind of was, he was still kind of in the frame. And, you know, he kind of like tapped his hand on his chest saying, like, my bad. And, you know, he noticed those things. you know, like, he's still learning, and he's still a rookie.

He's still getting a good, like, understanding of how the ends are going to play them, because everybody's going to, you know, plays it differently. And when there is it, like, ever a doubt, you most likely give, you give that ball for the most part, especially when you got, you know, two really good running backs, and they're running the ball extremely well. So any doubt you give that, but, you know, there is probably a couple where, you know, he might have, he should have pulled. But, you know, like, those are things you continue to,

to learn from and just keep studying and trust in what you see. I mean, I loved, you know, last year watching him. And when people were wondering whether or not he could slide, I'm like he did slide, actually, on occasion last year. And we've seen it now in the last two games. Has that been part of your emphasis, or do you think that's more cliff and dance emphasis in terms of the slide rather than what we saw maybe in the tan?

Tampa game, sort of that forward fall? Yeah, I think it's on everybody's account. You know, he's probably got, you know, former coaches, Cliff and Dan and, you know, former friends and family and, and whatnot of just, hey, man, you got to have another teammates of like just guys that he's worked with as well. Like, hey, these hits are a little bit different than NFL and, you know, the season's longer and you've got to, you know, keep maintaining and protecting yourself. And, you know, there's times when you have to go for it.

put your body in arms away, but for the most part, you know, slide and get what you can and so you don't get beat up throughout the year. Which of the, you know, getting down in the field of play, you know, techniques do you prefer? You know, just protect yourself at all costs. You know, you got to just get what you can. Don't get greedy. And, you know, if you got the first down and if you don't need the first down and it's, you know, just slide. save the hit because those will add up.

And it's more of how he's, how the game's coming to him and how he's filling that out. And just to always keep reminding yourself to keep protecting yourself at all cost. But what I'm saying, I guess what I was asking is the forward kind of fall like we saw in Tampa or the slide, which of the two getting down and protecting yourself techniques do you prefer? You would probably say, you know, sliding with, like, a more traditional baseball slide than, you know, diving forward because you're a little bit more protected by the rule of, you know, slide in that way. So that's preferably. But, you know, sometimes your instincts just say, hey, get down as you're forward, so you might have seen it late or that defender got up on you quicker than you thought. So ideally you would want to slide more of that traditional baseball slide.

Taylor, when you're communicating with Jaden during the season, even during the off season, how much collaboration do you have with his coaches, with Cliff Kingsbury, with David Blow, with Tevita Pritchard, et cetera? Yeah, you know, we haven't had much communication. Obviously, through the draft process and everything, there was some. but you know with with other coaches right now it's it's uh you know we haven't had much and so you know mainly our communication is as with me is just with jaden um currently so far is that something that coaches are okay with yeah you know there are some coaches um

you know that are that are good with it and they're open to having that communication because with us we we want to have the approach we're just a resource for them, that we're all on the same goal, same path to have this quarterback succeed. And if there's any way that we can help, any questions that we can answer, you know, we just want to be a resource and both best for the team and what they're wanting and also Jaden. When it comes to the next game, like this week they play Cleveland at home on Sunday, is there any advance work you do, any preparation work? You know, that you give him specific to the upcoming opponent?

You know, we don't typically, you know, look at their next opponent and kind of give them certain things. You know, that's what their coaches do in the facility. And we want that's their job. And for us to just, you know, send them little reminders, you know, from the previous week to think about during the next week. And then, you know, we evaluate, you know, after they play. that next opponent.

What do you think right now, and perhaps you're communicating this to him, what right now are the key teaching points in terms of what he needs to improve on? You know, for him right now, he's playing at such a high level. It's just some of these little reminders that he is already doing to stay doing

and stay consistent with it and, you know, keep, you know, trust in what you see and stay consistent with all the things that you're doing right now because he's playing at an extremely high level. And, you know, when you have success, that's the hardest part with success is being able to maintain it. And, you know, new opportunities arise, whether it's, you know, people telling you how great you are and you start letting that, you know, get to your head a little bit and those things. And so, you know, he's a type of person he's built for this. he's been doing it for a long time. He's played a lot of football, and that's the one thing that I admire with that kid is his consistent process, whether it's a good game or a bad game,

he stays with it, and he continues to learn from it and goes out there and continues that. You just alluded to something, which is kind of the perfect setup for my last question, which is he hasn't faced any adversity yet in these first four games. I mean, they have gone perfectly for him. But you know him. When that adversity eventually comes, and it will more likely than not, you know, he throws a pick and he fumbles in a game that they lose, and then the next week's not a great game. And how will he handle that situation if faced with it? Yeah, he's going to handle it like a professional. Like, he's been there for, you know, 10 years in the NFL. Like, that's just, that's how he is. That's how his parents raised him.

all the tremendous coaches that he's had in his career, you know, of bringing him up the correct way of how to handle yourself in those adverse situations. And he's had a lot of adversity in his career. And, you know, he's had those scars, and he knows how to handle it. And, you know, it's tough when a quarterback has had success his entire life

and he hasn't had those adversity situations. Then you kind of wonder, like, all right, well, when it does, how is he going to respond? And I feel like he's had a lot of those adversity situations, you know, starting with the Arizona State, you know, a bumpy career there and, you know, how his teammates, you know, treated him on social media online. And then also, you know, just his first year going into LSU, it wasn't, you know, the best. And so, you know, he was able to learn from those and grow from it. And he is the person he is now today. So I wouldn't expect anything less of him just going out there and handling it like a professional.

Taylor Kelly, everybody. On X, you can follow Taylor at Taylor underscore Kelly 10. And I think it's pretty much the same on Instagram as well. It's 3DQB. He's been working with Jaden Daniels since his sophomore year at Arizona State where Taylor played. And this was really, really interesting. very, very helpful. Much appreciated, Taylor. Thanks. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me.

That was really good stuff from Taylor Kelly. I enjoyed that. That was almost like getting a film breakdown of Jaden Daniels from the Arizona game, from the guy that's doing the film breakdown and then providing the quarterback with notes. We will definitely try to get Taylor back on the show in the coming weeks. Do me a favor if you get a chance, rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. Follow us on Apple and Spotify as well. Up next, former Redskins quarterback Gus Ferrat. We'll get to him right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, guys, best time of the year is football season. It is back. NFL Sundays, college football Saturdays, football on Monday night, Thursday night, and of course, the glorious grind of fantasy football

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no obligation estimate. 86690 Nation, windonation.com, buy to get too free, no down payment, no interest, and no payments for 24 months. Joining me right now on the show is Gus Ferrat. Gus Ferrat, one of the few quarterbacks in franchise history, to start games as a rookie, which he did back in 1994 in the draft in which he was selected in the seventh round. at a Tulsa. Heath Shuler selected at number three overall. But Gus ended up starting 46 games for the Redskins from 1994 through 1998 and had a long 15-year NFL career. Gus is with us. We've had Gus on the show before. Gus has a great memory. A good storyteller. I'm sure we'll get into

some of that. But the reason I reached out to you is kind of obvious. Jaden Daniels and the start to the season he's had. Before we get into him and your thoughts so far, how much have you been watching Washington through these first four games? Well, I do have fantasy football. So, yeah, I do follow the team. I know Coach Quinn. I've known him for years, so before the season started and he got busy, we were texting back and forth a few times. I'm just wishing him luck and happy that he got the job. And, you know, it just shows you get some good people. You get some good energy in there.

A lot of good things can happen. And it would be exciting to really see those stadiums, that stadium packed again. In your conversations with him, did you talk about what it was like to play in D.C.? No, I don't think we ever discussed that, really, because it was a different era. I mean, they're playing in a way different stadium than RFK. Where did your paths cross? Was it Miami? Yeah.

Yeah, when he used to come out and run D-Line drills with all the D-Ly linemen. Yeah. I was like, what are you doing? He was just like being in the mix of the guy. So he's a player's coach for sure, and he does a great job with all of them. Those of you that are listening certainly know this. I don't have to tell you this, but Gus started his career. when the team was still an RFK.

And then Gus played in FedEx Field. It was Jack Kent Cook Stadium then. But in the very first game ever at what became FedEx Field and is now Northwest Field, Gus, if you didn't know that. Oh, wow, yeah, I didn't know. Yeah, new naming rights this year. But the first game ever played in that stadium was against the Arizona Cardinals. And in overtime, Gus found Michael Westbrook in the end zone.

to win that game in OT. I think it was, was it 20 to 13? I don't remember the score. I'm usually good at that. Something like that. 19 to 13. Yeah, I don't remember the floor, but I remember that. Yeah, I don't remember.

I remember that play. Just getting, you know, they blitzed up the middle. I had a side step. I actually switched ball from right hand to left hand. So the guy wouldn't bat it out. Collected the ball back and just laid it up for Michael. We made a great catch. And it was, you know, just what a way to open a new stadium.

And the great thing was I got to close RFK. So there were two pieces of history that I got to be a part of that are very near and dear to my heart. Yeah, I mean, that last game against the Cowboys in 96 at RFK was one of them were for a lifelong fan like me and a lot of people listening. That was an emotional day. And the worst part about it, Gus, is that it should have been for the division touchdown. You know, we lost Arizona the week before on a walk-off field goal, and that had a chance to be for the NFC East title. It turned out to be a meaningless game for us, but what an emotional day that was. Yeah, I think when you look at that season and how good we were and what we should have done and how we ended,

I think that was the game playing the Cardinals that I think we went back and forth. If I'm not mistaken, our field goals at the end of the game. like we missed one, they missed one, we came back and missed another one, then they made one to win. And, you know, we always had a hard time against the card. You know, it always seemed like Larry Centers was picking up a third and long for a first town, you know, somehow some way. But, yeah, what an incredible experience.

We should have definitely made the playoffs that year. And, you know, we had some incredible players on offensive defense, and, you know, we just came up short. But it was, it was. For us, it was very meaningful just to beat the Cowboys, but you're right, it was a meaningless game as far as getting into the playoffs. You know, that team, the 96 team, is the last time legitimately, well, it's the best eight games start since 1991.

I mean, you know how, you know, down this franchise has been for a long time. So typically by the time we reach the halfway mark over the last 25 years, this season was starting to wind down a little bit. Anyway, but you've got to go back to that season, 96 for the last great, truly great start to a season. Jim Zorn's first year, I think they were six and two at the eight game mark. But seven and one, you guys were rolling offensively, and then just lost a couple of tight games.

I remember the 49ers game at RFK was a great game in overtime that we lost. like the Arizona game that you mentioned. I think I want to say Boomer Assison in that game threw for over 500 yards, something like that. Yeah, yeah. We couldn't get him off the field. But it was one of those back-and-forth games. And that end of the season, when I look back at it,

you know, it's just the game of football. There was a few plays here, a few plays there that made a difference. And we weren't on the right side of those. And, you know, if you're on the right side, those and we win even two games. You know, we win our division, we have a chance maybe to get a buy in the, you know, NFC, and it's just amazing when you don't do that, how close we were to being great. Yeah, it really was. All right, let's talk about this team. What are your impressions of Jaden Daniels so far? Amazing. You know, I don't know, I was talking to my good

friend, Ryan Fitzpatrick, who also played a little bit for Washington. four plays, I think. Or a quarter. Yeah. He said something that just struck me perfectly. He said, I don't think Jane Daniels understands this game is supposed to be hard. He makes it look pretty easy. And I was like, you know, you're right and all the stuff that I watched about him.

You know, because you watch a full game and you see it, but when you watch the highlights, really, and you see what he can do as far as anticipation. presence, being able to move his feet, get out of the dangerous way, throw on the run, and then also, I mean, we've seen them already, scored touchdowns with his feet, and then the one that I think fits and I both were really impressed with was the silly game against the Bengals. Yeah. Where he throws a touchdown in McClure and in the corner and takes a hit, and it's, you know, they're bringing the house, and he stands in there.

There's not a lot of young kids that can see that, handle that. and do that at this level. But I think, you know, obviously his college career prepared him pretty well for this game. You know, one of the reasons I reached out to you is because you did play a lot as a rookie. I mean, you were a seventh round pick out of Tulsa the year they took Heath Schuller at number three overall, and you ended up playing very well as a rookie quarterback. What are the – you know, we hear a lot about – you know, it's the mental part.

It's the processing. It's the throwing with anticipation. It's the reading of defenses. It's all of that. For you, what was the hardest part in that first year, starting as a rookie quarterback? Well, I think, you know, the difference is, obviously, I was a seventh rounder.

They took a kid in front of me who, you know, in Heath, that first rounder. And for me, it was always, okay, do I deserve to be here? You know what I mean? Like I had to prove myself. I had this mental thing. Like I got a, I got to, and then when I, if you had an incomplete or if you had a, if he threw an interception, it was like, oh, crap, you know, they're going to put freeze in or he's going

to come back. And all these things always went through your mind because kind of where you're drafted, where you're from. And it takes some time to get over that, right? But I look at Jaden and what he's going through that process where, you know, he could have been the first pick in a draft. but thank goodness for Washington he wasn't but it took a lot of pressure off him you see him out there and he plays with a lot of poise a lot of confidence and I think the hardest thing is coming in

and being a leader to a bunch of new older people right I think for me it was like I'm coming in there's still some hogs that are left over Daryl green you know there's veterans on this team how do I make my leadership felt or do I just play this role as I'm just fitting in But thinking back on it, you can't really do that as a quarterback. No matter when you were out there and where you were taken in a draft or if you were a free agent, you have to go out there and lead. And when I watch him, his poise and what he's doing right now, he shows a really good presence of leadership.

And I think it's bringing everybody else's play to a level that, you know, probably they haven't seen in quite a few years. do you that's interesting because as a seventh rounder there's not much expected at all you know before the season starts you come in and in your first game you light up the colts on the road you guys win big um and you just spoke to you can't get away basically no matter how old you are no matter what year it is for you in the league at that position without leading so how did you go about leading well um had some good veteran leadership on that team. And I always tell a story about Daryl Green.

It was the beginning of the season. And I was running scout team, and I was just doing what they told me to do, right? Throw it to the circle guy. That's what the defensive coaches always wanted you to do. And Daryl came up to me, and he said, hey, what are you doing? And I said, just what they tell me. He goes, well, you're not making yourself any better. and second, you're not making me any better by doing what they tell you.

I'm out here to get better to put it in work. So if you just want to make it easy on yourself, you'll never get a chance or an opportunity to play, right? You have to go out there and prove yourself every day. And so that's what I started doing. When I got into scout team, I would just ignore what the coaches told me to do, and I would play it like it was a real game

and throw it to the proper route or whatever defense they were playing. I think a lot of times what would happen is sometimes coaches want to set up things. And, okay, if they throw this play and we have covered two, what's it look like? Well, it's not really – that's not going to happen, right? They're going to throw it to where they need to throw it in cover, too, not where you want them to throw it. And so there were a lot of things like that, and I think for me, really, the big kind of aha moment came when I was able to take all the reps in training camp because he held out, right?

I got to be there, got to be with all the guys in the huddle, showing them what I can do, and their confidence in me gave me confidence that I could go out there on Sundays and play. You're saying that that was kind of an aha moment. Was there a specific moment, a preseason game that you recall? I mean, that Daryl Green story is a great story. I mean, let me back up. So how did Norv, how did the staff handle you guys? going off script in some of the scout, you know, team reps?

Well, they, I think they would yell, you know, obviously the coaches do things for reason. They have a reason to do things. But when you have veterans that are on this team that are Hall of Famers, like Darrell, and they go, no, no, we want him to do that, then they kind of lay off you a little bit. Got it. You know, it wasn't like I was missing curfew. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do as a quarterback in complete passes and read it. defense. Right. You know what I mean? They understood that, and it took some time, but over time I just knew that, and then I carried that on with me every team I went to. As a starter, you know, I'd make sure that tell the other quarterbacks, you know,

when I was the backup, I'd go in and do scout team and, you know, and always put pressure on the defense. That's the only way they're going to get better because they're playing against the top guy every week, and they need that work. So, you know, it's just those little things that really pull you through, especially when, you know, I mean, Heath went to Tennessee, the crowds he played against probably one game equal to all the crowds that I, you know, had at Tulsa. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So it's a big difference. It makes a big difference. They're not saying that you're less talented or you're not as good, obviously, but it's just there's a difference in mentality when you go to a smaller school. And so I think that it was just a combination of everything that I went through that let me be able to play the way I needed to stay in the league as long as I did. Yeah, I mean, you had such a long career. Like I, for those that don't remember, Gus was in the league for 15 years. You know, after Washington, he was in Detroit.

Remember, he started the playoff game in FedEx Field against the 99 team quarterbacked. by Brad Johnson. He went to Detroit. He played for Mike Shanahan in Denver. You know, one of the things, the last time I had you on, I actually looked this up, and I don't think we talked about it, you started a playoff game for the Denver Broncos. The year the Ravens went to the Super Bowl in 2000, it was the wild card round, and you actually, you were the first, you know, team that the Ravens beat on the way to that,

incredible, you know, 2000 Ravens defense Super Bowl. I mean, I would imagine that that's one of the best defenses you ever had to quarterback against. But that was a playoff game for Mike Shanahan and the Broncos.

Yeah, we went in there and we had a really good team. And it's not like, you know, they beat the brakes off of us. They were good. That defense was good. You had a tough time struggling. I remember we threw a little fullback passed down the middle to Howard Griffith, and we were able to kick a field goal, you know.

And it was a tight game. Our defense was really good, you know, and we were, it was, there was a lot of points on the board. And I'll never forget, I think it was, I want to say Terrell Buckley had a chance to pick off a pass. Maybe, I'm trying to think it was to RELF. But anyway, I think Trent was throwing it to Shannon Sharp in the flat. Trentil for you.

And yeah, so he threw it. We go to pick it off, goes off our hand, Shannon Sharp catched it runs down for a touchdown. I think we lost the game 10-3 because once they got ahead, it's just that, you know, their D-line was so good. Right. Their corners could sit on everything because you just didn't have time to make place. To stand in the pocket, they were just suffocating defense.

And it's kind of funny. Like after that game, we were all pretty bummed out, because we really felt like we had a good team and we had a shot to win. And they were really good. But if you go back and look at that season and what their defense did to every other playoff quarterback, I go, wow, my staff weren't that bad. Destroyed them. Yeah.

My stats weren't that bad. I didn't throw four picks. Exactly. No, I remember looking that up, and I'm trying to pull it up right now. But the last time I had you on, it was in sort of the notes that I had written down. but I'm pretty sure we didn't talk about it. But they faced, I think, McNair and Houston in the next game. And then they totally shut down Rich Gannon, who had a big year.

And then I think it was Kerry Collins in the Super Bowl, right? Yeah. I think so. Yeah. And you probably had as many passing yards and as good of an offensive performance against that team as anybody. So I want to – the point. is, you know, and I think most of the listeners know this, Gus had such a long career with so many different experiences in the NFL. You know, just on that point alone, Gus, look, you had talent,

and it was obvious when you got into the games your rookie year. It's like, whoa, I mean, he actually looks much better than he's schuler, which you did, and you were for a lot of reasons. But when you stay in the league that long, not always as a full-time starter. And we've seen a lot of that here this year. Look at Sam Darnold. Look at, you know, Dalton came in. I mean, you know, here's Flacco potentially getting a start. Gino Smith had a career that everybody counted as over, and he's back.

Why do guys like that stick around and keep getting chances time and time again? Well, I think there's a, you have experience. right. You look at all those guys you mentioned. They played football at the, you know, highest level. They have a lot of experience. They can come in and handle the team as far as meeting all the other players and understanding who they are and working with them and trying to be a good leader to all those people. And I think the other thing is you have to be empathetic. You have to be a leader is not just keeping everything to yourself. And one of the things I always tried to do was anytime I was on a team, I helped everybody as much I can, including all the other quarterbacks that came in.

Because it wasn't about me. It was about the team. And when I look at all those guys that you just mentioned a lot of times, that's the case, right? Because they said, okay, I'm going to go here. I'm going to help the team do what I can to win. I'll never forget when Coach Chodor's called me to come back to my last season in Minnesota. He said, Gus, I want you to come up and help the show. young kid.

I said, all right, coach. I said, you know, I'm not a spring chicken anymore, and he's laughing. He said, you can still wing it. I know you can. But more importantly, you can help this young kid. I think he's got a lot of talent. And I think, you know, there's something more to be said about a veteran helping them than, you know, sometimes a quarterback.

Wait, who is the young kid? Rest and peace is Tavares Jackson. Tavares Jackson in Minnesota, got it. Yeah. Then he went to Seattle. Yeah. And, you know, the rest, I mean, people can look up what happened to him. But, you know, he was a good kid. But I ended up playing a lot that year.

You know, he wasn't ready. Sometimes you're ready. Sometimes you're not. And, you know, I end up playing a lot that year is my final season. And who would ever thought that, you know, a entire record in the NFL when I'm 38? Wait. What record was that? Come on, man.

The 99-yarder. Two. No, I don't. Hard barian. I don't know the, I don't know the 99-yarder. Well, it's a great, it's a great story. Minnesota was an awesome place to play in the dome. And, you know, our defense, an incredible defense, we're playing the Bears.

They drive down, fourth and goal. We hold them. We get the ball at the one-yard line. Darrell Bezels, our offense coordinator. He says, all right, let's call 9. 99 F scenes. That's all four goes. They play cover three. Peanut Tillman thinks I'm throwing it

to the tight end. I throw it over his head to Bernard Barrier. And you know, I threw it from five yards deep in the end zone. He catches it kind of the 45 and the rest of the history. And it was just you know, all these years you play in the NFL and you're like, okay, what are we

going to call coming out of the end zone? Everybody thinks we're going to hand it off to Adrian Peterson. Well, you know, we throw it one over their head, which was a pretty cool experience. That is a fun fact to know and tell. I mean, I did not know that. But clearly, it's the longest touchdown pass in NFL history. But is it tied with anybody else?

Yeah, oh, yeah. I think there's been, I want to say seven throws and maybe eight runs or opposite, something like that. Yeah. Where 99 yards, but, you know, nobody can ever break it. Nobody can ever break it. Not unless they lengthen the field. Yeah.

And that team, by the way, correct me if I'm wrong, but that team went to the playoffs. Yeah, we won our division that year. And we should have been, we should have, we should have had a buy. We didn't. We played at Detroit. I broke my back in Detroit and tried to come back in like two, two and a half game, two, three games. and then Coach Chedrus wanted to play Tavares in the playoffs. That's his choice.

I thought I was ready to go. But, you know, we got to the first round and in loss, but, you know, we had a good team. By the way, in your description, I think one of the other things, and I think it was Jay Gruden who told me this, because I think we were having a conversation about Chase Daniel, you know, far different career than yours, because you started, like, you know, 150 games or whatever. over the course of your career. But he said a big part of it is that you've got to be really smart and you've got to be an excellent teammate.

And you described certainly the latter portion of that. But you didn't mention the first part. So I would imagine that that was a big part of all of those opportunities over the years as well. Yeah, I mean, you're not in the league if you don't understand a defense, if you don't understand different offenses. because playing for seven different coaches, there's seven different offenses that you have to learn.

And a lot of times it was learning them in three months before the start of the season, or four months or whatever it was. So you have to be able to adjust. You have to take new terminology. There's not much different from what it looks like on the field. Like if you just put all the different past plays and everything over top of each other, they probably all look the same and where you throw them and everything. It's just how you call them.

And we've all heard John Gruden, you know, probably his brother, call plays, and they're like, you know, 18 words long. And then you go to North Turner and it's like six words long, right? So there's differences and you have to understand, you know, Mike Shanahan's offense was a different offense than when I was in Detroit. So there's just, you have to be able to manage all of that, as well as being a good teammate, as well as, you know, get along with coaches, all those types of things.

You know, I just watched the throw to Bernard Barrier, and I just pulled it up. What a beautiful throw. I mean, that is a great throw. I mean, that's not a hitch that he takes 99 yards. That is in the air, and that ball's caught almost at the 50-yard line from you back in the end zone. You know, it reminded me, to me, the most famous 99-yard play in my lifetime of watching football. football actually happened in the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Tony Dorset took a handoff in the backfield, ran 99 yards against the Vikings on Monday

night football. And there's a famous call of Howard Cosell and, you know, the whole group calling that. But good throw. Yeah, you know, I really haven't looked this up and made you just reminded me, is it the longest that the ball has been thrown. You know, I think there were a lot of throws that were short, little screens or hitches and guys turned and took them to the house. But I'm just wondering if it was the longest throw for a 99-yard touchdown.

Well, it'd be hard for it to be much longer because you're five yards deep in the end zone and Berrien catches it at the 46. Well, I mean, it's a 51-yard throw, I guess, right from where you threw it. Yeah. And he's got a couple of steps. on who did you say the defender is? It's Tillman.

Tillman. Yeah. Yeah. It's Peanut Tillman. Yep. Yeah. Well, what happened was we had a guy down the scene, and then he was playing cover three,

and a lot of times the corners are taught to cheat to make that play on the tight end who's running the theme. So he had to think that I was throwing to the tight end. So if you watch the play, he takes a couple steps in, and then Bernard gets past them. But, yeah, it's not an easy game. There's a lot of factors that go into it, and it's not just going out on playing on Sundays. It's in the building.

It's staff. It's your teammates, the coaches. So there's a lot that goes into it, and I think that when you can play a long time, you have a knack of getting along with a lot of people. All right. We're getting sidetracked, even though I love getting sidetracked,

guys that played here a long time ago. But I did want to ask you just a couple of more quickly about Jaden and what you've seen. So you talked about what it was that you needed to sort of overcome as a rookie, the challenges. And you talked more about sort of the leadership part of it, the adaptation of a guy that was a seventh round pick, et cetera. Specific to on the field, you know, not any of the intangible stuff. What's the biggest challenge for him, and from afar, how's he handling that? Well, I think he's comfortable with the play calling, obviously, with Cliff. And I think that takes a lot off your mind, right?

He understands the offense. You understand where you're going. And most teams in the NFL, you have really good players surrounding you, which he does. But to me, it's like he's made every throw. in these four games that I've watched, he made throws from, you know, a small hitch, the big seven-step play action drop, throwing a dig route, throwing to the tight end across the middle, throwing a go ball down the sideline, scrambling to his right, scrambling to his left, being able to make the throws,

and just make him look easy, nonchalant almost, where it's, it, you know, he's not, you can tell he's not stressed when he's throwing, right? he's like, I got this. I made a throw before. And he's pretty darn accurate. You know, a lot of guys aren't, you know, the ball's not behind them. He's making a lot of good throws. And I think when you see a kid that can make a play in the fourth quarter to win games at this level

and the poise that he is able to put the ball accurately after getting smacked in the face, it's telling sign that he got a pretty good player on your hands. What are the adjustments that teams that are on their schedule, Cleveland this week, excellent defense, Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator, Baltimore the week after that? What are the adjustments you think defensive coordinators will make against him? And by the way, this Washington offense overall that has been a juggernaut through the first four games? Yeah, you know, these defense coordinators are going to go look at like, okay, who's he similar to? who's been like this in the NFL.

And you look at, you know, they'll probably go back and watch Chief Games when, you know, they had Tyree Kill and these guys were running all over the place. And, you know, they couldn't tackle them in the backfield. And, you know, how did teams that beat them play their defense? And so I think that these coordinators will figure them out, like who we need to take away. But if you look at it as high-light reel, it's every receiver has caught passes. It's not like I'm just throwing to one guy. die the whole game, you know, and relying on him.

He's done a great job of spreading the football around and, you know, being able to use the whole field. You know, when you have a weapon like that that can run the ball and throw it like he is, it's hard to play any defense, right? Because hopefully, you know, he's seen it all. He's seen most of it. And if I'm a defense coordinator, I'm going to pressure him all game. We're going to play man and we're going to see what you can do because I think that's

the hardest situation. the NFL. Cliff Kingsbury, the job he's done. What do you make of that from afar? Yeah, you know, I think that he's got experience as far as, you know, being a leader, being a head coach, didn't work out for him first time, but coming in and saying, okay, now I don't have all the other pressure that a head coach has to deal with. Now I could just, you know, study my offense, know what I want to do,

and study the defense, know what they're doing, and call the appropriate plays at the appropriate time. I got a kid I can trust with everything. And that's a big deal for an offensive coordinator. When you've got a quarterback that you know you can throw anything at him and he's going to not make a mistake. Now, things happen. Balls go off hands. You know, sometimes you get hit in the back and you fumble and things like that.

But for the most part, I think there's a trust factor that he has with Jaden that, you know, you can't say that for a lot of teams. What's possible for this team this year? Well, I think anything's possible. that's what makes the NFL great. It's just, can you stay healthy? Can you keep your guys on the field? And I think that's, you know, lucky.

You know, if it's your line stay intact. I think the good teams that we've seen throughout the years, their line stays intact, their defense doesn't have a lot of injuries. They play well, and they complement each other. So I think if they can continue to do that, then, you know, they're going to have a lot of luck, and I think they're going to bring a lot of fans back in the stadium. Thanks, Gus.

I always enjoy doing this when I get a chance to have you on this show. I know you want to talk about something that you've been working on, so have at it. Yeah, I appreciate it. And I just wanted to kind of get a little plug in here with our alumni media network that we're trying to build for alumni of the NFL or any other sport. We're just trying to hear it support them. Just like myself, a lot of guys have incredible stories,

and they know how to tell them, but they don't know how to do the tech side or start a podcast or do all the stuff you need to do to have your own show. So what we do at Alumni Media Network is we try to bring guys in and help support them and, you know, just let them tell their stories

because if you look at every guy that's played this game, they all have incredible moments stories that they can tell and create content from. Umnighmedia.com to find out more. And there's Gus Ferrat's picture. Is that your podcast, huddle up? Yeah. I used to do that.

I used to do that a lot. And then once we started the network, I've just basically been kind of finding guys that want to come in. And you know the struggle of websites and everything. So we've been going around and around and trying to build this thing. And now we're really getting some traction. and I thought it, for me, it's been incredible because it lets me go out and talk to the guys again, right? I get to go out and call people that I've watched play or played with and, you know, hey, can I help you in any way?

What are we doing? And then we just have good conversations about the past. And it's been a lot of fun. Good luck with it. Really appreciate the time. Again, it's alumnimedia.com. Thanks, Gus, so much. All right.

Thank you, Kevin. Gus Farad, everybody. Always good to catch up with Gus. All right, that is it for the day. I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy. And Farah tries to give him some breathing room, and he's going to take a shot. Do you downfield?