The Kevin Sheehan Show - Does Diminished Dak = WFT Division Champs?

Episode Date: August 24, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on migraines, colds, and their confirmations to start. Then it's all Washington Football starting with Ron Rivera's recent clues about the roster, his expectations of Ryan Fitzpatrick, and whether or not a diminished Dak in Dallas means Washington would skate to a division title. Jameis Winston, Thom's recent column, and a lot more too.  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'm here. We're both complaining about our ailments as we get this podcast tuned up and ready to go.

Tommy wrote a column. He wants to talk about that. I put out a poll this morning on the radio show. I want to talk about that. Ron Rivera said a couple of things. We'll get to that. my ailment that I was complaining to Tommy about and pre-usual, then he just tried to one-up me instead of just saying, oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

I hope you feel better. I woke up with a migraine this morning. I'm prone to migraines. This was not an issue for me my entire life, but I woke up with a bad migraine. I did the radio show this morning with some Exedrin migraine in my system and some coffee, which I know is not the greatest thing for a migraine, but sometimes it can also go the other way I've found. And Tommy immediately said, oh, okay, whatever.

I have another cold, which I said, I'd pay for your cold to get rid of this migraine. I would. Right now, I would pay you $50 to get your cold for my migraine. I thought my effort was a case of sympathy. No, it wasn't. Okay. It was a one-up thing.

That's right out of your playbook. No, it's not. That's totally out of your playbook. That's right out of your playbook. And listen, I do sympathize with you. I mean, I've never had a migraine. I know how difficult and painful they can be debilitating. So let me express my sympathy.

Yeah, right. And let me just point out. That I never get headaches. Never. Not a one. Do you want to hear something funny, actually? It's not funny. It's just interesting.

It's interesting. No, it's not even ha-ha funny. So I may have told you about this a long time ago, not the part of this that I'm going to tell you about, but about 10 years ago, no, it was longer than that, because I was doing the show with Riggins. I got an email because we weren't, even on Twitter at that point.

I got an email from a woman who said, do you remember when I was doing the show with Riggins and Gary Braun that it was televised on Masson? Oh yeah. So I got... I used to watch it last. So I got this email

from this woman who said I'm wondering if this is the Kevin Sheehan who went to Woodacre's elementary school in the 1970s. And she signed it

Lorraine Kemp. And I of course knew that was my first grade teacher. So I immediately responded back. Oh my God, Mrs. Kemp, it is me. Of course I remember you. You're the first teacher I actually ever remember.

And we ended up getting together for lunch. A lunch that included my sister and mother because she taught my sister and my mother was like a room mother, you know, that you get in elementary schools.

And Mrs. Kemp remembered my mother and remembered my sister. And to make a long story short, we ended up getting together for lunch with her. And she said something to me during that lunch. She said, one of the

things I remember about you, in addition to you being incredibly bright and talented, Um, was, no, she said, she said, one of the things I remember about you is used to get really, really awful headaches. And I said, wow. Because I did remember that as a kid. And then I didn't really, I've always gotten headaches. Um, but never like in the last five, six years, I've definitely developed more of a migraine issue.

I, it was diagnosed as migraines. Um, and so, um, And by the way, they did say it's hereditary, and they said, you probably had some form of this your whole life. And I said, I've gotten headaches a lot. But usually I'll just pop in some Advil or something, and I'm good to go. But she remembered that. She remembered. And so I said, that's amazing.

Yeah. You must have been, it must have been bad for her to remember. Yeah, like, I was not a sickly child by any stretch of the imagination. But she said, I just remember you used to get these really vicious. headaches and I said wow you know what Tommy I think back then I mean everybody smoked my mother and father were smokers you know and then they weren't but they were when I was a kid when I was a young kid they were and do you know that even to this day if I'm in a room filled with cigarette smoke not cigar smoke, not weed, but cigarette smoke, I will get a vicious headache.

So I think it was all the, you know, the secondhand smoke back then. Shit, like if you were a kid and a child of the 70s like I was or before, no matter where you went, restaurants, your house, sporting events, it was always smoke-filled rooms inside. Right? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You know, I'm trying to think back to, well, I grew up fortunately.

My mother didn't smoke, and my father smoked cigars, but he wouldn't smoke them in the house. So I was not exposed to that, fortunately. And I don't remember being around smoked that much because I was outside most of the time. I mean, it's not like, you know, I felt like our teachers smoked in class. They didn't do that. But inside in our house, there were, I mean, there were ashtrays everywhere. I remember, you know, certainly in every house I was in, there was ashtrays. There was always smoking.

Tommy, if you go back and watch sporting events from the 70s indoor sporting events, you can see the smoke haze. Oh, I mean, absolutely. You watch like a Knicks game from the 70s or a fight, especially a fight. Yeah. I mean, you know, that's basically how they describe arenas. Smoke-filled arenas. Now, that's the way they describe them.

I do recall, and even to this day, other, like, I can be sitting in a room with you smoking a cigar and a bunch of people smoking cigar and it doesn't bother me. It's cigarette smoke that bothers me. I've never smoked cigarettes. Well, I did. You did for how long? I told you the story. I started when I was eight and quit when I was 12. Well, when I was 12, or, you know, 11, 12, I remember, you know, smoking cigarettes and, you know, goofing around with that stuff, but I never like smoking cigarettes.

When we were smoked, me and my friend Tommy Lentie would somehow get a hold of cigarettes and smoke them hide somewhere, like, behind a stoop and smoke them in Brooklyn. And apparently the word got out that we were doing this. We were like eight or nine. and there was like another group of about 15, 16-year-old juvenile delinquents that kind of ruled the block. You know, they were kind of like gangsters and stuff. Yeah. But I guess they kind of thought they were watching out for us. Because one time, Tommy and I were walking down the street, and all of a sudden these guys pull up in front of, in a car.

You've told me this story. Yeah. Yeah, throw us in the car. Right, you told me this story. For 45 minutes, they threaten us. you know, if they catch a smoke again. And these are criminals. You've told you.

So I've always thought that was kind of cool. Yeah. So anyway, no sympathies. By the way, I'm amazed that you remember your elementary school teachers. I don't remember any of mine. Mrs. Kemp in first grade. Miss Custer in second grade. Miss Young in third grade.

Mrs. Jones in fourth grade. Mrs. Jones was a smoke show. Like all the boys loved. Mrs. Jones in fourth grade. Fifth grade was Mrs. Leaning. Sixth grade was Miss Vinisi. And then you start in middle school, which we called junior high school,

seventh grade, was then, you know, you had, you know, lots of different teachers. I do remember, I do remember a lot of my high school teachers. So do I. But I went to a Catholic grade school, which meant most of my teachers were stated. Right.

So I don't particularly remember. I bet you were in the corner chair a lot with the dunce cap on. Oh, no, there was no corner share with the dunce cap. There, there, oh, no, please. I got my head bounced off the blackboard. No, no, no. I had faded.

You know, in some ways, to be honest with you, I would have preferred to have gone to Catholic school than had to go to CCD, which I did every, you know, once a week. God, I hated CCD. as a Catholic kid going to public school you had to go to CCD which I did until until I was confirmed and once I was confirmed then I think I stopped going to CCD and I get you get confirmed in like seventh grade right it was like seventh or eighth grade yeah confirmed yeah I got confirmed in sixth grade yeah what was your confirmation name uh oh my god I think it was my middle name Michael I think I think it was the exact same

middle name that I have, Michael. So it's Kevin Michael, Michael. Is that, is that not correct? Would I've had to pick a separate name? Because if that's true, I don't, I don't remember what it was. You don't remember your confirmation name.

I don't. You remember all your teachers. I do. I mean, I don't, you would have had to pick a name of a saint, right? Yeah, mine was David. I picked David.

I have no idea why. Michael was a saint, so maybe that's why I... But David wasn't my middle name, too. I had a different middle name. Okay. Thomas Francis David Lavera. Got it. I don't remember...

I don't remember what my... I don't remember what my confirmation name was. I bet you your dad remembers. I bet you my father remember. his confirmation name, but I bet you he doesn't remember mine. Okay, okay. That would be my guess. Okay.

Because he went to Catholic school all the way through. But I don't think he would remember mine. That was a point anyway. It was seventh grade confirmation, and I don't, yeah, there was a whole lot going on in my family anyway. I don't think anybody remembered anything that was going on at the time. But that's another story for another day. The story that I have for you that I will share with you right now is that the tallest man in the world passed away. Did you read this story?

No, I didn't. Actually, not in the world, in the United States. Igor Vovokinsky, the tallest man in the United States, died yesterday. He was 38 years old. Rest and peace, Igor. he was Ukrainian born he was the tallest man in the U.S. that was alive, the tallest alive man in the U.S.

at 7 feet 8.33 inches. So he was 78.33 inches. And there was, apparently he's been a celebrity of sorts, to be honest with you, I never heard of them, but he's been on a lot of shows. Apparently he was a big Barack Obama supporter and was in a lot of various campaign events for Obama. But the one part of the story that I just found incredible was in 2012, he issued a plea

to cover the estimated $16,000 that it cost for specially made shoes that wouldn't cause him terrible pain. At the time, he said he hadn't owned a pair of shoes for years that was the appropriate size. The appropriate size being a size 26 shoe. Wow. Have you ever heard of his shoe that big? No. No, I never have.

A size 26. And by the way, the width was 10E. Reebok ended up designing the shoe. He got thousands donated. Rebock designed the shoe. But anyway, I've never heard of a shoe size that large. I don't think he was much of an athlete. I'd never heard of him as a, you know,

God, at 7-8, you'd think at 20, and he was 38 years old that at some point somebody said, we're just going to throw him on the team and just see what happens. You would think so at some point. The second tallest man in the world is a third in the U.S., excuse me, I'm sorry, in the United States, is one-third-inch shorter, and he's a sheriff's deputy in Virginia. Whoa. Yeah. Imagine being pulled over by that guy.

No. Okay. What do you want to start with today? Are we done with the circus side show? Yeah, we're done with that. What do you want to start with today? I think you want to start with your column, because you're proud. of this column that you wrote.

I can tell because... I'm proud of it. Well, because you sent me something that said, I really want you to read, but you should read my column before we do the show tomorrow, and I did. I read the column. I would generally think that would be the case for most of the columns I write

since we do a show together. Yes, I try to read your columns. You know, I would prefer the reminder, because you don't write every day. And, you know, I prefer the link that doesn't force me to do whatever I need to do to get a version of the website that doesn't take 45 minutes to get through.

But whatever, this is a good column. This is a very good column by Tommy. I already know a couple of the parts that you're really proud of. You want me to... Before you tell everybody what the column is. Actually, you tell everybody what the column is and then I'll tell you what the lines

that I think you're really proud of. Okay, I wrote a comment. kind of tied to Deshaun Watson and what he's going through and pointing out, you know, facetiously that he didn't carefully study the NFL Predators' Guide that they hand out at league meetings, which, you know, the most important part of that is the non-disclosure agreement followed by the settlement of silence. I mean, it's what owners... Settlement of silence, silence, he said.

Yes, silence. It's what Jerry Richardson used to basically protect himself from any kind of criminal proceedings in Carolina. What we know in Carolina is what Sports Illustrated told us about several cases of sexual harassment that were settled. The victims never speaking because of a non-disclosure agreement as part of the settlement. and also a case where an African-American scout was racially flirt by Richardson as well. We wouldn't know any of that if it wasn't for Sports Illustrated. And I pointed out that I had never read this before until recently, that Mary Jo White, the former federal attorney,

who investigated Carolina for the NFL, went to Roger Goodell and said, look, you've got to get rid of these NDAs. I mean, everywhere I went, I ran into these nondisclosure agreements. You've got to have the NFL make some kind of provision that in cases involving, you know, sexual harassment or similar harassment that owners can't engage in these nondisclosure agreements. And Roger apparently just said, thank you, Mary, and stuck it in a drawer and left it there, because it's the very same thing that Dan Snyder used a couple years later to stop Beth Wilkinson from getting anywhere in her proof. So the point of a column at the end was all these government jurisdictions, Maryland, Virginia, D.C., can have an impact possibly on this in the future by telling Dan Snyder, if you want any help with a stadium,

infrastructure, any help whatsoever, you're going to have to make a pledge that you won't use non-disclosure agreements in cases involving sexual harassment. Simple with that. It's their money. They can do whatever they want. They can put any kind of provision they want in any kind of agreement. And I pointed out my feeling is that Dan Snyder is not going to be,

it's going to be a beggar looking for a stadium, I'm an extortionist. So I don't think he's going to have a lot of leverage. So, and I wouldn't be surprised if one of these politicians, you know, all of a sudden says, well, you know, sounds like a pretty good idea. I mean, it would make them popular with a lot of their constituents to basically come down on Dan Snyder's hiding behind these non-disposure agreements. So that was my column.

And I know, I can tell you which line you're going to pick out first. Go ahead. the Jason Wright line. That's a good one. That was on my list. Okay. Well, I'll go there real quickly because Tommy points out, as he has on the podcast before, that, you know, Ron Rivera recently told Sports Illustrated that since his bout with cancer in the circumstances he was put in last season during a tumultuous Washington season,

he has, quote, found his voice, closed quote. As a person, I've become a little more of an advocate on things, he said. And Tommy writes, let's hope so. He certainly didn't have it in Carolina. When after the news surfaced about the allegations against Richardson, including the racial slurs against one of his scouts, the coach led a cheer for the owner after a playoff win against Tampa. Now, if I were your editor on this, I would have corrected one thing.

It's not a big deal, but they never had a playoff win against Tampa. But don't worry about it. That's a minor point. and is insignificant to the story. And then you write, what about Wright's voice? The former NFL player and McKinsey consultant recently told ESPN that, quote, Dan has built his business by being a classic entrepreneur and having the big idea and then trusting people to execute and build the infrastructure, closed quote.

That's such a ridiculous, Tommy writes, that's such a ridiculous comment that he could actually be a reporter for the Wall Street shirt. Now, again, if I were your editor, I think I would have added some context for that line, because I don't know that every... I let it lay. I know some people get it, some people won't. Right. I just let it lay. Okay.

Well, I mean, I laughed because the Wall Street Journal, you know, basically put out a propaganda piece on the whole Beth Wilkinson investigation a few weeks back. And it was a joke. And Tommy called it out as such, and I agreed with him. So I enjoyed that. I think, hold on, let me scroll back to the beginning to find the other areas that I liked. Because, I mean, when you talk about Beth Wilkinson, you know, when you love, you love this. I know you did. League mouthpiece, Beth Wilkinson reportedly ran into brick walls because of these protections,

the NDA protections, particularly the one that was the $1.6 million settlement paid in 2009 to a woman who claimed she was sexually harassed on an airplane flight with Snyder. This is basically don't tell the truth money, which is true. But I know you like referring to her as a league mouthpiece because nobody else really thought of her that way. Most people thought of Beth Wilkinson as independent, even though she was working for the team and then the league. And then, you know, you bring up Lisa Friel and you write, you know, the latest, first of all, following the Beth Wilkinson stuff, you update everybody on where,

you know, the investigation went, which was the $10 million fine, yada, yada, yada, and the, you know, the so-called temporary banishment that wink, wink, by the way, he was not suspended, but whatever. You write, instead there was a statement by league legal flunky Lisa Freel. That included this. The culture of the club was very toxic, and it fell far short of the NFL's values, and we hold ownership to a higher standard. Calling Freel a league flunky might seem a bit harsh. After all, she was a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and headed their sex crimes unit for almost 10 years. In the NFL, she might as well be part of the cleaning crew. They don't seem to be very impressed with these legal eagles once they get them on the payroll and use their resumes to create the illusion of responsibility and transparency.

And that is a really, really good point and totally believable. Now, I don't think Ted Wells really was, you know, ultimately, proven to have created the illusion of like some sort of first-rate report. But there's no doubt that Beth Wilkinson and the hiring of Lisa Freeland, by the way, you didn't point out the hiring of Kathy Lanier, you know, which you pointed out many times before. And I don't know whether or not Kathy Lanier, the former, you know, police commissioner in D.C., I don't know what kind of job she's doing or isn't doing.

Do you for the league? No, I don't. But all I know is when she was hired, she made a big deal about changing the perception of how the NFL handled women. Right. Not handled. About how the NFL treated women. Yeah. Made a big deal about it. And she's been silent through all this. And she knows what happened in D.C., obviously.

She knows what's been going on in Washington, D.C. haven't been the police chief here for years. Now, I have a question for you that I don't know the answer to. I think I know the answer to it, but I'm not entirely sure. And before I ask you this question, let me just say that in my experience before broadcasting, non-disclosure agreements are really difficult to enforce. They're enforceable by law. But as a practical matter, they're difficult to enforce. unless somebody's really like spilled the beans on something super proprietary.

But anyway, getting back to the question I have for you, didn't Washington the team release all of these women from their NDAs and the real significant holdup was with anybody like this $1.6 million woman who was on the flight back from Vegas from whatever awards show, they were at, that that was a settlement. That was a confidentiality agreement in a settlement that was paid, far different from an NDA. But I thought the team had released a lot of these women from their NDAs. All I can say is, and I don't know what's been reported. I don't recall ever receiving that in any kind of report, but I have had contact with several employees

who have worked for the organization who said they would like to talk but they're prevented to by NDAs. You know, and a lot of these... I can just say my personal experience. You know, I don't have personal experience with this kind of thing necessarily, certainly not firsthand,

but, you know, some of these NDAs, a lot of these women, perhaps, I'm not going to say a lot. I would bet you that some percentage of these women stand behind these NDAs and use them themselves as a reason not to speak because they don't feel comfortable speaking. I would think some of them do. I would think some of them do do that. But I thought the team released a lot of these women from these NDAs, which is why Beth Wilkinson was allowed to speak to them. What I heard as this thing was winding down is that this flight on that plane, which resists,

resulted in a $1.6 million settlement, which by the way was paid by an insurance company, not the team. The team had some sort of insurance policy against this stuff, and the insurance company deemed it to be coverable for whatever reason. And then there was, you know, a declaration by the woman that there was no wrongdoing by the team. And then obviously there was a significant amount of, you know, nobody's talking vis-a-vis this confidentiality agreement that was associated with it. And that that is what Beth Wilkinson really wanted to get to the bottom of. That there was some thought that if they got to the bottom of that, then the owner might be in trouble. And by the way, I want to make sure I'm clear on this. It's not because necessarily he was

directly responsible for the harassment, but that as the senior, you know, presence on that plane, as the most authority on the plane, that perhaps he didn't do anything to stop it. I don't know. All that may be the case. Yeah. I mean, I... All that may be the case. I mean, part of the point of the column is for people not to forget what happened.

Yeah, I don't, where are, look, you have been very close to the stadium story. You've had reports on the, you know, updating people on the status of the team's conversations with the three different areas, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Where do you think it is right now? Because if they don't have a deal soon, they're not going to have a stadium in 2027. To be honest with you, I don't, I haven't talked to anyone in the district. while. I'm assuming that Jason Wright has worked to repair the bridges that Dan Snyder had basically, there were no bridges in the district.

He had no friends, as I was told, by somebody high up in the district. There was nobody there who particularly cared a lick about Dan Snyder. I'm assuming that Jason Wright has worked to try to fix that. there were some talks with the state of Maryland that went nowhere. Virginia is kind of it sucks because you don't know who the next governor is. Terry McCallough had previously been very vocal in his support. Yeah, he can't be now. He can't be now.

Can he be? No, he can't be. Yeah. He can't be now. And all this was before the Dan Snyder, the Washington football sports, scandal came out. I might want to point out. Look, I still think he's going to wind up building a stadium right next to the old one. And like I said, there's no shame in that. The Giants did that. The Eagles did that. You did the one right next door. Yeah. Well, I mean, okay.

And the giant stadium is terrible to get to. The terrible location. But Tommy, would you agree with me? Well, certainly, there's no debating this with respect to down to Manhattan. But, you know, DC does have a geographic layout, including the RFK site, which would allow for, you know, a stadium to be built in town. And I don't know. I think there's a huge missed opportunity. I'm sure they've run the numbers of what, you know, retail and commercial and all sorts of, you know, development around a stadium downtown would mean. And I'm sure the stadium, the city understands that too. God, there was something else I was going to say, oh, finish your thought because I just remind me to mention to you about the season ticket base.

Okay. And I pointed this out before. I know I'm repeating myself. but in the RFK neighborhood has changed dramatically since there was a football stadium there. That Capitol Hill RFK neighborhood is pretty much filled with lobbyists, congressional staffers, and lawyers. And they know how to fight City Hall. I mean, they would be a very formidable group if they don't want a football stadium in their neighborhood. So they don't have an uphill fight in a neighborhood, even if the city does get behind it. Yeah, I mean, it's so true, and most of you know this. But for those that don't and haven't been back to RFK since 1996, you know, when it shut down,

that neighborhood's completely different, as by the way, most of our city's neighborhoods are. It is much more affluent, real estate. at various times, it's gone through the roof down there, and Tommy's right, it's a completely different, you know, area. So I guess that's true. So I wanted to mention... Go ahead. Tell me about the season.

Yeah. So, you know, the actual game book that's, you know, the NFL puts out after a game, including a preseason game, the official game book that has the official statistics and everything in there. By the way, that's where, you know, when we talk snap counts during the season, that's where all of us get the snap counts. It comes officially from the NFL's media game book, which are the official statistics of an NFL game. Well, what's included in the official statistics of an NFL game are attendance numbers. And the many people have told me who were there, I shouldn't say many people because I didn't know many people were there. but I did know three people who were there on Friday night.

And netting it out, all three of them said there probably weren't more than 10,000 people in the stadium. However, Tommy, the paid attendance number, the paid attendance, not the actual attendance, but the paid attendance, was listed as 38,817. So if you do a little back of the envelope math on that, and you say, all right, let's just say there were 10,000. thousand there and 3,000 of them were walk up, you know, pay just for the tickets. That means there are 35,000 season ticket holders. That's it because season ticket holders are also required to buy the preseason games. So that is not a very big number. That's less than half capacity.

I don't know what the capacity is going to be this year. I think it was 72 in 2019, 72,000. It might be into the 60s now. Who knows? from, you know, the high of 92,000 or wherever it was back in 2010 or 2012 or whatever. The point is they got, they're going to have to earn it and they got a long way to go. I think that the opener will get a decent crowd, 50,000 plus, maybe 60. I doubt it will be a sellout.

It would be really hard to basically double your season ticket base with walk-up traffic, you know, or same-day tickets sold. but I was reminded of this with you talking about the stadium and then also this tweet put out by Charles Leno. You know who Charles Leno is, don't you? Yes. Charles Leno is a tackle on Washington, right? He is the starting left tackle right now for your Washington football team.

Yesterday he put out a tweet. Each week that the Washington football team has a home game, I will personally be giving away two tickets. Head over to the Instagram account at Beyond the Entertainer to see how to win this week's tickets. I'm sure he thinks he's doing something very noble. Well, I'm wondering if, you know, the team has said to the players, by the way, it's a good idea. If they've said to the players, look, if you have a difficult time giving away your allotted tickets, as apparently many did on Friday night.

And again, I'm not, trust me, I'm not going overboard on a preseason game, Cincinnati Friday night. I understand that's a tough ask. I'm just telling you that Washington, very likely, and I didn't go compare, had by far and away the smallest preseason crowd of places that were allowing, you know, capacity crowds of anybody in the league. and I think it is a bit of an indication of what we could get here early in the season. And I think the back of the envelope math is probably pretty accurate on the actual season ticket base, which is probably roughly 50% of capacity, which isn't good for an NFL team. Now, whatever, I think we all know how they got there.

And maybe they're going to be able to earn everybody back. But I think it would be a good strategy for the business people, Jason Wright, to go to the players, because the players get a certain number of tickets for every home game. I don't know what it is. It used to be, I think, six. I don't know what it is now. You know, I might want to point out, they have to pay taxes on those tickets. I know they do.

Yeah. That it would be a good idea to say to them, look, if you end up having a difficult time giving the tickets away, we want our players to be active in marketing these home games. You know, and giving away two tickets, you know, from a player, there are a lot of people that are really cool. And by the way, there's also probably the perception that the players' tickets are pretty good tickets. Listen, if they think they're going to have a good product this year, which they might have,

getting people into the stadium should be their first priority. If the product is as good as they think it could be, some of them will come back. and pay for it. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I think the league actually did them a bit of a favor with some early home games. You know, a couple of years ago, I remember thinking, you know, they were trying to help them out early. And I'm going to go pull up the schedule because it's escaping my memory right now on what the schedule in 2019 was, because I think it was 2019. 2019, the schedule came out.

And yeah, this was the one. The league did them a huge solid in 2019, if you recall. The first three home games were Dallas, Chicago, and the Patriots. Because if you recall in 2018, the first home game was Indianapolis on a beautiful September day after they had beaten Arizona in the opener with Adrian Peterson rushing for 100 yards and Alex Smith looking good and there was some excitement.

And they had 50... Yes, there was. And they had 51,000. And a lot of them were Colts fans. And there were... Who knew? Who knew on the Colts fans? So in 2019, they gave him Dallas,

which, you know, for Snyder meant, okay, we're going to have close to a full house. Because Snyder at that point, he was well past worrying about who was in his state, He just wanted people to pay to be in his stadium. And then that Chicago Bear fan base, which travels big time on a Monday night. And then the Patriots, first three home games. So this year, they've given them two home games to start.

The Chargers are a pretty good opponent. Now, they're not going to get a lot of, you know, the opponent's fans there. And then you get the Giants in week, you know, four nights later. So it's two home games. It's better than opening up with two road games and coming home. like what if their first two road games were Buffalo and Green Bay, and they came home O'N II? Leas are giving them a chance before, you know, you know what kind of team. And again, I think there's legitimate reasons to be optimistic about what they could be this year.

I mean, they're not, you know what, they're not going to stink. You know, they're not. They shouldn't stink this year. I don't think they are. Look, I did your poll today. Do you want to talk about your poll you did? We'll get to that in the second segment. But did you have anything else on this?

No. Like I said, I think, look, I've always been a fan of getting, if you think you've got, if you don't have anything worthwhile, then you're screwed, no matter what kind of promotions you come up with. But if you think you've got something that's worth watching, you pretty much do whatever you have to to get them in the stadium. And then you let things take over from there. Yeah, and I, I mean, to a certain degree, I mean, I'm not going to pay for a ticket.

I have zero interest in paying for a ticket this year. And, you know, depending on whether, you know, I could see myself going to a game. 2019 was the first year in my life other than as a super young child that I didn't go to a game. And they sucked, obviously. I could definitely see this year as an example, you know, if that Chiefs game, October 7th, against Mahomes and company. That would be a pretty cool game to go to. Brady and the Bucks back here in November,

that could be a big game. And then there's some massive division games potentially at the end of the year. I don't see myself paying to go, but, you know, whatever. I don't know why I brought this. Oh, what I was going to say is, whatever they need to do to get people in the stands,

whatever the marketing program is, to your point, if they believe in their product, and they believe in whatever upgrades they've made to the stadium, to make it easier, to make it more fan-friendly, which I don't care about that crap. I just want them to win. I go to watch the game and root for my team to win.

I don't care about all the other stuff. You know, other sporting events I care about that stuff, but this isn't the one. I just go there in hopes of them winning. Also, by the way, real quickly, I want them to have a good home crowd this year because there's nothing better than if your team's really good on defense and you have a really good home environment to back that up. That can really be impactful on games. If your defense is really good and then the crowd's there to make it even more difficult on the opposing offense, you got a chance. You got a really good chance for a great environment too.

We'll see, though. Okay. Let's not get nuts here. Yeah. Dan Marino loves Ryan Fitzpatrick. You'll hear what he said. A couple of things from Ron Rivera yesterday and the poll I put out,

which Tommy just referenced, all after these words from a few of our sponsors. Is there anybody in particular who you say through the first two preseason games, they've really flashed you. You've loved what you've seen so far? Well, number 35. and number 30, 35 on both sides of the ball is flashed for us, to be honest with you. Real happy with that.

18, 84, our guys that caught our attention. We want to see a little bit more out of 80. Unfortunately, him, you know, going into protocol last week, we didn't get a chance to see him this week. We would have loved to have seen him because he's done some really good things. Several of the offense alignment. I mean, we've got some really good young, talented guys that have really played well. and we want to watch

them some more and they'll play a lot you know we're looking at the the backup depth at the defensive line when those guys have got to step up so we want to watch those guys very closely as well that was Ron Rivera Tommy talking about the players that have impressed

him in the first two preseason games and he just started ripping off numbers jersey numbers like he was Doc Walker well I least he didn't do a spurious he didn't do a spurious and get the names wrong. That's true.

Yeah, old Darnarian McCann. What was it? Darnarian McCants? Yeah. And who was the player, the Raiders defensive end that ended up passing away? And when they signed him, he said, well,

least he's not in jail. Do you know the SEC Network was running one of the... That was Darren Russell. Darryl Russell. Darrell Russell. Darrell Russell. Yes, Darrell Russell. The SEC Network was running.

running this college football 150, 150 years of college football, which came out a few years ago. And it was called Saturdays in the South. And it's a five part, maybe five part, four or five, six part series on just the SEC. And it's so great. And when they get to the decade of the 90s, so much of it is about Spurrier. And just everybody in the SEC, not just Florida Gator fans, but everybody loved Spurrier. But anyway, for those, of you without your game day book with rosters without your program with jersey numbers. Let me tell you who he was talking about. First of all, the 35s on offense, that would be, of course, Jared Patterson. And on defense, that would be the cornerback, Tori Mackayor, who I actually thought

played pretty well the other night as well. Patterson was the star of the game. And then he mentioned 30, Troy Apke. I mentioned him on the podcast yesterday, and I mentioned him on the radio show with Ben yesterday, because I really thought Appkechie looked good on Friday night. And so he talked about Apkey, and then he was asked to follow-up question about Apke as well, and he said he's really making the adjustment to corner.

You can tell, like I think a lot of the people that do these 53-man stuff projections, I think a lot of people have been discounting Troy Apke. I wouldn't do that because, he is, I think, a Ron Rivera guy. 18 is Isaiah Wright. Remember him as a punt returner last year? 84 is Dax Milne, the receiver and punt returner. 80 is Sammis Reyes, you know, the former basketball player who everybody's been raving about.

And he said about Reyes, we need, you know, more out of him, said the O line looks great. Then he was talking about backup depth for the D line. You know, when you're talking about backup depth on a question, like that. I think you're talking about their backups, like their actual backups. Tim Settle, Matt Ionitis, James Smith Williams, Shaka Tony, some of the guys that people have been talking about making the team. Who knows? Maybe he's pointing out some of the other guys, including some of the guys that got cut today, including Justice Reed. But, you know, the five, four players that they've cut so far, they have not announced their fifth cut as we're sitting here doing the

the podcast. If that comes through, I'll tell you. In fact, just in case you don't know, the 85 down to 80 cut today for the five players, cornerback Jordan Brown, offensive tackle Rick Leonard, linebacker Justin Phillips, and defensive tackle Justice Reed. I don't know who the fifth will be. But anyway, you know, maybe he's looking for more out of their backup D. Lyman, which would include settling ionitis. You know, We keep talking about the D-line, strength of the football team, the deepest part of the football team, potentially. So maybe he's looking for more out of ionitis and said, oh, and I mean, he had the COVID. Yeah, he has.

Yeah. But, I mean, he was their best defensive linemen. Who, ionitis? When he was healthy. Yeah, I know you believe that. Well, because it's true. He was really good. He's really strong.

He's really strong. One of the trainers on the team who I know told me last year, Ionitis and Kerrigan are the two strongest people on the team, and it's not that close in terms of just pure brute strength. And that's one of the reasons he had success. God, I want a healthy mad ionitis from two years ago, too. I mean, that would be awesome to have them in there. I think the, look, the roster is going to take shape.

We're a week away from the cut down to 53. I mentioned yesterday, this will be the best 53-man roster this team's had in a long, long time. I mentioned the 2000 team. I actually looked this up earlier today in 2000. That's the last time Tommy Washington had any significant preseason expectations. They don't have great preseason. and expectations this year either.

Let me just point that out. But the last time, it's been 21 years since Washington went into a season with really high expectations odds-wise. I went back to pro football reference. Washington was the second pick in the entire NFL to win the Super Bowl. The Rams were the favorites at plus 300. Washington was the second favorite at plus 350. And the highest over-under number on wins.

That year, before the season started, Washington at 11.5. And that was it. You know, now it's, you know, the 21 years that have followed, they've never been anywhere close to being a pick to be a contender for the Super Bowl. The glory days. Well, that wasn't even the glory days. I mean, that was, you know, nine years after the glory days ended. I mean, we're...

I know that. I'm being facie. Yeah, right. That was, you know. For this regime, the glory days, the promise of 2000. The promise of 2000 coming off a 1999 impressive playoff run. And with all the high-priced free agents that they got, there was tremendous promise that year. You know, I've said this so many times, and some of you disagree with me, which is fine.

I, as, you know, a lifelong fan and an observer of this football team, I won't, you know, I won't call myself an astute observer, but I'll just say an observer of this team. I don't remember in 2000, in Dan Snyder's first full year of being the owner in terms of having a first full off season, because 99 he became the owner officially after every. everything had already been done for the 99 team. And the 99 team, without his fingerprints on it, went 10 and 6, won a playoff game at home against Detroit, nearly beat Tampa Bay in a divisional round, lost 14 to 13. They were very close, if not for Dan and Matt Turk snap and botch snap. At the end of the Tampa game, they would have been in the NFC championship game against the Rams, greatest show on turf.

That's as close to the NFC championship game that Washington's been. since 1992, the year after the Super Bowl. But I don't recall feeling like that offseason of Dion and Bruce Smith and Jeff George and Mark Carrier. And Mark Carrier. I never felt in the moment, oh, they're doing this all wrong. I remember being really excited. Oh, so was I. I mean, I promoted the hell out of it in my columns.

I thought this was great. There are people that have said to me over the years, oh, no, no, no, I knew then and there. This was the wrong way to build a team. I don't think we knew that. And we didn't know anything about Snyder at that point. That was his first off season. Yeah, we really didn't know what was coming with Snyder.

You know what I remember about that preseason? That's when the post, I might want to point out. was like Snyder's house organ, and he hated the Washington Times. I mean, I mean, I really hated the paper. And I remember covering a preseason game, and they gave me a credential to cover the game in a room downstairs in the stadium to watch it on TV. Are you serious? This is a preseason game.

Yes. What did you do? I had to fill out a form. My name, my affiliation, although they knew who I was and why I was there. And then it said type of credential, and I wrote shitty. You did? Yes. Did you hear back from anybody?

No, no. Who was the PR person back then? I don't remember who it was, but it's unbelievable, isn't it? It stuck me in a room in the basement. Watch it on TV, a preseason game. Well, that is. is, you know, and there have been a lot of those stories, as we know over the years, but that's unbelievable.

That's the first year, you know, and already they've got the arrogance in the, in the PR department. I wasn't working in broadcasting, but yeah. Meanwhile, he's buying cake for the post-columnist, birthday cake for the post-columnist and presenting them in the press box. And were they being accepted? Oh, yes. Anyway, I thought that Rivera soundbite from yesterday was interesting. And I think it's also instructive on a player like Apke.

I do. And I think it's actually instructive on a player like Dax, Milne, and even Isaiah Wright. I mean, I don't know how they keep right. But Milne, for sure, to me, seems like worst case comes back to the practice squad. Okay, so it's an instructive about the coach that when he likes the guy, you should pay attention to it because he's not going to give up on a guy quick? I think so he said something about landing Collins. He was very complimentary about landing Collins yesterday too.

In fact, he was very complimentary about Landon Collins in the way he's adapted to the scheme, adapted to his teammates, adapted to the culture. I don't think culture was the word used, but I forget what the word, it was essentially implying that Landon, Collins has really bought in because Tommy it wasn't just the injury you know if I go back four months I would tell you that even if Landon Collins is super healthy and maybe they're hoping he gets super healthy I don't know that he's going to be on this team next year because I believe that there was some concern about whether or not Landon Collins was going to become a huge Rivera guy

and the one thing we know is Rivera wants you to join the cult of Ron Rivera and I'm And I'm using that obviously, not literally. But they want you on board with this culture renovation. And he basically said, not only is Landon Collins healthy and playing well, but he's also, you know, he's figured it out. And he's impressed us with all the other stuff as well. So, yes, I think a lot of these guys, I think a guy like Troy Apkey, who plays hard and he's flawed because,

As Cooley described, you know, literally year one of APCII when they drafted him out of Penn State in the fourth round, he said he's got major depth perception issues. He should not be the free safety. But he's been a tremendous special teams player. And at corner now, you know, if you watch the game the other night, just individual evaluation, the guy has great speed and really hits. So, you know, he seems to be a guy that, you know, Ron Rivera is going to love. I'm going to, I'll go out on a limb because I know a lot of the guys that do these 53 man projections,

and I read Ben's religiously. Ben didn't have him on his recent 53. I think he might be on the 53 APK, because of the special teams piece too, which will be important. Anyway, whatever. I wanted to, before I get to my poll, I also just wanted to mention going back to sort of preseason odds. Tim Murray, our good friend, who worked at, 980 for several years and now works for the Vizan network out in out in Vegas. It's Brent Musburger's network. Tim hosts a show Aaron who produces this podcast. Aaron Oster produces Tim's

show. Tim co-hosts a 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern Time show on Vizan Live. I think you can listen to it, you know, certainly online. It might even be an XM Series show. I'm not entirely. sure. But Tim's a great guy, one of our good friends. Tim, you really loves... Did you see who he co-hosts it was now? Who? Sean King, the former quarterback for Tampa.

But is that as permanent co-host? I think so. I didn't know that. In fact, and they put... This is so funny, because they put up a picture to promote it, and they put a picture up of Sean King in an NFL uniform and side by side with the Redskins. With Tim Murray in a Muleinberg basketball uniform.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, I see it right now. I see it right now. Yeah. Tim played Division III college basketball. That is funny. That's interesting. I didn't, you know what, Aaron probably told me I just wasn't paying attention. My fault. I didn't realize that Sean King was a permanent co-host with Tim. Anyway, Tim sent me a note last night. He said, you know, the Westgate has, the Westgate's a huge sports book out in Vegas. He goes, the Westgate now has Washington as the favorite in the division. Washington at the Westgate is now plus 175 to win the NFC East.

Dallas is plus 200. Well, there's one reason for that more than any other reason for that. and that segues into the poll that I put out in the conversation we can have right now. And that is the report that Adam Schaefter had out over the weekend that Dak Prescott may not be healthy the entire year. Even though there doesn't seem to be much of a threat of him missing games, there appears to be a chance he's never going to be 100% healthy this year. So the question that I put out to callers this morning, and I also put out on my Twitter page at Kevin Sheen, D.C.,

in the form of a poll, is if Dak Prescott isn't 100% healthy this year, how certain are you that Washington will win the NFC East? And I did that thinking, Tommy, that the number one answer would be like 100% certain. Because that's kind of where I feel a lot of the fans are, like they're really confident and they're definitely confident that Washington's better than the Giants and the Eagles. So I gave out four options, 100% certain, pretty damn sure, would lean in that direction still not convinced.

My answer would be still not convinced. Because I've already told you, I think this division is totally up for grabs. And there's no result that would shock me. And so that wasn't the number one answer still not convinced, but 100% certain came in dead last, which at least is encouraging to me that not everybody is delusional about this team right now. Like they haven't fallen head over feet thinking,

oh my God, if Dak Prescott isn't healthy, we're going to run away with it. No, only 12.6% said 100% certain. The answer that got the most vote, roughly 40%, is that you would lean in that direction of Washington winning the NFC East, which is a reasonable answer. That would seem to be. I'll tell you how you wanted.

You voted, I don't know how you voted. You voted... Did you vote seriously or sarcastically? Seriously. Would lean in that direction? I voted pretty damn sure. But you don't even like the quarterback. Yeah, I know that.

But I think their questions are, I mean, at quarterback now, particularly with the Cowboys and Prescott not being healthy, are far, are just as troubling. If the Cowboys have as many issues at quarterback as Washington, I like Washington, I think they're a more stable organization at this point. The Giants have a lot of question, Mark. The Giants could do it. and the Eagles, he talked me into loving the Eagles last time we were on the podcast, and then I got a look at their coaching staff at a preseason game, and I said these guys, these guys are, that's the last place, team forever. But none of their starters played.

I know that, but their coaches seem pluous. Okay. They seem like the soccer totally lost. It's a new, brand new coaching staff, top to bottom. and I do think Washington has the most solid roster. And even if Kyle Allen is the quarterback, I still think he'd be effective enough for them to win eight to ten games. What about Taylor Heineke?

Well, I think any of them. But beyond that. It's just so funny. You're just like, you just seemed like, I don't know, You seem optimistic, but you weren't optimistic at all about Ryan Fitzpatrick. So it's hard for me. And I'm still not optimistic because the potential is there for a complete blowup. Okay.

Well, you predicted a complete blowup. You predicted essentially that he's done. Yeah, but if that happens, I have enough confidence in Taylor Heineckee, or particularly Kyle Allen, to basically steer this team into success. not dominate, not win all the time, but to compete successfully. DC from Waldorf on Twitter sent me a tweet. Sheehan, I find it interesting that in your breakdown of the game, you spent significantly more time breaking down Heineke's performance

and not the starter and your favorite quarterback Fitzpatrick. Since there is no quarterback competition, why spend so much time on Heineke? Question mark. Well, because he played better and because he, you know, we reach. cap the game and he was the better quarterback in a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals where nobody's game planning and a lot of backups are playing. He was the better quarterback the other night. But Fitzpatrick, I'm not concerned about him. I'm not concerned that he's going to lose his job. He's not. He's going to be the starter. And he is my favorite

quarterback on this team right now. I think he gives them the best chance, but you know, I'm not entirely sure about anything with this team. I'm not. I mean, Fitzpatrick to me is an upgrade. Fitzpatrick is going to be interesting and fun to watch. He's going to give the team a chance to be more dynamic offensively. But at the same time, I'm certainly not super optimistic that he's going to be good enough to lead them to, you know, 11 wins and two playoff wins. no, I don't feel that way about Fitzpatrick. I'd like to see Fitzpatrick rise to the level of being a top half of the league starting quarterback this year, which to me is in question.

Just because he's exciting and just because he's better than what they had last year, which it'd be hard for anybody not to be, it doesn't mean that I think he's like a top 10 quarterback or top, you know, if he can play. Rivera said the other day, We just, you know, he was raving about, you know, the veteran savvy of Fitzpatrick and a guy that can really manage a game. And then he said at the very end, and I played this soundbite yesterday, that, you know, occasionally in practice, though, he's been forcing some throws. Well, yeah, because that's what he does. He takes, he's a massive high risk, high reward quarterback.

And he's not a game manager. Typically, not the kind of quarterback you won with a good defensive team. With a what? With a good defensive team. I know what you're saying there. At the same time, you, by that logic, Alex Smith should have been the perfect quarterback with a good defensive team last year. Well, he went five and one, Kevin. Yes, he was.

He was five and one, and he played pretty well in a couple of spots, including Pittsburgh, in the second half, and Detroit against Detroit. That's true. Fair point. But I don't think, you know, okay, well, this is interesting. Hold on for a second. The comment that he made the other day, Rivera, about, you know, managing the game, I just thought, well, that's a disconnect with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Now, he can be a very good distributor. We've seen that before, where the ball gets spread around, it gets out, quickly, you know, but he hasn't had a lot of teams that have had a lot of places to distribute the ball over the course of his career, and he might this year. Scott Turner also has an offense that, to me, doesn't speak to managing the game offense. You know, managing the game doesn't mean conservative, so let me move away from that in my own mind. But I just don't see Fitzpatrick as the Alex Smith game managing quarterback that just has more physical capability. And I'm wondering if Ron Rivera does.

Look, this is just me. Late at night, when Ron Rivera is in the prose of passion with his wife, I still think he silently says the name to himself, Kyle Allen. Kyle Allen. Oh my God. I'm sure Stephanie's really appreciative of that. Well, she doesn't hear it. It's rolling around in his head.

You know what? Kyle. In all seriousness, though. He made that comment the other day, and I played it yesterday, and I heard it, and I said, game manager, managing the game. I don't know. That was a bit of a disconnect for me when I think about Ryan. Fitzpatrick. And then he said at the end, he forces, he forces some throws sometimes in practice.

And, you know, as if to say, we got to get rid of that. Well, that's sort of what he's been his entire career. Are you going to change his spots at 37 years old and ask him to be an Alex Smith distributor, check down, get it to the playmakers, let them make plays. And ask him to be an Alex Smith distributor, check down, get it to the playmakers, let them make plays, don't make any mistakes, except that, you know, this guy will be able to stand upright for 17 games or more? Maybe that's what they're thinking. I don't know. You have to admit, though, when it comes to the playoffs, he plays a lot different.

You know, he plays a lot differently when in a playoff. He does. I mean, he just really he really hunkers down and manages that playoff game. I'm being serious here. You've made me think about something in putting it together. I wonder if they just think they got another super savvy smart veteran leader like Alex, but a guy that doesn't have all of these health problems. Ryan Fitzpatrick throughout the course of his career,

stylistically has been the opposite of Alex Smith. Alex Smith, they created at Pro Football Focus, an Alex Smith checkdown statistic. He's the king of all. I know many of you thought Kirk was. No, he wasn't. Alex Smith was the king of the checkdown. And Ryan Fitzpat, and by the way,

they've got good weapons to check it down to. There's nothing wrong with checking a ball down on second. and eight to J.D. McKissick or Antonio Gibson or maybe Curtis Samuel whenever he decides he's going to be ready to play. It won't be his decision, but hopefully he's healthy enough to play. But I wonder if somehow Ryan Fitzpatrick said, I got a really good team here. I got a really good defense. This team that I'm talking to, honey, and my 11 children, I was talking to the coach. They got a really good defense. They're going to add. some playmakers on offense.

Scott, you know, his Norse son really seems sharp. And Alex, look what they did with Alex last year. Alex was five and one. He could barely even walk. But, you know, they designed something for him and it worked. And I can take that to the next level. I can dial my game back a little bit.

With that said, just in two preseasoning games, he's been chucking it down the field. So I don't. You know what? I'll tell you what. If the defense turns out to be what everybody hopes it is, you are correct to a certain extent. You are correct that what you absolutely can't do if you've got a defense that's really dominant

is keep putting them back on the field to face another team on a short field with turnovers and with bad plays. And Fitzpatrick, you know, certainly for all the big plays, and he makes a lot of them, has had over his career an equal number of bad plays. Not necessarily in the last two years, but, you know, for his career. If they were looking for just a healthier version of Alex Smith, they picked the wrong guy, I think.

And I think the right guy would be more Kyle Allen. Yeah. It's healthy. But Taylor Heineke, Taylor Heineke, to me, is Ryan Fitzpatrick-style. I haven't seen enough of them, to be honest, with you. Well, the six quarters that we've seen, five quarters that we've seen. I mean, you know, Garcia was my original comp, but, you know, Fitzpatrick has some of that Garcia. Just Garcia was much more athletic.

Anyway, so the final results of the poll, not final results, but however many votes were in, I'll check it right now. Over 1,500 votes in. There are 39.4% that just say that if DAC Prescott isn't 100% healthy, they would lean in the direction of Washington winning the division. 25.4% said they're pretty damn sure Washington would win the division. 22.5% agree with me that they're still not convinced. And 12.7%, which I thought was going to be much higher, is people saying they're 100% certain. Okay. I want to talk about a preseason game that I did watch some of last night and talk about the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.

When we come back, maybe a couple of other things from Tommy as well, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Dan Marino, the great Dan Marino, Tommy, was on with the sports junkies on Monday talking about Ryan Fitzpatrick saying that he thinks Fitzpatrick. Patrick is the perfect fit for Washington and for Ron Rivera. He said, quote, fits was with us for the last two years, meaning in Miami. And I love the guy, and I think he's an incredible player. As for what he does and what he brings to the team, the excitement every day, how he works, he's smart, he understands, he's been around. So he's going to be a great addition for Washington, especially even just in the locker room and dealing with the coaches, just being a professional, being a professional. That's what he is. I want to see him have a lot of success personally because we became friends. I love him as a

player and he hasn't been in a playoff game yet in his whole career. So I want to see him get to the playoffs and win a game. That was from Dan Marino on Ryan Fitzpatrick. So I watched some of the Monday night preseason game on ESPN between the Saints in Jacksonville. and one of the reasons I watched it is, you know, some of you know this. I'm just a James Winston fan. I've always been a James Winston fan. I thought that draft when he came out, I thought he was better than Marriott. I thought he was going to be a really good NFL quarterback.

And obviously, you know, it's not turned out that way for him over the course of his career. And in 2019, he had that year with Tampa where he threw 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions, which of course was the first time, you know, a quarterback had done that. And I don't know. Like I thought that that was going to be the breakout year because he finally had a head coach in Bruce Ariens and Todd Bowles. Remember that was his first year there too being the defensive coordinator. By the way, as an aside, after he came up here and met with Doug Williams.

And Doug Williams tried to convince him to come here. And he said, nah, I don't think I want to come here. I'll go to Tampa and Todd Bowles obviously ends up winning a Super Bowl last year as the defensive coordinator of the Buccaneers. Now that 2019 season were Winston through 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. It's really one of the more interesting non-playoff team seasons in recent NFL history because yeah, Winston's 30 interceptions ultimately cost them more than anything else. He also had nine fumbles during the course of the year. So he was responsible. for 39 turnovers, 33 touchdown passes. But Winston's year that year was just incredible.

He threw for over 5,000 yards. He threw the 33 touchdowns. He, you know, I think he threw like 62 percent or something like that completion percentage. Had a really strong passer rating. The QBR obviously was down because of the turnovers. But Tampa was like in every game they played that year, Tommy. They had one of the real strange years. They went seven and nine. They didn't make the postseason that year. But my God, did they score points that year with Winston a quarterback? They beat the Rams 55 to 40 in a game. And the Rams were good. You know, that was the Rams coming off the Super Bowl a loss to the Patriots. They beat the Rams 55 to 40. They were scoring points and big points all season long. They went seven and nine. Their losses included two and overtime, a three-point loss,

a four-point loss, a seven-point loss, a one-point loss. They were so close, even with his 30 interceptions, to being a much better team that year. Anyway, move to New Orleans, and there's this quarterback battle between him and Taysam Hill. Last night, it's a preseason game, all of the, you know, things that I've said about the preseason still apply. With that said, James Winston went out there in three drives through two touchdown passes, two bombs to Marquez Calloway, who had a great catch, two great catches for touchdowns. And I'm just sitting there watching Winston with Sean Peyton, you know, as his coach and his offensive guru. And I'm thinking, how the hell could Taysom Hill be in this battle? Tassum Hill can't

throw the football. I mean, it's one thing for him to be in there for the special packages with Drew Breeze and to start a game when Breeze was hurt. And he played pretty well, but he's a running athletic quarterback. He can't throw the ball. James Winston is 6'4-230, can make every single throw, has really incredible leadership skills, which I'm going to get to here in a moment. And with the right coaching in the right scheme. And by the way, they've an outstanding offensive line. They've got Alvin Camarra on that team. They've got Michael Thomas who won't be part of the team early on. They have an excellent defense. This can't be a legitimate competition. If James Winston isn't the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, something's

wrong with Sean Payton. He's got some sort of illness and it's mental. Joe Banner tweeted, a former Philadelphia front office check. You only throw for 5,000 yards if you were playing from behind a lot, which happened often because they could move the ball or had an early turnover. He's not a James Winston fan. Yeah, that's not true, though. I like when some of those things happen when they're not true. You know, I'll go through it right now because, you know, I'll go through it right now,

because he's talking about the 2019 season, which I just referenced, okay? Winston's biggest games, which included, you know, which helped lead to 5,000, 5,100 yards passing. He threw for 380 against the Giants, okay, a game that they had a 2810 lead at halftime. Okay, 400, 385, 380 against the Giants, 2810, 385 against the Rams and a 55. to 40 win. In a game against, hold on, let me move down here on the schedule, 301 against the Tennessee Titans, a game that was back and forth the entire way. Tennessee scored late after being behind to beat him 27, 23.

Seattle, 335 yards passing, they blew a 217 lead in that game and lost in overtime, 40 to 34. He threw for 313 in a 3522 win, 456 in a 3835 win, 458 in a 3817 win, 335 in a game at the end of the year that they were tied in the fourth quarter and lost on a late field goal. So sorry, Joe Banner, you just made that up. That's not why he threw for 50s. 100 yards. In that season, which I just went through, again, they only were in one, two, three games the entire year that were three losses, three losses that were by 10 points or more. Every other game was a nail-biting game that they lost or they won the game. So Joe Banner's wrong. He just doesn't like James Winston and he tried to, he made something up.

to fit his opinion. Now, let me tell you why I liked, I always like James Winston. Look, there were some issues with him at Florida State. I understand that. I'm not talking about the crab legs from Publix. That story's been pretty much... There was more than that.

I know. I said, I'm not talking about the crab legs. I know there was a lot more than that, okay, with him there. The crab leg story's pretty much been vetted over the years. that supermarket was giving free seafood and free product to players. But he had to fall on his sword because if he admitted that they were getting free stuff, it would have been a violation against Florida State. But I've told you this before, I'm pretty sure.

I know I've said it on the podcast before. The day that Tampa Bay signed Tom Brady, I was listening to Mad Dog Radio. I was listening to Mad Dog, Chris Mad Dogg, Rousseau. And he had on a columnist from Tampa. Tampa Bay. And I forget his name, Tommy. Who's a big columnist from Tampa Bay? Well, I don't know. Okay. At this point, at this stage, I don't know who they are anymore. It used to be Gary Shelton. It might have been it. I don't know. So I'm listening to it. I'll never

forget this interview because I was sitting there and I'm like, wow, I didn't know that. And he went on and on. And by the way, ultimately, was supported by the reaction from the town, his coaches and players when he left and Tom Brady was signed. But basically this columnist, or I think it was a columnist, was saying, you know, this is a happy day for Tampa Bay, but it's also a sad day. Obviously, everybody's excited about Tom Brady coming to Tampa and no one would want anything other than Tom Brady to be your quarterback. But it's a very sad day too because very much a beloved member of the Buccaneers and the community is going to be leaving. And that's James Winston. James Winston was one of the most respected and loved players on that team and in the

community. And he went on and on about how every single coach, you know, when he would talk to them about James, they loved him. And they hated that he was throwing all those interceptions because they thought he was so talented. And they wanted the interceptions coached out of him. And they thought they could win with him and the whole thing. But they loved him. His teammates loved him. He's always been, a locker room favorite and a locker room leader going back to Florida State. Now, I know Jimbo Fisher had some issues with him. But anyway, I remember listening to that and then looking at the reaction, and I'm like, I always like the player, but now I like him more.

I think this is the perfect fit for him. I think that if he gets a chance, which he has to get a chance, Taysam Hill can't be the starting quarterback. I mean, it's not just because of what I saw last night. It's because Taysam Hill can't throw the freaking football. And if James starts throwing picks and turning it over, well, then you can come back to Taysam Hill. But you've got a pretty good team in New Orleans. It's probably the best offensive line in football.

And they've got weapons. Now, Michael Thomas is going to miss part of the year early. But they've got one of the best backs in football. They've got a really good defense. I don't know. I'm rooting for him. Last night, he threw two touchdown passes, one against a blind side. you know, no blocked blitz where he let it go perfectly.

He's so gifted and so talented. He did get LASIC surgery in the offseason. Maybe that'll help. I don't know. I don't think it helps color blindness, though, if you're throwing to the wrong colored hat over and over again. But I hope he gets the opportunity, and I would expect that he will. Okay.

That's all you got? He was suspended three games in 2018. by the NFL because of a groping incident of a female Uber driver. That's not in college. That's in Tampa. Right. So at least there's one Tampa fan who wasn't a particular James Winston fan. Right.

Yep. Are you done falling in over to guy? I just want to see him. I've predicted for two years now, I want to be right. I've predicted for two years now, when Bruce Ariens came in, I said he's going to resurrect this guy's career. and he's going to have a second act to his professional career. Let me just tell you, Tommy, he was one of the guys I would have loved.

I just knew that Sean Peyton wasn't going to let him go. But when we were talking after the season ended, I'm like, James Winston, give me him in a heartbeat. But he wasn't a realistic, you know, get because after being there last year, I think he realized, I want to play for Sean Peyton, and I want to play for this team. but the fact that they keep promoting and talking competition and I just I think ultimately it's one of those competitions

that there's no chance that the you know that that Taysam Hill gets a chance to be the starting quarterback unless he starts throwing picks all over the building which is always possible okay um okay congratulations Tony Fienow one of the most well-liked guys on the PGA tour finally won for the first time yesterday in a playoff. I was happy for him. That was awesome to watch. You don't care about golf. Let me just mention. No, I don't particularly care about golf. But this is this is birthday icon. Icon birthday. Sonny Jurgensen. Yesterday, happy birthday, Sunny today, Cal Ripkin. Wow. Happy birthday, Cal Ripkin. Happy birthday to both. Happy birthday, Sunny. We miss you. That's for sure. One of my favorite

things all time in broadcasting was on that pre-game show every Sunday. My segment that was supposed to be 10 minutes and very often turned into 25 with Sonny Jorgensen every Sunday before the games. I love that. All right. Is that it?

That's it, boss. Okay. Will you be with me on Thursday? I'll be there. I'll be broadcasting live from Bethany Beach. Awesome. Back to Bethany goes Tommy.

Back tomorrow, I think there's a possibility there won't be a podcast tomorrow because I will be doing one this weekend following the final preseason game. But there is a potential guest and he may only be able to do tomorrow. So there's a chance there will be a podcast tomorrow. It's sort of 50-50 right now, kind of like the Washington football team this year, in my view. Have a great day, great evening, back whenever we're back.