The Kevin Sheehan Show - Don't Be A Fan Later

Episode Date: October 1, 2019

Kevin and Thom open with all of the shenanigans at Redskins Park related to coaches, quarterbacks, etc. They discussed the Louis Riddick's comments about Haskins last night. They also discussed the Joe Banner tweet about most teams having no better than a 3rd round grade on Haskins. Then it's a preview of the Nats-Brewers Wildcard game tonight. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Tommy is here. Aaron's here. I'm here. We got a lot to talk about. We got a baseball game tonight, wildcard game tonight, which I'm actually really excited about. I love postseason baseball. A lot of things to consider there. And we have just a little Redskins news for these O and four and floundering. Redskins. But, you know, the podcast follows for me my radio show. And sometimes during the radio show, I miss things or things come out shortly after the radio show. And you just made me aware of Joe Banner's tweet. Joe, of course, the longtime team president of the Philadelphia Eagles and of the Cleveland Browns. Joe's been on the podcast before, very interesting guest. And he tweeted out the following just an hour or so ago. By the way, I believe this is in response to Lewis Riddick and some of the people last night leading into the Monday night game.

There's an agenda at... Torching the Redskins for playing Haskins. Yeah, that they're trying to ruin Haskins. So Banner tweeted out, it's funny to watch all of the Haskins lovers now starting to claim that Haskins was actually great, but the skins ruined him. Half a dozen teams, I respect, had them in the third round or later,

and 14 teams passed on them, plus none tried to trade up for him. Now it's the skins fault. That from Joe Banner. Look, it's not new news to most of you, or to me or to Tommy, that the Redskins football people did not think that Dwayne Haskins was worthy of the 15th pick in the first round. We heard that multiple times, you know, the night of the draft, the day after the draft, the days following the draft, that this was a Dan Snyder pick,

and that people weren't happy with it. People like Kyle Smith and the scouts who had worked all year long to put together this draft board, which they didn't have Haskins anywhere near the top half of the first round. I've heard that they had Haskins more of a second round guy. Some have told me that maybe they would have reached for him in the late first round, where they picked sweat as an example when they traded back up. But Dan Snyder came in and basically said, hey, nice job putting the board together. we're picking Haskins.

And I've mentioned this many times, going back to the draft, that if he had not been taken at that spot at 15 overall, it was possible. I don't know if it was likely. There perhaps would have been a team like the Chargers who would have said, you know, let's pick him. He could be the quarterback of the future here, sit behind Philip for a year or two,

but it's possible that he may not have been taken in the first round of that draft. Oh, it's very, very possible. So, you know, this is not. new news, but this is Joe Banner, I think, swiping back at Lewis Riddick, which we will get to shortly along with Steve Young and Adam Schepter last night, where they really, really went after the Redskins for playing Dwayne Haskins Sunday and then, you know, insinuating that there was some sort of sabotaged potential effort by, you know, I believe they were referring to J. Gruden. Look, I just got five words for you, buddy. What are the five words?

Don't be a fan later. Oh, I know. Okay? I know I read that yesterday. No, no, listen. I don't think you do know. And I don't think most people know. But that is bigger than who plays quarterback.

That is bigger than who coaches this team. That's bigger than all the football. All of it. The football, it doesn't matter who coaches. It doesn't matter who plays quarterback. That little incident there, don't be a fan later. that encompasses everything, every single thing that's wrong with this organization. It's the biggest thing that happened this week.

Okay, hold on. Let me read the tweet and then I want to hear your explanation. I think I'm going to agree with it to a certain level, but I want to make sure I understand what you're saying. First of all, if people missed it, I read it on the show yesterday, read it on the radio show and the podcast. After the game, Dwayne Haskins tweeted out some comfort for everybody. He tweeted, it rains and pours, but the sun will eventually shine.

Whatever it takes, that's my word, more fuel to the fire. Don't be a fan later. And that was followed up with a handshake emoji. By the way, you also heard what he said about Tom Brady, right? Yes. He's looking forward to playing with him on the same field. So go ahead. I mean, this, people aren't getting it.

This has been the problem for 20 years. this is it. This is what gets in the way of the football. This is what gets in the way of hiring a new coach, of bringing in new people. This is the disease. This isn't a symptom. This is the exact disease right here. I mean, this is why Josh Norman goes off on the fans a week ago and nobody says anything. And a rookie who played one half of a game and stunk the place up when he played,

who's already wearing, who's already been empowered by the owner by wearing the number seven jersey can feel the need to to admonish fans on social media. Don't be a fan layer. This is the Washington Redskins. This is the biggest thing that you will have to read about, face this week. All the rest of it is noise. This is the thing that sets off the Lewis Riddick comments. This is the thing that sets off the notion that the Redskins have some kind of agenda

because people believe the worst of the Redskins on every level way, shape, or form, because something like this, because a rookie quarterback who barely played is dictating to its damaged fan base how they should behave. This is it right here. I appreciate that you've been listening to the show because I completely agree with everything that you've said. You're being specific about him admonishing the fan base. But what I'm really referring to is this constant talking, this lack of accountability, this lack of discipline, this feeling in the organization as a player that you can say whatever you want.

Did you see what Eric Flowers said after the game on Sunday? He started ripping the Giants right after his team lost by three touchdowns. Oh my God, what an idiot. But of course, and by the way, said it's much better to be here. Of course it is for a player. There's no discipline. and there's no accountability. They can do whatever the F they want.

It's unbelievable to me. The Landon Collins constantly going back to his old team leading up to this. And by the way, laying a big fat egg on Sunday. After he had all these games circle, all these giants games circled, and then coming out with a zero game. And then, you know, look, the empowered thing started with the Jersey number. Actually, it started before that. It probably started before that.

It started, well, it started with the combine. The only rookie interview by the owner at the combine was Dwayne Haskins. The only player called the night of the draft that he was picked by the owner was Dwayne Haskins. This started way before that. Man, I read your columns much more than you listen to my shows. But I don't, this is the problem. There is no culture. And without a culture that includes some level of discipline, some level of accountability,

some group of people that are good people are smart people you're not going to attract anybody with real credentials nobody wants to come here this is part of it and I understand that your thing is much more about you can't go after the fans like these players have done you know and without consequence but it's just part of the big you know nobody nobody gives a shit nobody there's no consequence for doing anything

this organization is constantly stumbled, constantly overpromised and underdelivered, constantly said and done the wrong thing. And as long as Dan's running the team, especially if he's got the Prince of Darkness sitting next to him, nobody wants to work here. You can't attract anybody that has a chance to turn it around unless they don't have any other options. Somebody seems to want to work here. Louis Riddick, I think, wants to work here. Louis Riddick wants to work here. But I just mentioned people that can't get a better opportunity elsewhere. No one's hired him if you've noticed. I know. You know, he's been this, you know, chic, you know, candidate for team president and GM openings.

And I don't even think he's been interviewed for all of them. And he hasn't gotten a job yet. We're going to get to what he said here momentarily. Scott really likes him. The people really like him. He's very good on television. He's very likable. I've had him on the radio show before, a likable guy.

You know, when a guy like that gets interviews and is constantly talked about, like, you know, he's a genius. He's going to, he'd make a phenomenal GM. Nobody with all the openings has given him that opportunity. I always think that's a bit of a red flag. A little bit. I don't know, but I do know this, Tommy, for a fact. You know who really likes him?

Joe Jackson Gibbs. Gibbs likes Riddick and Gibbs likes Todd Bowles. I've been banging that Todd Bulls drum for a while. So have I, actually. Thanks for listening. In Todd Bowles, I think, you know, if Dan turns to Joe, he doesn't have many other people to turn to. If Dan turns to Joe, I do think,

that a combination of Riddick and Bowles, you know, is a decent possibility. I love Todd Bowles as a defensive mind. So do I. And I would love to see him get another opportunity, even though a lot of my jet fans. Why would you do that? Huh? Why would you do that to Todd Bowles? If you love Todd Bowles, why would you want to see him come here and coach? Like, if you really don't like Jay Gruden, why would you want him to leave? You know, why don't you want him to have to stay here and be forced to stay here. Yeah, I mean, I don't, you know.

This is just, I mean, this speaks to, this speaks to, I mean, this is, I'm sorry, this is RG3, RG3. Well, we don't know that yet. No, no, no, no, no, we don't. No, we don't.

Except, we know that this rookie quarterback has already been empowered by the owner. Yeah. We know that probably the agenda you're seeing out there being put forth by Louis Riddick is probably the Haskins and Haskins agenda, and it's most likely Dan Snyder's agenda. Yeah, I think it's both.

Actually, so we're going to play those comments in a little bit, or very shortly. Did you hear Joe on the radio show with me? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. I heard him specifically say, I think that, and this was pretty, this was pretty dramatic. When you think about it, Dwayne seems to be a me guy. He needs to be a we guy. Joe Thaisman this morning with me on radio said,

Dwayne needs to understand that it's not I, I, I, that it's we, we, we. Yeah, not the league messed up, and I'm getting my shot against the Giants. He already referred to that league done messed up in a way that really upset people because he said, I'd like Dwayne to speak, you know, with proper grammar. Remember that comment about that? You know, I don't think, I'm still upset that, you know, Dan put this number seven jersey. thing on Joe, I think it was the wrong thing to do. Because Joe would have looked like the bad guy.

What's Joe going to say no? It was an absolute, you know, no-win situation for Joe. But, yeah, I mean. That's all. I think people are going to gloss over this. And what I'm telling you, this is like getting, this is like getting a CAT scan. And all of a sudden, there's a spot that you're not paying attention to. This is the spot.

This is the spot that's never going away, and it grows all the time within this organization. This is what gets in the way of all the football. This is what gets in the way. It gets in the way because ultimately it has led to a culture that repulses people in the league. It turns off the kind of people that you need to attract to be successful. Again, no discipline, no accountability, and too much of the worst combination in business and in people. It's the combination of arrogance and incompetence. When you have that combination, you can't learn from mistakes because you never think that the mistakes are yours.

This is the worst combination in business, Tommy, is when you get arrogance and a level of incompetence in combination together, that combination never wins. With the Redskins, it's always been someone else's fault. Marty was a control freak. You know, the Shanahan's don't like, you know, our precious RG3. Damn that drunk McLuhan. You know, damn those injuries the last couple of years. It's never about Dan and Bruce recently. It's always about somebody else has effed us in this situation.

And that's the problem. And that's why people like me who were lifelong fans aren't nearly as passionate anymore. Don't really see a path to anything. Because at 55 or 56 years old, however old Dan Snyder is, he's not going to change his spots. He's arrogant and he has a level of incompetence in running a football operation that in combination gives him no hope, none. I don't, and by the way, having, you know, Bruce Allen there who's become some sort of, you know, comfort to him as the face of the franchise, as his spokesperson in league meetings because he's become so reclusive and has become so hesitant to be, you know,

communicator. It just makes it worse because Bruce is the least respected person from agents and players. And I believe other team executives don't respect anything about Bruce as a football person. They may think of him as an administrative, some administrative competence that he has. But that combination, Tommy, I said on the radio show this morning, the Redskins should be, if they aren't already, should be a case study at Wharton or HBS, at Harvard Business School. Like, how to suck the life out of one of the most passionate consumer fan bases in less than 20 years? It should be a case study because there's so much wrapped into it, psychology, management, people, you know, not learning from mistakes.

Like just the mistakes over and over again that they don't learn from. And I guarantee you the case study would produce this answer. They didn't learn from them because they didn't think they made them. They thought they were someone else's fault. You're right. That would be a great case study because not, you know what? You'd have in the middle of it? The resurrection.

The Gibbs return. Brief. You have to take a moment to say, oh, they almost had it. Yeah, but you just have to think that the most important figure in the history of this franchise, they managed to bring back. And all it did was just slow down the brakes. That's all it did. And actually hurt his reputation.

Yes. his professional reputation. It's fascinating in so many ways to watch it from all of our seats because we're so close and we follow the day-to-day detail. It really is because if you think about it, if someone had told you 20 years ago that by the year 2019, 20 years from now, the Redskins would be on a two-decade run of ineptitude, and nearly half of their fan base, if not more, would be gone.

Gone? Vanished. no longer interested in the team. Not showing up to the stadium, not watching on Sundays on TV. No one would have ever believed that. Of course not. No chance anybody would have believed that. And they would have said, wow, that would have been really interesting to watch.

That would have been really hard to do. And it really is like from just a business standpoint, it's so interesting to see how this has been run into the ground. And, you know, and then you think, okay, so what are the same? solutions, what's next? Well, there's a guy out there working as a television analyst that if you listen to what he said last night leading into the Monday night football game, Lewis Riddick, I think he thinks he can be part of the solution. Here's what Lewis Riddick said on the set with Susie Calber, Steve Young, Adam Schaefter, I don't know if anybody else was on there. The Redskins were a punching bag last night leading into the Monday night game. This was Lewis Riddick.

It was more than a rough goal. But look, quite honestly, Glenn Hastern's going into that game. was really one of the worst decisions I've seen so far this year as far as how people are handling young quarterbacks. All we have heard from the Washington Redskins all along from their coaching staff in particular was that he wasn't ready. He wasn't ready. He wasn't ready. That's why Case Keatom has been playing. Case Keatom should have been made to finish that football game. He started it. He should have made to finish it. They're missing their starting left tackle. There's missing their starting right guard. Terry McLearn, their best wide receiver this year out. Jordan Reed out. You see some of the best teachers in this game.

Steve, we talked about this a little bit on the ride over here. Guys like Andy Reid, guys like Doug Peterson, who come from a certain school of thought when it comes to quarterback development. Why would he play him? Why would you put him in there under any circumstance? Let's answer that. Why would you?

It reeks of an agenda to me, okay? As far as saying, look, he's not ready to play. The team is suffering. You've heard all along, going all the way back to the draft, about how there was dissension about front office, one to one guy, coach and stuff, one and another guy. And that kind of thing right off the bat, you think Dwayne Haskins doesn't.

hear that? You think he feels totally supported in this entire process? And see, these are the kind of things I talk all the time about setting people up for success. That young man right now is being set up for failure. And Dan Snyder needs to recognize that and say, hey, look, you're just right now drafted another franchise quarterback

and he's being set up to fail. He should have never went in that football game last night. You have some decisions to make about your franchise going forward because we were just there for countdown and did it look like a fan base that was very happy while things are going? You want to hear something really interesting? we're going to get to all those quotes, but he mentioned Andy Reid, you know, would never have done this.

So as he mentioned that, because that wasn't part of the quote that I played on the radio show this morning, the Andy Reid part, I quickly pulled up Donovan McNabb's career in Philadelphia. He did do it to Donovan McNabb. McNabb's first five games were in relief. Didn't start, didn't prep as the starter. And by the way, you know who the starter was? Doug Peterson. Oh, my gosh.

games. So Lewis Riddick's got to get his facts straight on some of that stuff, because I mentioned this morning, there is a long list of first round quarterbacks that got their first game action long before they were named starter. Long list of Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers that didn't have to get a full week of prep with the starting left tackle and everything perfect around them to get into the game. Coaches, great coaches, bad coaches, have put quarterbacks like Eli Manning, Ben Rothelisberger, Donovan McNabb, Tom Brady, Deshawn Watson recently, Baker Mayfield last year. How about Daniel Jones? Do you know what his first action was this year? Fourth quarter of the cowboy game in week one. So Dan Marino didn't start a game for his first action, twice off the bench for

David Woodley, Brett Farve twice off the bench in Green Bay for Don McCowski, Aaron Rogers played off the bench seven times before he got his first start. So this is not like this awful thing that's never been done. I just want to point that out. Now, I think the key thing is when he says wreaks of an agenda. Oh, yes. Absolutely. What do you think he's saying? I think basically what he's saying is,

I think he's saying, what I think he's saying is what Dan Snyder wants to hear. I think Dan Snyder is convinced that the coaches and Jay Gruden are trying to undermine his plan to have Dwayne Haskins as the next star for the Redskins. I mean, it's already been this divide between the owner and the coaches going back to the draft on Haskins. And I just think that Lewis Riddick is, I think Lewis Riddick is lobbying for Bruce Allen's job. That's what I think is going on here.

The whole thing from Riddick there, the first reaction, because I was watching it live, was he's going to be the next general manager. It's going to be Lewis Riddick. That's going to be the guy who's here. Gibbs likes him. I don't know about the relationship with Bowles. Riddick was a big, big supporter of Haskins, you know, on draft. Oh, I know.

And he worked in this organization and knows Dan and knows the people in the organization. Let me just point out. But I wanted to just, I don't want to lose this one thought. I'm sorry. I don't want to lose this one thought. And the one thought is, if you're right, and this is coming from Snyder, you know, and Riddick is. really, you know, out there lobbying and, and they're all basically pointing it back to Jay.

Why the hell is Jay Gruden in the building? I know. How stupid? Like, if you think as an owner that your coach is sabotaging your first round quarterback, is this reeks of an agenda, why is he in your building? I mean, there's no way if I thought that from Sunday that Jay would have ever made it home on our team playing. Right. I don't understand that. I think it's also possible that Riddick is getting this from, you know, maybe Haskins. It could be.

And the people around Haskins. I don't know. Or maybe he just feels it himself. But again, worst decisions so far for quarterback, you know, putting him into a position where he's going to be damaged. Snyder needs to recognize this. And by the way, this part where he says we've been hearing, he isn't ready, he isn't ready, he isn't ready. Well, we haven't heard that publicly.

Some of us have heard that certainly behind the scenes, and I've mentioned that on the show and on the podcast, that he is a project, you know, and the football people are saying he's a project. My point of view is the season is over. Who cares if he's a project? Make it work. Coach him up. Give him something that can work for him.

We've seen this many times over the years. Once you realize your season is dead and the future is him, you get him in the game and you figure out how to make it work for him. If that's cutting half the playbook out, you cut half the playbook out. If that means adapting to the way he plays

and creating for him, you do that. Anyway. Okay. The other thing is about what they're talking about putting Dwayne Haskins in that game, he was the backup quarterback. I mean, he was the guy who was active. If he couldn't

be your backup quarterback, then make him inactive and pick up Josh Johnson off the street and make him the backup quarterback. If Cole McCoy can't play, pick up a guy off the street, keep Dwayne Haskins inactive, but he's your backup. I mean, you're going to tell me, you're going to go into a game saying, well, we've got a backup quarterback that we can't play.

What the heck is that? It's, it's, I, there's nothing about the moment he put Dwayne Hassex into the game on Sunday that would have made me think that this reeks of an agenda. Nothing. Starting with the week that led up to it, you've got an injured starting quarterback off a Monday night game in a short week, and you're already talking about Colt and Dwayne, and we're going to get some first team reps, which he did in the walkthrough, and then he got a couple of more on Thursday and Friday, and then Case was fine, so you started Case, but Case missed two wide-open bombs to Trey Quinn. Missed him. Through an interception,

as well. And so then we got Dwayne Haskins. I was not thinking in the moment, oh man, he is trying to undermine this kid. He is putting him out there knowing he's got no chance of succeeding, and this is sabotage. Never thought that once. No, neither did I. By the way, I'm not discounting it as a possibility. Everything's in play. Yes. Right now. It always is. This is like the Cohn Brothers movie, Burn After Reading. I didn't see that one. That's very good. I mean, it's very good. Anything, though, is possible. Anything is possible right now. Yeah.

It is. But, so now we move on to the Patriots. But so to do so, we've got to figure out who the starting quarterback is. And we know who it's going to be. Yeah, I think I know who it's going to be. Yeah. But that's only if he's able to walk, you know, in a straight line without a wobble this week. If they can keep the doctors away from Colt McCoy,

Colt McCoy is going to be your starting quarterback on Sunday. And, you know, it's. It's so funny. Of all the times to finally get back to the place, it's against the Patriots, surrounded by a team that is just drowning in chaos. I mean, look, let me ask you a question. If Cole McCoy manages to win this game, is he, does he go in the Redskins ring of fame?

This would be right. Look, the Cowboy Monday Night game, they were 10-point underdogs. Nobody gave him a shot. If he starts without basically having any action since last early December, and he plays well and he runs the offense and they upset the Patriots, it will go down as an all-time memorable Redskin game. Absolutely. Now, I don't think that's going to happen.

I don't either. Okay, let me just make that clear. As much as I love Colt, I don't think that's going to happen. It is Jay's Hail Mary, though. Yes, it is. Because this is what he's wanted. I mean, because if Colt does something like that, then Jay has the power. Then all of a sudden, Jay is empowered.

Then all of a sudden, you know, the coach is knocking on the owner's office and saying, I'll take this office. You need to move down to my office. Can you imagine if Colt starts and they win? Okay. And then they go to Miami and they win again with Colt. And then they come home against the 40. Oh, all right.

because Jay, look, Jay's got this incredible infatuation with Colt McCoy. He's admitted to it being maybe even a blind spot, a personal blind spot. And, you know, once Kurt, Kurt was gone, I don't even think he wanted Alex Smith. I think he wanted Colt McCoy to start last year. I think he did. And now, Case Keenham's a different thing because Colt's coming off the broken leg. You don't have Alex. And so I think he was involved in evaluating Keenham much more than he was Alex Smith.

And he said, yeah, if we don't have to give up anything for him, which they really didn't, and Denver's going to pick up half his salary, which should have told you all you needed to know about Case Keenum to start with, is that we're going to pay you $3.5 million to take them from us. So Jay was involved in that. But Jay still had hopes that case would basically be the back. This is before the draft, you know, in the Keenham thing, before they knew Haskins would be available, or before they knew that the owner was going to come in in the first round and say, no, no, no, you're going to take Dwayne Haskins right here. I thought he was going to get picked. Haven't you watched him? He threw 50 touchdowns last year. But he's wanted Colt McCoy, and, you know, I want Dwayne Haskins to start Sunday. I want the reboot to start now. I want them to figure out a game plan that works. I want him to get 12 games. games of first team reps, of first team meetings, of first team game action, of, you know, experience so that at the end of the year you've got real evaluation, not whiteboard evaluation,

so that you can figure out and you've got a better sense of whether or not he's the guy. Because, as you know, I'm not the biggest, I wasn't the biggest Haskins fan, but I also like him from this standpoint. He doesn't appear to be the guy that you're going to damage his psyche by putting him out there. I just don't see him as that guy. I see him as that guy. I see him a guy that's pretty damn confident and will could fail but not you know but deal with adversity in a in a positive way maybe not after that tweet from the other day i don't know i i would stick him out there but i think we're going to get colt mccoy yeah i think we are too and let's again let's make it clear to everybody who hears what they want to hear i'm not saying that colt mccoy

is going to beat the patriots what i think is a likely scenario is a sunday massacre and then then after that, do you see Dwayne Haskins against Miami? Oh, if he didn't start against Miami, I think I'd lose my mind. Yeah, so I think, I think, as much as I can lose my mind without, you know, being as passionate about this. I mean, it would be more of the case study. Yeah. It would be another, you know, it would be another class. Yeah, if Colt McCoy.

It's been 45 minutes talking about why he didn't start Haskins in Miami. Yeah, Colt McCoy takes the beating like he probably will, and the Redskins take the beating like he probably will. Then, then you're looking at Haskins in Miami the next week. How surprised are you that nobody's been fired? I'm pretty surprised. I was surprised. Look, that Monday night game, I left to go down to the locker room

with about three minutes left in the game. Minusky. And as I walked down, Snyder was walking towards me in the opposite direction, you know, with his army of security and followers around him, guys who were very scary individuals, by the way, some of them. And he was, everybody has to stop, you know, on that platform.

When Snyder walks, everybody has to stop. I've been there. I've seen it, yep. You can't, security stops everybody and nobody moves. So until he makes his way to his elevator. Can I just say one thing? Yeah. That may be now at a legitimate security concerns. Okay.

And I'm being serious. Don't you think there have probably been some threats against him? I don't know. Okay, go ahead. But I was surprised that Minusky, survived that walk from the owner's box down to the locker room that

Monday night. I would have fired him. If I was the owner, I would have fired him right on the spot. However however passion, however basically knee jerk that might have been, I don't think I could have stopped myself. I guess I should give

Snyder credit for not firing him. I don't, I think right now Dan's probably completely lost. doesn't know what to do and just wants this thing to end, even though there are 12 games left. This is the first time in a while. It's been a while since we couldn't even get to the end of September without having, you know, the thought of having a competitive season. Well, you know what you do when you're lost and you can't think and everything's going bad.

Yacht trip. Time for a yacht trip. Time for a little trip to the south of France. Yacht trip, baby. You know, he's also got Bruce in his ear. and Bruce is saying, do you know what our record was when Alex left? Do you know what we've been since? That was the right decision.

Oh, by the way, have you seen what Kurt's doing in Minnesota? We were right about that also. Like, you know, he must be an easy mark for Bruce. And Bruce is talking about the injuries again. Look at the injuries. We didn't have our starting left guard or starting guard or starting center. We've lost people already. McClorn's been our best player.

How about that as a draft pick? Dan, I mean, we're right about this kid. We just, we haven't gotten a break, but it's coming soon. It's coming soon. This season has not gotten off to the start we thought we would have. You know what? We're close. We're close.

We're close. That was one of the interesting comments from Bruce yesterday, from Jay yesterday, was him saying, hold on, I need to find it. He said Tommy after the game on Sunday. Oh and four is just a big surprise. to everybody out here. You know, everybody in the building. And by the way, I'm sure it is.

You know what? It's a surprise to me. It's not that much of a surprise to you. I thought they'd be two and two. They were picked, you know, pretty much universally, you know, as one of the three or four worst teams in the NFL coming in, odds-wise for the Super Bowl. And I didn't think they were that bad.

I know you didn't. Reality just sails over their heads, though, consistently. You know, Bruce and Dan talk each other into, you know, if Alex had stayed healthy, we would have been in the Super Bowl. And that's why there was no reboot in January because Dan bought into what Bruce was telling him. Yeah. That were close. You know, we missed the playoffs last year by one game.

We missed the playoffs two years ago, Dan by one game when we were seven and nine. And Dan doesn't look it up. He's not following football. There were four games out of the playoffs in 2017, not one game out. But I don't, you know, this goes, I mean, you know how I felt in January. I wanted to reboot in January. I didn't see this as anywhere near a contending or a playoff team or, you know, a better than 500 team. And they had an opportunity to take the nuclear option, if you want to call it that, on Alex Smith with all the dead money and cut people like Norman and Davis.

And that was all part of the plan that I think they should have employed, trading Trent, trading Kerrigan, you know, and here they are. And now what makes it worse, maybe, is here they are with a quarterback. that only the owner perhaps wanted. Yes. And that football people may not want, and by the way, the next group of football people, unless it's Louis Riddick, who was a fan of Haskins, may say, I'm coming, but we're going to draft Tua,

or we're going to draft Herbert, or we're going to draft Hertz, or we're going to draft from, because we're going to have a top two or three pick. And they are real NFL quarterbacks in the future, if they think that way. I don't know what they think. You know, it's remarkable when you think about,

I mean, just to show you how swiftly and dramatically things have fallen in just four weeks, going into week five here, Trent Williams is still holding out. And nobody even mentions it anymore. It's not, it's not, it's not even a blip on the radar. Nope. It was the story that consumed the whole summer. And now it's, nothing's changed except things have gotten worse for everyone else who's been here. What do you think Trent's thinking?

Trent wants to get the accrued season I know he wants to come back by I think it's week 10 something like that but yeah it's it's so meaningless compared to the S show that's going on out there right now with an O and 4 start that they couldn't see coming with the roster look the single biggest surprise through four weeks is not to me that they're O and 4 it's that the defense has been so bad Yeah, I agree. That is why I'm shocked that Minusky's still in the building because I think a lot of it has to do with him.

I think a lot of people believe they have much better talent than what they've played. They do. They've got better talent. I, you know, I wasn't buying into the top five thing, but I thought it could be a top 10 to, you know, 12 defense, which would have been an improvement from last year. And it's been god-awful. And we're right now historically, at a historic awful 63% third-down goal. you know, rate four games, you know, at this point out. It got worse when Jonathan Allen came back. It didn't get any better. It almost got worse. It's terrible. And I, specifically, by the way,

on Minoski and the defense, from what I am hearing, I haven't mentioned this yet. So I'm going to mention it here with you. I forgot to mention it on the radio show this morning. Um, there's a lot of frustration on, on the coverages in particular. Remember, they brought in Ray Horton because last year, you know, the DB's room was a mess. Well, apparently it's not any better right now. And Minuscary and the defensive staff have apparently just been way too complex with some of their coverages. And you can see it pre-snap. How many times Sunday did you see confusion pre-snap? Even with a guy like Dunbar at one point, Moreau in particular, multiple times saying, what's the call? What's the call? and this has been apparently, you know, an issue that they're trying to,

they've got like an expanded defensive playbook, and it's just way too confusing because you got new players back there. You know, Moreau finally came back, Dunbar finally came back, Landon Collins is new, and, you know, but I would take it a step further and say, look, Jim Tom Sulla, who apparently, by the way, I heard this yesterday from J.P. Finley, if Minowski goes, Tom Sula may go too. Did you know that? I think I've seen that reported before because they're tight. Yeah, that may be part of the reason they're not turning Minuscchi loose, but you know what's been awful has been their run defense. Their run defense has been bad. Yes. So that is the biggest

surprise is that the Redskins are among the three or four right now, worst defenses in the NFL in a lot of categories, statistical categories, and that's the biggest surprise to me. You know, O and 4 is not a massive surprise. The fact that it's been primarily because of a horrendous defense, certainly in the first three games, is the biggest surprise. Yes, I would agree. I actually thought they played harder on Sunday, but still weren't anywhere near good enough. They're better with Dunbar out there. That's obvious. Anyway, quick word about my bookie.ag. Many, of you, Tommy, do you know how hot the smell test is? Do you have any idea? No, you're making money hand over foot?

In the last three weeks, 38 and 1. Are you kidding me? I hope you're donating some of this money to charity. Overall in the season, 36, 15, and 1. I hope you're putting some of this money in the... You don't worry about my charitable donation. You know what? When I am in church on Sunday for church. You know what? When I am in church on Sunday, and it's a lot less than I used to be, but when I am, you're damn right.

When I'm on a run like this on a heater like this, they're like, man, who put that into the basket? Thank you. MyBooky.ag is one of those places where if you don't have a place to wager, you can wager with confidence that you're going to get the best lines, you're going to get the best Vigs, and you're going to get the fastest payouts. Trust me on this, there are a lot of shops out there, and not all of them are as reputable or as accountable and, Dependable is mybooky.ag. If you go to mybooky.orgie.orgie right now and use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., they will double your first deposit. You got to use my promo code, K-EV-I-N-D-C, and that'll activate the offer. They've got great lines. They've got great prop bets. They've got great parlay opportunities, teaser opportunities. No matter how you want to bet,

they're going to offer you the best opportunity to do it. Go to my bookie.orgie.com. use my promo code Kevin D.C. You play, you win, you get paid. All right, let's get to the game tonight. We've got a wild card game. This is actually really exciting. You know, their first four playoff visits were as, you know, division champions. By the way, all four of those NLDS series, they had home field advantage. Yes. And now they're entering the playoffs as a as a wild card team. This wild card, you know, the two wild card system has been in effect since 2012. You've only had one World Series winner come out of that. That was the 2014 Giants who beat the Pirates, then beat the Nats in four games, and then went on to beat the Royals in the World Series,

which is a phenomenal World Series with Madison Bumgarner coming out, you know, at the bullpen in game seven. First question to you is, do you think they've made the right to decision on the starter tonight? Yes. Yes, I do. I think, look, I compared it to a Hoosier's Jimmy Chitwood situation. In other words, everybody in that locker room, if, I really do think this, if they had picked Strasbourg, Steven Strasbourg, I think people in that locker room would have looked

at Dave Martinez like they looked at at the coat, at Gene Hackman in Hoosiers and say, really? You know, Jimmy's here. Jimmy needs to take the shot. I think Max Scherzer is the alpha dog in that clubhouse. I think if people think he's healthy, I think the expectation was that he needs to have the ball. Is it the right decision? Will it prove to be the right decision?

I don't know. But I know in the dynamic that fans hate. Fans hate this kind of stuff because all they care about are the numbers. Of the dynamic inside that room, if Scher could pitch, he needed to pitch. That's what I believe. And he's looked more like himself recently. You know, one of the things you would look at is that he has not been a great postseason pitcher.

No, he hasn't. All right? He's got a very, very spotty track record. Yeah. You know, he has, you know, many opportunities, obviously in Detroit, and then four opportunities here. Three is a starter. And then remember in the fifth and deciding game against the Cubs, he came in as a reliever and got lit up. Well, he had two outs, two strikes.

And then they got like five. And then the inning just went out. He gave up three or four straight hits. And then you had the pass ball, the hit batter. Right. I mean, just chaos. Yeah. So he, you know, he's had some rough outings.

But, you know, in Strasbourg, the last time we saw him in the postseason, he was great. Yes, he was. In the fourth game that they had to have when there was some question as to whether or not the sniffles would keep him out of the game. Yes. Logically, I understand why people would want Stephen Strzstan. to start. His, going into the end of the season, his record was much better. Better E.R.A. Yes. As was Corvins too. Then sure. But again, and this is, you know, I forget

who the quote was, but somebody once said about commitment, about a particular player, I had a commitment to his heart. And that's what they had with Scherzer. Yes, no doubt. He is their alpha dog competitor. Yeah. And that's what they see in him. That's what Rizzo sees in him. That's what the learners, I'm sure, seeing him. That's what Dave Martinez sees in him. And, you know, Strasbourg in his, you know, he's had three postseason starts for the Nats. He started game one against the Giants in 2014, gave up one earned run in five innings. And then, and that was the series where you thought the pitching was, the pitching wasn't good enough. And I, you know, and they hit 185 for the series or whatever it was. Yeah, he lost

to Jake Peavy in that first game. Because he only went five innings. Yeah, and then he pitched in game one against the Cubs in 2017 where he allowed no earned runs in seven innings in just three hits. And then he was obviously, and they lost that game. They didn't generate any offense.

And then he came back in game four against the Cubs and was brilliant. Pitched seven innings of three hit, no earned run, 12 strikeouts in that game. His ERA and three starts in the postseason is 0.4-7. I know, Kevin. So I know. And Max is what, for something, I think. 3.73, I think I just said, or whatever it was. You know what? Look, I don't have, I don't necessarily

have a problem with the decision. I would have been fine had Strasbourg started, but there is something about the way Max, I know, is going to come out. He is, I know the results haven't been there, but it just seems like he's up to the occasion. He is my favorite type of athlete, you know, the Russell Westbrook type of athlete, that you just know you're going to get a fearless, competitive effort, and that's what you have to have in a one game like tonight. Listen, as much, nobody was willing to say it because I wrote this column for today, exactly saying this, and I was talking to some Nats players in the clubhouse yesterday

during the workout, before the workout. And Howie Kendrick did say, you know, Max has been our ace for a couple years. His resume speaks for itself. I think if they had picked Strasbourg while everyone respects what Strasbourg has done, I think a little bit of air would have went out of the room. I just think, look, and I know it's human nature. You may hate it as a fan. But these are people.

And that's a big part of the decision. You can't, you want everybody on board. Yes. In that particular situation as well, it'll be interesting tonight. There are a couple of interesting potential Dave Martinez big decisions. And I'll just start with this. Are you confident in him in his first playoff game against a guy that's really good in Craig Counsel? Yeah.

Yes, I am. Okay, so. See, I think he's a very good manager. Will he pull Scher early enough if he's struggling, knowing that he's got Strasbourg and Corbyn that he could turn to to start an inning? let's say if Max gives up four earned runs in the first two winnings. Oh, absolutely. You don't think he'll hesitate.

No, because Strasbourg, this is Strasbourg's day to pitch. He could pitch seven innings if he needs to. So, I mean, no, I don't think he'll hesitate there. I heard you talking about it on your radio show this morning. I'm glad you listened. I happened to catch it on the dial, recognize the voice as I was flipping around. I really do. And you brought up this scenario with Mark Zuckerman about a pinch hit situation.

that's where it's going to be a little bit dicey. I mean, because do you take out a guy who is maybe giving up one run in six innings? That's going to depend on the scoring opportunity you're faced with. Like you said came up with bases loaded and two out. Yes, you're going to take them out there. You have to. You have to. I mean, if you've got a runner on second and it's a tie game, no.

I don't think he's pitching lights out. No, I don't think you take him out. because I think this Nats team has to have, at least until they get to Josh Hader in the eighth and the ninth, before that eighth inning comes around, I think you have to have confidence that this Nats offense will score runs. And if it's like the sixth inning, I think you've got to have confidence that your guys are going to break that one-one tie and score some runs. What if that runner's on third with one out? And it's a nothing-nothing game in the fifth. and he's pitched 90 pitches and it's nothing, nothing.

If he's pitched 90 pitches, and the fifth, then he hasn't pitched brilliant. 80 pitches. Then he's staying in the game for me. Yeah. I mean, because, again, I mean, they're going to walk the next batter anyway. Right.

But they're not going to walk Scherzer, though, if he's up. And then potentially you're going to get into a situation. If he can't put a decent ball into play. If he hits a five ball, you score the run. If he hits the sack fly. But you'd want the guy that you're confident can actually, drive them in with a sack fly.

Look, a one game playoff is utter chaos. I love this. I like it, too. I'm glad baseball did it. I mean, I want the Nats to win, and I want a series against the Dodgers, but it would be really, I love this stuff if we've got a lot of strategy decisions in this game tonight. Yeah. You know, a lot of late-inning strategy decisions.

Do you think anybody other than Strasbourg, Corbyn, Hudson, or Doolittle will pitch tonight? if people aren't getting shelled constantly. You know, if it's a three-two kind of game. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. But I brought up this scenario to you before we started the podcast. You know, everyone assumes it's Strasbourg following Scherzer in terms of, unless it's like the eighth inning.

Then you're looking at probably Doolittle Hudson or Hudson do little eighth and ninth inning. But I put forth this scenario of you've got, let's say it's, this sixth inning and you've had Scherzer throwing 96, 97, 98 miles an hour. They've been watching heat, you know, the brewers for six innings. And then you bring in Adabel Sanchez. And Annabelle Sanchez

is thrown 75, 80 miles an hour, 15 pitches all over to place. And these guys who have been looking at nothing but heat Yeah, it's interesting. Are all of a sudden they're off their game. They're saying I mean they're swinging early on everything. You know,

But I think Sanchez... Strasbourg's off-speed stuff is pretty good, though. Look, you're right. You're right. His change-up has turned out to be great. And I think ultimately, if they have to go through all their starters, Sanchez, obviously, is their game one starter. In L.A. In L.A. So they need him for that. Right.

So I understand that. Yeah, I mean, I'm actually interested if, let's just say Strasbourg came in... Well, no. I mean, what if he came in and got lit up in one inning? Would he be, but somehow they survived and they advanced? Would he still be your game one pitcher? You know, there's so many things. Right now, look, this is, when you are down to have to win to advance,

you don't even worry about the next game. No, you know. If you have to start vote. There is no tomorrow. I mean, you just, you do whatever you need to do to win tonight. Do you think Kendrick should start at first base? Yeah, I do. I think that's the smart decision.

And he's a clutch player. He really is. He really is. And they've been getting him ready for this moment. So I think he really is. Here's the roster that they've released. Oh, is it out? Okay, I didn't know it was out.

Okay. For tonight. Patrick Corbin, Sean Doolittle, Daniel Hudson, Annabelle Sanchez, Max Scherzer, Steven Strasberg. The relievers are Fernando Rodney, Hunter Strickland, and Tanner Rainey. Rainey is the guy that Aaron told me, said before the show he could see coming in in a one-out situation.

That was a good call. I didn't see Rainey on this postseason roster. Aaron said to me before the show, he said, I could see, because I said, do you think it's just Doolittle in Hudson after Strasbourg Corvin? He said, I could see Rainey in a one, you know, batter situation. Yeah, I could see that too. You know, they didn't go to Swero on the postseason roster. The only thing I can really think of unless there's some specific matchup thing is that

just Rainey has more of the swing and miss stuff. So you have runners on, you need a strikeout here. You bring in Rainey. Yeah, and his numbers may be great against the Brewers, too, for all I know. I hope we don't see Fernando Rodney tonight at any point. Oh, look, the game's over. The game's over one way or the other, either up by five or down by five, if you see Fernando Roddy.

They've got three catchers, including Rowdy Redd as one of their catchers, because I think they want the flexibility there of using a guy like Goams as a pinch hitter off the bench and still have a backup catcher. Suzuki, like I told you last week, if Scherzer was a starter, Suzuki would be the catcher, and that's been the case. Max is more comfortable with Suzuki back there

than with Gomes. You've got Matt Adams, you got Cabrera, you've got Dozier, Kendrick, Rendon, Turner, and Zimmerman, outfielders, besides Eaton, you've got Parra, Robes, Soto, and you've got the two speeds.

there's Andrew Stevenson and Michael A. Taylor. And Michael A. Taylor. Because, I mean, like I've reminded everybody, it was a stolen base that changed the history of baseball in 2004 when Dave Roberts stole second base for the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees. Stolen base could prove to be very important. So that's the roster for tonight. Yeah, and we'll get the starting lineup here in about, well, from a few hours. Yeah, it'll be a few hours from now as we're doing the podcast. Are you going?

I'm not going. I'm surprised. You're a big event kind of guy. And I've been at, you know, I've been at every single game five. I know. The first four anyway. And I've loved all of them, except for the people that asked me to stand, to sit down when there were two strikes, late innings. I, you know what, this new show, you know, I'm getting, I'm super early.

Like, it would be a, it's not going to be a last minute change. It'd be a home by midnight situation. You want to know something? If they, if they win. tonight. If they win tonight, you know what your boy has to do? What? Your boy has to then drive to BWI, sleep for four hours at a hotel at BWI, and then get on a plane like at 7.30 and morning to fly to L.A. Why do you have to fly, why can't you fly Thursday morning? Because they'll have a workout tomorrow out of L.A. I want to get to Dodger Stadium as soon as I can. And by the way,

this is one of the reason why I'm really pulling from them to win. I've never been to the Dodgers Stadium. Oh, you haven't? I've never been. When I used to travel, a lot. It was with covering the Orioles. So they're an American League team. I've been in, I, remember I told you when in my previous, you know, professional life that I've been to a lot of baseball games. Dodger Stadium is one of them. And by the way, it's not nearly as impressive as it appears on TV. I really like it. And by the way, Chavez ravines a dump.

Yeah. Well, they've put in a lot of money fixing up. You know, you know who the boss is out. I mean, to be in Dodger Stadium. You know who the boss is out there. Stan Caston. Yeah. He's been fixing things up, getting things right. Yeah, the, I think my favorite may have been the, like one of my favorites was the old Bush stadium, which I really enjoyed. Well, oh God, I hated that. Well, there was something about a Cardinals game, which, by the way, that city is a real baseball town. Yeah, and they had a big series in town, and I happened to have been in St. Louis, and I went in the atmosphere was phenomenal, and the whole thing. Now, that stadium is a, you know, a 19,

1970s, you know, RFK, vet type of style stadium. Riverfront Stadium. But I think that game was an unbelievable, you know, big regular season game that I went to was probably in the early 90s, early to mid-90s. I spent a lot of time. I actually liked St. Louis as a town. So do I. It's a great restaurant town.

It's a great music town. I've had great times in St. Louis. I spent a lot of time there in 98 during the McGuire Sosa run, a lot of time. So you'll go to L.A. Yeah, I'll go to L.A. So games one and two are Thursday, Friday. So Saturday would be the travel day. So that means games three and four would be Sunday and Monday here.

Do you think they can make a deep, long run in this postseason? No. You don't. Why? Because they don't have a bullpen. They don't have a bullpen. This has been your thing the whole season. They don't have a bowl.

Look, I think, like, it's not a one game playoff, but a five-game series, there's still a lot of luck and chaos involved. So I think in a five-game series, they still, with their starting pitching, they can maybe get by. The five-game series is going to be against the Dodgers. I know that, and the Dodgers are very good. But again, as we've seen numerous times,

a five-game series is, there's a lot more luck in a five-game series than there is in a seven-game series. It just is. Do you think they win tonight? I think they win tonight. I don't see how, if they continue to play, I don't see how they get past the NLCS with the bullpen they have. I just can't, I just can't understand how that could possibly happen.

But I think given what they've been through, if they would make it for the first time to the league championship series, I think a lot of people would feel a sense of accomplishment. Yeah, I mean, this really has been an unbelievable season. I mean, no one's ever done this before. I mean, remember, the discussion about 90 games was ridiculous. They won 93. Yeah. I thought they would match last year's record.

When they were down and out, I thought, well, they'll be lucky if they get to 82 wins. Right. If they get over 500, they would have done something. They've just, I mean, and one of the things I wrote about Sunday for Monday in the Washington Times, you read my stuff Washington Times. I do. I read it all the time. Yeah, I know.

Click on sports. Was that in a way... I think I read your columns more than you listen to my radio show. Oh, yeah. Well, because one takes three hours and one takes five minutes. Well, I'm not asking you to listen to all three hours. So I wrote that this, actually this roster, as opposed to other rosters... By the way, your columns take about 30 seconds to read.

This roster may have been built for this kind of season. In other words, the guys that you have on this team were probably much better suited. to have the comeback season than the ones that they had in all four of their NL East champion, NO. East title seasons. Those were, I'm not used this in a derogatory term, but they were front runner teams.

Yeah. I mean, they started out running from the front, and they were good at that because they were clearly the most talented, but when adversity would come in, when they would be pressed to come from behind, they tended to fold. Right.

This is the opposite. This is a team that has done the exact opposite of that. And I'm convinced it's because of guys they brought in like Suzuki and Gomes and the other guys that Rizzo brought in. The youngsters like Juan Soto and Victor Robways. This is not a knock on Bryce Harper. Okay. I don't mean it to be a knock on Bryce Harper.

And I understand this. But Bryce Harper became exhausting as a teammate, not a bad teammate. But I think for Bryce Harper, there's a burden that comes with playing the game that guys like Juan Soto and Victor Robways don't have. They come to the ballpark and they're dancing the minute they walk in. I don't want to make a big deal.

But I think Bryce Harper, through no fault of his own, because of his stature, because of the attention he's got since he was 16 years old, there's a bit of a burden for him when it comes to playing baseball. And you could feel that. in the clubhouse sometimes. You never felt that this year. You just felt a much lighter atmosphere.

It's not a criticism of Bryce Harper. It's just the way things are. Back to talking about the regular season, this sports so unique, because the regular season is so long that there's real accomplishment in this regular season, no matter what happens tonight. I know it's going to be very disappointing.

if they lose tonight. I think that there is this sense of what you said. This is a team that, by the way, in their first four playoff appearances, didn't play the last three weeks or month of the season without any sense of urgency. They've had this sense of urgency, this having to win, and not in the final weekend after they had wrapped it up, but maybe that bodes well for this postseason, and maybe they're built better for this. But, you know, after 19 and 31 to win 93 games and to have tonight is an accomplishment. Whereas in basketball, ball and hockey in football, you know, it's all about the postseason pretty much. Yeah. So much more so. And maybe it's just the length of the schedule. And then, and by the way, 162 games is much more of a

true reflection. Yes, it is. Of the kind of team you had versus how you fared in a best of five. I always point to the first year to Nats were in town. Remember they went 50 and 31 at the beginning. Yeah. And everyone, and then everyone thought they collapsed in the second half. And they finished 81 and 81. That's who they were. Yeah. They were an 81 and 81 team. In a way, the schedule corrected itself. They were not a 50 and 31 team.

Yeah. You know, for me tonight, I'm into this. Like, I'm into this team, and it's nice for people that have been redskin fans here in recent years. And you know I'm not a big hockey guy. I know. And I really, the truth of the matter is, it doesn't matter to me if the caps win or lose.

I'm not invested. I'm not a hockey guy. I'm not invested in the caps emotionally or otherwise. I am in the Wizards, as you know, and I am in Maryland sports. But for the pro teams, like, I would love to have the next three to four weeks of, you know, every night or every couple of nights having a huge postseason baseball game. It would be great to have a league championship series here in time. It would be great. Or a world series.

A world series, obviously, would be phenomenal. But I settle for a league championship. The drama of postseason baseball is similar for me to the overtime in the NHL playoffs or in an NFL playoff game, the suddenness of it. In baseball, it's the buildup, between pitches, you know, in a key inning, late eighth, you know, late ninth inning, and, you know, in a one-run game, it is, it's great theater, you know, postseason baseball. I've always loved it.

The Nats have been involved in their brief history here in Washington in four dramatic playoff series, all of which have ended in crushing fashion, which sort of helps build, you know, the character of the fan base, the thick skin of a fan base. And, you know, I'd love to see them break through finally. It would make, you know, that big lead, that 5-0 lead against St. Louis in Game 5 that they blew, you know, is sort of satisfying. The series against the Giants didn't come down to a fifth in deciding game, but you had the 18 inning game two, which was an epic.

You know, obviously the fifth and deciding game here against the Dodgers and the Cubs, especially after Strasbourg, had one game four, and there was a really good feeling about game five coming in. You know the most bizarre thing about that Cubs series? I know people are going to disagree with this, that Joe Madden, who manages, bullpen far worse than Dusty Baker did in that series. Joe Madden used Wade, Wade Davis for a seven-out save after he had used him repeatedly throughout the series. That is unbelievable how he got away with that.

That to me is one that the Nats were not able to get to Wade Davis to take over that lead. A seven-out save for a guy who was already tired when he took the ball. ball. Yeah, Geo had a rough start, if you recall, in that one. And then Scherzer came in and gave up a lot. And it was another one of those fifth in deciding games where they had a big lead, you know, early. They had gotten a bunch of runs early. I think the lead was three to one or four to one in that fifth and deciding game. And that was, they didn't come through. I know that there was a lot of sentiment in the Nats front office that Dusty made a mistake in starting Gio and not Tanner Roark, who they felt would have been more competitive in that. situation.

Well, and... But again, Dave Martinez is deciding, unless something has changed, I don't think it has. You know, it was a collective decision to decide who, who's on the roster for post for tonight's game. But the guy who starts the game, that's Dave Martinez's decision. Yeah. More so than a con, than a consensus with Rizzo and anybody else. Mike lets his managers manage. Okay.

This is not the Houston Astros for better or worse. I hope more than anything what we don't get tonight is Max going six strong in a one-nothing lead and then getting yanked in the seventh like we did against the Dodgers. Here's the thing that you told me at the time, I'm pretty sure. And I know that Max Scherzer's never had a problem with it, that he maybe he felt he was done. Remember that night? Oh, yeah. You know, and he felt he was done in that spot, but he had, you know, like a two-hit shutout going through six, and they yanked him, and the next inning, it fell apart. And there went game five. I hope tonight, if he's got one of those gems rolling through the sixth, I hope he powers through it, and we see him until he actually, I know that everybody says you pull him before he gets into trouble. Well, last time when you pulled him before you got into trouble, you got into trouble.

Right. But we get into. Immediately. We don't. know the conversation that took place in the doubt before and Max Max handed Dusty the ball. I know and he never, right, he never said anything that he was upset about getting yanked in that particular spot and I forget

what the pitch count was exactly but that was a rough night. I mean, they've lost three painful game fives in which they've led all three of them at home. Now all that said, nobody knows anything about what's going to happen

tonight. Yeah. Nobody has a clue. It's baseball. It's one game. Right. In other words, it's like the worst team, the Miami.

They can play the Marlins tonight and lose. And you wouldn't know. And you wouldn't know what was going to happen. Yes. A hundred percent. So, I mean, everyone needs to remember that. Right. It may not make you feel better after the game if they lose.

But nobody really has a clue. No. What's going to happen? They're a big favorite tonight. I heard that. Aaron, they're like minus 190. I've seen minus 200. It's all about Scherzer.

Yeah. I mean, totally about him. And about the situation. situation that the brewers are going to throw. They're going to throw this guy Woodruff, whose last two starts were two-inning starts after two months on the injured list. But he's good. I know, but their plan here,

counsel's plan tonight, is to get him through the Nats lineup maybe once or twice. I'd say once. You know, three innings, tops, and then they're going to come in with relief the rest of the way. What you've got to hope is you want to be up before Josh Hader gets in the game. That's where you want to be up.

All right. So you like them to win tonight, but lose to the Dodgers? No, I don't like them to lose to the Dodgers. I think they can get by in an LCS. Okay. I mean, in a division series. But the bullpen's going to catch up with them in a best of seven. Yeah, I think it would.

I like them tonight, and I don't like them against the Dodgers. I think ultimately they've got great starting pitching, and there's something about them in the Astros and a rematch. The Astros are dominant right now. And they are a prohibited favorite. They're starting pitching. You're ridiculous. It's better than what Washington has.

And that's hard to say. Indeed. All right. Real quickly, I do want to get to one other thing that Jay Gruden did on Sunday. But if you're listening to us on iTunes or Apple Podcasts, just rate us and write a quick review. But rate us by giving us hopefully a lot of stars and subscribe. That helps us as well with our advertisers. two more things I want to get to real quickly, Tommy, before we end the show.

Number one, the look-ahead line for the Dolphins Redskins game next week is Pickham. It doesn't mean it's going to be Pick-em, but that's the look-head line. That's just one book, to be fair. It's one book. Other books have it closer to between three and seven. Well, I've actually seen between one and three. I've not seen any look-ahead at seven. I saw Cesar apparently plans on six.

Okay. Well, we'll see. I mean, in these look-ahead lines are not always accurate, because in this sport there are so many injuries and their results that changed the thinking. But the bottom line in any of this, whether it's, you know, pick them to three, the Redskins right now are viewed with the Dolphins and probably the Cardinals as the three worst teams in the NFL. And by the way, Miami's actually played better in the last two weeks and seemed to care a little

bit more. The last thing I wanted to end with, it's not a full-blown coaching blunder segment. There were a couple this week. Maybe we can do them tomorrow. Aaron, a full-blown coaching blunders segment tomorrow. Remind me of that, if you don't mind. So Sunday, there was this issue at the end of the first half. He put Dwayne Haskins into the game, and the one drive that they had for Haskins, there was that 14-yard scramble run that got him to a first-and-goal situation at the Giants one-yard line. They tried to throw to sprinkle. That

was incomplete. They ran Peterson, and after the Peterson play got stopped, they, Pat Shermer called timeout because he wanted the Giants to get the ball back after the Redskins drive ended with either a field goal or a touchdown, which by the way was really smart. Jay probably was surprised by that because he doesn't usually call timeouts on defense to get the ball back at the end of halves.

It's not something he's figured out how to do very consistently. But what happened then was that Jay Gruden called Dwayne Haskins over to the sideline. And they started to, you know, have a long conversation. Dwayne took his helmet off, was drinking some water, and they're talking about what they're going to run on third and goal. And meantime, the shot clock, Jay calls it the shot clock. I almost just called it that as well. It's the play clock. It started to roll. And it started to roll because when Schumer called the timeout, it was a 30-second timeout, which, by the way, in the NFL, if you watch NFL games,

you know the rhythm of watching an NFL game. Typically late in a half, late in the game, the timeouts that are called are 32nd timeouts. They're not full-blown television commercial timeouts. And the reason for that is there are nine timeouts per half that happen in an NFL national TV game. Two of them are locked in, all right? End of the first quarter and the two-minute warning of the first half. And then in the second half, end of the third quarter and the two-minute warning. Those are locked in two-minute television commercial breaks.

And then in each half, they have to work in another seven. And those usually happen after a score or after a punt. Or if a team calls a time out earlier in the half, and those go to television commercials, and you're watching a commercial. But typically, once those are used up, they're all 30-second. And usually those 30 seconds happen late in a half. well Jay was asked about this yesterday because the situation made Dwayne maybe look bad a little bit

because what happened was when he went back out on the field there were five seconds left when they were breaking the huddle and they had to burn a timeout right after the Giants had called a timeout and so people were like well there's the rookie quarterback this was Jay's explanation of what happened that wasn't on Dwayne that was on me the referee never told me when the dang ball was I mean, they're going to tell me if it's a TV timeout or when the ball's being winded up.

He forgot to tell me. So I'm just talking to Dwayne over there and, hey, we're going to run this, this. And next thing you know, it's down to 10. I'm like, you know, nobody told me. So that's my fault. You know, I got to be more in tune. But every other time we have a timeout, somebody tells me, hey, we're winding it now. You know what I mean?

I get them out there, but nobody told me on that one. That was the guy actually apologized to me on that one. So it was your fault, Jay. And really, Tommy, in these situations, I don't know that an official actually had to apologize to Jay. When are they going to hire you? Well, when are they going to hire you as a time management coach? So this is one of those things that bothers me because Jay's right. It was his fault.

But Jay's wrong in that he didn't really need a referee to tell him this. You know, if these things are important to you, if you have a sense of the rhythm of a game when it comes to the clock and timeouts and things like this. You know when you get into that late part of the half that there's a possibility we've used up all of our TV commercials and this one's going to be 30 seconds. Like there have been many situations where there's been a timeout. Hey, coach, that's a 30 second timeout.

You don't need to be told he should be saying to the referee. Is that 30 second or a full two minute? Immediately when Shermer calls it. Are we in 30 seconds? Because if he's in 30 seconds, Dwayne Haskins never leaves the huddle. No. He's talking to him in the headset, and he's staying in the huddle, and they're figuring it out there.

They're over there yucking it up on the sideline. And he puts him back in, and you see the play clock when they break the huddles at five seconds, and I'm like, and by the way, in the moment, I was like, I think that what's he doing on the sideline? We didn't go to a TV commercial. This is a 30-second timeout. Does he know this? They're going to end up having to call time out.

And by the way, you could use those things at the end of half or the end a game. You know, he could have used it on defense, but they couldn't stop the Giants, of course. But that is just, these are the little things, you know, the attention to detail things in good organizations that are well run, that are well coached, that do, you know, add up to the difference between maybe a game or two over the course of a season, which could be, you know, in their case, the last couple of years, nine and seven instead of seven and nine. You know, I just, it drives me nuts. Like how is a head football coach in the NFL, as many games, this is year six for him, all right, in Washington, how doesn't just the general rhythm of the game and the time of the game,

two minutes and ten seconds left in the first half, give you some sort of pause of or thought of, is this a 30-second timeout? Immediately when Shermer calls it. You have to be told that? No, you should be saying 30 or full, and they'll yell to you, Coach 30. Good. Dwayne, stay there. This is what we're going to run on third down. That stuff bothers me. But you're right. Those are the little things. The big thing is, don't be a fan later. Later. By the way, we did not address one thing, and I'm glad we still have a minute left here to do this. What did you make of the report about, from Barry Zerluga, about the offer to Rendon for $200 to $215 million over seven years?

Well, based on what I read, I think it's a decent offer. I think that it's something that will not insult Anthony Rendon or Boris, who I think are still going to go to free agency because they didn't bet on him this year just to turn around and sign with the Nats. I think they're going to wind up paying Rendon if they keep him a lot more than they would have paid him if they had signed him at the beginning of the year. but it's not a bad offer. People forget the free agent market last year was a disaster. I mean, Schado got his money. Harper had to wait until March until Boris was able to convince the Phillies owner

to finally spend to get his money, and nobody else got the money. Anthony Rendon, as much as we may like him, is not a move-the-needle player. Right. Okay, people aren't paying to show up to watch Anthony Rendon play. But people are going to be upset if he's not. that resound. Oh, I grant you that. But what I'm saying is, I don't think there's going to be a huge market for much more than that for Anthony Rendon. All Boris needs is one owner to gin up. And it could be the guy in Texas. The Rangers are moving into a new ballpark last year. They need a

third baseman. I don't see them paying $250 million for Anthony Rendon. So, I mean, it's discouraging that he's going to go to free agency because anything can happen. in free agency, but I don't think this is a bad offer. Hopefully on Thursday you'll be calling in from Los Angeles. Let's hope that that is the case. Thank you for the day. You were pleasant today, and it was good to be with you again. Good job by Aaron.

Back tomorrow. I think Cooley will probably be a guest on the show tomorrow. Still trying to nail that down, but it's a pretty good bet that he'll be on with me tomorrow. Enjoy the day.