The Kevin Sheehan Show - Getting Close to Big Redskins Changes?

Episode Date: December 5, 2018

Kevin talks Redskins change and Jay Gruden's Kapernick answers to start the show. ESPN's John Keim is a guest talking Skins and what's next if they don't make a late-season run. Maryland basketball head coach Mark Turgeon is a guest on the show with the Terps ranked 23rd and headed to Purdue tomorrow night. Kevin discusses new Terps football coach Mike Locksley and does some "Coaching Blunders" and "NFL Buy and Sell" too. <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. All right, I'm here. Aaron's on vacation this week. Corbin is in. He's doing a great job. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them I told you to call. John Kime's going to join us on the show today. Mark Turgeon, Maryland's basketball coach. They've got a big game tomorrow night at Purdue. He will be a guest on. the show today. The Nats signed a pitcher, the caps lost in Vegas, and there are stories out there about John Wall to the Knicks. Those are flying around. I'm going to try to get to all three of those a little later in the show. I might save the Nats signing of Patrick Corbyn to a six-year $140 million deal until tomorrow when Tom is on. Tom's on vacation this week, too. They all left me this week. They all left me. They'll all be back tomorrow, but Tom's going to call in tomorrow from wherever he is. I think he's in Florida. I want to start the show with all of Jay Gruden's

comments and quotes on Colin Kaepernick yesterday. Most of you have just read the headlines of this story and maybe a few excerpts, but there was a lot more that he said yesterday. He was asked about Colin Kaepernick on his conference call, media conference call yesterday, four different times. And none of his answers were very short. I'm going to read through him as quickly as I can, but I want you to get the gist of what was going on on this conference call with Jay Gruden yesterday. Yesterday is it related to Colin Kaepernick. The first question was if Colin Kaepernick had been discussed by the team as a possible guy that they would bring in to look at. Jay Gruden, quote, oh, he's been discussed for sure.

And right now at this point, we already had a workout last week for the few guys. We had a couple of other guys that came in today. And then it's just going to be a matter of which way we want to go. Do we want to go with a guy that's familiar with my terminology, who we worked out last week, or with a new guy to back up Sanchez with a similar skill set, or go with a guy and teach basically a whole new kind of offense with a new offensive line and with a lot of those zone reads and all of that stuff? Not a lot of time to really get brand new quarterback and new system installed and taught in a couple of days of practice. He's been talked about and discussed, but we'll probably

go in a different direction. Now, they did end up signing late yesterday, Josh Johnson. I remember when he was a brief starter in Tampa Bay back in the 2011 season, I believe it was. All right. Then another question about Kaepernick from the media. And the question was essentially on if the discussions on Kaepernick are any different than other quarterbacks. And then he says, no, not really. No, I think when you're talking about bringing in a quarterback, I think you have to think of, A, what is the quarterback skill set? B, how can you implement that skill set to fit your offense?

without having wholesale changes. Had this been week one, maybe he would probably be a greater possibility since it's week 13, though, with four games to go. In order to really utilize someone like Colin Kaepernick's skill set, you're talking about a whole new group of formations and run concepts and all that good stuff. It's just very difficult.

We're trying to obviously, A, we've got to get Sanchez ready to go, get him as many reps as possible, and B, whoever the backup is we decide to find, either he has familiarity with my terminology and offense where he can come in in a pinch or see it be a quarterback with a similar skill set to Mark that can fit into the plays that we're going to run versus the Giants. Then another question. What about Kaepernick during the last workout? Did you consider him during the last workout? You know, the one heading into Thanksgiving week? Yeah, not really no. We thought the same thing, same reason why. Sanchez, we wanted a guy with a

similar skill set than Colton. Somebody coming in a pinch and function a little bit, which Sanchez did. You know, he made some nice plays. He had a little two-minute drill at the end of the half, got us some points, and then in the second half, we were behind. It changed so much. It was hard. We had second 20, like I said, and the penalties were killing us, and then he threw the interception, and we were down 12, and that's a tough deal with a couple of backup offensive linemen in there against the Eagles pass rush. So I think with everything being equals, zero, zero, I think Mark will be fine this week, but we just wanted someone with a similar skill set that Colt and had a little familiarity with some of the concepts that we were running.

It didn't stop there. There was one more question. On if there were any other reasons they didn't pursue Kaepernick earlier. No, just football, strictly football. Like I said, when you're talking about a backup quarterback this late in the game, end of the season, you want to have somebody with a similar skill set to the quarterback you have. Not that Colin can't do some of the things that I'm talking about, but somebody with a little bit of familiarity.

You know, Sanchez being with Matt Kavanaugh helped out a lot. Sanchez's experience in a pro-style offense helped out a lot. But when you have a short week, like we had Thanksgiving going to Dallas, you had to have somebody in here that had some similar, obviously some similar conceptual awareness that we had with Colt. That's why we went with Sanchez. Here's the answer, coach, Redskins, PR. The answer, when the first question is asked, did you consider,

Colin Kaepernick, no, we didn't consider him. We only really considered quarterbacks that we were at least somewhat familiar with, whether that was with me or one of my assistant coaches, or that we felt best fit the offense we were trying to run. That's the direction we were comfortable and going. Done. Follow-up questions? No, we didn't consider him. We didn't consider them. We only really considered quarterbacks that we were at least somewhat familiar with, whether that was through me or one of my assistant coaches, and someone that we felt best fit the offense we were trying to run, that was the direction we were comfortable and going. Once he said yes, it just opened it up for all of this other stuff,

and he had to ramble and try to tap dance a little bit. They weren't going to sign Colin Kaepernick. Redskins aren't interested in Colin Kaepernick. They may have discussed Kaepernick as in, do we even want to go down this path? Or why don't we just say it so we've discussed it? I just don't get why they can't figure these things out. No one, they're killing him for his answers yesterday, and they would have killed him for the answer is no.

We didn't consider him with two legitimate reasons. We didn't consider him because we wanted somebody we were familiar with and somebody we felt best fit the offense. That's it. look there are a couple of things on Kaepernick I don't want to I don't want to go over this in great detail right now if you're an NFL team right now you are more likely going to pass on him as a backup you know starter and I said this yesterday if you're going to bring him in to start it's a different conversation if you're going to bring him in to be the backup quarterback

you don't want the distraction that will come with it I mean just the notion that the Redskins had a quarterback opening and they were considering some of the players that they were considering. I mean, that's part of it, right? Josh Johnson and T.J. Yates and Kellan Clemens and Mark Sanchez from a week and a half ago. You know, people that really want to see Colin Kaepernick back in the league are saying, you're going to tell me that Kaepernick's not better than these guys? And that's why you just answer it. Nope, we didn't consider him because we were looking for guys that we had familiarity with, that we've worked with before, or one of my assistants has worked with before, or is more like Colt and fits what we're trying to do in a short

period of time here to get ready. That's it. Done. Once he said yes, all bets were off. I just think that the Redskins, you know, look at this, and this is going to sound very much in conflict, that they don't need that distraction, yet they claimed Ruben Fosteroff waivers last week. So they didn't mind that distraction. I will tell you this, I don't think they anticipated that being a distraction. That's how limited from a public relations standpoint I think they are in projecting what reaction will be, what backlash will be. But remember this too about Colin Kaepernick. The last time he played, he was benched for Blaine Gabbard. Also remember, remember this about Colin Kaepernick. He has a grievance right now against the league,

a collusion grievance against the league. I can't imagine that is helping him get many looks. And this may sound crazy, but if you're the Redskins right now, this would go through my mind. If somebody came to me and said, how would you handle this? Well, I've already given you what I think Jay Gruden's answer should have been, and that would have stopped it dead in its tracks. No, We didn't consider him, and these are the reasons why. Done. Now, follow-up questions may have happened, but he could have continued to go back to that. But I also think that the Redskins, and I don't know if they consider this or not,

but if you're the Redskins, before you ever think about a player that is also a person that is a bit-caused celeb, and that's what Colin Kaepernick has become to a certain degree. I mean, he is definitely out there and good for him for really pushing an issue that he feels very strongly about and emotionally about. I'm not being critical that he is a celebrity with a cause. I'm not at all. But if you're the Redskins, you better be sure before you sign anybody of significance, anybody that has that kind of profile, you better be sure he's okay. with the name. Can you imagine the Redskins saying, yeah, we're interested? And he says, no, I'm not playing for that team with that racist name. You think I'm kidding? I'm not kidding.

They should be considering this. They have to think that way in this environment. And if they don't, one of these days, whether it's a big name free agent or a high profile draft pick, it's going to be an issue. And they will have been blindsided by it. And they shouldn't be blindsided by it because it is the way some people feel a lot of people feel that way i don't feel that way i don't feel it's a racist name i think it's a very debatable topic i'm not going to go down it that path today we've done it so many times in the past but if you are that organization before you sign a player of that kind of profile you better be damn sure that he's okay playing for you all right next topic i want to get to is this uh the tv ratings came out on the

Monday night game. And they were poor locally. All right, poor. The game locally in DC, a December game against a division rival where first place in the division or a share of it is on the line. The Redskins game locally did a 21.6 rating. That is not a good rating locally for the Redskins. In Philadelphia, it did a 31.7. All right, so it did 10 points higher in Philly than it did in Washington where it did a 21.6. This is a legitimate reflection of the erosion of the fan base. In 2013, when they were in the midst of a 3 and 13 season, the Redskins averaged a 26.6.6, television rating locally during a 3 and 13th season. And at the end of the game, do you remember the Chiefs game, the snow game, the ice game,

where you've seen the stadium shots of it being completely empty because of the weather, because of their record, because they got behind early, the whole thing. That game that year did a 20.7 rating, a meaningless late season game against the Giants. A year later did a... a comparable rating to what the Redskins did on Monday night in a meaningful, big, first place on the line game against a division rival on Monday night football. On Monday night football we're talking about.

And the numbers I gave you were for Sunday afternoon games. And the Redskins did a 21.6 combined rating. When I say combined rating, that means cable and over the air. Because when you have the Monday night football game, you also make it available over the year. It's a bad rating. The Redskins haven't been very good on television ratings this year either. It's gone hand in hand with the attendance that we've seen at games.

Let me just say this. The game Monday night, five years earlier with the same group of people, call it Jay Gruden, call it Colt McCoy, would have done a rating 50% plus or better. it would have been up in the 30s and it was 21.6. And that leads me to this. This is where you get into what is Dan Snyder to do. He's got to make change at the end of the year.

I mean, look, I'll preface that by saying, barring a late season run here, which doesn't look very likely with Mark Sanchez and with the offensive line issues and with the defense really imploding here over the last month of the season. I mean, they don't have a brutal schedule. I mean, they're an underdog. If you didn't know this, they are now three and a half point underdog Sunday at home against the Giants.

The four and eight Giants are three and a half point favorites over the six and six Redskins who are playing with a lot at stake, at least on paper, a lot at stake. They're in a playoff race. If they beat the Giants and the Eagles beat the, the Cowboys. It's a three-way tie for first. Three teams at seven and six. I don't think a lot of people are thinking about that right now. And I hope they are, because I'd still like to see some entertaining meaningful football here. I don't care if it's Mark Sanchez, a quarterback at this point. But this is where it's headed. I mean, realistically, they're going to win no more than one,

maybe two more, possible that they don't win another game. This season, ends with a without postseason play. And you've got, you've had all these injuries again. And like last year, you can go back and you can say, well, you know, we'll take Jay and Bruce off the hook. Take them off the hook for this. Look at all their injuries. Yet, what did we say during the offseason? You need guards. You need depth at corner. Where have they been hurt? Guard. Cornerback. We didn't say about the quarterback situation that they needed. to bring in three quarterbacks. Some of you may have said, where's the developmental quarterback? Where's the guy that's young? Remember, they traded for Kevin Hogan and then

released him. Kevin Hogan is in Denver right now, I believe. Kevin Hogan, the Gonzaga quarterback, who played at Stanford. They actually dealt for him. And I think they liked him, but for whatever reason, they decided to cut him and they decided to go with two quarterbacks. And you can, it's totally fair to be critical of them to say, why not a third developmental quarterback, that's who would have played the other night. That's who the backup would have been and we would have been able to see a young quarterback. A lot of people brought up Nate Sudfeld from a few years ago or anybody that they could have drafted at some point later in the draft. I was adamant that they would not draft a quarterback in last year's draft. You don't trade for

Alex Smith a year after he was in Kansas City and felt the sting of his head coach trading up to get a quarterback in the future starter. You don't trade for Alex Smith, give him a contract extension, and then draft his ultimate replacement or his hopeful replacement. It doesn't mean that you couldn't have drafted a quarterback in the fifth or sixth round as a developmental guy. So if you want to be critical of that, that's fine. But I'm not taking them off the hook this year because of the injuries.

Last year, the injuries actually were much worse. Now, not to the position of quarterback that has, that really will derail this season. I mean, it's one thing to bring Colt McCoy in. It's quite another to bring Mark Sanchez in and ask him to start four games when he's been with you for two weeks. I mean, that's unrealistic to think

that he's going to be able to perform at a level that it will allow them to win three of their final four and play a post-season game. And you don't have the defense to rely on anymore. That's the biggest disappointment, really, of the season. For me, is that I thought that they were in the midst of building a first-rate defense. I didn't think it was a top five defense when it was ranked that high.

And I said as much. I said it's much improved. It's not a top five, maybe not even a top 10 defense. But if it's 15th, what an improvement. Well, right now, they're 29th on third down. They are falling fast in the rankings of defensive football teams. And they needed the defense over the last few weeks. They needed the defense to come through in a couple of situations.

Look, if they'd gotten a PI call against Doxon and beaten Houston and they were sitting here instead of six and six, they were seven and five, you'd still have the quarterback issue, but you would have felt good about beating the Texans. But anyway, I'm getting off topic here. The television ratings are just another in the list of things that make me believe that Dan Snyder is going to make big changes, barring a postseason, you know, a late season run. If they don't make the postseason, they have to get rid of Bruce and Jay. They have to. The fan base is eroding at a faster clip than in recent years. The Indianapolis opening day crowd, home opener crowd, is a reflection of that. The ratings on television locally the other night is a reflection of that.

They've got to be gone. Nobody wants Bruce back. Can we all agree on that? I haven't met one person who wants him back. Remember the quote last year, and I'm going to paraphrase during last summer when he said, you know, in talking about quarterbacks, Alex Smith's quarterback record, it's all about record. Everybody gets judged on your record. Everybody from the general manager to the offensive lineman to the quarterback to the custodial worker.

I'm paraphrasing. It was some sort of internal employee that, that, would be judged on their record. Well, his record isn't good enough. And that's on the field. Off the field, you know, from a subjective standpoint, non-quantifiable, arrogance, limited intelligence-wise in terms of the way the organization is operated.

Sleazy, low rent, too much of the time. They need a change because it's warranted, first and foremost, based on record. But they need a change because it's the only chance they have to keep the erosion from eroding at the clip that it has been diminishing at. And here's one last thing on this. I had a conversation yesterday with a very good friend of mine, Gary Braun. Most of you or a lot of you know who Gary is. Gary's part of Tony's show. Gary's been a good friend of mine for many, many years. Those of you that, by the way, have tweeted over the years as Gary and I have argued on Tony's show that think that we don't like

each other. We actually are very good friends. It's one of my favorite people. He's very smart. and he called me last night we were talking about all of this and he's like it's just it's such a shitty franchise it's a shitty season the whole thing it's just but he goes how many years

have we done this at the end of a year and I'm like a lot we've done it a lot and he reminded me of something of a conversation that we had 10 years ago after the Zorn debacle when they were getting ready

to clean house and this was before they fired Vinny and Gary said to me that day, he said, I don't want a good team. I want a good franchise. And nothing that Vinnie Serrato and Dan Snyder and now Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder have done, none of it's led to being a good franchise. I mean, the NFL is built. It's designed for everybody to occasionally have a good team, good season. But only the really good and high-quality people develop and run and build a good franchise. The nine teams that Bruce has been here for, all right, nine now, he hasn't had one good team.

Not one, unless you want to say it was the 2012 team. And that was really thanks to the Shanahan's. Nothing he necessarily did to contribute to that. Not one good team. and the league is designed through parity to have a good team, a good year. They're nowhere near having a good franchise. It's time. Now, if they make a late season run and they win a playoff game miraculously,

then I will change my view and I will give the coaching staff unbelievable credit for somehow keeping it together, coaching them up, and winning three games when it looked like. like there was no chance they could win three games, even against the schedule they're playing. But it's probably not going to happen. I want a good franchise, and there's nothing about this leadership group that tells me that they're going to be able to build a good franchise. Now, one last thing for real last thing on this, you will say, well, you're never going

to have a good franchise as long as Dan Snyder owns the team. I don't have an answer for that one, other than he ain't selling the team. So he has to have some sort of change. Now, I believe he actually has changed at times. I think he turned over the organization in brief, or at least had the mindset to do so with Shanahan. I think he really wanted Bruce to take this thing and thought that Bruce was a better football guy

than he was. But I don't know that he's got it in him to really do it, to really stay out of it. But I know this, that Jay and Bruce have to go if this season goes the way I think it's going to go over the final four weeks. They, from a business standpoint, cannot afford to bring them back. Let me tell you about Window Nation. Window Nation likes this podcast, Harley, Aaron, Eric, they listen all the time. and I like Window Nation. I've used them twice. They've installed windows in my home twice over the last decade, and I promise you that if you need new windows, they will take good care of you. You have

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It's the final week of this best offer of the year from Wind Donation. By Sunday, you have to get them out there. Call by Sunday to get two free windows for every two you buy with no limit, plus 0% interest for five full years. Call 86690 Nation today or visit windonation.com and tell them I told you to call. All right, let's bring in Redskins ESPN beat reporter John Kime, who is covering this team on a daily basis for many years now. And the last couple of weeks, there's been no shortage of story opportunities with just the stuff that's happened on the field, let alone off it. I would like to start with this.

and that is, do you give them any chance, and this is more football-related, do you give them any chance with Mark Sanchez, a defense that has regressed, do you give them any chance to turn it around in these final four games and win three of them and get to the postseason? Win three, no. I don't see, you'd have to be wildly, blindly, blindly faithful to believe that. Because you have to have some proof to suggest.

that they're capable of doing that. The defense has regressed significantly. So unless that changes, they're not going to change. And then it's not even just Sanchez. It's the fact that, okay, now you have a quarterback who does turn it over. They don't have playmakers on the outside. They have two guards. They're on their third set of guards.

I just, it's really hard to paint a scenario other than a, hey, you never know, type situation that suggests they could win three out of four. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I mean, even though the four opponents are hardly daunting at this point, although the Giants are playing well. The Redskins. Giants are. Yeah, the Giants are favored now.

They're a three and a half point favorite over the Redskins in this game on Sunday. And you're right, like, those games, these teams are not like difficult, difficult opponents, but we're talking about a team with a quarterback who was on the street two weeks ago, who does have a pinch for turning it over. And again, it's more about what we're seeing from this team. and it's why you can never go by the schedule because it's always about how is your team playing and what is their health situation

and the health situation is just like it's brutal and they had a small margin for error before they had all these injuries. That's right. At 5 and 2 and at 6 and 3 there was a small margin for error in particular because of the offense. One of my favorite quotes of yesterday and I'll get to the Kaepernick stuff with you here in a moment But, Gruden, yeah, I know, it's great. Gruden was talking about the defense and he said, quote, we just have to play better. We got to play more physical. We got to be more sound. We got to tackle better. We got to do everything better on defense. We've got to step our game to heights we never have before. You know, John, it's for a guy that, you know, seriously, as a head coach, I felt over the years that he almost was, he was incredibly distant from the defense. And, rarely really ever came close to criticizing the defense, even when it was terrible, because

it's been terrible the last few years, because I think he felt he had an offense that was capable of overcoming that. I think he told us yesterday, if we don't win 13.10, actually, he just reminded me of that quote about Robert Griffin III, where he said, well, we'll have to win a lot a 13 to 10 games if he's the starting quarterback. But that's where he believes his team is right now. Absolutely. And I think the other thing that's disappointing for them and for the organization is the defense has been relatively healthy. I mean, I know Quentin Dunbar has been out. That should not derail your season. I mean, I think Quentin Dunbar is a really nice story. I think he's done a nice job. We're not talking about an all-pro corner here. We're talking about a guy who was a starting

corner, but it's really more about the depth behind him. So, but I think the point is, that's been their significant injury, a guy who's been in and out of the line. If I know Ionitis missed against Philly, that's it. I mean, this defense has been healthy. And they, in the last, I tweeted this out this morning, in the last five games, they are the 31st ranked defense in total yards allowed. I think they're like 19th in points. They're 29th on third down right now. 29th on third down. The 29th. And in the last five weeks, they're last. like it's like a 54% I mean you look at the other day and here's here's my issue on third down and we've seen this a couple times the first the first third down like the Saints game third down and four and

they give up their holding penalty now it may have been tiki tack whatever it's called but that like you have a chance to get off field and the first third down against philly the other night it's a third and four and Norman actually plays the plays it pretty well to pass to Jeffrey they have a couple guys round him, they're all going for the ball. If you tackle the guy, you're forcing a pun. But, you know, Norman got a little bit inside, kind of spined him around. DJ Swindler comes up. He goes for the ball. If you wrap and tackle him, it is a fourth down. They don't do that. He gets three extra yards, drive continues, touchdown. That's the kind of stuff that keeps happening. And, you know, it's just, it would be maddening if you're a coach if you're seeing this and a fan if you're

seeing this because it's happening over and over, but they're just not playing well at all. And that's You look at the D-line, I think the D-line, especially D-Lan, looks tired. You know, and it's just, it's one thing after another. You know, in talking about this, they didn't address guard in the offseason, and we all felt like they should address guard. They didn't really address corner. I mean, they signed Orlando Scandrick, which didn't work out, and everybody felt like that was an issue.

And this is what they're struggling with right now. Right. And so not to mention, John, and I, Look, I'm going to say this up front. This is definitely sort of Monday morning quarterbacking. But their backup quarterback who everyone, you, me, and everybody else felt is a really good NFL backup. But the bottom line is he's got an injury history. And while you couldn't predict a broken leg necessarily, you could predict that if you needed him for five or six games,

that he wouldn't be able to play all five or six. Correct. And I think, you know, it's funny because that was the biggest issue to me in the preseason was health. And it's like, and every year it's about health. But the problem is that they were going to be sin, like if you lost a corner at all, you knew there was trouble. Not because Greg Stroman or Donis Alexander or Danny Johnson can't develop, but we're talking about three rookies. Those were their top three backups. You know, and so you're going to have to use one of them at some point because somebody always gets hurt, right, at that position. then, you know, guard, they had Sean LaValle. And you knew that even the people who are in his camp, on his side, know that if you have Sean LaValle starting, you better have a strong backup because he will get hurt. And then you look at Colt. And I think with Colt, a lot of the guys in there really were happy to see him get a chance. And I think for his mental well-being, he needed to get a chance, too, because he's worked

and worked and worked, and he felt like he had made himself into a better quarterback. he's in a good situation and all that. The hard part is that his mentality on the field, his style of play is such that it puts him at risk a lot. You know, because he will. We saw it in the first game when he came in against Houston. I mean, you know, they have nobody behind him, and he's a bit of a daredevil out there at times.

And that makes it, that's part of who he is, but it does make it, it does put him in a situation where you're more apt to get banged up. And I always felt like, you know, he was kind of a mix between Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin the third. I think he and Robert have some of that similarity where they are going to fight for every yard. They're not, you know what I mean? And so I think that that is hard when you're a smaller type quarterback. And it's unfortunate because, you know, I know what he felt he could do in this offense.

And, you know, but it is, that's been the history. One thing just to clear up for everybody so we understand this, and you'll have the answer. to it. Jay said that Colt, you know, would be out three weeks and, and potentially could be ready, you know, in four weeks with a fractured fibula. That was shocking, yeah, that was shocking to me to hear that, but they haven't put them on injured reserve yet. Am I right about that? Right. Correct. And the, correct, they have not. And the hope is if there is a chance that they can get into the playoffs that maybe maybe he would be ready by them.

But that's, it's kind of hard to see. Just like last year, they kind of kept Jonathan Allen. They kept kind of saying, well, maybe he can come back and he'd come back. And you'd watch and work out. I was like, there's no way he's coming back. You know, and so I just, I would, I think the good, I would say this. Even, I wouldn't see him coming back. I think the good news for them is that in the offseason, he should be okay.

Because you hit a point after that game the other night. is like, who's going to even run this offense in OTAs? You know, you don't have anybody. So, but at least there's that. But like, yeah, no, that's the reason why he says, you know, in case they get to the playoffs and leaving it out there just in case. All right. It's got a couple of other things.

Actually, they signed Josh Johnson, which, I mean, when his name first surfaced, you know, the week after the Houston game before the Thanksgiving Day game, I didn't think he had played for, you know, six, seven years, which was, I think, true, but he has stayed active as he was readying for this other football league. Why him? Because he has experience with Jay Gruden. He was with him in Cincinnati in 2013. I think it was about a year. And then he was part of that Tampa crew in 2008, where Jay Gruden was an assistant on his brother's staff. So people can laugh and scoff and all they

want, but the reasoning is that because he has experience in the system and you're in a situation where if something happens to Sanchez, this guy's got to play. So you need somebody who can at least has a grasp of what you do and can go out there and run the offense the way you need to with the group you have on the field. And so that's why. It's the familiarity. That's the number one reason. Let's just briefly mention Kaepernick here. He was asked, Jay Gruden was asked about this four different occasions yesterday on the conference call. Do you believe them that they actually internally discussed and actually seriously considered Kaepernick?

And then how did you think Jay did handling all of the questions? Discuss, yes. Seriously considered. I'm not sure that I buy that because the rationale, I mean, you can say now with four weeks left in the season that if you feel like Kaepernick has, you have to change your offense to suit one guy that, well, yeah. And when people, like, I think just from a straight football perspective, like, if you, if, if you feel that when Sanchez came in here, they didn't have to change the offense. He had to learn their system.

What Gruden was saying was that if Kaepernick, if they signed Kaepernick, they would have to change the offense. So not only is Kaepernick learning the system, everybody else is changing as well. So if you want to believe that or not, that's. That's what the rationale is. Okay. Now, it's kind of easy to say that now that you consider them, if that's your reasoning, because, well, who's going to – well, okay, whatever.

And, you know, hey, if it's been week one, which is what he said, then maybe it's different. Well, I don't think it is different at that time. I just think that now you have a reason with four weeks left to say something different. You know, and whether or not anybody likes them or not as a quarterback, I mean, that's – you know, people are allowed to not like him as a quarterback. I think the heart part is when you see a lot of it, the guys coming in that, you know, are they really going to help you?

But so I don't know that it was, I don't think it was seriously considered. I, you know, discussed, you know, I can buy that. But like, listen, Kevin, you and I could sit there and say, well, do you want to bring Kaepernary then? No. Okay, well, we discussed him, right? So, and you can say that too and be genuine. But, you know, I'm, you have to at least mention should we bring him in.

Do you want to bring him in? That has to be mentioned. because you are in a situation where you need quarterbacks, and he is one of the ones available. But, you know, it felt like to me, you know, I'd heard after the game that, you know, Josh Johnson was probably the guy, but they just wanted to look at some other guys, and it was the familiarity with him. So, you know, fun topic. Right now they're focused on these final four games, but do you have any idea of what they're thinking big pictures as it relates to the quarterback position in 2000?

because you just said it right now. Now, maybe Colt, you know, the fact that he could be ready in four weeks means that he would be ready for OTAs. But what is, what's their thinking about the quarterback position in 2019? I mean, Alex is under contract. I can't imagine that they're thinking about anybody else but him. Well, they're not, but I think there's still a lot to be learned about his recovery. And I think a lot will be. I would say that there's no doubt in my mind that they're going to look hard at.

quarterback's in the draft. Now, whether or not they take one, I think, will know more about Smith's recovery at that time if they don't take one. And they would feel more confident that he'll be ready and that, you know, Colt will be fine and they can just bring in another guy, you know, whether, you know, either a veteran or maybe you take a guy in the six or seventh round just to have another arm or, you know, sign someone in the offseason to have another arm in OTAs in camp because you're going to need someone, you're going to need somebody else at that time. But in talking to people there, the phrase you keep hearing is that, well, if anybody can come back from this, it's Alex. Because look at his career.

He's always come back from things. He overcomes adversity. He's competitor, et cetera, et cetera. But I still, you know, I think I was talking to someone the other night, and their point was, well, there's a long time to go before they have to know whether they have to draft somebody or not, obviously. I mean, we're talking late April. By that time, they'll have a lot more information on where Alex Smith is in his recovery and when who, who comes. be back and I think that will help shape their decision. So the hard part in this whole situation is, you know, is that for the next three years,

he's really hard to cut. And, you know, you can bring in a guy if you wanted to, if you need to, bring in a guy. And, you know, listen, and I would say this. And I've talked to some people, like, if there's a quarterback sitting there in the first round you like, you almost have to take him now because you don't know and you do need to have something at that position. The hard part is if he, if Smith comes back and he's healthy and he's healthy and playing well, that's good for them. But the contract makes it difficult to do anything with him to cut him.

You know, you could do it after next season, but you're going to have to spread, I think, it's like 16.2, I think, over a couple years, something like that. Yeah. You know, so, but yeah, that's, so I think there's still more to learn, but I definitely know that, you know, looking at that situation, the quarterback in the draft is on the radar. What's the big picture, John, when this season ends? Who's coming back and who isn't if they don't make the postseason? Yeah, and I think

I think with the way these injuries have gone, it's like I'm not a guy who likes to give excuses, but I just, you try to think like the organization would, and like last year that was an issue, and, you know, Jay Gruden came back in part because of that, and he had three more years left in his deal. You know, I don't know that it's hard for me to sit there and say anybody is safe because we have a month left to go.

There's still a couple more home games. What if in these home games, there's 25,000 people. Dan Snyder reacts to the empty seats. Well, that's what's going to happen. Yeah, and so if that's the case, then I don't think, I don't know, like, you know, you hear things now and you hear things in November and it's like, okay, there's questions about would they really fire Gruden. I don't, right speaking today, I don't think that would happen.

But things change. And same with Bruce Allen. Things change. And I don't buy that he is, you know, a king for life here because I know how tight Vinny Serato was with Snyder and the family. And he got rid of him. So I don't know that I buy that anybody is set for life. But right now, you know, and I think with Bruce Allen, I think there's some questions there. I don't know that I'm ready to say that.

Well, he's going to be fired. I don't think you can say that. But I don't think you should either – I don't think anybody should feel extremely strong. safe just based on the history here. And the fact that like, here's what you're looking at, Kevin, too. Let's say they don't win any more games. They're six and ten. You have to sell tickets. What are you selling tickets on after this season? Well, six and ten, seven and nine, eight, and eight, you know, no postseason. It's all going to be the same. And what I said earlier in the show is that you can't as a customer business with, reliant on consumers to pay.

Now, you can say, well, the TV dollars are the number one driver, and that's true. But the Redskins need an opening day crowd next year that doesn't look like the Indianapolis opening day crowd. They need better TV ratings. The rating for the Philadelphia game Monday Night, John, was atrocious compared to what it would have been five years ago. And to me, there's one guy, minimum, one guy. that can't come back.

He's public enemy number one with this fan base, and it's Bruce Allen. It's almost the same position that Vinny was in. Now, I don't put him at Vinny's... Well, maybe even more so in terms of just the venom, but I don't think that... I think most reasonable fans understand that Vinny's not, you know, competent as a football person, and maybe some would compare Bruce to Vinny in the same way.

Bruce was a professional executive. That's right. Big difference. And when he came here, there was like, oh, yeah, he can do this. Now, if you put him on the football side, I don't know. This is what I heard when he got signed him for multiple people. Really good ambassador, good, you know, as a business guy, I wouldn't put him on charge of the football side, but on the other side, that's fine.

I just can't see a situation where six and ten, seven, and nine, eight, and eight, nine, and seven, no postseason. And both of those guys come back and they're expecting things to improve. They just won't. there will be no buzz, zero buzz, and anti, a lot of anti-feeling. There would definitely be, listen, I mean, I get that all the time in the last couple years, more so in particular, like, something will happen, whether it's on the field or it's a move off the field, and I get the tweet, I'm done with this franchise.

Right. And, you know, they don't like to hear that, but it's like, I can't help what people tweet to me, you know, but that's, but it's the truth. And, you know, we all know where it starts. And, you know, I mean, you would. think that he Bruce Allen would be on the hot seat and I and it would you know you look if you're going based on record then it's clearly deserved and there's a lot of things that have happened where it hasn't been good for the franchise and you have to look and examine why and I think like if you're

the number one thing I remember talking to an executive one time it's like the number one thing you need to do and this is somebody who you know people who had to fire a friend or you know in the organization whatever is like the only thing you have to ask is this the what's the best thing for the organization. And, you know, I think that's the number one thing you have to ask. I don't know that that always gets asked here, but that's the number one question you have to ask. And in every move, is this, you know, is this organization going in the right direction?

And I think, you know, there's some things where you say, okay, I like what they're doing here, but are they going in the right direction? And I don't know that you can definitively say that they are because you need proof. and it can't just be well, we had a couple good drafts. There's more to it than just that. And the other thing, Kevin, they don't have a lot of money to spend against the cap this offseason, too. It's not like they can go out and do a couple big moves and get people excited about that. I mean, I think it's only like $21, $22 million against the cap,

and you can free up some room elsewhere so you can do some more, but they're still lower in terms of the NFL rankings against the cap. So I think that makes it a little bit hard, too. But it's going to be an interesting offseason because I do think, like, you're going to have to do something. I just, I don't know what it is. Like, you know, again, with Jay Gruden, you hear more safe than not, definitely. But, again, things can change over the course of a month. And, you know, I mean, it kind of changed wildly in Shanahan's last month.

Yeah, it really did. You know, I mean, that's, so. I know you got to run, but I'll give you, I'll give you 30 seconds if you want. John's a massive Ohio State fan and alum. Your thoughts on Urban Meyer. I kind of expected it. When all that stuff happened in August, my gut told me this is his last year. And, you know, I'm sure that there's a health issue, but I'm sure it was probably exacerbated by what happened.

I'm a big Ryan Day fan. I think, you know, you're hoping that he's there, Lincoln Riley or even a dabble Sweeney, but he's taking over a program that has won 11 or 12 games every year under Meyer. The one thing, like, so I think he can be really good that what you lose is the guy who can go into a room and you know he's there. You know, like Nick Saban goes in the room, you know Nick Saban's in the gym or you know he's in the stadium or whatever. And Irving Meyer gives you that. So you lose that aura initially. Now, the program I've always felt is bigger than a guy.

And so you're relying on that to go, but I just think it's going to be hard to sustain what they did. But I do like Ryan Day. Thanks, John. Appreciate it as always. Thanks, Kevin. All right, let's bring in Maryland head basketball coach Mark Turgeon. The Terps are 7 and 1. They are at Purdue tomorrow night for their first Big 10 road game.

They opened up the Big 10 schedule Saturday with a 66 to 59 win over Penn State. They are ranked 23rd in the country. First of all, thanks for doing this. It's always good to catch up, and we haven't had a chance to do it yet this year. And I wanted to start with this. You said from the jump this. year. You said you really liked this team. You've said this about previous teams, but you really emphasized it, I thought, this year prior to the season beginning. After eight games,

what do you specifically like a lot? And are there areas or is there an area where you've got concerns? Well, I just like coaching them every day. I like being around them. They do what I ask. They try to make things better. They like being around each other. They like each other. There's obviously some talent there, some young talent, and some good basketball players that are great kids. So that's what I like. So that gives you a chance, you know, right away. But with that said, we're extremely young. We're getting better. We've really gotten better since our first game. against Delaware. I think defensively in rebounding is where I've been most pleased.

Our rebounding's been terrific. We've been physical with our boxouts. We've really gotten better in that area. I do have a lot of concerns. It's a long season. We have an unbelievably tough schedule. Our league seems to be better than it's been since I've been in the league. So, you know, you have a lot of concerns moving forward.

But, you know, we've done a lot of work since the Penn State game, trying to figure out how we take care of the ball a little bit better. I think that's our next step. If we can get our turnovers down to, you know, somewhere around eight or nine a game, then we're going to be a heck of a team. But right now, we're not four games. I think we've averaged about 16 or 17, and we're just not going to be good teams playing that way.

Yeah, I was going to get to the turnover thing from the Penn State game. game in particular. But I want to stick with this one thing because I'm curious when coaches, you know, sort of emphasize how they really enjoy the team they're working with now and the kids that they have now and it makes it fun to go to work every day. And that means that at times, and I've had some conversations with you over the years, there are teams that are more difficult to get sort of excited about going to work every day. What is it without being specific? I don't want you to name players or teams. But what is it typically for a coach that makes it not as much fun? Well, I think, you know, kids are more worried about themselves than they are the team.

You know, chemistry is just not right among your team. They may be good kids, but the chemistry's just not right. There's not total buy-in. There's not total commitment. Things like that. You know, we'd all say the same thing about teams. We've had, but this team seems to have total commitment. You know, I played six guys in the second half versus Penn State the other day. And there wasn't one sad face in the locker room. I mean, it could have been very easily three or four guys pissed off because they didn't play in the second half. But they were, you know, they were so excited that we figured out how to win the game. So, you know, those little things right there give you a chance to continue to grow and get better as a team.

I heard John Beeline say last night after the Michigan Northwestern game that he loves these early season conference games, which, you know, you've played, you know, it's a 20-game slate now, but you're playing two of them now. Are you excited about them? Do you like them this early? Well, I think what he meant there is it really kind of lets you know what you have. You know, you can beat up on Marshall and North Carolina A&T, and you really don't know how good you are. It takes a Virginia at Penn State and then at Purdue to really let you know if you're any good or not. or what you need to work on. So, you know, not that our schedule gets easier.

We come home and play Loyola, Chicago, and then we have Seton Hall before Christmas, which is like another two league games. But I think it just kind of gives you an idea of can you really rebound against good teams, can you really defend against good teams, can you really execute against good teams, and let you know early in the season what you need to do to get better. And I think we learned a lot from Virginia.

how important the game plan is defensively and to do exactly what you're told to do and learn from it. And, you know, I think that's, I think we learned a lot there. So the same with Penn State. You know, they came in and they're very physical and it took us a long time to get used to their physicality. And as the game went on, we got better with it. So, yeah, these are great. These early seasons, big 10s are, you know, it's great. It makes it a longer season, I'll say that.

you know but it is what it is it's today's game it's what the fans want and you know I think it's good for your team to play against good teams early you mentioned the league there are eight teams eight ranked in the coaches poll this week seven in the AP last year there were more struggles early in the season in the non-conference games and it hurt the league at the end of the year I don't know mark that the league was supposed to be this strong top to bottom or certainly in the first eight to ten teams are you surprised? Yes and no. You know, there were some teams that I thought were going to be pretty good.

There were teams that I thought were going to be better than everybody else thought, and that's kind of happening. You know, what's really scary is, like, how good Rutgers is, how good Northwestern is. They were picked 13th and 14th in our league. So the depth of our league is tremendous. It used to be able to look at about three or four games on your schedule. If we show up and if we don't play our best game, we're still going to win.

That's not the case, but every game on our schedule this year. So I think it's going to be good for our league. Hopefully we can continue to win these big non-conference games that are coming up. We got Loyola, Chicago, and we have Seton Hall. Those are big games for us. I know there's a lot of them this weekend with our teams going outside the league and playing a tough competition. So it's a big week for us, not only in Big Ten play,

but big week for us out of conference for us. I think we got the best league in the country. People are going to say the ACC. We're really close to winning that challenge, obviously, but that's going to help us in the end. It might help us get eight to nine, maybe even ten teams into the NCAA tournament. Do you ever think, because, I mean, my view has been

that so much emphasis, March is placed on league's strength. And the league's strength is sort of determined during a portion of the season where most teams haven't even developed yet. You know, it seems pretty ridiculous. I remember John Thompson once said to me at the radio station, he said, you know, I came in one day after you had a big win or Gary had a big win, and it was in November.

And he just said, Kevin, he said, there's nothing in November that resembles what these teams are in March. And yet so much emphasis. is placed on what happens in November and December based on league strength? Is it fair? It is what it is. And we haven't been able to, you know, the Big Ten, we haven't been good in November and December the last few years.

It's heard it. So, you know, if that's the way it is and we're having a good November and December, hopefully it's going to help us in March. But I do think there's some teams in our league. Hopefully we're one of them. It's going to be, you know, a really, really good team come February. We have a lot of growth. I'm still trying to figure out my rotation.

I thought I had it figured out. But then you start playing quality teams, and maybe you don't quite have it figured out. But I like to think we're going to be a much better team come February. There will be some other teams in our league. But it is what it is. We've got to finish strong through December so we can be one of the top two leagues in the country, which will help us get more teams in March.

Yeah, I remember thinking at the end of last year that Nebraska and Penn State both would have been pretty difficult outs in the tournament. All right, let's get back to your team, and you just said you're still trying to figure out your rotation. And I was going to bring up the fact that the other day against Penn State, you essentially played six guys only in the second half. I think really the significant minutes for any bench player was Aaron Wiggins. Where are you in trying to figure that out?

Do you feel like you have depth, but you just haven't. The circumstances haven't dictated in the last two to play it? Yeah, well, I feel like we have six starters. I think Aaron played starter minutes. I just don't start him. It doesn't mean I'm not going to start them as the season goes on. So I feel comfortable with our top six. I think they've all proven themselves.

They're all capable. But no, I think we need to figure out 7, 8, 9. I need to get more comfortable. You need to get them out there early, throw them out there, see how they do. Unfortunately, for me in the Virginia game, or subset over there for like three or four minutes. There was no stop which in play, and I put them all in there together.

Right. And it hurt us in that game against a quality team. So, you know, we're trying to build it. Things are going to change. How are you going to play? You're going to play small, you're going to play big, who you're playing. You know, I finished the Virginia game with sticks on the bench. I couldn't take them.

There's no way I could take him off the floor in the Penn State game because he was so darn good. Yeah. So every game is different. But no, I need to build 7, 8, 9. That's going to be very important to us. I think it's Sorrell Smith, Ricky Lindo, Josh DeMai, Jeevan, those guys, they got to play better when they get in there. I think Sorrel is going to be a good player for us this year and help us a lot.

Ricky Lindo was starting to show some signs. But he's young. They're both young. Him and Sorrel could be seniors in high school. So, you know, we'll see. I like to give Josh to my chance this week at Purdue. He's practiced well. After the game the other day, I grabbed him.

I said, Josh, I got to make some changes. Just give me everything you got in practice. And he's done that. So, you know, we'll see what happened, you know, moving forward with our rotation. It appeared to me in the Virginia game. It was tough with both Bruno and sticks in there offensively, and that's why you went a little bit smaller. Is that true or not?

Yeah, they're so good defensively, and we actually played really well. But, you know, Bruno is such a force in that game. He was terrific. And we're figuring it out. You know, I think there's other things that I can do to figure out offensively how to play them together. I think I've tried to do some things this week. My staff and I have gotten together to try to make us a better team offensively when they're in there together, be able to space the floor properly, you know, for not only them to be effective,

but our guards to be effective. So there's a lot in play right now with that. But I think about where that group was playing those two together in August when we're in Italy compared to where it is now. It's night and day. So I'd like to think, you know, if we do our job and guys continue to improve, get better and better what it is. The season goes on.

You mentioned the turnovers, and there were 17 of them against Penn State. That's 17 possessions. You're not getting a shot attempt. You only had 45 shot attempts, even though you got to the free throw line a ton. Anthony Cowen had six turnovers in that game. He also had the two huge shots at the end that iced the game. How do you fix that? You said it's significant because you can't turn the ball over like that in these league games

and expect to have a great year. How do you fix all of that? Well, it's not easy. If it was easy, we'd fix it. I think, you know, the one thing I loved about our team is we were really fast and we could really get out and run. And I think we showed that early, and I think Virginia and Penn State really did a great job of transition defense,

not so much trying to get offensive rebounds, but just getting back on defense and taking our transition away, and we're still trying to run and do things. I think we're going to have to become a better half-court team. And guys just have to be stronger. You know, every time you turn it over and practice, guys have to get on this machine. It's not an easy machine to do.

It's like a stair climber deal. You know, you hope that works. It hasn't worked for us. We've been doing it since the first day of practice. So as a coach, I'm like, okay, maybe we can't play in the 90s. Maybe we need to figure out a way to get this down because we're shooting a good percentage, and we get a shot, it's usually a good shot.

And so, you know, as a coach, you just have to figure it out. And we still want to run. We still want to play fast. But if the opportunities aren't there, we have to be better. And I don't think our spacing was good Saturday. I don't think our decision-making was good Saturday. So you just watch film with them, you talk to them, and you just keep trying to get the right feel for guys.

And we have so many young players. Kevin, as you know, we've got five freshmen out there playing, and they're going to make mistakes. But it's the older guys, Anthony and Darrell. They have to do a better job. They've been through this before. All right. The youth coach and me is going to say two things to you,

and you can mock me if you will. But with Anthony, one of the things I've noticed, and I even noticed it last year, sometimes the ball just gets a bit too high and he doesn't play low enough. And he exposes it a bit too much. because I think he had it taken from him, or certainly it was disrupted the dribble a couple of times.

And the other thing is some of the ball screens, Mark, the ball handler is not waiting for that ball screen to be completely set, and it's just easy to sort of get through it. Am I right on either count? Well, you know, he just, I think his first donor, when the first half the guy took his arm, you know, and that happened. you know, you're not going to get every call. It's such a hard game to referee.

But he just made some really bad decisions in the game. One a little bit too deep. Do we do go too fast on ball screens sometimes? There's no doubt about it. And that's a big worry, Mike. You can't afford illegal screens for Jaylen and Bruno. So I thought Purdue, excuse me, Penn State did a good job at downing ball screens, which made it difficult.

But in the end, we figured it out. I think we hurt their ball screen defense. as the game we're on, which takes time to adjust. But no, you're right on some account, and it's part of the process. But Anthony was really taking care of the ball early in the season, six and fifth, one turnover.

And so he's got to get it back. He's got to get back to playing that way. And when he does that, you know, we're going to be pretty darn good. Two more, and I'll let you run, and I appreciate the time. Bruno's got such a good stroke, at least watching him from afar.

And sometimes they'll leave him, they'll let him take that elbow jumper. And, you know, if the ball goes into the high post there, do you want him to be more aggressive looking for that mid-range game or not? Yeah, I mean, he shoots it in practice. He can shoot it. Bruno can shoot all the way to three. You know, he's made a couple threes in his career.

he's just been so dominant on the low pose. Right. We kind of want to stick with that. But I think you'll see more of it here as we move forward a little bit at a time. He's kind of reluctant in a way to shoot it. It's like he wants to shoot it. He's mad at me that I don't let him shoot all the time. But then in the game, he won't shoot it.

So it's kind of a weird dynamic there. But we continue to work with him. We're expanding his game. It's not just about his time at Maryland. It's about his future. So we continue to work with him. But I'm hoping that he can knock down that 15 to 17 footer and maybe we can get some two-man games going

where he can get those picking pop type 15 to 17 footers. But right now he's shooting 78% around the rim. We kind of like that. So we want to take advantage of that also. He's been something else. All right. Last one and I'll let you run. This is year five.

I can't believe it. Year five in the Big Ten. and you're going to West Lafayette tomorrow night. It's a tough venue. What have been the toughest road venue? I know the rest of the conference talks about what a difficult road venue college park is. What's been the difficult road venue for you in terms of crowd, atmosphere, etc? By far, Indiana.

They've been the, you know, they had two really good teams, the first two times. We went in there. We had good teams. Played them on senior day one day. I think it was. And they whipped us pretty good. Last year I thought we could have won the game. The team was terrific.

Bruno went down in the second half, and they beat it. So the only place we haven't won in the league, and so therefore, in my mind, it's the most difficult. Well, the place you're going to tomorrow night, I know isn't easy, and they've lost two in a row, so they'll be ready for it. Good luck tomorrow night. Thanks so much for the time. And right now, in this town, for me, this is what I'm excited about.

Tomorrow night, more than anything else. So wish you the best. Appreciate it, Mark. Okay. All right, Kevin. Thanks, bye. All right, thanks to Mark Turgeon. Always good to catch up with him. Big game tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to that one at Purdue. Terps could get off to a 2-0 Big Ten start.

That would be huge. And it really is amazing how the Big Ten, which was not supposed to be the best league or even in the top two or three, they've got eight teams. Eight teams right now ranked in the top 25 in the coaches poll. And it's because of a lot of big, non-conference wins. And as Turgeon mentioned, this is what they've got to do this weekend as well.

Maryland still has Seton Hall. They still have Loyola, Chicago, the team that was in the final four last year, even though it's not as good of a team as Loyal of Chicago had a year ago. Let me tell you real quickly about Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax. I say this every day, but if you're thinking about something new, Ferris should be on your list. You can go out to Ferris. They're located right there in the heart of Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph Perkins. Ralph is the general manager, runs the store.

He's in there virtually every day. Tell him, I sent you. I talked to Ralph the other day. Ferris has the best rebates they've had all year long. They're trying to get rid of their inventory before the end of the year. They want to move it off their lot to bring in new vehicles on January 1. So that means really the best deal opportunities of the year are right now. He specifically mentioned the Jeep.

Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, and Jeep Rangler, and the RAM pickups. They've got a ton of those vehicles on the lot. You're going to be able to get the best deal you'll get anywhere at any point during the year on those vehicles. They've got plenty of inventory with other vehicles as well. You'll likely find what you want, make model color, and be able to drive it off the lot the day that you go in there. If you like this show, and I've mentioned this many times, I promise you, I wouldn't steer you wrong. Ferris. Ralph is such a good guy. He's a big sports fan, a big DC sports fan. He and I are friends. He will gladly welcome you if you go in there and say, I want to talk to Ralph Perkins and he'll put you in touch with their best salesperson.

You're not going to get fast sold by anybody at Farish. You'll be able to look at things, test drive, everything that you want to test drive. Take your time and find what you really want. And again, the deals are great. Again, they're located in Fairfax Circle right there in the heart of Fairfax. You can also find out everything you need to know about Farish, live inventory, live pricing at ferrishcars.com. All right, we're going to get to some coaching blunders here in a moment. A couple of things real quickly. The Caps played an intense game last night. I actually saw some of this game last night at Vegas. Remember, they beat Vegas early in the year, rematch of the Stanley Cup finals. But last night's game, man, was high intensity for the regular season.

And I guess you would expect that. the two Stanley Cup teams facing off in the regular season, but it was a physical game. And Tom Wilson got hit last night by Ryan Reeves, vicious shoulder-to-shoulder hit. Reeves was ejected, given a game misconduct for it. Wilson's night ended after that hit. It was a big hit. His head hit the ice after he went down. But I'm going to tell you what, that ignited that crowd like you don't see in a regular season NHL game in December, man. That felt like a Stanley Cup or a playoff game. The intensity right from the beginning, and the Caps had a two to one lead, and they gave up four goals. And that was part of the intensity,

too, is Vegas making that run in the third period. So the Caps lose 5'3 at Vegas. And for them, that's two losses in a row. They blew the lead against Anaheim the other night. So that's two losses in a row for them as they're on this West Coast swing. I think it's Arizona. and then they've got somebody else on the way back to the East Coast. Also, just wanted to mention real quickly, and I'll spend more time on this with Tommy tomorrow, but the Nat signing Patrick Corbyn to a six-year, $140 million deal according to Yahoo Sports. And I think Chelsea also followed that up with the story as well. Look, over the years, there's been a lot of discussion about how cheap the learners are, and they are with managers. They're not with players. And

And not only that, the learners and Rizzo, they are great in stealth mode. I mean, Corbin was supposed to go to the Yankees or the Phillies. Nobody had him, I don't think, going to the Nats. And if they did, it was a second-tier probability. It was Yankees and Phillies. They just added a phenomenal left-hander to go with Scher and Strasbourg. And they don't stand pat. You know, there's no reboot in Nationals.

in the Nationals offices. They may not re-sign Bryce Harper. He may sign elsewhere, but they're not rebooting because of it. They understand the team they have, and they understand it that another big-time starter would be huge for them. And they signed the catcher over the weekend as well. They are aggressive right now trying to stay in position to compete for not only the National League East, which they will be competing for,

but for the National League pennant. The last thing that I wanted to just mention real quickly were the rumors yesterday. There were rumors over the weekend about an auto porter trade, and then yesterday from Mark Berman in the New York Post. He reported that the Knicks would offer Damian Dotson, Courtney Lee, and another player along with a 20-20-first round selection and a second round selection as part of a three-team deal. he didn't mention who the third team was to get John Wall to New York.

I'm not doing a deal for a 2020 first rounder. If I'm getting a first rounder from the Knicks, a team that more likely than not won't be in the postseason, I'm getting a 2019 first rounder because I'm going to have a chance at Zion Williamson and this draft of loaded, loaded, you know, first year players, freshman players. I don't want a 2020.

pick from the Knicks. That's not a deal I would do. Look, I'm all for change now. I think I'm at the end of believing that the Wizards can actually be a 50-win team and be an Eastern Conference Finals team and maybe in a given year get to the finals. There's just too much dysfunction in the organization. They've won two in a row. They're 10 and 14. They're actually in a division race, if you were curious, in the division race, the Southeast Division, most of you don't even know that there are divisions in the NBA, there are only two games out of first. They're only two games out of first. And in the Eastern Conference playoff race, they're a game and a half out of aif.

So I still think that if you just keep this group together, you're probably going to make the postseason. You're going to win 40, 41, 42 games and it's going to be good enough for the eight seed or seven seed maybe. But I want a better trade than that one. All right. The players don't excite me and the draft choices don't excite me. So I don't think that that is a trade I would go for. Remember that ESPN reported last month that the Wizards are, you know, and have softened their stance about not trading wall or beale and listening to potential trade offers. That's one that I would say, I've heard it, but no thank you.

All right, let's get to coaching blunders for the week. Bad play calls, clock management gaps, missed opportunities. It's Coach Sheehan's blunders of the week. All right, a couple of them in college football over the weekend, championship weekend. I'll start with Friday night, Utah and Washington, in that thrilling Pack 12, 10 to 3 championship game. really is amazing that in college football in this day and age, you had a game that ended 10 to 3, and the only touchdown in the game was a fluke,

fluke interception return, a defensive touchdown. And when I say fluke, the receiver had the ball in his hands, was falling to the ground, and somehow the ball just popped straight up into the air. And the defender, who was nowhere near him when he went for the ball, was the beneficiary of a ball that popped straight up into the air with the receiver on the ground, and he returned it for a touchdown. That was the only score of the game.

Here, however, is the coaching blunder. The coaching blunder was at the end of the first half. Utah had the ball trailing three to nothing. They were driving. With 50-some seconds left, they had it at the Washington 40-yard line. And so they're getting in range, potential range, for a field goal attempt. First of all, the clock's running a little bit too much. And then there's a third and six sack of the quarterback.

with about 25 seconds to go in the half. And the sack puts the ball back to the 45-yard line. So Utah's got it in Washington territory at the Washington 45. After a sack, 25 seconds left in the half. The clock is rolling. It is now fourth down. Washington's not choosing to call a time out to get the ball back, nor should they have.

But it's clear what Utah should have done, right? Utah should have let the clock roll down to seven, six seconds, something like that. And I probably would have called the timeout at about eight seconds. It was a fourth and I think it was going to be about fourth and ten. And I would have thrown the Hail Mary. Or thrown if they were playing super deep, which is why I would have called a time out with about eight seconds to go.

Super deep. I would have thrown the out, the 15 yard out, that got you into field goal range. and stop the clock. They just let the clock run out. I don't understand, I don't understand when coaches don't use their timeouts to either get the ball back

to get another offensive possession or at the end of a half like that, just decide to let the clock run out. Why not? Why not just let it roll down to two seconds and throw the Hail Mary? You've got zero points in the game at that point. It's three to nothing.

In a game like that, maybe the only way you're going to score is a Hail Mary Flute play. They just went to the locker room with timeouts and no more snaps. That made no sense to me whatsoever. Let's go to the SEC Championship game. There were a couple of things here in the SEC championship game that I thought were strange. Actually, I'll jump forward and then I'll go back. The fake punt in terms of coaching blunder, that's a big coach. blunder to run that fake punt in that spot against a set defense that was in safe mode.

It was just a stupid play. If you want to tell me that you were going to run that play from your own 30 against a punt defense that was maybe coming after the punter, and you had something schemed up, but from midfield against Alabama's defense, they didn't put their punt return team into the game. They left their defense on the field and put them in safe mode to protect against the fake punt. And Kirby Smart ran the fake punt anyway, and it failed miserably, and Alabama took over at midfield and drove the field for a touchdown. Let me go back to the end of the first half, because there's Kirby Smart coaching blunder, Kirby Smart coaching blunder, and there's also a Nick Saban coaching blunder in my view. Kirby Smart had the football deep in his own

territory in a game in which they had a 21 to 14 lead. And if you watch this SEC championship game, Georgia really took it to Bama. They took it to Bama for two and a half, three quarters of this game. It was clear that they were very capable of going toe to toe and beating Big Bad Bama. At the end of the first half, they have decided that they're going to run the clock out. They're deep in their own territory at their own 19 yard line. They've got a 21 to 14 lead. It's second and 10 from their own 19. Bama's got no interest initially in trying to get the ball back because they ran the ball on first down for no gain. And on second and 10 from their own 19 with the clock rolling at about 15 seconds, Kirby Smart

calls a pass play. He drops Jake Fromm back and he's going to throw a little, you know, screenish, you know, sort of swing route to his running back DeAndre Swift. Why are you throwing the football there? You've already made the decision on first down after a run and letting the clock run, that you're going to go into halftime with a 2114 lead. Perfectly acceptable decision. Your field position's terrible. You're not going to go down the field and get in field goal range. Why are you throwing the football on second and ten with the clock running? First of all, the ball was nearly intercepted because Fram overthrew it so severely, it could have been picked in return for a touchdown. But secondly, it stopped the clock with 13 seconds to go. And so now they ran a

play, a third down play, and Alabama now called a time out. Alabama is saying with eight seconds to go after the third down play, hell, we'll take a shot at trying to block a punt now. Your punter's standing back at his own five-yard line. Just real. coaching management, end-of-half management, error. Big error. Throwing the football when your intention was to take it to the locker room is stupid. It was nearly intercepted and it stopped the clock. So now Bama, they come after the punt. Now here's the second coaching blunder in that spot, in my view. He didn't put anybody back to return the punt at the end of the, on that final play. Eight seconds to go, the punter standing at his own five-yard line.

I think you put somebody back there to field the punt. Rush with 10, try to block it with 10. But if this guy shanks a punt from his own 5-yard line, you know, and it's a short punt, you can get somebody up the field to call a fair catch at the 40-yard line or the 35-yard line potentially. You get a short punt. You might be in field goal range.

Worst case, there may be a second left for you to throw a Hail Mary at the end of the half. Sabin didn't put anybody back. the punter got the kick off. The ball bounced around for three or four seconds. The clock ran out, and both teams went to the half at 2114. So no harm, no foul, I guess, on either end. Although I think Sabin blew an opportunity there. And it was a short kick. It was not a great kick to at least run a Hail Mary at the end of the half. And Georgia nearly had a tragic, tragic coaching blunder, because if that ball had been picked there at the end, people would have been talking about that decision all week long. All right, let me tell you about launch workplaces in Bethesda.

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$2.5 million per year, according to reports. Mike is 48 years old. He's from here. He's coached here. He was part of Ralph Friedgen's staff, then Randy Edsel's staff. as the OC, then his interim head coach for the final six games of 2015 after Maryland fired Randy Edsel. This year, he called plays as the offensive coordinator at Alabama for Nick Sabin. And yesterday, he won the Broils Award, and that's the award given to the top assistant coach

in the country. All right, first, the good on this. And I will emphasize this because I think this is ultimately why Mike Loxley got hired and why I'm for it and excited about it. He is a prominent figure in this area. A prominent football coach from the WCAC told Scott Van Pelt last night, quote, Mike Loxley is the only hire Maryland could make and Maryland football will never be the same again, closed quote. Now, I can tell you that most area coach. feel the same way, many players in the area feel the same way, former players from the area

feel the same way, and a lot of parents in the area feel the same way. He is going into a job where there's existing talent, into a program where there's existing talent, but he is going to bring more of it. You know that. He's going to recruit, he's going to keep a lot of athletes in this area at home. He is a dynamic personality and person, and there's a lot of belief in him from area coaches, area parents, former players, and players right now.

And in the Big Ten, they don't have a chance without top recruiting class after top recruiting class. He's going to get the talent. All right, now the skepticism. Lockley's other head coaching opportunity came at New Mexico at the end of 2000 in the 2008 through 2010 range right around there.

It didn't go well. Two and 26 in just over two seasons. Multiple off-field issues. There was an admin assistant who filed an age and sex discrimination complaint against him. After a coach's meeting in 2009, he was accused of punching an assistant coach in the face. That coach filed a lawsuit. He had a run-in with a student report. reporter from the student newspaper after that student reporter wrote a critical piece on Loxley.

He approached that said student at a bar yelling profanities at him. Add to that when he didn't get the job that Durkin got after Edsel's firing and after the interim stint for Loxley at Maryland, when he didn't get the full-time job, that apparently created a ton of friction between him and then assistant A.D. Damon Evans, who is now the athletic director. Look, his history will make this a bit of a head scratching hire for those from outside of this market, but for those deep in this football community, not hiring him would have been disastrous. Loxley's got to go get the staff and a good one, because he's going to get the players. And as he piles up, which he will, really good recruiting

class after recruiting class, winning is going to be expected. What level of winning do you say? I mean, in this particular conference, in this particular division, I think he's got to win eight games a year, not next year, but starting two, three years from now, he's got to win eight games a year. He's got to be in a bowl game every year. And every four years, he's got to compete legitimately for the division that they are in in the Big Ten to then go to the Big Ten title game. He's got to compete for it. I'm not saying he's got to win it, but he's got to finish second to Ohio State or Michigan or Penn State once every four years.

With a game against one of those teams in the middle portion or the end of the season with a chance to win the division and clinch a Big Ten title game appearance. That's what I would say. Maryland football with good recruiting from this area, and he is the best at doing that, he will be the best at doing that. will get enough talent to compete. Can they compete with Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State every year? Not every year.

But once every four years, I want Maryland in the hunt for the Big Ten title game. And I think in those off years, the other three years, they got to win seven, eight games a year and be in a bowl game every year. Matt Canada and Pep Hamilton were the only other coaches interviewed according to reports. I'm Matt Canada, good luck to you. You did a hell of a job this year at Maryland, keeping that thing together and keeping that team competitive. Welcome to Coach Loxley. I can't wait to see the teams he puts together. This team had some talent on the field last year. It did, and he's going to bring more of it. And if he puts together the right staff, Maryland football has got a real chance to make a big leap forward. There's going to be criticism, as I mentioned, because of his past. But I am telling you that every person that I've talked to over the last several years,

the people that are deep and rooted in the football community in town, they have said over and over again, the only hire was Loxley when Marilyn hired Edsel. The only hire when Marilyn hired Dirkin should have been Loxley. And this would have been a disaster here locally in terms of recruiting ability for the coach if it wasn't Loxley. Good luck to him. it would be great to have Maryland football relevant

and have them winning again at some point in the near future. Let's finish up the show with a little NFL buy or sell. Are you buying or are you selling? NFL buyer sell. All right, a couple of things in NFL buy and sell this week. First of all, you know, the rookie of the year race, the offensive rookie of the year race is actually really interesting right now because this guy, Philip Lindsay,

who I think two weeks ago, I said to buy, and then last week I said it again. This dude is averaging over six yards a carry. He's also got 25 catches on the year. He's got 937 yards, I think it is, and 25 catches. He's got nine total touchdowns on the year. What a story he is. He's on pace for basically 1,300 yards,

which would break the undrafted rookie rushing mark set by Dominic Rhodes for the Colts back in 2000. and won. I don't know that he's going to win it because Sequin Barclay's in the league, right? So Barclay's having a ridiculous year too as a rookie, and he's going to be the offensive rookie of the year. And Nick Chubbs

is having a really good year, and Calvin Ridley's having a really good year, and look, Baker Mayfield's starting to do some things too. But man, is Philip Lindsay something else? If you have not seen him play, he's got he's got zero to 60 mile per hour, you know, in 30-yard, 20-yard space like you've never seen before. It is stop and start speed that is really breathtaking. And he's giving Denver.

I bought Denver last week or two weeks ago, I forget now, as a playoff team, Denver's got a legit shot to make a run to 10 and 6. I mean, they have the Chargers at the end of the year at home. They play the 49ers this week, the Browns at home, the Raiders on the road, and the Chargers at home. Now, the Chargers, they've already beaten once, but it's very possible at that point that the Chargers will already be locked in to the four seed. Now, they might, they still have a shot at winning the division, the Chargers do, but I don't think they win any tiebreakers against the Chiefs,

even if they beat the Chiefs next week at Arrowhead. Philip Lindsay, I'd buy him as the offensive rookie of the year, even though I think Saquan Barkley will get it. I am I'm selling I'm buying the Houston Texans as a legitimate Super Bowl contender which I've done a few weeks now

if you don't think they're capable of beating Kansas City or New England in the playoffs I think you're nuts they've got the defense to do it they've got the offensive playmakers to do it right now they're the hottest team obviously in the league having won nine games in a row

they play the Colts Jets they're at the Eagles and they finish with Jacksonville This is going to be a minimum 12-win team with a shot to be a top-two seed. Now, remember, they lost early in the year to New England to start the year, so they'll lose a tiebreaker to New England for seeding purposes. But if they can get into a top-two-seed position at 13-3 and 3, if they could run the table here, and they've got a buy and a home game

in the first playoff game, the divisional round, I'd give them definitely a chance to go to Foxxie. or Arrowhead and win to get to the Super Bowl. I don't think, I think you're naive if you don't think this is a team that can be playing in Atlanta in February. Selling-wise, I'm selling any chance that the Miami Dolphins have at making the playoffs. Not that anybody's giving them a legit chance, but the Dolphins play the Patriots this week at Vikings.

They still have a game at Buffalo, and Buffalo is actually pretty good defensively. and actually let me go back and buy one more guy. I want to buy Josh Allen. I think every time he's had an opportunity to play before injury and after injury, he looks like the real deal in Buffalo, the Wyoming quarterback. I'll sell the dolphins on any chance they have. I so much want to think that the Chargers can win the Super Bowl, but the more I look at them, and Sunday night was great,

I'm actually going to sell the Chargers chances of winning the Super Bowl or getting to the Super Bowl. And here's why. Not because they're not a really good team. They are. They're a really good team. And Anthony Lynn's doing a really good job. I mean, I've been reading a lot about just the kind of motivator he is. The players love Anthony Lynn in Los Angeles. I just don't see the Chargers winning three road games, and I think that's what will have to happen. I don't see them going to Arrowhead in winning in a few weeks. They have never, for whatever reason, in recent years, matched up well against the Chiefs. And they would have to win pretty much all four to win the division and get home field advantage. I'm rooting for it.

I just don't expect it to happen. I'm not selling them like as in they're not a good team and not capable of winning a playoff game or two. I just don't think that they can win three straight on the road and get to the point. and get to the Super Bowl. All right, thanks to John Kime for joining the show. Thanks to Mark Turgeon for joining the show. Thanks to Corvin for producing the show. He did a great job. Tommy will call in tomorrow. Have a great day, everybody.