The Kevin Sheehan Show - Dismal DC Sports + Bieniemy Bits

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

Kevin and Thom today on the state of the DC sports teams. It's as bad as it's been but who will come out of their dismal state first? The boys discussed that along with The Washington Post's revealing story on Eric Bieniemy's rough season in Washington. Thom made his Super Bowl pick and the guys had their "You Heard It Here First" bold predictions for the week.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show presented by Window Nation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Window Nation. It's NBA Trade Deadline Day. The Wizards have, as of the recording of this podcast, they have traded Daniel Gafford. That's it so far. There are also reports that they are not going to trade Kyle Kuzma. Let me just mention to those of you that don't follow the team, don't care about the team, and don't even know the names of the players. Kyle Kuzma, they gave a big deal to in the offseason.

He's 28 years old. He's an excellent player. And I have no problem with them not trading Kyle Kuzma unless they were to get a blockbuster deal. Because Tommy, one of the things I've learned about, Kyle Kuzma, both by having him on the show, the radio show, and just hearing from various people around the team over the last couple of years. He is among the most well-liked people in the building. He is incredibly thoughtful. He's a great interview. Have you interviewed him yet? No, I have not. He's interesting. He plays for the wizards, right? He plays for the wizards, yes. He plays for

the wizards, but he, you know, take all of the, you know, the flamboyance from what he wears to games. He is, he's really smart. He's interesting. And I've been told multiple times he is one of their favorite players in that building in a long, long time. Apparently just really, and he's 28 years old. So even though there's a chance they won't be any good for another three or four years, maybe they think, he could be the veteran on the first team we have that, you know, has a chance to make a run at the playoffs. I don't know what they're thinking is it relates to that.

What's a blockbuster deal? Well, you've got to get back picks, plural, and it's got to be, there's got to be a first involved in it. Because, God, here we go. I think they could get a first. Hold on. The fast forward buttons are being hit right now. I can hear them right now. When are you going to end the Wizards? conversation. Stop talking about the wizards. Okay. They're right. You know, they are 100% right.

I did this last night, by the way, Jordan Poole, who may be the most unlikable player. He played 25 minutes and didn't score any points. This is a guy that is literally, you know, sabotaging his own career. I read the post story. He got booed a couple of times throughout the game. They played at Washington, right? They played at Washington, right? They played it. home? They did play at home last night. You read the game story in the post? Wow. Why? I read because I think the headline was Jordan Poole gets booed. Oh, okay. Well, that'll draw you in. And I, too, am fascinated by this car wreck that we're watching. Yeah, it is. Well, it's an intentional car wreck. It is. His own car wreck. His own personal car wreck. I got it. No, his own personal

career. I got it. No. You. You're not. His own car wreck. He's a car wreck. I got it. No, you. You're right. You're right. I know the wizards are in a demolition survey, you know? At this point, I know that. And I'm on board with that, okay? But this guy, I can't believe how much, you're like, where he had the opportunity to be the man going from a place where he was, what,

the third or fourth banana, but still considered a very talented player. But not well-wise. I think a lot of people thought I saw it, once he came to Washington, he'd have a chance to shine? And he's done the opposite. Yeah. I mean, I was certainly expecting him to shoot 30 times a game and average 24 a game. Last night he shot five times and scored zero points.

It's pretty funny. Actually, you know, this is, I was not going to bring this up on the show today, but I'm going to do it now since we're talking about the Wizards, because we did it on radio this morning, and I'm looking for, looking for the email that I got this morning. I remember the guy's name. It was Bernie. Where is it?

Basically, I had a guy email me. Who emailed you about the wizard? No. It was, okay, here it is. Kevin, have we ever been at this point in D.C. sports? All four teams are bad. And the two college programs that matter the most, Maryland and Georgetown are just as bad. Do you realize that this is an all-time rock bottom for this

area and sports? And so when I read this right before the show started this morning, I'm like, you know what? He's right. You have, I mean, just think about the draft position, right? The Nats pick second. The skins are picking second. The wizards will pick in the top three. And then add to that, the caps are seven points out of the playoff race right now, probably not going to go to the playoffs for the second straight year. And then for those that care like I do about college basketball, and I would say that, you know, next in line after the four pro sports teams are, you know, being a basketball town, Maryland and Georgetown have provided a lot of thrills over the years. Neither one of them is very good and they're not going to go to the tournament. Georgetown's

terrible. Maryland's not very good. The caps aren't going to make the playoffs. They still could make the playoffs. I know the Nats have a nice young nucleus. They're not spending any money. They're also in a division with Atlanta and Philadelphia. They're over under for wins. I checked it for 2024 or 68.

They're only three teams with a lower over under win total. Washington's football franchise was 4 and 13 and finished, arguably, is the worst team in the league at the end of the year. I don't think we've ever been at this point. I think he's right. Bernie's right. I think he may be right. I think he may be right.

I mean, on the other hand, I know people would point to 1972 at saying, wow, that's when, you know, that's when the Redskins went to the Super Bowl, and what a great year that was. But there was no basketball. There was no football. There was no hockey. So is it better? Baseball and hockey, yeah.

Yeah. Is it better to basically have success in a limited field or to have at least the, is it better in quantity or quality? Well, obviously, you know, we're a big city. You have to have the quantity. I mean, we're not Salt Lake, you know. I mean, so.

So I think it's been worse, even in a great year for the Redskins, comparable, we were basically like Buffalo that year. That was the only team you had in town. Well, what would be worse? To be a one-team town with the team being awful, or to be the four-team town, and all four of them were pretty bad? I don't know. I, I, the funny thing is, I remember when the bullets moved here, and I was a kid, and I was so excited and, you know, there was no baseball. I always wanted baseball back. And then the hockey thing came and, you know, it was, this wasn't a hockey area.

Nobody grew up playing hockey or even knew much about hockey, but it became, you know, what it became. But anyway, here's the question that I ended up taking calls on on the radio show. Which of the four pro teams, and let's throw Maryland and Georgetown in there? badly, by the way, not mentioning Maryland football because of the teams currently, Maryland football's had the most recent success. They've won a couple of bowl games in a row. And Mike Loxley's done a great job with that program. But Maryland football is very niche, very niche. Look, everything else has become sort of bandwagonish as well in town. But which of the teams do you think will be back and in contention in the postseason,

relevant in their sport before the others? Well, I might want to point out that you left out the D.C. defenders. Well, I left out the e-sports team, too, I guess. He went to the XFL championship game last year. Come on. Okay, are we going to a Defenders game again this year? Sure. I'll go to, I love that Audi field.

fun, didn't we have fun? Wait a great time. Randy Mueller, by the way, remember, was sitting right next to us. I tried to talk to him, but I then realized that he was actually part of the Seattle team. But I've had him on radio a bunch since then. He's really, he's a good guest. He's excellent. Yeah, he is.

I think he works for the athletic. He does work for the athletic and writes for the athletic. Yeah, no, he's smart. Okay, so we're not going to count the defenders. Take the defenders out of it. Thank you. Okay. You know, you have to say.

say, you have to say Washington has the brightest future because... Which Washington? It's a... Well, that's true. The commanders. Oh, okay. You know, I can't even say the name. You see, if you...

Think about you, you can't say the name. How do you think people like me feel? I say it, though, every once. I've been saying it more and more, but whatever. So you think it's the football team? Because they have a clean... slate. Okay, everybody else, even the basketball management team, which has been here for five minutes,

has already fired the coach that they picked, to coach the wizards, the coach that they kept, not picked. They inherited him. They kept them, even though everybody knew he was not a very good NBA coach. Right. So the basketball management, that's only been here five minutes, they're already, what, six and 30 or something like that? or six and thirty one.

They have the third worst record in the league. It's like nine, I think it's nine and forty. They've already, whether that's good or not, whether that's the part of the plan, they've already established their mark of, you know, of misery. Okay, this unit of football has not done that yet. New owner, new coach, new general manager. You could argue the new owner has because he sat there, watched, Ron Rivera go four and 13. But you know, as an overall package, I'd say the commanders

probably have the most promise because they don't have any blemishes, really. As it relates to this conversation, there is some complexity to it just because of the hockey thing. You know, like the Caps could literally be in the playoffs in two months and win a series or two. I mean, it's the nature of hockey. There's seven points out currently. They're not a good team. They've lost five games in a row. They're next to last in their division, but, you know, it's so bunched up that they could actually make a run. But the randomness of hockey, you know, they're not a good team, right? You know, Ovechkin, by the way, the whole Ovechkin chasing Gretzky thing, now it looks like, will it happen? I think he's still 62 short. Doesn't look good right now.

But that's not the conversation we're having. I gave the same answer. you gave. But Denton gave me the Nats, which I thought you were going to give me. And this is why he said, look, they have a young, the trades of the last few years have brought in some really interesting players from, you know, certainly the Soto trade and Dylan Cruz could be a star. And I, and I said, that's fine, you know, when you're looking at C.J. Abrams and you're looking at K. Bear Ruiz from the, you know, trade to the, the, you know, trade to the dollar. and you're looking at Dylan Cruz and all of these different people that a lot of guy, a lot of people in baseball are excited about, you know, in terms of having some real, you know,

real potential stars and excellent players that they've, that Mike Rizzo's traded for in recent years. However, they don't have an ace right now on their staff unless you think McKenzie Gore is. Do you? I haven't seen enough to think he's a thing he's a nice. Look, they have a lame duck ownership. That was my, okay? That holds back. That was what I was going to say that too.

Ownerships and flux. They're not spending any money. Yeah, they have a lame, yeah, they're not spending any money. The NACs did well in those trades, but they're still 10 steps behind the Orioles when it comes to player development right now. Okay. They've gone from one of the worst player development systems in the league to just above the middle of the pack, but there's not top ten right now. There are some reasons to be optimistic about some players, but until the ownership, the thing is settled,

then you know who your new owner's going to be, and it's not going to be second coming at Dan Snyder or something like that. You can't pay to that. Yeah, and again, the ownership thing, and then just the fact, that there are two stud teams in their division in Atlanta and Philly that don't look like they're going anywhere anytime soon. No, no. And the Braves are going to be stacked for years. Right.

They have signed almost all their players to, like, multi-year contract, all the young players. So they're not going to have an exodus of young talent like Washington has had. And the Phillies, you have an owner who looks like he's willing to spend what it takes to compete. And, you know, the other thing, too, about what you said about the football team, and this is why I would lean in that direction, is it's the NFL. Things change so quickly. And they do have kind of a clean slate.

They do have an opportunity in this first year with better coaching, with better. ownership and better structure with, you know, the opportunity to potentially add a quarterback at number two, but to add a lot of other players. And the free agency opportunity could be huge. They're in a division right now where Philadelphia doesn't look nearly as scary moving forward as they did midway through this season. The Cowboys are kind of, you know, a self-sabotaging team themselves. But, you know, the NFL changes. Look, Houston last year was supposed to be one of the two or three worst teams in the league. They went to the postseason and won a game. It would not shock me if a Dan Quinn coach team that, you know, with the structure in place that they have,

if they turn it around much faster than people think. Now, the key, of course, quarterback. Quarterback. They got to get that right. And even if they get it right, there's a better chance, that that quarterback isn't C.J. Stroud in his rookie year, which was, you know, incredible what Stroud did in his first year in Houston. So I'm with you. Also, I just wanted to mention this about the Wizards. Back to the Wizards. One more time, I promise it'll be quick. So they're 9 and 41, and this is really what they're going to be here. You know, of all the teams, they're the furthest away by far. because even though they're doing the right things to give them the best chance, it's two years away minimum. It's two more drafts away minimum from them being a competitive team versus being an awful team.

It's probably three to four years away from them actually having the players that they add over the next couple of years be mature enough and have enough experience to make a lot. run for like the play-in seven to ten seed, you know. And let me point out that those of the opportunities they'll have, there's no guarantee they'll pick the right guy. None. As it relates to that, this upcoming draft is not the draft that they believe in or any other NBA team believes in. The 25 and the 26 drafts are the ones that I think the Wizards.

have their eyes on. Like, I think they'd love to accumulate a lot of picks so that they can, you know, have a lot of balls in the hopper for the 25 draft, which has Cooper Flag at the top. He is just an unbelievable high school basketball player. He's going to go to Duke next year. He'll be a one and done. He's the consensus overall projected number one and 25. And then Carlos Boozer's son, He's got twins, but the one son who's the bigger guy, the 6-8-6-9 guy, I think he's actually maybe 6-10 or growing to 6-10. He is apparently a potential superstar as well. So you never know even with these NBA things,

but it seems like when you have these phenoms in high school, they actually pan out more than the NFL guys do. But that's what they'll be looking at. Okay, enough about that. Enough about the Wizards. This from Jason... We've done enough damage. Yeah.

We've done enough damage to this show now. Let's move on. This from Jason on Twitter. So Logan Paulson agrees with you on Jaden Daniels, and then he said something that was rather graphic that I won't read. I just wanted to mention that yesterday I had Logan on. Logan's great. And Logan had really good insight on Dan Quinn, who he played for.

He's obviously very very. very bullish on Quinn and likes Peters too. But he thinks Caleb Williams won Jaden Daniels to Drake May 3. And yesterday at the beginning of the show, I gave my order as of February 7th subject to change, Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, and Drake May. And what I said was, and Logan agreed with this. And this is where this guy got a little bit graphic in terms of what my reaction may have been to Logan, agreeing with me. Honestly, it wasn't nearly what you thought it was, Jason. I don't care. I actually,

you know, just value his insight. He said, I said, I think Jaden Daniels is much closer to Caleb Williams than Drake May is to Jaden Daniels. And Logan agreed with that. Now, it's funny because I've been looking at a lot of the mock drafts and there's so many out there now. Jaden Daniels is the number two quarterback taken much more than Drake May is for what it's worth and it's not worth much. But I'm going to tell you right now, these things are going to change potentially between now and the draft because teams haven't had a chance to sit down with these guys face to face. They haven't gone deep diving yet into talking to coaches, talking to friends, talking to family members talking to all the people that they need to talk to to to get comfortable with the person.

I don't know anything about these people. I just watch games like a lot of you do, and Caleb Williams is really special. He is. He does things that you don't see and haven't seen college quarterbacks do in a long time, and it does look very much like Mahomes, the way he plays. Jaden Daniels flat out, the most electrifying college football player of the last several years. And if they had had a bad defense instead of an absolute horrific defense, I think he'd actually be much more in the conversation of number one because they would have been in the playoff. And they would have played well.

They were the best offensive team in America. It wasn't close. And if their defense had been just average, they may have won the national championship. Who? Jaden Daniels, LSU. Okay. But I will see what happens. But yeah, if it's Daniels and May and Caleb Williams goes to Chicago,

I'm taking Jaden Daniels as of today. But we might learn things about him that, you know, turn us off. And real quickly, this was from Richard. Richard said, you didn't answer the question you asked Logan about Justin Fields. I asked him, would you consider trading up for Justin Fields if they're going to take Caleb Williams? And he was not super keen on that, in part because he likes some of the things in Justin Fields, but you're not getting the rookie contract. You're going to have to make a decision to pay him sooner rather than later.

I like Justin Fields. I've always liked Justin Fields. It's going to come down to whether or not Cliff Kingsbury likes Justin Fields. And whether or not he thinks Justin Fields is more of a certainty. in developing him than what the other two quarterbacks if Justin Fields is available it means they're picking Caleb Williams, Chicago.

But I do like Justin Fields and the idea of trading, say, a second round pick to move up one spot. Let's just say it's a second and I mean, you're not going to have to you're not going to have to trade any more than a second for Justin Fields. You're going to have to trade

a future one minimum and your number two this year, number two overall, to move up to one to take Caleb Williams. It might be two future ones. But for Justin Fields... Remember, the RG3 deal was what, three first rounders? Yeah, but you were moving up from six to two, not two to one. It's one spot. But really, the issue is we don't know what the price will be for number one because we don't know who's going to be trying to get up there. New England might want to be getting up there as well.

But in terms of Fields, I don't think you give up any more than a second round pick. And then you're talking about taking number two and potentially leveraging it into a blockbuster deal, moving back a little bit, getting lots of other picks. And now you've really got a chance to build around Justin Fields if you believe in them. I don't hate that idea. But I only am, I'm only okay with that idea if you aren't in love with any of the three that are there. Or if you're not in love with any of the two that are there because Chicago is going to take Caleb Williams and not even give you a chance to trade up and take Caleb Williams.

So there, there's a answer. I'm going to defer, I'll defer to you on this. Although I agree with Logan. I haven't watched Justin Fields. Yeah, I mean, I don't mind deferring to Logan as well, but go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, I defer to you on the quarterbacks in college. I agree with Logan in that I'm not crazy about acquiring Justin Fields as a better option

than picking one of these two or three quarterbacks from college, because you're right. You're going to have to make a decision quick about Justin Fields. Yep. You've got to pick up the option right away on the fifth year, and then you're probably a year away from having to pay. Because if you pick, let's say if you pick Drake May, I know this is a bad, people don't want to see this happen, and it turns out he's not the guy. You can fix that. You can go get another one.

You're right. You're right. And you've got plenty of time to figure it out. Yes. Yes, you do. You know, you've basically got five years potentially. That's the beauty of these fucking contracts. You're not given Sam Bradford a $50 million deal. No, you're not. Okay. You sent me a story that just broke this afternoon. The Post did a story on Eric Bienemy. It was Nikki Javala and Sam Fortier who wrote about why Eric B. Enemies one season didn't go well.

And there is some stuff in there that I think is interesting. We're moving on to a certain degree, but they can't start picking players yet or picking free agents yet. Also, by the way, it looks like Washington's added a coach to their offensive staff. We'll talk about that. And more right after these words from a few. of our sponsors. This segment of the show is sponsored by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie.

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When it comes to prop bets, it is a buffet, Tommy, with everything that you want on it, comfort food-wise. There's meatloaf, there's mac and cheese, there's mashed potatoes. No greens on this buffet. It's just good comfort food. And my bookie just does it right. I mean, I talked about them for four years now, more than four years. It's a place in which you're not going to get ripped off. The pricing is right.

The lines are fair. You get paid if you win. There are too many places out there right now that are charging you way too much on a loss. That's not what my bookie does. Go to my bookie.ag for all of your Super Bowl betting needs. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. So, Nikki Javala, Sam 48, just moments ago put out a story, Washington Post titled Eric B. Enemy lasted one season with the commanders.

Here's what went wrong. And there are some quotes in here on the condition of anonymity that I will read. You know, they go through all the stuff that we know. know. He took the job. He was trying to spread his wings, you know, from Andy Reed and from, you know, Patrick Mahomes, et cetera. The previous coordinator, Scott Turner, wasn't very good. And then they go through a lot of what happened this year. It was not a good season, clearly. Before BNME arrived, they write his high-profile pursuit of a head coaching job had already raised questions about why so many teams had passed him over. And his quick exit from the commanding

raised more. He interviewed for the commander's head coaching vacancy last month, but was not believed to be among the finalists for the job. I would just add, parenthetically, he didn't interview for any head coaching job in this particular hiring cycle, nor has he interviewed for any available offensive coordinator job. By the way, if you guys missed this yesterday, Tommy, I don't know if you saw this. He was part of the locker room in Kansas City or in Baltimore before the championship game. He was welcome back to address the team, but Andy Reid was asked about whether or not he would be on the staff next year, and he said, well, we don't have a spot. God. In the locker room, but he said he'll, he's going to get a job, you know, he built

him up, and he said, as far as here goes, we don't have a spot. In the locker room, Nikki and Sam write, signs of frustration were evident throughout this season. After Washington's last game, a blowout loss to Dallas, tight-end Logan Thomas was as direct as any player had been about the simmering tensions between Bienemy and his players when he said, quote, I might be the only one to say it, but I think we had our ups and downs with Bianmi. We had some good, we had some bad. It's one of those things where something new comes in after you've been used to something else for a couple of years. and sometimes you can bang heads. I respect him for coming to work every day

and being the same person every day. Other players who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal team dynamics described Bienemy as a hardworking coach who hamstrung his own efforts with poor communication, stubborn play calling, and a disregard for player feedback.

By the way, Bianami did not respond to a request to comment on this story. You know, they went back to, you know, the Terry McLorn feeling, the confrontation that he had in training camp with him. We remember that where St. Juice hit Cole Turner really hard. McLorne got up in his face. Beenemy screamed something at McLorn, and McCorn yelled back, you know, at Bienemy. Then it was the next week that Rivera said players, you know, stupidly,

Rivera went public with players express. concern over Bianimi's coaching style. But then it gets to the following. As the season progressed, friction remained. Multiple people said there was often confusion on game days because of offensive adjustments that were not clearly communicated to players and assistance didn't seem to be on the same page. Behind the scenes, some players urge their position coaches to beg Bianami to run the

ball more. The pass heavy attack placed an extra burden on the offensive line and quarterback, and when Washington's offense did run, it averaged the seventh most yards per carry in the NFL at 4.43 per rush. One player said on the condition of anonymity, quote, I don't think they gave Sam, as in howl, a fair chance. I felt like we became a one-dimensional team, closed quote. Another player blamed Rivera for not forcing Bion. enemy to run the ball more, or fixing the disconnect between the offensive and defensive staffs. One player said, quote, we didn't play complimentary football all year long, and that came back to haunt us, closed quote. Some players felt Bienemey's intense practices, though helpful

in training camp, left them exhausted before games, and they believed the practices created a greater risk of injury. Biennami's title of assistant head coach gave him greater authority than most coordinators, allowing him to script practices and alter player's schedules during the week. One player felt Rivera delegated too much and failed to step in or make changes quickly when warranted. Another player said, quote, it was E.B.'s effing team, closed quote. Rivera declined to comment on the story. It was reported in this story that Rivera met with BNME, Midway, through the season to discuss his approach and suggest that they run the football more.

Many players said they welcome Bianemies changes early on. The idea that people were rejecting any sort of change at all is just stupid. We needed to have some change. And then they said, here was the turning point. They felt like the Chicago Thursday night game was the turning point. when Pianami called 53 consecutive passes in that game, which, by the way, I think is an NFL record. Hal was hit 11 times and took five sacks.

Several players saw that moment as a turning point. Two weeks later, the Giants used blitzes and man-to-man coverage to beat up Hal who took six more sacks and 12 hits. McLorne, who never critiques coaching decisions or play calls, did in this case saying, when teams are blitzing like that, it leaves one-on-one opportunities, and I felt like we got to that late. Hopefully, going forward, we just get to it a little earlier,

and it'll give us chances to make plays down the field. Yeah, so that is basically it on Bienemy. I personally feel it's just the tip of the iceberg as it relates to Bienemy. But there's enough there for everybody to understand. It was results, yes. It was style running the ball, throwing the football so much more, yes. But there was just a communication problem

between Be Enemy and the offensive players and the offensive staff and friction because of it. I mean, it's a real lesson. It's self-destruction. you know, because, I mean, I think under the right circumstances, this team could have been a couple of games better, you know, than this maybe, you know, an eight-win team or something like that, and maybe the conversation about the enemy wouldn't be so harsh.

But it was apparent to people on the street that the play call on was a train wreck. in some of these games. And they did not, he did not help Sam Powell. He contributed to his regression by not spoon-feeding a young quarterback who was a fifth-round pick. Instead, he threw him in the middle of the pond and said swim. So there's nothing really surprising here. We heard the players grousing. You know, at the end of the year, Ron Rivera was given a chance to sing the enemy's praises.

that he basically demurred. He did not do that. So it's obviously the boss didn't like them much either. So your players weren't crazy about you. Your boss wasn't crazy about you. And the result of your job weren't very good. I'm trying to figure out what's on the plus side for Eric B. enemy.

It was one year in Washington. I don't see anything. Yeah. I just, I go back. to why they hired him. And I think there's at least a long-shot chance that Ron Rivera was doing a favor for his friend Andy Reid, knowing that this was his final season more likely than not, Andy Reid, wanting to move on from Eric B. Enemy, elevate Matt Nagy, which was going to happen, and it was going to be

awkward for them to elevate Matt Nagy to offensive coordinator. They would have kept him, I'm sure, and found a title that didn't, you know, embarrass what would have been, you know, perhaps a demotion in reality. But nobody, as I pointed out this time last year, when they hired him, it was February 20-something, I think it was the 22nd, nobody in the league wanted to hire Eric Biener me a year ago. nobody in the league interviewed Eric Bienemy, even when he made it clear he'd be willing to be an offensive coordinator

instead of a head coach. If that wasn't a red flag, as I said the other day, and as I said all off-season, I don't understand these people that think somehow this was a massive get or a massive coup to pull in Eric B. Enemy. He did not have any other options. And I don't know, I mean, given that Ron Rivera, went public so early in training camp.

I mean, I wonder if he regretted the decision. There's something, you know, just like we've said about Mike Rabel over the last couple of weeks, there's a lot more to the story, more likely than not, okay, than just, you know, his coaching resume. Because if you just hold up his resume, man, he's a multi-time Super Bowl offensive coordinator champion. I know, but I never, I never. I mean, I always had the caveat.

Of course. Yeah. I mean, if you were doing a blind taste test, yeah. But, you know, you know chef there is Andy Reed. So that was always, you know, questionable to begin with. I'll be curious what he does now. What do you think about just me suggesting the possibility? Because I thought this in the moment last year.

I discussed it in the moment. Look, Ron's a lame duck for all intents and purposes entering 2023. He and Andy Reid are super close. It's very possible. It's not very possible. There's a chance, no matter how remote it is, that Andy Reid said to Ron, hey, Ron, you're looking for an offensive coordinator.

I got to move Matt Nagy into this position. Try Eric, you know, try E.B out free here. I don't nobody else wanted him nobody nobody wants him this year some there's you get a taste of it

in this story from Nikki and Sam Fortier I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot more there clearly there were players on offense that were not fond of their offensive coordinator

now here's the other thing comes out of the story. The other thing that comes out of the story is just a suggestion that maybe Sam Hal could have thrived with a different play caller, with a different approach. I wonder if Cliff Kingsbury will feel that way after watching Sam on tape. I don't think he will. I don't think Sam Hal is going to be the direction? But is it possible that Sam could have had a better season running the football? What do they say, you know, a, a, you know, a, the best friend for a young quarterback is, a running game. He never had that.

Sure, he could have been better statistically and otherwise this year with a focus on a more, you know, on a running game and taking the pressure off him rather than putting it on him. Where he was good and where I gave Eric B. Enemy credit during the season is during that giant game that Terry McCorn referenced, in the second half, they went to, You know, taking shots against man to man, but they were quick game shots. Everything became quick game after that for a while, and you had some success after that first giant game.

It was all quick game against Philly, New England, and Seattle, and that was the stretch where Sam was on fire. You know, he had three straight 300-yard plus games, high completion percentages. The Philly lost, New England win in Seattle loss. I'm pulling it up right now. Eight touchdowns, two picks. 397, 325, 312 were the yardages, 75%, 64.4%, 65.9%. And the sacks were in total seven and three games, which for him was phenomenal. Yes, yes.

You know? And so, and then all of a sudden they started to drop them back more against the giants and the cowboys and the dolphins. It just didn't work. Yeah, I mean, like I said a couple of times, you know, the Cardinals, the opening game, which they managed to squeeze out at home, one of the defensive linemen on the Cardinals said, you know, basically their game plan was to go after the quarterback. And that was basically the obvious game plan from both defenses that recognized

that they didn't have a good offensive line and that their offensive core, they or didn't give a shit about protecting his quarterback. You know what's so funny about the season opener against the Cardinals is they won the game because of their running game in the second half and their defense. Two things that for the rest of the season would essentially be non-existent. When Sam got sacked six times and he fumbled and they returned it for a touchdown and he threw an interception, when the defense forced to fuck. And then it was nothing but Brian Robinson, Brian Robinson, Brian Robinson touchdown.

They got the ball back again. It was Brian Robinson, Brian Robinson. And it was like the defense took the game over against, by the way, you know, Joshua Dobbs, who ended up having a couple of magical games before, you know, he turned into a pumpkin in Minnesota. but that opener was defense and Brian Robinson, Jr. And Sam Howe was terrible in that game. But they didn't leave it on Sam Hal the rest of the way.

And the defense stepped up and made play after play after play. Sweathead, in that game, they had 11 tackles for loss. 11 in the game. Wow. They had three sacks. They forced two turnovers in the game. And it ended up making the difference. And then they ran it in for the touchdown after they forced a fumble or interception

fumble, whatever it was. I'm forgetting what it was. But, yeah, that was it. The other thing about the Bianami story was Ron Rivera didn't make any comment. He was given the opportunity to make a comment, and he didn't. Rivera is painted very weak in this story. Yeah. So it's like he refused to confront, to step in and make a change.

You know, either he couldn't be bothered or that's not his style. He gave him... And that goes against this idea that he was some kind of leader when basically either he was intimidated or could care less about confronting B' enemy about making changes. You know what? It was probably a combination of both because I do think there was some resignation to the entire season for Ron Rivera. And by the way, part of that resignation was to hire Eric B. Enemy and give him an assistant head coaching job. I do remember after the Buffalo game, which was uglier even than the Arizona game early. That was the game in which he got sacked nine times and threw four interceptions. It's actually still to this day one of the worst quarterback performances I've ever witnessed

to have four interceptions and to be sacked nine times in a game. But it was after that game because I remember Rivera very, very distinctly remember the comment of it's about us right now, coaches, not the players, we got to figure out what we're doing here. And it was a direct, we can't drop Sam back over and over again when he just can't see the field and he's getting sacked and we can't protect him. You know? And then the next game, they came out and it was quick game against, that was that first Eagles game that they had a chance to win if they had gone for two, whatever. They ran the ball more. It was mostly quick game.

He got sacked a bunch, but not nearly as much. So I think he probably did address him, but to your point, it wasn't like, hey, I'm pulling this back from you if you're not going to do it my way. He had already given him too much autonomy. It was his show. That was one of the quotes. You know, one of the quotes was, let me find it again. It was E.B's effing team, close quote. Yeah.

What a disaster this season was. It really was. I'm glad it was from a draft standpoint now because of what they have the opportunity to do and maybe if they get it right completely change the franchise if they get the quarterback right.

But my God, I mean, it was just, it was as bad as it was based on what we could see what you're saying all the time. It's much worse. Things always look worse.

Yeah. If things look bad from the outside, they're typically much worse behind the scenes. They were much worse behind the scenes, especially on offense. And the funny thing is, it was Del Rio who got fired during this season. And his players actually really liked him. Let's get to a break and then get back and get your Super Bowl pick, and we'll do what you heard it here first. Oh, I wanted to mention that Jeremy Fowler from ESPN reports, that Brian Johnson's going to become part of Washington staff in, quote, a prominent role, closed

quotes. So Brian Johnson, the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia this past season, he replaced Shane Steichen, who went to become the head coach in Indianapolis. He's being replaced by Kellyn Moore. He is going to come to Washington to work for Cliff Kingsbury in the offensive side of the football. The role is prominent. I don't know what that means. I'm sure there will be more on Brian Johnson in the coming days. Remember, Philadelphia, after their absolute collapse, they fired Brian Johnson, hired Kellynne Moore, they fired Sean Desai and hired Vic Fangio to be the defensive coordinator there. I don't think it was working very well offensively between Brian Johnson and Jalen Hertz.

If you read a lot of what was going on there at the end of the season, even though Jalen Hertz didn't publicly throw him under the bus. He also didn't publicly advocate for him to come back. All right, let's get to a break. We'll get a Super Bowl prediction. We'll do you heard it here first right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Well, look, you're probably maybe going to a part.

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So do yourself a favor and head down to Shelley's back room. Super Bowl 91331 F Street Northwest. To have an evening that you're not going to forget, no matter the outcome of the game. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. All right, Tommy, it's Thursday of Super Bowl Week. What's your Super Bowl pick, 49ers and Chiefs? Chiefs 35, 49ers, 27. You're going with Patrick Mahors.

It'll be a relatively high scoring game. Mahomes with three touchdown. passes. And, you know, San Francisco just won't have enough. You just, I mean, you're just not going to beat Patrick Holmes. I just don't think you can at this point. I don't think they can at this point. Certainly not with Brock Purdy on the other side of quarterback.

You know, it's funny because we do this all the time. We do it in baseball. We do it in football. We talk about pitching matchups, but the pitchers don't pitch against each other. You know, we talk about great quarterback matchups, but they don't play against each other. But we still do it. And I think, I think for what I know on baseball side, pitchers get up for when somebody great is pitching for the other team on the mouth. It pumps them up.

You know, I'm guessing the same thing happens in football as well. And that's a losing proposition for the 49ers. You know, I like Mahomes and the Chiefs. In thinking, Tommy, about this game, which I've not given a lot of thought to at this point. I'm not going to lie. It's been too busy with news related to our own team over the last week and a half since the two championship games. But in thinking about this game, strangely, I don't think Mahomes has any pressure. I don't think he needs to win the game to further his legacy.

to cement a legacy. Like I said, going into that Baltimore game, I think if he won that game, to me it was as impressive a stretch, the two road wins at Buffalo and at Baltimore, really, against a team that looked unbeatable of any of his postseason results previous to that. I think, if anything, the pressure is on Kyle Shanahan

to get it done to prove that he can win one, to kind of match this label that he's been giving. and is, you know, the offensive genius of the NFL with, you know, an incredible coaching tree that is developing, which is really off of his father. But the other part of this game is Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy, I thought, played poorly in the first half against Detroit. I didn't think he played well at all against Green Bay. But at the end of the Green Bay game, and then once Detroit kind of served up the opportunity for San Francisco

to get back into the game, he played great. And he played great in a way that most people don't describe him as playing great when they do describe him playing great, meaning that a lot of people just say, Brock Purdy is really good because he's not only a product of the system, but he really, he's perfect for the system. He throws with great anticipation and in timing. And, you know, it's set up for him, but he also delivers. But really it was the opposite in the Green Bay fourth quarter and then for sure at the end of the Detroit game and the NFC title game.

He took that team and put the team to a certain degree on his back and made plays off schedule. And that's where we get away from the game manager description. And we start to talk about the quarterbacks that separate themselves from the quarterbacks who are really good in timing on schedule based on what the play is supposed to do. do, he took that game off schedule against Detroit, you know, getting out of sacks and making plays, making big runs for first downs. And there's a big opportunity for him. My personal belief is that Brock Purdy is just a little bit more than just a guy. You know, I think he's a starting quarterback in the NFL. Don't get me wrong. And I think he's a guy that, you know, you can talk about as a top half of the league starter, you know, in the same way that some people described, at least periodically,

Jimmy Garapolo. But if he does what he did against Detroit in the fourth quarter or the last quarter and a half and he starts to make one play after another that isn't in the rhythm or timing of the play, then he's starting to prove that he's got those attributes to elevate a team on his own. So anyway, I think that this game is certainly a matchup that's fascinating because it should be pretty even. I still don't know how you make Brock Purdy's team a favorite over a team quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes that just went on the road and beat Baltimore, but I would never question the odds makers. But anyway, interesting game this Sunday. You've got the Chiefs winning 35 to 27. You know, you mentioned

Shanahan and Kyle, it's a big game for him. Of course. it's a big game because it's the Super Bowl, but I write in tomorrow's Washington Times. You can look at my column in the Washington Times tomorrow, Washington Times.com slash sports, about Kyle, his time in Washington, and how he wound up in San Francisco, and I came to the realization that Kyle's 44 years old. He's got a long time to cement his legacy. True. I mean, he could be a head coach for the next 20 years.

Andy Reed left Philly when he was, I think, 54 or 58 or 54. He was 54 years old, and he got fired in Philly because he couldn't win the big one. You know, like they might talk about Kyle if he loses this Super Bowl. But look what Andy Reid's done in 11 years in Kansas City since then. So Kyle has plenty of time to cement his. his legacy. I got carried away with this, too, saying it's a legacy game for Kyle. I think, you know, he's got a long way to go to worry about that. All right, let's finish up the show with you, Heard it here first.

I've been waiting to hear what the big announcement was going to be. You got it right here. Heard it here first. All right, Tommy, what's your bold prediction for the week? Okay. You know, I don't know why you do this to me because we don't do this. half the time. I know, but I like when we do it. You hear it here, but here you drop it on me here in the last second, so you're going to get what you deserve. I gave you a warning. You didn't give me a warning. Well, if you were listening to the beginning of the show,

I teased it. Maybe telepathically, you gave me a warning. I love catching you off the card. You're going to get what you deserve here on this. Well, do you want to think about it a little bit? Because I don't want to get, I don't, I don't I don't want to get something as stupid as Mike Tomlin being the next Redskins coach, the next Washington coach. Okay. Here's what you're going to get what you're going to get. Okay. Yeah.

Go ahead. I can't wait for it. And that is, and that is in one of my karaoke appearances here at Kenny D's down here in Miramar Beach, who shows up in the crowd with Jack Del Rio? That's my bold prediction. That would be great. Jack Del Rio, who lives down here in Miramar Beach. And Kenny Dees is a very popular place, especially at karaoke on Wednesdays. And Jack seems like he likes to, you know, down a few bruskies now and then.

My prediction is he's going to show up and watch me perform karaoke at Kenny Deas. So what would you do if Jack Del Rio showed up and was. watching this incredible talent do karaoke at Kennedy's. Would you talk to him? Would you... Okay. No, I wouldn't. I would...

Look, I'll be honest with you here. I've never been afraid of, you know, being confronted or confronting people about what I've written about them, okay? Because I've always figured what's the worst that they could do to me, you know? and I've even have, I mean, in my younger days, you know, I mean, I don't know if I could do it now, but I even had a plan that if any of these ballplayers or guys ever attacked me, I was just going to go for a thumb and break their thumb and anything else to happen after that I've lived with, you know, so that was my plan. But I recognized Jack Del Rio.

It was, in his day, a legitimate badass, okay? and I would not go out of my way to to seek that conference Oh, I think he would be totally fine. I bet you guys... I was pretty hard. I was pretty hard on Jack. Yeah.

All right. My, I've got a good one for you today. It's actually thought out a little bit rather than just winging it like you just did. Yours was a good one. Pretty good to come up with that. Because you know what? It's possible since. lives in the area.

All Big East NCAA tournament final this year between Yukon and Marquette. And Shaka Smart will win a national championship for Marquette in that all

Big East final. You know, Shocka smart man, Marquette is so good. They have just so many options offensively. They're a good defensive team, but they, Shaka Smart just has won, you know.

He took VCU to a final four. I know. I remember that. That was magical. The Texas teams that he coached, you know, did not do well in the tournament when he got him there, but he's home. Milwaukee's home. They went to the round of 32 last year, and this team is a veteran team. It is outstanding.

The guard play with Colick is unbelievable. believable. Marquette is going to be your 2024 NCAA basketball champion, and they're going to beat the defending champion Danny Hurley's Yukon Huskies in an all Big East final. Well, kudos to you. That's a good. That's a good you heard it here first. I'm glad you. I'm glad you know, that means you're going out on a high note since we're not going to be doing this anymore, right? No, we'll be doing this. is whenever I think about it, we'll be doing it. Whatever the sock pops in your head.

I have it on my Thursday podcast with Tom Rundown. I have a football calendar, which includes, don't forget to ask Tommy for his for his, you know, Redskins prediction, don't forget to do you heard it here first, etc. Don't tell people you actually have a rundown because we don't want to give them the impression that we actually prepare for that we plan this brilliance. We don't want people to think that. Let me just, well, just to kill the idea that it is structured or planned. I would say that on average, 80% of these shows are spontaneous, and we didn't talk about it

before, and we didn't even plan on talking about it before. All right. Thanks. Good job today. Excellent job. I'll talk to you on Tuesday. Let me just remind everybody about my podcast about my karaoke selection. It's important to me this one. It's an old Hoyd-Axton song called Della and the Dealer.

I mean, it's an obscure song. Nobody's ever heard of it. But I used to like it because it was featured on an episode of WKRP, which was a great comedy show. And Hoyd Axton was a pretty cool actor, too, and a very good song. and this is a song I used to sing to my kids at bedtime. And that's the song I did for karaoke yesterday. Did they get to sleep? My guy, Sammy Panama, was not there.

He called me. He said he was stuck at the L. Watusi's studio doing some late recording, but he promised he'd be there next Wednesday. And he really thinks you're good, huh? He thinks I fit the profile of what they're trying to do. A whole new career coming up. for Tommy Purify. All right.

I'm not going to attach the most recent performance to this podcast today, but your next one, I will. All right. We'll do every other. Okay, boss. All right. Have a good weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with Jay Gruden.