The Kevin Sheehan Show - Flogged By Fins

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Kevin opened with his thoughts on Washington's 45-15 loss to the Dolphins. He had plenty on the College Football Playoff Final 4 to discuss as well. He got to his Commanders-Dolphins "game-take" which included a lot on Sam Howell including a grade. Doc Walker jumped on to share his thoughts on the sinking Commanders at the end.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. As we were warming up and as we came out, you know, on our sideline, it was just a lot of Dolphins fans. And I can't remember an away game where we've had that much support, that much love from our fans.

And, I mean, none of that goes and notice. And we really appreciate that as players. Yesterday was a fan appreciation-themed Sunday. FedEx Field. That was Tuatunga Viloa, the quarterback of the road team expressing his appreciation for all of the dolphin fans

who showed up in Landover. There were a lot of them. Did you hear that Let's Go Dolphins chant after the Tarik Hill touchdown that kicked off the game? It was pretty loud. One of these days, one of these days we will have a game at FedEx Field

in December with majority, majority Washington fans. I guess that giant game last year on Sunday night was a decent crowd. There have been a couple of them here and there. But man, it seems like yesterday was once again Groundhog Day for this organization. But better times are ahead. As we have tried to preach all year long, it is a new day. Dan is gone. New ownership will really start to make their mark when this first season of theirs comes to and end, and it can't come quickly enough. The show today, presented by Windonation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. Mention my name, they'll take good care of you. Doc Walker coming up in the final segment of the show. I will talk about the college football playoff decision made by the committee yesterday. What a dramatic 12 noon show that was on ESPN. If you're into college football, I mean, even if you aren't into college football, the drama surrounding yesterday's reveal of the four teams was by far and away the most it's been during its 10-year, illustrious history of playoff announcements.

This will be the last year. This whole system goes to a 12-team playoff beginning next year. So yesterday at FedEx Field, there wasn't much to a pre-ex game. in terms of the home team's performance, a second straight game giving up 45 to an opponent. I don't know, and I tried to find information. I'm actually surprised it's not readily available. I started to go through a lot of the seasons in the past. I could not find 45 plus in back-to-back weeks. Yesterday was worse, so much worse, actually, than Thanksgiving, if we're into comparing car wrecks. because Miami, unlike Dallas, got all of their points early and often.

And they actually took their foot off the pedal in the second half. If not for that show of mercy, they may have gotten 60 plus. That was certainly there for them if they had wanted it. The Dallas game was a little bit different. It was 20 to 10. You know, at halftime, it was 20 to 10. Much into the third quarter, Washington had multiple possessions where they were moving the football down 20 to 10.

Yesterday was a no-chancer from the start. Can you imagine whose idea it was to line up Juan Martin in man coverage against Tariq Hill on 3rd and 2 with no help? It did not improve much with Ron Rivera taking over the defense. Did it? I couldn't or I didn't notice much of a difference. There were actually some really good plays, believe it or not. made on defense yesterday, but still, the actual result wasn't much different than it's been. Jack Del Rio's exit made no difference in the overall performance.

Look, Miami is really good. We understand that. Miami hasn't been lighting it up recently. You know, I mentioned on Friday's podcast. The Raiders had held them to 20. That was a 20 to 13 game just a few weeks ago. but the dolphins are very good. They're one of the top two or three offenses in the league.

Statistically, they're number one overall in terms of yards per game, number one pass offense, number two rush offense. They're an excellent and very creative offensive team. I actually really enjoyed watching Mike McDaniel's team, the way they're schemed up, the creativity, and then, of course, just the flat-out talent and really just the speed that they can. can put out on the field. It is incredible. And Tariq Hill is, I think, really, in today's NFL, the most

feared player in the league at the line of scrimmage or with the ball in his hands. I don't know that there's really anybody in the last five or six years, seven years is it now, that really strikes the kind of fear into a defense that Tariq Hill does. Look, overall, as I mentioned, A few players made a few plays here and there, but nothing good enough or often enough to make the game a legitimate competition. And it really did feel at times in watching yesterday's game, like this was more of a tune-up or an exhibition for Miami. They don't play their most meaningful games for a few weeks, but they'll have some big games

at the end of their schedule, and then they'll be in the postseason. got big games down the road, and this for them actually, you know, I don't know that they approached it this way, certainly, but it turned out to be just a tune-up and a confidence builder. Ron Rivera, in his post-game presser, and I am recording this before he does his presser on this Monday. So when I hear what he says today, which I would imagine would be a little bit different than what I'm going to read here now. I will certainly discuss it on tomorrow's show with Tommy because I do think, even though I'm not making this quote up,

I do think that he'll look at the tape and have a slightly different view today. But this is what he said after the game yesterday. Quote, it's crazy, but there were two major plays that were made that kind of throws things a little bit out of whack. Close quote. as if to say, if not for the two Tariq Hill long touchdown passes,

this was a football game. Again, I wouldn't expect him to actually think that after taking the game in and probably watching the film of the game. I mentioned earlier this morning that those of you who are fans of the movie Jaws, it's like after Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfus, does the examination of that first body, and he comes out of it, and he looks at Chief Brody,

and he says, this was no boating accident. This was not Jack the Ripper. This was a shark. And this was an absolute shred-up Washington job, a shred-up Washington job by the Miami Dolphins. And two plays were not anywhere near the story. of the game. Washington was beat and throttled in every way imaginable yesterday. Again, Miami's good, you know. Dallas is good. The last two weeks, Washington has been outscored by 65 points, 90 to 25 in just two games. I mean, this is not college football in the Big 12. This is the NFL. I just can't

remember being beaten this badly in back-to-back games. I mean, I mean, this is, for this team this year, this is now the third time they've given up 40 or more. They give up 40 to the Bears. They give up 31 to the Giants a couple of weeks ago. It really is a disaster on defense. And their point differential in the league right now is tops. They've got the largest point differential, negative point differential in the league at minus 1.304. where I believe it is. The Giants are one point worse. To be fair, the Giants have played one less game,

so they would probably, assuming a loss, have the worst point differential with the same number of games played. But, you know, none of this actually even matters. You know, this would have been much easier in years past with Dan still here to do the annual, this organization has no chance, speech, or rant, it's different. Dan isn't here anymore. And yet, it feels very similar this December, this season. And that's true. But I think we knew coming into this year that this year was a bit of a wild card and that the real ownership tenure of Josh Harris in terms of his imprint on the football operation wasn't going to start until this year was over. And he could hire his whole new football group.

There will be a new regime. And that regime will take over in early to mid-January. And at that point, you start to view the organization in a way in which we haven't been able to view the organization in a long time. And that is, this organization will have a chance. You know, they'll be judged on who they hire and the jobs. that those people do, but it is different even though it feels the same. And we said this a few weeks ago after they lost to the Giants for a second time,

which was pretty embarrassing. We said, look, this competitive part of this schedule is now over. The rest of this season is about Sam Howell. The rest of this season is trying to figure out whether or not Sam Hal is good enough for the, it's not for us to figure out, it's for us to, you know, have a conversation about. It's for them to figure out. But the conversations are going to be about watching Sam Howell to determine if we think the next regime should just build around him or should try to use what should be a very high draft position to try to replace him or certainly draft a quarterback

to compete with him. And Washington now, remember, they're in position the rest of the way. They won't be a favorite in any of their four remaining games, including the Jets more likely than not on Christmas Eve. I mean, the Jets were only a one and a half point dog to Atlanta. And Atlanta's a better team than Washington. And who knows, Aaron Rogers may play. Probably not, though.

But Washington right now sits with the fourth position in the draft, the fourth worst record in the NFL. And it could go higher. Arizona won yesterday. England and Carolina were trying to win, we might get something better than the fourth position when all is said and done. And so really for a few weeks now, and it continues, this is about Sam Howe and, you know, the continued sort of evaluation slash development of Sam Howe, more and that coming up.

But that's the big decision. And then all of the other big decisions, when I say that's the big decision, that's the big decision for the new regime, that will be a big talking point for us, the biggest talking point. Because with a top three to five pick in the draft, a draft that will have Caleb Williams,

Drake May, and probably Jaden Daniels, all projected to go in the top five or top 10 by the time we get to April, Washington will have a chance, potentially to draft, a quarterback that many, I think by the time we get to March and April, will believe have franchise quarterback, whatever that means, capability. Yesterday wasn't a good day for Sam Howell. It wasn't his worst day. Far from it. And he was far from the biggest problem yesterday. We've said that a lot. In fact, I asked Ben Standing this. morning on radio. If you were to vote right now for the team's offensive MVP, it would come down to two players, Brian Robinson Jr., who got hurt yesterday, and Sam Howell. And that's not saying much, but Sam Howell has been one of the few bright lights offensively for this team.

I don't know where we would go defensively for the defensive MVP. But Sam did not have a great day yesterday. You know, that three-game stretch where it really was a trend-as-your-friend kind of a thing, where there was real momentum building for even the nayserers or the skeptics or the people that were like, I'm waiting. I need to see a lot more, and I put myself into that category. That was a nice stretch of some really good football against Philly, New England, and Seattle. That seems like ages ago now. he has not played great here recently.

Yesterday again, not the worst of his games by a long shot. But this is why those of us who have preached patience on declaring Sam to be the guy or to not be the guy to just continue to watch. This was always going to be an up and down year for a quarterback with no experience, with an offensive coordinator, you know, handling a role that really was a much bigger role than he's ever had.

And we knew the offensive line was potentially going to be a problem as well. But, yeah, there's been no reason for anybody to rush to declare on Sam Hal. There's no reason now to rush to declare. Although I will tell you right now that if you said to me today, you have a top three pick, top five pick in the upcoming draft. I would tell you that we have to seriously consider drafting one of the three quarterbacks that could be available to us with our pick or a potential trade-up to get a guy that we think is an absolute home run, Andrew Luck, you know, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes type.

Yes, I would say that today. think at this point, I've seen enough of Sam through 13 games to at least say this. It would be incredibly irresponsible and negligent, not to take seriously the unexpected but improving draft position and explore the quarterbacks that may actually be available when you pick. I mean, there's no chance you could get me today to say, yeah, I don't think we need to even think about that O line, O line, O line. Build around Sam, build around Sam. No. I'm not declaring that that's not a possibility, but if you were to make me pick one today, I would say we've got to really take these quarterbacks in the upcoming draft very seriously, which I think they will.

They've got to do every, you know, every sort of exploratory measure to make sure that building around Sam would be a better option than taking one of those quarterbacks. They'll do that. We don't have to do that. We just can talk about that. But again, you know, he made some good plays yesterday like he always does. You know, he made a lot of good plays yesterday like he always does. But, you know, yesterday overall for him was not the kind of performance where the new GM is going to say, oh, we got our guy, he's good. We're focused on O-line, O-line, O-line, pass-rusher. A-quarter. quarterback's nowhere near, you know, the top of our list. No, yesterday would not be the game you would use to say that.

Anyway, much more on Sam's game and the overall takeaways with my game take coming up in the next segment. So I wanted to quickly here in the open talk about what was the biggest sports story of the weekend. The 49ers Eagles game. I'll get to that at some point. hopefully today. I mean, let me net it out. 49ers are awesome. And Philadelphia

is not very good on defense. It's something we've talked about all year long. They have looked older and slower on defense, and I still think Philadelphia is an excellent team. Don't get me wrong. But they can't match up to the 49ers as currently constructed, as long as the 49ers are healthy, which they were not in the NFC championship game. It is a mismatch. I mean, the 49ers after that first quarter

put up 466 yards of offense and 42 points. I mean, they were 8 of 9 on 3rd down until they ran the clock out. At the end, they were 8 for 8 after failing on their first two third downs. The Eagles' best chance, or anybody's best chance, really, I think, to beat the Niners, but especially the Eagles and the NFC, is to do it with their offense. They're going to have to score. They're going to have to possess the ball. And that's going to be probably the same for Dallas, too.

Dallas is better defensively than Philadelphia. for sure. But you're going to have to keep the ball away from them and you're going to have to score a lot to have a chance. Similar really in many ways to the way you beat Miami. Keep the ball out of to his hands so that Tariq Hill can't touch it. All right, back to what I think was the biggest, you know, sports story, if not a news story of the weekend.

The four-team playoff reveal yesterday. So most of you know, I actually prefer college football to the NFL. I love them both. Don't get me wrong. But I love Saturdays. And man, it's one of the great regular seasons. I think it's the best regular season of any of the major sports that we, you know,

talk about a lot on the show. Yesterday's 14 playoff reveal was as dramatic and certainly as controversial as any that we've seen over the 10 years that this has been done. And I wanted to give you my opinion on this, but before I get to that, I want to make sure that everybody understands. Because I have heard so much conversation and read so much. And to be honest with you, I think a lot of the, you know, moaning and be moaning. And, you know, I saw something where, you know, Senator Rick Scott from Florida requesting a college football playoff, that the college football playoff committee immediately release recordings, emails, and texts about its decision to exclude Florida State.

I understand how upset everybody is, and I certainly understand the comments from the coaches and the players. If I were a fan of Florida State, I'd be a mess today. However, I don't know how many of you, and I'm sure you've heard a lot of this, but I don't know how many of you actually went in and read the actual college football. ball playoff selection protocol, you know, what this committee is tasked to do, what the committee is tasked to do. For those not completely in the know, this is the last year of the 14 playoff that goes to 12 next year. Too bad it didn't start this year, which was the plan at one point. But there were actually a few leagues, including the ACC, by the way, who said, no, we got to

wait until next year. But anyway, this year was by far and away the most difficult since the very first year, but this was the most difficult. And it was the most difficult because, unlike most years, where the Power 5 conferences will have at least one of their champions, one of the champions from a Power 5 league will be a team that really isn't a candidate for the playoff because they've got two losses or three losses, but somehow they got into the game, they won the game, the league wasn't very good. We've seen this at times in the Pac-12 ACC, but it was really, really difficult yesterday because, you know, all year long heading into this weekend and after Saturday night, because there were five Power 5 conference champions that were all strong

candidates. There were five conference champions, three of which were undefeated. Two had just one loss. And so one was going to get left out. So this is the committee's mission and its principles. This is section one and section two of the college football playoff selection protocol. This is what they are tasked to do. And I know that some of you have heard some of this, but I think it's really important. First of all, number one, section one says the selection committee's task will be to select the best teams, rank the teams for inclusion in the playoff, and selected other bowl games, and then assign the teams to sites. Really important that you understand the selection committee's task will be to select the best teams,

not the most deserving, not the teams that earned it, you know, the best teams. Now, how does that fit into the criteria that they use to determine who the best teams are? Well, the selection committee, I'm reading from Section 2, the selection committee will select the teams using a process that distinguishes among otherwise comparable teams by considering, and here's the criteria. Number one, conference championships won. Number two, strength of schedule. Number three, head-to-head competition. Number four, comparative outcomes of common opponents, without incenting margin of victory.

And lastly, other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team's performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance. So it's that last part that cost Florida State. I think most of you know that to a certain degree, but I want to go a little bit more into depth. So going into the final weekend, I was a believer that FSU, well, let me just, let me backtrack. Going into the final two weeks after Jordan Travis, the Florida State quarterback broke his leg two weeks ago, and Florida State now was an undefeated team, but an undefeated team that was probably going to come into question based on that last criteria, you know, unavailability of key players that may affect its postseason performance.

They had two games to prove that they were a capable team without Jordan Travis, and they won both of those games. And I said before the Florida game last week, and even before the Louisville game, I think winning these two games, Florida State's in. They should be in. They went out without their quarterback and they won two football games. They're still undefeated. They're a conference champion. They should be in.

And I felt that way. And I felt that way even through on Saturday the Alabama victory over Georgia. I actually still felt like FSU, you know, with a good performance and a win over Louisville would get in. but I watched the ACC championship game, as I'm sure many of you did. Now, before that, Michigan and Washington were given. And by the way, Washington's performance Friday night against Oregon, I gave out of Oregon as a smell test pick, smell test 500 again, third straight week, 500, with one game pending, so I can't finish 500,

with Cincinnati plus the points tonight. Update on that coming up at the end of the show. But Washington, what a performance. You know, I think I said too on Friday on the Friday show. If I didn't say it on the podcast, I'm pretty sure I had this conversation with Denton, my producer on radio, that I'm giving out Oregon because it fits all of the smell test criteria. But man, Washington has been disrespected all week long. And it just, I mean, you're going to get their best.

And Michael Pennix Jr. was great. And they shut everybody up. They did. That was the most impressive performance of the weekend, Washington. In fact, one of the things I thought about after Saturday night after Michigan beat Iowa, but not super impressively, just because Iowa and their defense mucks up every game. But I thought there was a chance Washington could be the one seat over Michigan being the two seat. I thought Washington was that impressive.

But anyway, I digress. I thought Michigan, Washington, and Texas were givens going into the ACCC championship game. And I really thought it was going to come down to Florida State winning and they would be in. What I didn't consider, though, was that Florida State would win and look hideously awful on offense and winning. And that combined with the way they had looked on offense the week before and their win over Florida, that's what did them in. Texas was a given for me, you know, especially after they destroyed Oklahoma State, because there was no way Bama was getting in without Texas being in. You know, there's just no chance. Texas beat Bama. They had one of the two most impressive wins of the year. I mean, if you want to say the three most impressive wins of the year, in kind of retrospect, Texas over Alabama in week two, Washington over Oregon on Friday night, and then Alabama over Georgia in the SEC title game, Georgia being the number one team per the committee heading into this final weekend. So I thought Florida State wins they're in. But as I'm watching this game, I'm realizing, I bet you the committee doesn't think that they're definitely in.

And there was some discussion, certainly. You know, Bama after Bama beating Georgia. You know, a lot of people were already starting to say Bama, but I thought it was Florida State until I watch that game. And after that game, I was like, this is such a bad offensive display of football by Florida State. And it comes a week after their starting quarterback. I'm sorry, their second string quarterback, excuse me. Tate Rotemaker had played against Florida and looked awful, and they are just not the same team.

I don't care that they beat Louisville 16 to 6. I don't care that they beat a bad Florida defensive team, 24 to 15. The committee has this ability, other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players that will likely affect its postseason performance to use that to get, to get a team like Alabama who has one loss as a conference champion as well and just beat the overall number one seed. And Alabama's better, period. This is not the Florida State team that was 11 and 0 before the final two games. I felt that way.

So let me make this clear. I don't have a problem with what the committee did. I don't have an issue with what they did. I think they saw a Florida state team with Tate Rodemaker. a quarterback against Florida, and he was the likely starter in the playoff. He didn't play Saturday night. Their third stringer, Brock Glenn, was even worse. And they said, we had two opportunities to view this team without Jordan Travis, and it's not the same team. And it's part of the criteria that we already use in the evaluation of these teams to come up with the best four, not the four

that earned it, not the four that were most deserving, the best four. Now, I'll get to the Georgia Ohio State thing here in a second. But I think they just saw a team that was totally helpless offensively in their last two games without Jordan Travis. Kudos, by the way, to Florida State for winning both of those games. Because Florida and Louisville, it's not like they were playing UMass in Navy. No offense to Navy, but they weren't very good this year. You know, they were still playing Florida in the swamp and they were still playing Louisville, who, you know, I think in the rankings was 14th heading into this weekend. Louisville was not. Louisville was not the offensive juggernaut that was portrayed by a lot of the people that really don't watch

college football. Louisville had some big offensive outputs, but they were not a great offensive team. They were better, they were pretty good defensively. And that was a hell of a defensive battle, but in part because both offenses were dreadful, Florida States in particular. But I think the committee just saw Florida State as a helpless team offensively. You know, I've heard people say, well, what they really wanted to avoid was the TCU Georgia final. Well, that was the final. That It wasn't a semifinal last year. TCU beat Michigan in the semifinals. And TCU had their starting quarterback who was their best player.

But anyway, I just think ultimately it sucks for Florida State. It was incredible that they won the final two games. I'm sure that committee was really rooting for Florida State to lose to Louisville. And they could have very easily lost if Louisville wasn't so bad as well in offense. Although Florida State's defense had something to do with that. But I think the bottom line was the committee looked at Florida State now and said, well, that's not the Florida State that was 11 and 0. We've now seen two games. We've seen the backup quarterback and we've seen the third string quarterback.

One of them is going to start the game in a playoff and they are literally helpless offensively with that quarterback situation. Is it possible that Tate Rodemaker could have come back and had a much better game than the game he had against Florida? yes, and then in combination with Florida State's state's great defense and they play great special teams, they could have been competitive. Yes, but were they based on what the committee had at their disposal and the rules, a better team in yesterday's moment than Alabama? No, they weren't. I don't even think it was close. And the one thing I have an issue with as far as the committee goes is I think that once they decided, that Alabama as a conference champion was the better team than the ACC undefeated conference champion, Florida State, because of the injury in the quarterback situation.

I think that they could have emphasized that by making Georgia and Ohio State 5 and 6 and Florida State 7 in their final rankings, because Georgia and Ohio State were better, too, than Florida State was yesterday. Maybe not during the season, but they certainly were, and by the way, a lot of teams were probably better than Florida State was, you know, here at the end of the year without Jordan Travis. But I think, you know, the reason that they didn't drop Florida State more than they did is because they were a conference champion. And Georgia and Ohio State were not. and that's part of the criteria. Also, I'd add, part of the criteria is strength of schedule. It's not strength of anything else.

You saw a lot of strength of record, strength of this, strength of that, where Florida State was way up there. No, if you read through the protocol, the actual selection criteria, playoff selection protocol, strength of schedule is part of it. Conference Championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head competition, competitive outcomes of common opponents, and then other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players that will affect postseason performance. Well, strength of schedule, Alabama was fifth and Florida State was 55th. So that probably played a part in it as well. Man, drama. I mean, taking an undefeated ACC champion who did everything they were supposed to do, including beating LSU in the opener.

You know, excluding them, it was hard, I am sure. I think they did the right thing, though. And if I were, you know, if this were a Maryland basketball situation for the, you know, the tournament in March, and they were, you know, on the bubble and got knocked off. And I felt, you know, screwed because two of the teams they put in, Maryland was better then and proved more. and earn more, whatever. I understand the pain of college sports fandom, not at a high level for football.

But, you know, some of the conversations, sad day in college football, tragic day in college. You know, come on, please. I get the emotion of it, you know, but, you know, the sport is heading to a 12-team playoff next year, which, by the way, is not going to stop the arguments because it'll be about the last at-large team that got in. There will still be some arguments, you know,

just like there is for bubble teams in March Madness. But the sport, you know, the sport is not going to suffer because of this at all. It's coming off a year in which 151 million people watched college football, a record for the sport. The sport is super healthy. It's the number two consume sport in this country behind the NFL. And I, you know, in many ways, the controversy of yesterday is actually probably good for the sport.

But I did not have a problem with the committee's decision. I understand and I think it was justified. If they had gone Florida State, in many ways, I would have said, you didn't follow the criteria. I watched Florida State against Florida. I saw what Tate Rodemaker was. He was not good. And their third string quarterback was even worse.

So if you've got to start one of those two guys in a playoff game against a much better opponent, you got no chance. And I say that understanding, you always have a chance when you have a great defense like Florida State does. But they were viewed with those quarterbacks as, you know, helpless on offense. If you care about things like this, you know I do. Georgia is a 14-point favorite over Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Now, you know, it's not a playoff game and players will opt out.

etc. But the immediate line is Georgia minus 14 over FSU. Georgia's not in the playoff. Michigan is a one and a half point favorite in one of the semifinal games over Alabama. They would have been a 14 to 17 point favorite over Florida State with those two quarterbacks, one of those two quarterbacks. Um, anyway, all right, uh, Doc Walker, last segment of the show. My game take on yesterday's 45 to 15 loss when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This is an interesting play for a lot of folks. Hull, escaping, Hull, with another rusting touchdown.

And a lot of folks are smiling for various reasons. Love that play by Sam Howell. Avoided the sack from Bradley Chubb and did what Sam's done a lot of this year, which is make a play. That was something I liked from the game yesterday. My game take coming up here in a moment. segment of the show is brought to you by our good friends at Surfside, D.C. Now, we did this over the weekend. I told you that we did this a few weeks ago. We did it on Saturday as well for sort of a

late-ish kind of a dinner. SurfsideDC.com has these Surfside fajita boxes. It's perfect for this time of the year when you've got a lot of friends and family members over. and you're trying to figure out what to do for dinner. It is fajita chicken, steak, veggies, all the fixings come in a convenient grab-and-go box. We did it via delivery. You can hop online at surfsideDC.com. Order one to pick up, order one to be delivered. I got to tell you that the chicken and steak is excellent.

It's incredibly flavorful. They give you everything to make fajitas right there. It's so easy and it's so well packaged. We did this. Saturday night for some of the football that was on. We had people in the house and it was, I mean, everybody said, man, these are really good. And I had mentioned that we had gotten a delivery from Surfside so that we could try these fajitas like two months ago. I think it was during the Maryland Ohio State game. It was that Saturday. But SurfsideDC.com for Surfside's fajita boxes,

It's a great spot for tacos. I think everybody knows that, but their fajita boxes are perfect for a big crowd at holiday time. All right, let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, the things I like, the things I did not like and a few other observations from the game.

Look, there's not a lot to really take out of the game in which they get beat 45 to 15, and there was never a chance to compete. to compete with the Miami Dolphins. We talked about this on Friday. I really did think the matchup was a bad one. I didn't feel that way about the Thanksgiving Day game, and I was dead wrong about that as well.

But explosive plays, Washington's number one in allowing explosive plays in terms of creating Miami is near the top of that list. So that was just going to be a difficult matchup coming in. But as bad as they were defensively, there were a couple of things defensively that stood out to me. Jamin Davis was one. I thought Jamie Davis had a pretty good game. You know, I looked this up after the fact. I had Denton, my producer, looked this up while we were on the air this morning.

It seemed to me like there were more linebackers on the field than we've seen at any point this year. That obviously was an emphasis for Ron. Cody Barton played every single snap out there. Jamon Davis played almost every snap in the game. And then Khali Cudson played 46% of the snaps. I don't know if that was the reason Jamon Davis had a good game, but he had two TFLs on an early drive, same drive, where he had two tackles for loss.

You know, they actually did at times. They actually got Miami out of, you know, decent down-and-distance situations. You know, they had some big TFLs. They had six in the game. That's the second thing on my list of things that I liked. They had six TFLs, tackles for loss in the game against the number one, you know, you could argue along with the Niners offense in the NFL. I thought Jamon Davis, I thought he played well.

I did. I thought K.J. Henry had a couple of really good plays. He had a big TFL for minus seven against A chain and then had a really good discipline contain on a run by Tareke Hill in the second quarter. I thought he did a great job of being super disciplined. Two Hill had a player too. Martin, other than being matched up with Tareke Hill man to man, no help on the first third and two of the game.

I thought he had a couple of plays. So there are a couple of nice things to say. Again, six TFLs for them in the game against that team. They really threw them out a whack a couple of times. Of course, they were able to overcome it. But typically, you know, as an example, I think Miami, I think I'd read this stat to you guys last week, that Miami had, I think, the second, fewest third down attempts of any team in the league, second or third fewest third down attempts of any team in the league.

And the reason for that is they were so successful and had been so successful on first and second down. Well, they had 13 third downs yesterday, two fourth downs. Now, they were good on third down, seven of 13, and fourth down. two of two. But the fact that Washington actually got Miami into 13 third downs, I didn't go back and look at this to see if it was the most third downs they had been forced into all year long. But I bet you it's pretty close. Let me find a game in which they were beaten like the Buffalo game. They had 10 third downs in that game, the Eagles game, on the road that they lost on Sunday night football. They had only 11 third downs in that game. Recently they played,

you know, I told you they played the Raiders and the Raiders played them kind of tough. In that game, they had 11 third downs. It would not surprise me. I'm not going to sit here and go through all their games right now, but I bet you that Washington forced more third downs for the dolphins than any team this year. But again, it doesn't matter if you can't get off the field on third down. They were 7 to 13 on third down. And so on two of the third downs that they failed on, they for fourth downs and got those. So really when you look at converting on a third or fourth down, they were nine of, you know, it's really nine of 13. It's nine of 15 overall. But they were able to move the chains, ultimately and keep a drive alive. Although I think one of the fourth downs was that

last touchdown run. So defensively, you know, some good plays in the game, but far more awful plays. Also on the list of things that I liked, I thought Curtis Samuel, I thought Antonio Gibson, up Brian Robinson, Jr. before the hamstring. I thought they all made some plays. Curtis Samuel's been pretty good the last two games. And Brian Robinson, Jr., I mean, you know, he's having a pretty good year. He's a good back. I mean, there aren't a lot of things good to say about this team. I think Brian Robinson, Jr., I hope he's okay. He was, you know, he had that 29-yard run, a second and 16. I don't think that was the plan for a 29-yard run, but he broke a tackle or two and was off. And he ended up with seven carries for 53 yards.

I mean, even if you, you know, take away, that would have been six for 24, right? So if you take that away, so that's still four yards of carry on the other six carries. I think he's a good back. I do. And I think he's improved. Curtis Samuel had 100-yard day against the Cowboys, I think, on nine catches, was it? And had four catches for 65 yards yesterday. You know, we're getting to the point where statistics.

statistically on the season because Terry had zero catches yesterday for zero yards. You know, reception-wise, Curtis Samuel is closing in on Terry. He's got 51. Terry's got 60. And Terry's played one more game. And he's 1806 yards behind Terry. Terry probably still end up with the most receptions and the most yards. We'll get to his day here in a moment. And then lastly, on the things that I liked list, and this was not meant to be in any order, Sam's playmaking ability off schedule is really, really fun to watch. He's just really good when he is pressured under duress and needs to escape and create and make something happen. We've seen it all year long.

His arm is unquestioned. He's got an NFL arm. His mobility, his escapeability, that's the other part of his game that we've learned through 13 games. really does not need to be, you know, scrutinized that much. It's a strength for him. He does some of his best work off schedule. First third and eight throw to Dotson, which got challenged but upheld. That's all off schedule.

He escaped a sack on the second drive of the game and just ran for three or four yards. He extended and found Samuel on the third and three for 25 yards on their fifth drive of the game. Second half, he finds Gibson on the first drive for a play that was not his best throw, but he was, you know, under duress. He's extending and he avoids a bad play and turns it into a positive one. And then the fourth and three touchdown run that we just played for you, that's just, you know, a Sam Hal play. We've seen it, you know, he avoids the sack. He creates and he's really good as a runner. He's not Lamar Jackson. He's not Justin Fields, but he's good as a runner. He's really good at feeling where the pressure is coming from, using strength, using vision, using feet. And

all the while, not losing a lot of composure. You know, I think there are times when he looks like he's got some happy feet in the pocket. I mean, who wouldn't at this point, given the year that he's had in terms of sacks. But I just like his off-schedule ability. I think we know three things about Sam that are all positive. He's got an NFL arm. He does some of his best work off-schedule, which is so crucial for quarterbacks in this day and age.

And then thirdly, we know that, you know, the intangibles are there. That he's smart, that he loves it, that he works at it, that people respect him, that people like him. And, you know, there's a lot of, you know, even after yesterday, even after yesterday, there is still a lot of things to like about Sam Howe. Put it this way. If they had a better defense this year and because of it, they had a better record. And let's just say they were headed for the kind of record that I thought. Many of you thought they were headed towards, you know,

seven, eight, nine wins somewhere in that range. I didn't think it would be worse than seven. It's going to be a lot worse than seven. If they were headed for that kind of draft position, you know, I, and they couldn't really do anything about quarterback in the upcoming draft, you know, I would be through 13 games. I wouldn't be uncomfortable with having Sam, enter 2024 as the starting quarterback. I just, you know, as I've said, it would be irresponsible

given where their draft position is to not consider something better. Because I do think that while Sam is, has a lot of attributes, attributes which we've just described, I also don't feel through 13 games at this point could change that there's anything special about. him. But he's clearly proven one thing more than any other. You know, he's not a guy that you just say, ah, can't do it.

There's something there that is, you know, worth continuing to watch, evaluate, observe, and then have the GM make the decision. All right, let's get to the list of things that I did not like. We'll start with defense. And again, I acknowledge,

as all of you would too. Miami's really good. But this was not about two plays. The defense made some good plays, as I pointed out, but they once again gave up far too many, you know, big plays, and not just big plays, just plays in general. You know, but they gave up the 78-yarder to Hill, man coverage, seriously, 60 to Hill. What an adjustment he made on that throw. Oh my God, the athleticism. So Tariq Hill has ridiculous speed, ridiculous vision, and the ability to make people miss. To adjust to a ball like he did in the air

where you actually take your eyes off it for a moment and then have to come back to it, is just special in a receiver. It's a pleasure to watch him play football. I'll leave it at that. But the two big ones to Hill were kind of the headliners, but there was a 20-yard or to Hill, there was a 16-yarder to Waddle.

They were lucky on the one drive that they pulled, hunt it on in the first half. It's because Waddle dropped one, which would have been a 30-plus yard play. He had another one that he had a chance to make on deep. Yeah, it was just a terrible day defensively, despite the individual one-off plays that got Miami a little bit off of down and distance, you know, during the course of the game, which was true, but it doesn't matter if you're not able to get them off the field. I mean, 7 to 13 on 3rd down, 2 and 4th down, as we said, 406 yards, 38 offensive points. Seven came on the pick six, you know, which is why it was 45. 59 plays is all they ran for 406 yards and 38 points, okay? They scored on five of their first six

drives, and one that they didn't score on was the waddle drop. One of the punts that they had in the second half was because they had a penalty that threw them off a little bit. I mean, you know, sometimes that happens and they overcome it. But the bottom line is, is like, you know, They took their foot off the pedal in this game. They could have gotten 60 easily. They had backups into the game. I mean, Ron, and I'm sure by the time you listen to this, he has hopefully updated that thought.

But if Ron really thinks that this game was about two plays that kind of got it out of whack, it's delusional. The Dolphins last two drives of the game, 18 total plays, 15 runs, three short passes with backups in the game. The last touchdown drive they had, 13 plays, 12 runs, 12 runs, and one short pass. Seven minutes and 50 seconds, time elapsed. It was total emasculation of what Washington had on the field at that point.

This was an absolute annihilation. You know, the only thing you can say is, oh, man, Jamie Davis made some plays. KJ. Henry made some plays. Man, they had some six TFLs. Great. It didn't help them get off the field. they still gave up third downs. They still gave up fourth downs,

and they gave up 38 points and 406 yards on 59 plays. And Miami's good. Continuing with the list of things that I did not like. By the way, the one thing specific to the defense that, again, is just so noticeable that we have to keep mentioning since the trades of Montes-Swett and Chey Chung, no pass rush at all. I mean, just none.

They schemed up or not schemed up, there is not enough pass rush, period. And when there is just a smidge of pass rush, like with Tua, forget about it. His footwork in the pocket, his ability to reset and to duck any sort of minimal pressure and keep his eyes down the field. He's first rate as far as that's concerned. Really, really first rate as far as that's concerned. I know a lot of people think, ah, Tua is his arm, he throws picks.

Didn't throw any picks yesterday. He's throwing a lot of picks recently, no doubt. But against this team, he didn't throw any picks. I don't even think there was close to a turnover yesterday. No takeaways, no pressure, just a bad defensive day. So the pass protection was bad. It's been bad all year. I mean, I know that the PFF numbers and the next gen numbers don't have it

is anywhere near the worst in the league, and for the first half of the season, actually had it in the upper half of the league. I never really bought into that. I know a lot of the sacks have to do with Sam. I am very aware of that. But I also think that the offensive line sucks. Both things are true. And Sam was sacked three times yesterday, and I'll get to Sam here in a moment.

It was the times that he didn't get sacked and he was able to escape that I actually thought was more like offensive line giving up immediate pressure. Man, did that Van Ginkle have a good game? He almost blocked a punt in addition to the pick six and the other things that he was involved in. I was not a big fan of Eric B. Enemies game yesterday. Believe it or not, I didn't think there was enough quick game. You could laugh at that all you want after the pick six on a bubble screen, but I think there was too much dropback early, and I just don't think it works out very well for this team when they do that.

I think you continue to do what Sam does well. There's one thing I'd love to see more of down the stretch. We talked a bit about this last week briefly, but it may be too late for this, and that is, let's try to be more balanced. They were balanced ultimately yesterday, but as balanced as they've been. But I just, I don't want to see, I want to see Sam with a running game, with a consistent approach to a running game that's married to a passing game. Again, it may be too late in the season for that.

That's not their scheme. But man, you know, watching Brock Purdy, not that Sam's Brock Purdy, he's not. Brock Purdy has much better processing. and he's also coached much better, let's be honest. But Sam in that kind of run, pass, married-up scheme, where there's play action and there's bootleg, I think he would be outstanding in that kind of game. You know, a running game is a young quarterback's best friend.

We didn't get a chance to see that or haven't this year. Just wasn't a big fan of Eric feeling out the game yesterday. And again, I didn't think there was enough, you know, like we've seen in previous games consistently enough and early enough. Poor Terry McClorn, you know, zero catches, three targets. He had a chance on that one deep ball. That was a hell of a throw by Sam just to get it off under the pressure that he was under. You know, I feel sorry for Terry's season.

Terry's a good player. We've had a lot of conversations about Terry. Terry's a number one wide receiver in this league. He's not elite. Okay, he's probably not in the top two tiers of, you know, eight to nine, 10 receivers, but Terry's a really good receiver and he's having a brutal season. You know, I would just say to all of you that want to just blame Eric Bianneymy for Terry McClureen's season, you know, it's very possible that what you think about Terry

McLorn and what Eric Bianney and everybody out there thinks about Terry McLorn are two different views. They like Terry. I'm not suggesting they don't like Terry, but they may not view Terry as a feed a receiver and get him the ball seven times every game regardless of what they're doing defensively. You know, it's what they were in Kansas City with Hill and then with Kelsey. But Eric B. Enemy has not felt enough about Terry McLaurin that he would be the featured guy in this offense. So that's their choice. And it may be a choice because they don't think he's special. I mean, that's a possibility. Why the field goal?

I mean, why is he kicking a field goal down 38 to 15 in the fourth quarter? So that's a 23 point deficit. That's three possessions with two, that's three touchdowns with two, two point conversions. You're not getting four possessions in the quarter. So when you kick a field goal, you still need the ball three more times to score. If you're thinking about even winning the game, look, for all I know, it was like, I want cheese to get some more work right now. And it was another bad snap by Cheeseman, another great hole bite by Tressway on the missed kick.

But it's a 53-yarder. It's fourth and eight. Come on at the Miami, 35-yard line. You're down 38-15. You've got to be thinking, at most, we've got three possessions left in the game, given who they are on offense, even though they're not trying anymore. And it's like, that's your fastest way to getting back into the game. Is it touchdown, a two-point conversion to make it 38-23?

And now all of a sudden, maybe there's a little bit of game pressure. but he kicks a field goal? Really? Why? That made no sense. And then lastly, on the list of things that I didn't like, I had Sam on the list of things that I liked in terms of his escapeability, his off-schedule. He didn't have a great game. This was another CC-Minus game overall for Sam. You know, I told you about how Aiden O'Connell, rookie quarterback, elevated the Raiders to a win over the Giants. Sam didn't do that. Well, he also aided the Raiders into a competitive game. against the dolphins and Sam couldn't do that. But the offense couldn't do that. Again, I think there were a lot of good plays that Sam made in the game, and I highlighted several of them. I actually thought the throw to Terry, the throw to Samuel that came on the next play before their first touchdown on his sneak,

I thought those were underdress, really good throws. But that pick six, you can't throw that. I don't care how well-scalded, you know, Washington's bubble was. Van Ginkle said something about, you know, Andrew Wiley did something. thing that kind of tipped what the play was. As a quarterback, you can't throw that when you see him, you know, baiting you into throwing it and he's right there. It was just not even a bait. He was just waiting for it. Can't throw it. That's four pick sixes on the year. Three straight games. He's had a

pick six. I thought of the three sacks, I thought two of them were Sam holding the ball too long with options to get rid of it before. But I want to also emphasize that I think a lot of near sacks were more offensive line related, that he was able to escape. But the positive things, which we've already talked about, the negative things as it relates to Sam are still, for me, anyway, for me, I still am not convinced that he is either seeing it quickly enough in the dropback game, if he processes it, he processes quickly enough, or if he's just trying to make plays and he's got to grow out of that

because you're not going to be able to make a play when you hold onto it with that offensive line anyway. That's a big concern. I've talked about his height before. I think at times he looks small and plays smaller, like a smaller quarterback. Like I was watching a little bit of Gardner Minshu there at the end of their overtime game.

To me, and let me just make sure I'm clear on this. I think Sam's Gardner Minchu, worst case. Worst case. Don't start tweeting me saying Sheehan, what are you talking about? You know, Gardner Minchew's just a backup quarterback. Sam's much better than that. I'm saying worst case. I think they play similarly.

I do. And, you know, the best case, we've kind of had this conversation before. But like I see Sam, you know, best case, based on what I've seen so far, smaller sample size here, 13 games, but like an Andy Dalton, maybe a slightly more mobile version of Andy Dalton. People have not liked that comp either. Sorry, I know some of you still believe that he is, you know, the next coming of Steve Young or Joe Montana. I don't see that, but, you know, Andy Dalton for his time for a few years in Cincinnati was, you know, somewhere between 14 and 16 in terms of starting quarterbacks in the league. and, you know, you put a good team around Andy Dalton when he was in his prime in Cincinnati. They went and played in a lot of playoff games with him.

Anyway, no, they were not a Super Bowl contender, which, you know, that should be the goal to find a quarterback that can, you know, ultimately be special enough to keep you in a sustained contention for Super Bowl mode. All right. I wanted to mention just one other thing. You know, Sam Howells had a lot of good games this year, statistically. Yesterday in terms of yards thrown for, worst day of the year, he threw for 127 yards. His 12 completions were the least amount he's had all year. The 23 attempts matched the attempt total in Atlanta, a game they won.

He threw three touchdowns in that game. You know, his QBR was not good yesterday. the pick six had a lot to do with that. He also, by the way, threw a ball up for grabs, you know, in the third quarter under pressure, where he was lucky that wasn't picked off. But the reason I bring it up is like, you know, Sam's been regularly having, even in games in which you don't think he's played great in, he's been regularly having 300-yard days. Man, that Vic Fangio, he just essentially is able to, um, to force you into worse results, you know, to force you into worse offensive results than you're used to, to make you uncomfortable. You know, we talked about the patience required to beat, you know,

a Vic Fangio defense to have success against it. It's not that they were impatient yesterday. They just weren't successful on their patient plays enough. But, you know, Sam Howell, I think it was like four out of the last five games, had been 300 yards or more, and he threw for 127 yards. You know, and I think about it, like Vic Fangio, Wink Martindale, Sean McDermott, you know, in terms of defensive minds. You know, these are the coordinators and or coaches that really did a number on Sam Hal this year. You know, and Eric Bianamy couldn't come up with something. to sort of match that or still allow Sam to have some success.

You know, and I would also, you know, point out, we talked about this through, you know, the Seattle game. They hadn't really played since, you know, even Buffalo wasn't great, but they hadn't really played a great defense. And that Dallas was going to be a much bigger challenge and Miami was going to be a much bigger challenge. And coming up, the Jets are going to be a big challenge, the 49ers, you know, the Cowboys again. and that these games in some ways would be better games to evaluate Sam. So C-minus, basically, is what I would give him C-to-C-C-minus range. Same kind of grade that I think I've given them. After three A's in a row against Philly, New England, and Seattle,

I think it's three Cs in a row. CC-minuses in a row against the Giants, Cowboys, and Dolphins. The QBR number, I'm just looking at it, was 19.8 yesterday. So that would make this his second worst game per QBR since the Buffalo game. I would have said the first giant game was worse than yesterday. I would have said in many ways the Chicago game, certainly the first half, was worse. The Arizona game was worse, but they weren't necessarily by QBR. Those weren't good QBR games either.

But yesterday, 19.6, 11.0 was his QBR. number against Buffalo. This first giant game was 22.2, so that was kind of comparable. I thought that was a much worse game for Sam. He made more plays yesterday with his legs than he did in the first giant game. All right. Doc Walker to finish off the show next. All right, this segment of the show with One Richard Doc Walker is brought to you by Window Nation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. If you want to finance the purchase, 0% rates for five years, plus buy two, get two free. I've been endorsing Wind Donation for 14 years, I promise you, if you give them a shot, you'll absolutely appreciate the experience. If you've got old windows and need new windows, if you've been thinking about it, give them the first shot. They're not going to pressure you into making a deal. They'll give you a free estimate, and you can make your decision after that.

86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. Joining me right now is my good friend Richard Doc Walker, where it's time for X's and O's. Burgundy and Gold. We've had some low moments rooting for this team, covering this team, talking about this team. This is, this is, other than Dan being gone, which is the saving grace,

In terms of the on-field product, have we seen it worse than this year? I'm sure we have. Yeah. It's just always the most recent gets to credit. And Dan's not gone. I think we should stop saying that because he's not gone until everything that he attracted is gone. Meaning that Rivera is still in the residual effects of his whirlwind. So, Dan, yeah, okay, and what is that done so far?

It's been feeling good. We had a moment where we were sold out and feeling good and drinking beer and high-fiving, and that's been erased. So I would be hesitant to say anything's done until it's done. All right. Let's focus, though. I mean, it's funny that you mention that. I mean, that first week against Arizona was really a feel-good week.

They were 2-0 this year. They were 2-0. Yeah. But seriously, how do you single cover to re-kill with Kwan Martin with no help over the top on third and two? We're going to do every other number one. Why would we change? Because he's different. Oh, I know.

He's different. He would be changed since the coordinator was removed. No, I didn't think you were. And the head man took over. So you assumed, because we were going to do, we were going to play fast. And we were going to simplify things. Right, yeah. They did it. They made it easier for them to score.

Yeah, they simplified it for the opponent. I mean, that could have been, Doc yesterday. That could have been what the 40, what the 1940 bears did to the 1940 Redskins. That could have been 70 to something if the dolphins had wanted it to be that. Easily. Yeah. Easily. When they took him out, I thought, I go, okay, thank God that they showed mercy.

You know, he tried to preserve the quarterback. How ignorant would they have been to leave him in and he could get a hang nail against a crew that will be, won't look anything like it looks, looked yesterday in six months, we hope. what's good about this team that the next regime will want it depends on what week they end the season and who's still unnamed that's the problem and i know where you're going you're paying for goal i'm looking for what's the upside because it's going to be questioned you and i soon as you get another no-show you call me up we're going to be talking about your choice number one What if the group, as soon as they purchased the team, had to have an action plan?

You know, they say, okay, we're going to spend $6 billion or so dollars. I guess maybe we'll do our due diligence to go. Let's just go through an exercise. What would we do? And somewhere I assume they had this meeting. And somebody in the meeting said, it'd be best to hold serve. It'd be best to keep everything intact and let it go out. Somebody said that.

Somebody else probably said, we should blow all these caps. out because we already know what the outcome is going to be. At best, there'll be a game under 500 and somebody beat too dead. Those conversations will come up. And so they want our confidence. Everybody's still trust and believe in them. But now I really think they're going to be scrutinized. You send in an athletic guy, and that's cool. But that's just 20% of the pitcher to me. What about the other 80? And what is this going to look? look like if we limp to the end of the season.

Because now you saw the Niners play last night. The Rams, if Stafford is there, and the thing that gripes me the most is that we've seen turnarounds. You saw Green Bay beat Green Bay. With a quarterback, everybody's been joking on.

Atlanta is winning. Jacksonville did a turnaround. Having gone through the monster from hell coaching them in Urban Meyer, they've recovered. India and Apple, we were joking Indy. That we beat Indy. Morf then, the Texans, new staff, young baby quarterback.

I can go on and on and on about groups. If this was a race to the finish, we're not even in contention in terms of the group. That upper crust management football operation as a unit is not competitive. So I didn't ask you in relation to the coaching staff. The assumption here, we all assume, this is going to happen. There's going to be a whole new group. There's going to be a new front office. There's going to be a new coaching stuff.

I'm talking about the players on the field. The players on the field, what it looks like to a lot of people, is that the roster that you and I were both kind of high on. We were. We liked the defensive players. There were about 17 defensive players before the season started. said you'd go pick up in the middle of the night if they called you that you were so excited about.

And so, and the receiving corps and Terry and Jahan and Curtis and I do like Brian Robinson Jr. But what on the point? I love number four. Yeah. Number eight. Yeah. Brian Robinson Jr. is number eight.

Four is Curtis Samuel. No, I love. I don't know what I'm talking about. I love eight too. But four? Yeah. Let me tell you something. done. But see, here's the deal. You know as a coach, our staff, if you took the put the Detroit

Lion staff in with these same people, I guarantee you they would get better results. That's my point. My point is that the athletes are emotional, they can go up and down, but the leadership factors and the strength that a great staff, an organization, bring the guys, that's the difference maker. It's the people that you entrust with your investments. So I think they get more, there's more to them to be delivered to the surface, but this outfit can't do it. Right.

That's obvious. They're trying. So you still like a lot of the players on the roster. You think a better coaching staff, and this would have been a much better season? I bet everything I own on it. Okay. Tell me about the players that you really like that you think the next regime will like. You've already mentioned four, Curtis Samuel, and eight, Brian Robinson, Jr. Yeah, it's not a hell of a long list. All I'm saying is that your core, your core,

the quarterback, he's in competition. Everybody in competition was what the new group, because I think this should be done by a general manager and a person that, my king of the football operation is never, going to be the coach. Because I'm never going to get that close with a coach. I'm going to get close with the GM. Because everybody else is revolve and optional. Because I can't, because the coach is going to fall in love with players. That's all the good coaches, all the players love them.

That's why they're good. They earn those players trust. And most of them will take a bullet for them. But they also make decisions on keeping them too long and playing them too long and whatever because they're blinded by loyalty. That's why we lost this in February. That's the only attention you're going to make to the offensive line. That's it.

And you're happy with that? And there were no former Panthers to bring in to screw it up again. This has been a total mismanaged. This is a, this will use this as test cases and models as what not to do. Right, like with Dan. Moving forward to him, yeah. Absolutely. This will be studied.

Yeah. So, I mean, I have to just mention that you actually liked Jack Del Rio. You were never against Jack Del Rio. Okay, so what happened to the defense this year? They did not produce for him, and he's stubborn, and most guys, alphas are. And when it comes to a point where you don't get guys to perform, your best players, have got to give you the best performance. And they, I don't know if he drafted the defensive people.

See, I don't know how they do business. So I don't really, I can't say that. The people that they picked, obviously, the draft right now doesn't look too good. It doesn't mean they won't end up having a couple of Hall of Famers. But right now, it'd be below the nose a lot. I mean, it's just, there's nothing to brag about. The kid from Alabama, you know, I'm looking to see him as he healthy. I don't know.

Ridge is hanging in there. I thought he was going to be a guy that really push the needle. He's not. I thought Cam Kerr was a real baller. He hadn't shown that yet. 25 St. Juice, I thought, I'm not seeing anything I thought I would see. And so you pull a guy out and then make us think that by simplifying things and allow people to play faster, you're going to get better results.

and it was business as usual. So that also tells me that when guys stop listening, see, when them dudes cut their engines off, because their money's guaranteed, when they cut their engines off or put them on idols, you're in trouble. You're done. You're done. I just don't, there's an energy, there's a level of that they've always had.

That's the one thing about this group. They've always at least competed. And now what do you expect it's going to happen? You think it's going to be better or worse? closing out. You're playing better people. You had your bears and the Giants, and you F that up. So now

you can say, yeah, we play the Eagles well. You play a lot of people well, but you don't beat them. Y'all have been convinced that this is a league of effort. They don't get a point. They cut people for efforts that don't come out with wins. But here, if you're a nice guy, and

they've got good people, okay. What is what is 13 games? of watching Sam Howell for you, an expert, a coach. What are you, what's your gun? What's your gun? He's in my plans. I like that.

He's in my plans. He's in my plan. He's got to compete. Like, everybody's got to compete. Would you draft a young quarterback? If you're in the top three or four in the draft, which it looks like there's a chance that you will be, and you really like a quarterback. Caleb Williams, Drake, May, Jaden, Daniels.

Would Sam... I would suggest, if the GM asked my opinion, I would suggest that you take a hard look at it. And if he's there, you take it. If he's not, you get a tackle. I'm only interested in offensive linemen and a special quarterback, that type of individual. If I thought somebody was really special,

there's only three positions I'm interested, O-line, quarterback, and Ed's Russia. Right. You mentioned John, and he might be, he might not be 100%. That's possible with John Allen. That started the season off, as we mentioned. Right. And one of our earlier shows when Chris wasn't on with you,

I came on and said, The problem when your alphas get injured, Terry and John, they're never going to miss practice. They're never going to miss anything, which means they won't heal. they're hard-headed and they're great leaders. So the alpha, which should be the head coach, has got to put him on the hour and have him, them hate him, but get him right so they can be up to play at their ability.

But if you've got to handle his horse, then the players dictated. So if they limp through, he's getting double team. How is he going to defend himself against two grown-ass men on offense if he can't push off a foot? how's the other guy who makes a living stopping and going and planting come be functional if his toe is bothering me. But players won and then again the team loses. What's the explanation for Duran Payne not having the same kind of year he had last year? Well, attention brings you, you know, you become the emphasis of offensive coordinators.

So they're going to give you a little bit more attention. That is true. But I haven't looked at, and don't plan to, look at every one of his snaps to see, is he doubled, is he up? He's not. He has become subject to a number one. Is he a leader type? Is he a, I don't know if he is or isn't, but I know his performance dictates that he's not elite. He's like most of the guys.

They're really good players. But you don't have anybody that. I would put it to my alien category. You don't have to get the kid in Vegas encouraged or Cleveland or San Francisco or Pittsburgh. The examples of edge rushers now, we don't have anybody's kind of ever really fit that category full time. We've had some brief moments and flashes of it, but you haven't had a ball to the walls, every play, blood, gutts person. barely on your team

so I just I think that's a myth the standard here is not what the standard is at other places um the Monday through Saturday thing that was always your best line this team was best Monday through Saturday

it was fan appreciation day yesterday yeah and the dolphins took advantage of it yeah and they had to travel to show their fans appreciate it yeah they were very appreciative Last thing, what did you think of the Niners yesterday? Well, again, when Williams, Debo, and Purdy or Healthy,

and McCart, the running back, McCaffrey. They're among the best in the, yes, excuse me, thank you. They're the best in the world for those moments. Now, there is a, there is fragulous glass because one ankle, one this, whatever, stick a for him. But if they're there, and they lost, I think it's, They lost to the all pro-pros safety.

Yeah, too-funga, yeah. And so everybody is a survival test. Yeah. I haven't given up on the Philly, but let's face it. We went to-to-toe with Philly. That toll you are. Philly has not been able to fire that pin yet the way they'd like to. They're developing.

Maybe it gets there, maybe they don't. They've still got the weapons, but it hasn't really worked yet. But again, the question is, can Philly go to San Jose and win? Right. That would be very interesting. And then again, we've got to say this for Clay, the undisciplined cowboys are very talented. They are so talented. Can they actually pull it off?

I think they, well, I mean, this should be their year. They're so talented. Yes, good. This should definitely be there. But they're undisciplined. Yeah, they are. So undisciplined. I love you.

you, thanks for doing this. Thanks for being my number one choice today. I'll talk to you later. Nobody out here listening to believe that. And that's okay. Anytime you need me, you don't even have to break the glass. I'm there. The one and only Richard Doc Walker, everybody, at Rick Doc Walker on Twitter, patreon.com slash Doc Walker for his podcast with our friend Steve Solomon, aka Sali. I mentioned something about the smell test pick for tonight. I'm pulling the Bengals from the Smell Test. I'll do it via Twitter as well, but the Bengals are now nine and a half, ten point underdogs instead of eight and a half, which it was on Friday. It's similar to the Washington Thanksgiving Day pick. I really wanted to pull that one as the line went from 10 and a half

to 14, but I didn't have a show that day, so I stuck with it. And I played it myself. I played it at 14 because I thought it was a lot of value. I'm not going to play the Bengals tonight. I'm pulling them from the smell test. So the smell test for the third straight weekend went 500, 4 and 4 this weekend, and I'm exactly 500 for the year. Lots of bowl games coming up. So listen to the show every day for a potential smell test pick every day once bowl season starts. But I am pulling the Bengals. Do not play the Bengals tonight based on my recommendation.

I'm not going to play them. All right. That is it for the show. Back tomorrow with Tommy.