The Kevin Sheehan Show - Gruden's Seat Is Hot

Episode Date: October 10, 2018

Thom is in for a special Sports Fix Wednesday. They discuss Jay Gruden and Bruce Allen's hot seat and Alex Smith's stunningly bad performance. Charley Casserly joins to give his take on this week's game and the season as a whole. They then ask what happens to the team if Adrian Peterson is injured. Thom gives his thoughts on the MLB playoffs plus Kevin's Coaching Blunders. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. I'm here. Tom's here. Aaron's here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for new Windows 86690 Nation or Windonation. Tell them I told you to call more on how you can save big with Window Nation coming up. Charlie Casserly is going to join us on this show in a bit. a question just moments ago that I suggested that you just saved for the air and asked me on the air and the question was? Well, as I was eating food off my shirt It's always on your shirt. There was a little, a couple of pieces of pretzel salt on my shirt from a soft pretzel I had

that I got at Wawa on the way in this morning up in North Dakota, where I live. And I've always wondered, because it's my favorite thing to eat ever. Pretzels? Soft pretzel salt. Wait, wait, wait, we'd soft pretzel salt. Salt. And I wonder, can you buy bags of that and how dangerous would it be to your health to eat bags of pretzel salt?

Yeah, they actually sell just pretzel salt. You can put it in food, you can put it, you can eat it. I mean, you can eat it without anything else. No, the big chunks of salt. Don't you like those? Love them. Yeah, I buy it all the time. It's available a giant.

I'm seeing it $3. $3 right here online. Yeah, $3. Okay. How, how, how risky would it be? are correct. You typically have more calories on your clothing than you even do in your stomach. That's usually true about you. All right. I may experiment with that. Let's hear from people. Tell me on Twitter, how dangerous would it be to start mainlining pretzel salt?

It would just be a straight sodium shot right to your system. I don't think it would. I mean, drink a lot of water. Well, you know, considering I've treated my body like a $10 hooker for the past 40 years, I don't think it's going to make a lot of lot of difference. Yeah. I'll tell you what big chunky salt, sea salt tastes great mixed with is chocolate. That's good. I love pretzels, too. I love soft pretzels.

It just reminds me of being at games. That's usually where you would get a soft pretzel or on a boardwalk. Wawa has the Philly type pretzels. I didn't know that. Oh, yes, they do. We don't have any Wawa's down in sort of where the city folk live down here. They're coming. They're much more out where the country folk live where you live.

Within three years, if you're still walking the earth, they'll have Wawa here. I love Wawa's. I like Sheets, too. I like Royal Farms. I'm a big sheets fan too, but Wawa has the Philly Soft Pretzels. All right. Let's talk about the Redskins game Monday night. I've had now 24 hours to sort of digest everything, including a lot of things that I said on the show yesterday,

including a couple of corrections that I will make shortly before. was your take on that Monday night massacre, also, aka the Drew Breeze game? Yes. Because there was just a little bit on Drew Breeze during the course of the game, to the point where it was annoying. Oh, it was more than annoying. It was nauseating. But if you are the networking, you have a non-competitive game, what else are you going to

talk about on a night like that night? The Saints have always been a big NFL story since post-Katrina. They have been. Well, because they've won. I know, but but also the comeback of the city behind the team, that, that's, that remains a big staple for ESPN. Plus you had the Greg Williams situation there. You had Bountygate. I mean, that franchise almost fell apart.

That's right. I mean, you had the general manager being accused of wiretapping people. You know, Tommy, the funny thing about the Saints is that, you know, you're right. They have been a big league story going back to, you know, that famous Monday. night game with Drew Breeze following Katrina and they blocked a punt on like the first punt of the game and they blew out the Falcons and you know they went to a Super Bowl. They won a Super Bowl with Breeze and the Saints have been over this Drew Breeze Sean Payton era of very good football team. But you know last year was a resurgent New Orleans franchise after being very

mediocre for a few years. People forget they put I think back to back seven and nine seasons, Aaron, maybe even three straight non-playoff seasons. I know it was two non-playoff seasons. And the reason was, and this is, you know, an old, you know, sort of NFL thing, you have to have at least some defense to be a playoff team most years. And as good as New Orleans has been offensively under Drew Brees, they had a couple of years in a row there with like Rob Ryan as the defensive coordinator, where they were just horrific defensively. But anyway, how did we get sidetracked on that? Well, we were talking about the Drew Breeze game. That's right.

And, yeah, I mean, it got a little bit nauseating, but I, look, I like Drew Breeze a lot because his teammates seem to like him so much. He's a likable guy. Yeah. So I get all that. My thoughts were, and I wrote about this in Washington Times, you can read this, Washington Times.com. I went through Jay Gruden's post-game greatest hits.

Departuary? Well, yeah, starting with this one, but dating back to the Monday Night Law to Carolina in December 2016. First of all, we were out-coached today. It's my responsibility to get these guys ready to play. This is your go-to move, and I love it.

It's very effective. Well, and then there were a few weeks later. You go back and pull all of these old quotes to create this column, which, Tommy, it's brilliant because so often it perfectly plays with whatever your idea in your head is to write a column. But this is

one of your go-to moves for a column, is old quotes. Well, because I think you're responsible for what you say. Well, you can have a change of opinion over the course of time. I know that, but here's it. That doesn't apply here. This is a track record. A couple weeks later, when they lost it at Giants and missed the playoffs,

it's on my shoulders. We've got to do a better job coaching December 2017. They lose to the Chargers. We have not been competitive. We weren't ready to play today. That's on me. They lose to the Giants again to end the season. season miss out on an eight and eight record. We just didn't make any plays offensively.

You have to have success, or you're going to have a long, a short-lived tenure. Just one after another, you know, after the loss to the Colts. We had no chemistry, and it's myself as a play call. How many times does he have to say this before we say you're right? Well, you know, Coach Thompson for many years would say, and I think one of the first times I heard him say it was with Spurrier, but it may have been Zorn. And he said, if you keep taking the blame, eventually they're going to believe you.

Yes. Eventually they're going to actually say, yeah, you're right. Now, what seemed to anger everybody was after I did all that, I pointed out that, as much as Jay Gruden is to blame, he's not solely to blame.

And at what point does he have enough of that and start pointing the finger in another direction? At whom? At the people up of him. Bruce Allen and his sidekick. Danny Snyder. He's never going to do that. Because Bruce is responsible

for Bruce's family. Jay can be a loose cannon. Jay can be a loose cannon and the irritation of standing up there when your most important offensive weapon wasn't on the team until the third week of

August for this roster. And you're expected to go out there and compete with an offense that is pretty much shooting blanks at this point and we'll probably continue to do that. I mean, that speaks to the roster construction. Chris Thompson and Jordan Reed

are the crown jewels of the offense. Oh, yes. But you can't, but Alex Smith can't use those jewels if he doesn't have something to relieve the pressure on him. And that's a running game. And the only running game, when we say the Redskins can't run the ball, we need to just change it to, Adrian Peterson can't run the ball because they have no other running game.

There's nothing. Zip. And their whole offense now is going to rely on a 33-year-old running back who wasn't even with the team until the third week in August. And one last thing, because I'm not done yet, buddy. I'm sitting here taking notes. Okay. We've talked about this, and Jay Gruden mentioned it.

And after the game with New Orleans, and he mentioned it against Indianapolis, when he said that they got. punched in the mouth early. He came out after the Saints game and said, we seem to have a problem coming from behind, which you and I have talked about. Now it's evident. If they fall behind early in the game, they're toast. Well, they've come from behind several times, just not this year. I mean, this year, this offense. This offense, this year. No, no, no. This, look, I pointed this yesterday and I'm sure you listened to the podcast. Of course I did. This quarterback is not the last

quarterback. I've tried to say that to all of you for the seven months since the trade or whatever, it's been eight months since the trade. He's not as good as the last guy. He's not the same as the last guy. There are differences in both directions. You know, Alex Smith, apparently, as I described yesterday, Tommy, is this world-renowned leader, you know, and the other guy wasn't because God knows he was a breath of fresh air, according to the owner, when they made a move. And you heard all of the subtle digs and the direct digs on the last guy as they propped up Alex Smith as if they had just traded for Joe Montana.

And I said over and over again, beware. He's not Montana. He's not what they're making him out to be. He's a good quarterback, but you better have a damn running game. Yes. Because he has not had success without a good defense, but specifically a good running game. But I want to just go back to something. And then I want to get back into the game a little bit more and tie up some loose ends.

You know, during the whole last three years of franchise tagging and decisions that the franchise made, not to be aggressive, not to have the vision of what Kirk could become, because the NFL does not afford you the opportunity at the quarterback position, sort of wait until you're sure. You know, the really good franchises, they're able to identify starting quarterbacks, top half of the league, top 10 style quarterbacks, and they move quickly and swiftly to get it done. This franchise has never moved quickly or swiftly to do anything smart. So when they made the decision essentially by offering him 30 million less than the market would provide to him six months later, I said, look,

you have the, you own it, you're running it, Bruce, it's your prerogative to make these football decisions. But on this one, you will be judged and you will either die from it or you will thrive from it. And we are at the crossroads of that. Yes, we are. Because if this Alex Smith trade doesn't prove to be, you know, in at least perception-wise as we go through this season to have been the right move by the organization, Bruce is gone and Jay is gone. Lock it up. Both of them are out. And Jay is out because Bruce is out and Bruce will be out because Jay's out.

Because they are tied to the hip. And I don't care what kind of business executive Bruce Allen is and all the respect to people around the league have for him. Look, I've had conversations with Bruce. He is a charming good guy. He is and he's not dumb. They've had a lot of dumb people in the organization and still do. He's not dumb. But this is a decision. The McLuhan thing and the way that was handled. I know this for fact has been sort of a rub the owner the wrong way situation. And by the way, Tommy, you know, that arbitration conclusion is not in yet. I know. I would be surprised personally if they find the Redskins fired him inappropriately or incorrectly with cause versus without. And I think it's going to be proven that it was with cause.

that's always been my feeling. Let me just point. Okay, let me just back up on that. As I understand it, if they do find they fired him without cause, I think what they'll be able to do is Scott McLuhan will have painted a picture that he worked in an atmosphere where that was normal behavior.

Yes. Well, he'll be able to paint a lot of other pictures about it too. But it still doesn't, however that comes down will not replace or somehow ease the embarrassment of the way they handled it from a PR standpoint. It was truly despicable the way the team summarined him publicly with an anonymous leak to the Washington Post to paint this guy out to be a wild drinking drunk at work. And on the sidelines, that was a despicable. low road that the organization took. And by the way, if you're wondering,

oh, you know, you're all over them now, I was the same way on the radio when Dan Snyder and Red Zebrough in the radio station. To me, that was another indication of just how low they would go, the way they handled the McLuhan thing. And I've been told over the years, and you'll laugh at this, that this was not something that pleased the owner at all

the way that was handled. So you've got that situation, and then you have the quarterback situation, is the situation. If Alex Smith isn't clearly a better quarterback than what they could have gotten the last guy for two years ago, it's $17, $18 million a year. And that decision to not lock him up

and to say, no, we can do better. And remember, it was also, we're going to have all this cap room by not signing Kirk. And again, I was fine with them not paying him $30 million at the end of last year. I was fine. You know what? The situation had become so toxic anyway.

It just was never going to work. And look, he didn't want to be here anyway. He looked around the building and said, why would I want to work for these people for $30 million less than a group that will want me and embrace me? Enough about him. But here's the point. The point is they're on the clock and they've been on the clock since that decision. And right now, four games into it, even though they're in first place,

and the league changes week to week. And I'm not counting them out by a long shot. I'll get into that in a moment. but Bruce and Jay are on the clock. This is their final season this year in Washington. If they don't go nine or ten wins and be in the playoffs or at least have a legitimate shot at the playoffs, there's always context.

They could lose their next three games and then go on this crazy winning streak to get a backdoor wild card spot at 8 and 8 or 9 and 7. But Tommy, I would bet big money that this is it. We have finally reached the point where the owner is not going to endorse or pay for, now he would end up paying Jay because of the contract extension, but they're moving in another direction at the end of this season because they're on the clock for real. And I believe that. And I think what we saw the other night in New Orleans was another one of these embarrassing situations. Forget that it was on national TV. That's irrelevant. They've had plenty of nationally, they've had,

plenty of non-national game embarrassments over the last several years as well. If this had happened Sunday at 1, if 43 to 19, it would have still been the same reaction. You would have still have the same. I don't get the whole Monday night football national TV thing other than their record sucks on Monday night. But anyway, I really do think that we are at that point where this is the year. If they're not in the playoffs with nine or 10 wins, both of them are gone. Gone. and they will start all over. And by the way, they'll be starting all over with a quarterback they just gave a four-year contract extension to.

Yes. I was for the trade to bring in a legitimate top half of the league quarterback. I was not necessarily thrilled with the extension. I think you needed to see something first. I was shocked at how bad Alex Smith was the other night. Shocked. And I went back and I watched the game again yesterday, all the offensive possessions. You know, he was, do you know that, first of all, did you know that Doc was called?

calling for Colt McCoy on the broadcast? Was he really? Cooley described Alex Smith during the game as having the yips. I heard them say, because I was driving back for the first, like, quarter of the game from Ahobith. I was listening to the radio broadcast,

and I heard the term happy feet. Yips! He called it the yips! The yips is meant, can't overcome mentally the feeling that you are, going to perform poorly, that you're going to fail. He's a veteran quarterback. There were things that were startling about this performance. And I mentioned him yesterday, but I went, we just had a little bit of an internet interruption there, but we're back here recording.

You think it was the Redskins? I know exactly what I was thinking when the system went down. Let me see if I can get you to forget. The thing that I was saying is that I went back and watched Alex Smith, and he had the happy feet. and he didn't handle the blitz very well. But what was really interesting is how many times Tommy, and the yips is a pretty good word, but he also looked spooked by not understanding what was going to happen defensively. Like he couldn't figure out what New Orleans was doing.

Sometimes he thought they were blitzing and he threw too early. Now a four-man rush seemed to have just as much impact as the blitz pressure had on him. It was honestly, without, the, all of the interceptions, it was a Nathan Peterman type of performance from him. It was one of the worst performances by a starting quarterback this year. Now remember. Don't look at the numbers. He was brutally awful on Monday night.

I don't expect it to continue because he's good. He is a good quarterback. But man, I think even Jay probably looked at that film and said, whoa. I mean, he was, he was spooked. He had the Yitz. He had the yips, and that was making him inaccurate. It was making him see things that weren't there, and then responding late to the things that were there. He could not keep them in a game against a team without their best defensive player

in Marshawn Latimore who left early. Again, I'm not going to put it back. I'm not going to bring it back to last year's guy, but I'll just say that the offense last year as an offensive hole against a better defensive team had 456 yards and 31 points in three quarters. And here less than a year later, they couldn't, as Doc would say, bust a grape offensively. Well, again, their big problem, one of their big problems right now, even if you believe that they have an improved defense and at least a good interior defensive line, they're going to need a good defense because they're not going to put up many points this year. And again, when you talk about the running game,

you're talking about one guy, Adrian Peterson, and you're talking about a quarterback that needs a running game. He needs the weapons to be able to use the weapons. He needs to have things available to him to make the most out of the best offensive weapons the Redskins have. I don't want to hear, though, from people who say the Redskins don't have any weapons because they don't have any really good wide receivers. Jordan Reed and Chris Thompson and Jameson Crowder and even Adrian Peterson right now are good enough to be, you know,

very good against a bad defensive team like New Orleans. Like that group should have figured out a way to put 28 points up on the board and keep the game competitive and keep Drew Breeze off the field occasionally the other night and they couldn't do it. To your point about they better be good defensively. I think they will be better at times defensively. I believe in the talent, especially in the front seven. There's a major problem in the secondary right now from a confusion and communication.

We're going to get to him because we're going to talk to Charlie Casserly here momentarily and then we'll circle back to Norman and some of the other things. But I think they will have some games where we will walk away saying, looks like it's a defense on the rise. but those, and I've suggested that they have a good young defense that will continue to get better, but that statistically what we saw in the first three weeks was incredibly misleading because Arizona was a high school offense when they played him, and Green Bay had essentially a one-legged quarterback in that game whose receivers dropped four or five balls during the game.

Now, this week, you get a team where the quarterback is a major threat as a runner, You get a team that'll screen you a lot, especially after they watch the way the Redskins handled the screen the other night. But you know what, Tommy? Offensively, I think you are right to say legitimate reason to be concerned because it's not a work in progress, as I described it last week. It's going to take some time. What we saw the other night is what they apparently are capable of on worst case. and that was frightening because they're not going to be in any games if they play at that level with the quarterback play that they put on the field.

We're several games away from this. But if Alex Smith goes out there and truly has the yips and has some struggles, and he's had these stretches. He's had these stretches in his career, including last year. Everybody stop for a minute. Stop what you're doing for a minute. Everybody. I think old Colt might start warming up.

I'm, you know, look, you have been right about one thing over the years. Not that Colt McCoy's a starting quarterback in the league because he's not. And the Redskins would be six and ten, seven and nine with Colts starting all 16. But you've been right about one thing. Jay Gruden loves Colt McCoy. Yes. He likes them a lot. And I think, you know, the trade for Alex Smith, Jay was fine with that.

But I think Jay would have also been fine with. If you give me Colt, my scheme, my system will be good enough. Meanwhile, let's draft a young quarterback. She could have done that. That was the other strategy. Yes. And so I can develop a kid from scratch. Exactly.

That's what Jay would have loved. Let me tell you about Window Nation. Window Nation's a believer in this podcast, and me and Tom, I want you to believe in them. Call Window Nation if you are in the market for new windows. Harley and Aaron are the best. Harley's a huge sports fan. I talk to him honestly, no less than three days a week. We sat there and we broke down the Browns game the other day over the Ravens

because he's upset that I've been sort of propping the Ravens up as an AFC championship contender. Well, the Browns got him. And the Browns could easily, easily, Tommy, easily be 5 and 0 on this season. But Harley and Aaron are the best. They've had my back. They've got it now in this podcast. I ask you to give them a shot. I promise you that you'll be thrilled if you call Wind Donation.

They'll take care of you. Halloween is this month. Thanksgiving's coming fast. We're not too far away from Christmas. Winter is coming. Now's the time to winterize your home with brand new Windonation windows. If you call Windonation today, you'll save 50% off all styles of windows. Plus, no down payment and no payments and no interest for one full year. But there's more. If you purchase a house of windows this week, Windonation will pay your utility bills until your new. windows are installed. 86690 Nation or windownation.com by this Sunday, that's windownation.com or 86690 Nation. All right, let's bring in former Redskins general manager, former Texans general manager and our friend Charlie Casserly to talk about the NFL, but really to start with Charlie. Let's talk about what we saw on Monday night. You've been a part of this NFL for a long, long time. Did we see the other night just a one-game aberration, a bad night, or did we see something that may signal what the Redskins could end up being this year?

It's a little bit of everything, and they've shown that in the games. The things that happened the other night, first of all, Alex Smith, this happened in the Indy game. Indie got to him early and affected him. And the same thing happened here. He was sacked twice in the first quarter, hurried two other times, as I remember it. He wasn't the same guy after that. Third quarter was horrible. Fourth quarter, he came back. But, I mean, the feet weren't set.

He was missing guys that were open. Jordan Reed, as I looked at the tape, was targeted or should have been targeted four times, like in the first 10 minutes they had the ball. Okay, he didn't throw it to him. So, to me, in fact, the second play at a game they tried to target him. He didn't go there. To me, he looked at the guy.

guy was open, and he was outside the hash, he didn't throw it. So he did not play well. Did not play well at all. He affected a lot of the things, and Jay Gruden protected him in the press conference yesterday. Yes, he did. People are saying, why aren't you target in this guy, that guy, etc. He went throwing a ball to him. He got affected by the rush. The offensive line got handled,

but they really are hurting at the center and left guard position. Rue and Berksden, that's hurting him. Okay, and they can't solve it because that's all I got right now. on the secondary, you know, Norman had a bad day at the office. The 62-yard touchdown to me was on him. The one on the goal line could have been on him, too, the one-yard touchdown pass, getting benched and allowed Stroman at the game to give him up a touchdown. Now, you missed time last week because of a hamstring, but the linebackers got exposed

on a couple of passes over the middle. That's going to happen. They're not good enough, and they've got to play with who they have there. So you see some of the weaknesses that came out in the game, which could come out later on too. So some of it showed against Indy, offensive line and the quarterback. But I think this thing will go to December and they'll be still fighting for it. The performance by Alex Smith, Charlie, on some levels for a lot of people, was stunningly bad. And you touched on it, and Tommy and I have already talked about it.

For all intents and purposes, he had the yips. He seemed to really be rattled from the get-go. And when they traded for him, a third-round pick, Kendall Fuller, and they gave him this contract extension, they talked about a breath of fresh air, this leader that they finally had, and a guy that's going to be steady-eddy. That was a shocking performance the other night,

and you're right, he got rattled against Indy, too, and I thought he got rattled a little bit in the second half against the Packers. Yeah, I don't remember the Packer part of it so much I do. I'll say this. I don't remember him ever playing. Now, did I have I seen every game course? I've seen a lot of his games, though.

I don't ever remember him playing this bad. Okay, that's one thing. So hopefully it won't be as bad if he gets, you know, into a situation, which is going to happen. You get off to a slow start in the game and you get knocked around a little bit. You know, I don't remember if it's ever happening to the cousins. Cousins right now is playing lights out in Minnesota. And he's got an offensive line that's really struggle.

He's getting hit all over the place. He's still, you'll really play a well. And no running game. No running game at all. No, I don't have a running game. That's true. You know, hey, it's what we saw. And all you can do is go forward and let's see how he adjust and adapts. He's still figuring out that I think it was the system, the receivers. Right.

You know, I think there's an element that that's still going to happen. just because it's still new to him. Yep. And maybe that's part of it. You know, Jay said yesterday, I believe, that they fell behind early and he wasn't, he didn't understand why they really have been able. And basically, he identified this as a problem for his offense. He basically said, we don't seem to have the ability to come from behind.

If we fall behind early, we don't seem to have the ability to be able to score from behind. is that something that you think this offense can overcome? Did they have the weapons to do that? I think he spent the whole press conference covering for his players yesterday. Oh, the part that I saw on television. He was covering for his players. That's what he's going to do, and that's what he needs to do. Right.

He can't tell the truth in a press conference. Okay. He's got to tell the truth in front of the team and to the players. Okay. So can they come from behind? Their problem is wide receiver. They can't get chunks out of the wide receiver. Jordan is excellent and could have had a big game the other night at the

through the ball. Thompson's a good third down back and Crowder is a good slot receiver. I mean, they're really good in that area, but it's hard for them to come from behind without chunk plays, and they're not going to really get that from the wide receiver position. So, yeah, that's kind of the way I would look at it. All right. I do want to go a little bit around the league with you. But, you know, on Gruden, and I totally agree with you, and that's what I heard. I listened to that thing yesterday. And I thought he was covering for everybody. But here's the part where, you know, there's no covering to be done. We've seen it too many times during his, you know, now, you know, he's into his fifth year, where the team, whether it's off of a buy week or before a big game or a season opener, they just, appear to be too loose and lack a sense of urgency. Isn't that on him?

Well, you know, if that's how you interpret it, absolutely. Do you interpret it differently? Well, here's the thing. Having been on the other side of it, I know enough to know I don't know unless I'm there. Right. Okay. And, you know, I'm looking at 32 teams, not one. So I certainly, I watch the Redskins more than anybody else because I have to do a bit more on them.

but I'm still spending the rest of my time concentrating on other teams and in working on, you know, projects I do during the week for NFL network. So I think it's a legitimate question. Well, like I said, if I'm in the building, I have a feel for that thing. From the outside, it's, you know, it's certainly a good observation, though it has to be, you know, dealt with. I think it's fair what you're saying, and I totally get it. You know, we all tend to think we know more than we know. but your hunch is more legitimate than ours. And from the outside looking in,

we've seen multiple occasions of this. And I said to Tommy earlier, I go, I would think, and to your point, looking from the outside in, that this year is a get-to-the-play-off's year or else. Your thoughts on that? Oh, I don't know about those things. I mean, that's an ownership decision.

I mean, I read this stuff about Jason Garrett and Dallas almost every year. And, you know, at one point I don't follow this as close as I used to because my job seems a little bit what I do for NFL Network. I knew Jason Garrett, Jason Garrett was going no place all those years that the people said he was getting fired because this was Jerry's guy. And he believed in him, and this guy can work with Jerry and work within the framework of the organization, which is crucial in any place you go. Dallas is unique because Jerry's, you know, going to be involved.

And you have to understand that. But he also defers, too. So, you know, it is workable. The owner is the only one that knows that. And, you know, Brian Billick got like a five-year extension. It was fired the same year. So I don't get into those things because the owner is going to wake up one day and decide what's going to do.

And that's what's going to happen. I mean, I've seen too many coaches be told they're there. and then be fired all in the same season. Charlie, just one thing I want to share with you from my 25 years of cover in sports, one of my rules is if things look bad from the outside looking in, they're much, much worse, usually inside. So let me ask you about the NFCEs and the Eagles in particular. Do you see themselves, straighten themselves out?

They've got a big running back hole right now with injuries. or do you think this NFC East now is pretty much up for grabs for whoever's standing at the end of the season? You know, that is the question to be answered. And my experience, okay, is if you're struggling, you usually struggle for the whole year, sometimes you don't get out of it. Their problems come, first of all, that they've got no production from the wide receiver position. And Jolfs Sean Jeffries, I think, has played one game. So when you've got to go to defense and who do you defense?

Well, you defense the tight ends is what you have to do there. Ertson Goddard. The running back position, they miss a jai. He was kind of the, you know, the bell cow of the group and everybody else was a compliment. The offensive line is not playing as well. There's a little age there, and maybe that's catching up to them. Defensively, I never thought their secondary was that good, and, you know, the Patriots had 500 yards against us up in the Super Bowl. And I still question their secondary.

The front's very good. So my point is you can throw on them, and they, and they, they're not hard to defend right now. If Jeffrey can get going, and I'm not sure if Wallace has heard or not right now, but he's Tori Smith. See, he's the deep guy when they lost Smith, and that helped him. So I think they're going to struggle right now, which makes this thing wide open. Charlie, you know, that 92 season after the 91 Super Bowl and Rip held out,

and it was a different team in 92. It made a run late and sort of backdoored into the playoffs and beat Minnesota and actually had the 49ers on the ropes a candlestick. But that year was sort of a, it was the opposite of the year before where offensively the team couldn't get, you know, wasn't stopped. And then in that first part of that season, that offense couldn't move the football and score points. You know, and you don't know, I mean, and yeah, we want to

month without scoring a touchdown and yet went three and one. Right. So of our defense and our special teams. It's all, every year is a new year. And Belichick always says that it's a new year. And it is a new year. And things don't carry over at all. They never do.

And with Philly, injuries have hurt Philly. That has slowed them down. Tell me what you think when you watch Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs. First of all, it's what's today, Wednesday? the Wickel was going to beat him. Okay, that's number one. So I had to get that out because I have to do that game.

I agree with you. But tell us about what you see with Mahomes. Mahomes is legit, you know, threat outside the pocket. Depending upon who he plays, depending upon who he gets compared to. You know, when he beats Denver, he's John Elway, okay? But what were the guy is good that you don't give, that you may not want to think he's good, is this guy can sit in the pocket and read the defense.

pretty good. He's got a phenomenal arm. We know he can make plays outside of the pocket. He's got good anticipation. All those things are positive. They got great weapons. They're hard of defense. Jacksonville had a good plan going in and actually executed on defense pretty good. You've got to take away Hill deep. Keep this guy in the pocket. Okay? Concede Kelsey's going to catch balls and your front's going to handle a run. And all that was good except Bortle's turned it over five times. Yeah. So defensively, they played solid, but offensively they lost the game. But here's the thing. I'm getting a little ahead.

Can't see can't play defense now. No, terrible. And let me say this. Fuller is not, I don't know how good Fuller was here. I don't care what those stats say. He's struggling in Kansas City because he can't run. Okay? And that's obvious in the take.

Kansas City can't cover and they can't stop the run. They got two guys that can play Houston and Fort it rushing a passer. And that's how they survive there. So Mahomes legit. By the way, would you say that about Norman? That is problem now, Josh Norman is he can't run? Well, he could never run well. True.

Okay, maybe he's a tad slower. Maybe it shows up a little bit more. But the book on him coming here, and I get why they signed him, very competitive. Competitiveness is off the charts. That would make him good a player. Sure. Press corner, can play zone in front of him,

turn and runs a problem, long speeds a problem. Undisciplined at times. Not a great technician. So I think some of these things have caught up with him at this point in time. He needs better technique if he's going to press. You've got to play to his strength, which is being physical. You call that one, no, Charlie, last week when you said he was the third best cornerback on the team. Well, yeah, you know, that's the way he was playing.

Yeah. Well, if you had him behind Moreau, Moreau didn't play well. the other night either, but I like his talent. Look, we all... Marrown's got talent. He'll keep getting better. Yeah, I agree. Charlie, thanks so much. I know you got to run. We really appreciate

the time, as always. Good to catch up. Thank you, Charlie. All right, good to be with you, man. That was Charlie Casserly. It's always good to catch up with Charlie Casserly. It was good to hear his thoughts on the other night, and I think he had some of the same issues with Alex Smith.

It was surprising how bad it was. but I think he made a really fair point, and that is he's a veteran quarterback, and it shouldn't take too long to get up to speed, but it's four games in to his relationship with the Redskins and Jay Gruden. I will just say this, though, and I know that this probably means nothing.

That's why a lot of us just would have preferred he played more in the preseason, just a little bit more in the first half of some of these games. Now, one of the things Charlie also said was about a problem that's not going to go away for them when they fall behind, they can't get the chunk yardage out of their wide receivers. They don't have that ability. I mean, they're going to have to, the clock is going to have to run for them to score,

and time is against you when you're playing from behind. All right. So the other thing I wanted to get to on sort of the aftermath of the other night. I mentioned to you that there were a couple of things I made mistakes on on yesterday's show. I find that hard to believe. This is retraction. It's the 62nd retraction period. Alex Smith didn't throw a pick six in the game. I kept referring to it as a pick six. And many of you tweeted me, yes, that's true. It just seemed like a pick six, that horrible interception he threw.

But they got it down to the two-yard line. They ended up scoring anyway. The play on the interception where he turned down the receiver, it was Mo Harris, got that one. It wasn't Crowder. And I mentioned that the Saints scored on 8. of 10 drives. I'm sorry, it was 7 of 9 drives, which by the way is remarkable. Considering Tommy, they did not punt in the game, considering that one of the drives they didn't score on was the fumble that the receiver had that set up the Redskins touchdown. And the other one was when they ran out the final 10 minutes and 25 seconds of the game. They ran out the final 10 minutes and 25 seconds of that game on 15.

15 plays. And mercifully, they didn't roll it up on the Redskins. I think they could have scored 60 if they had wanted to score 60 in that game. I also wanted to just mention this as a follow-up. Because a couple of you tweeted me what were Jordan Reed's snaps in the game? Because over the first few weeks of the season, I said he's not getting enough snaps. He's got to be on the field more. And even Jay Gruden admitted that that they were working him in slowly.

Well, the other night he was on the field for 39 of 61 snaps. That's 64% of him. It's not enough. You know, he is your best player and he's healthy. Use him while he's healthy. And if you think that playing him too many snaps is going to make him more vulnerable to injury, I guess that's a good excuse. But if you're going to only have him out there for 64% of the snaps,

throw him the football. Yeah. You know, especially if he's open. And Charlie said in his review of the game, that Jordan Reed was open in the first half a few times, and Alex Smith turned him down. Chris Thompson's snap count was low, too. Well, again, my point is, if Alex Smith does not have the comfort of a running game,

he doesn't seem to have the patience or the ability to be able to get it to his best receivers. The NFL, Tommy, I've told you this. I've tried to teach you this over the years as someone who understands gambling, but doesn't wager like your partner did here for a long time and still does. It just changes every week. The minute we think we figured something out, it changes. And here's the thing about this particular Redskins team. I know how ugly Monday night was.

It was one of the worst-looking losses in the last decade. But they do have talent. They're not void of talent. This isn't a team that looks right now like they've got no chance of winning. It feels that way in the moment, but they have the ability offensively and defensively to play much better. They've got the ability as a coaching staff to coach much better. I don't look at the other night and think we were just watching a four and 12 or 5 and 11 or even a 6 and 10 team. I do think it was a bad night more than a potential signal of

ugliness to come, even though I thought this would be a true measuring stick game. I think it was a really bad night. It was a bad night. Smith is the key, though. I'm telling you right now, that defense has some talent, and they're not going to face Drew Breeze every week. Alex Smith has to play better, and they've got to keep the ball longer, and they've got to make more first downs by making more third downs and score more points.

But if Smith is the key... They don't need 28 every game. If Smith is the key, the lock is pears. Peterson to be able to get in. And let me ask you this. If you don't think they're a six and ten team, what if Adrian Peterson gets hurt and is out for the rest of the year? I don't put as much stock into the importance of Adrian Peterson right now as you do.

And I'll tell you why. Well, because what's plan B? Well, the running game is significant this year versus the last three because this quarterback has to have balance. The last quarterback did not. If you don't believe that, watch what he's doing in Minnesota right now. He has no balance. They have the 32nd ranked rush attack in the NFL, the Vikings do.

This quarterback needs a running game. I guess what I would say to you is that the combination of Thompson and Bibbs and P. Rine... Oh my God. They won't even give P. Ryan a uniform. I know they won't. I'm actually a little bit surprised by that. And I saw a guy that didn't have this massive fumbling problem. He didn't have a massive fumbling problem.

and was getting better at the end of last year. I will say that. I said it last year about B. Ryan. I'm like, I actually think he's pretty good. Now, next year's guy should be Geis. Yes. Okay. Coming off a knee injury.

I would be surprised if Peterson isn't healthy and can't last. And that's even money right now. Yes, right now. It would appear to me. I would be shocked if P. Ryan doesn't get more opportunities. Well, who else did they got? No kidding. That's not a big link.

They like bibbs a lot. They're going to have to activate another running back if Peterson isn't out there. You want to trade for Levy on Bell? No, I'm just saying they have no options. There's no plan B. They're a six-win team without Adrian Peterson to run the ball. The plan B, because I can't identify it right now, although I'll try to. This ought to be a good one.

I'll try to. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. It doesn't because I don't know what it is. And it doesn't mean it. It's going to fail because, you know, here's the bigger concern. No matter who the running back's been, Jay Gruden hasn't schemed up a running game going back to Cincinnati. No, he hasn't.

So that's more of a concern. But I don't look at Adrian Peterson right now is like the only guy that can run the ball in Jay Gruden's very average run scheme. You know who's on the clock a little bit right now? Old Callahan. Oh, yeah. Because that offensive line doesn't. look great. In past protection in particular, Charlie Casserly just told you that they got a little bit of a problem, maybe a big problem at center and guard. And, you know, the running scheme was a

Callahan thing. Oh, yeah, that's he, he's the running, running coach in the offensive scheme of things. And, you know, and the other thing is, you keep saying everything changes, it's week to week and all that. It does. Except we are hearing the same thing from Jay Gruden, year, after year after year. That hasn't changed. That's a big except. And I would agree with you. Well, since it's the coach, it's an important one.

Well, the other accept is accept that this franchise always figures out a way to make it not week to week or year to year. Oh my gosh. Did you hear Jay Gruden say there's a cloud hanging? You've already mentioned that. No, I didn't. Yes, you did. You mentioned it earlier in the show. No, I didn't.

Yes, you did. I did not say Jay Gruden said there was a cloud hanging. Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Go back and get the tape. you did. No, I didn't. You did? No, I didn't. Yes, you did. I'll bet you. Well, I don't know where else I would have heard it. I don't know where you would have heard it either, but it wasn't for me. I didn't talk about the cloud, Aaron? I definitely saw Steinberg tweeting about it, so I don't know if I saw it.

I guarantee it. I didn't say it. Because, because if I had, I would have reminded you that that cloud is known in the Laverro circle as the aura of self-destruction. I know what the aura of self-destruction is and who came up with that and shock and all the others. that you've got trademarked there RG3. But I did not say cloud, and I will bet you, I will double down on the dinner. On the dinner I owe you. For the Redskins name not being changed? For the Redskins name.

Double or nothing. Okay. You're on. Okay. You're on. I mean, it's doubling nothing, actually. Well, what do you mean? Because you're never going to deliver on the best that you lost.

Because you won't go out to dinner with me. Because you want me to come 50 miles north. No, we said, we said the palm. Okay. There's no Palm and Frederick, buddy. I guarantee you if we took a quick delay, we would find that you mentioned the cloud earlier. Okay, we'll see.

But we won't do that for right now because it'll be better to do it tomorrow when you're back. Today's a surprise appearance because you didn't want to get up to do the Tuesday show that you normally did do. So Tommy is going to be here today and tomorrow. I had one other thing before we get to what you wanted to talk about. and that is, oh, so, you know, I, you know that I never do, I very rarely do these Twitter polls, but last night I thought I had a good idea for a Twitter poll because I had sort of mentioned it on the show,

and I said the most embarrassing loss of the last 10 years, I gave three options. I could have given six or seven options. I saw the Twitter poll. I saw the options. So last night, or Monday night was one of the choices. The Monday night massacre against the Eagles was a choice, and the swinging gate game was a choice. against the Giants in 2009 when Jim Zorn lined up to run swinging gate and the Giants promptly called timeout and he said, well, maybe they didn't notice. And after the timeout, he lined up to do it again and it got blown up. And literally Mike Tariko and Gruden and others were just laughing out loud at Jim Zorn's incompetence to run that play back to back.

The overwhelming, I'm approaching 3,000. votes right now. Yeah, you can guess. The Monday Night Massacre. That was my number one. Yeah. And it was by far. 65% said the Monday Night Massacre. Because of the context of that week, they tried to turn around the

Donovan McNabb narrative out of the by week from a negative with Mike Shanahan saying he didn't have the cardio to do the last two minutes in Detroit. They turned that around, or at least tried to with this tremendous, like $100 million contract extension, which was totally phony baloney.

Which was $4 million basically. Two, I think. Or something like that. So they had created this storyline that people should feel good about going into this Monday night game because they have a quarterback for the future. So, I mean, with Jim Zorn, people were already embarrassed for the Redskins by the time that Giants game came around. It was already an embarrassment.

Yes, that's true. Yeah, and as bad as Monday night was against the Saints, nobody expected them to win the game. They just didn't expect them. I think a lot of people around here thought that the Redskins were going to be, were going to, had a chance to win that game Monday night. I don't know what morons would have thought they were actually going to go to New Orleans and beat the Saints, but you expected them to compete, but the Monday Night Massacre, I mean, that got Michael Vic paid. It did.

It was unbelievable. You know, everything you said about the context to that game is true. And then you had Loran Landry mouthing off pregame, remembering getting into it with Deshaun Jackson. So what did the Eagles do? On the first play from scrimmage, they threw over Loran Landry to Deshaun Jackson for a touchdown. And they scored 35 points.

It was 35 to nothing one play into the second quarter. That's hard to do in the NFL. Yes, it is. I agree. I think that that Monday Night Massacre, 59 to 28 was the final scorer. 49 they gave up to the Eagles, a division rival on Monday night football at home. That was the biggest embarrassment.

The context means everything to that game. Swinging Gate was an embarrassment, but to your point, they would also get shut out, I think, the next week to the Cowboys at home on a Monday night. The embarrassment ship had sailed already on the gym zone. What's interesting is all three of those choices all come with different coaches. They do. Zorn, Shanahan, and Jay Grude. Gruden. The other games that people pointed out, and a lot of you, again, the runaway leader of the

three choices I gave, 65% were on the Monday Night Massacre. And then it's basically swinging gate number two and Monday night's third on the list, and they're pretty close. But people brought up the Kansas City game, the snow game in front of, you know, maybe seven people at FedEx Field. That was the morning that the story got leaked, that Mike Shanahan was going to pack. up his office or was planning on packing up his office after the Seattle playoff loss. Yes. Because of a lot of things that were going on. And I love Mike. You know I do. And I think he's a smart guy and a certainly at the very least a borderline Hall of Fame coach. And I think he came into a toxic situation. And at the end,

he didn't handle it well either. But that game, it was just one punt return and one kickoff return by Dexter McCluster after another in a game where, and people sent me the picture of the CBS the CBS wide shot. No one was there in the second half. No one was. I was there. That was a game changer

in some ways for the Redskins. No, you're thinking... Oh, I'm thinking of the Kansas City game with Zorn. The 2009, Kansas City game, you and I were doing a show together at that time. That was the game changer. That was, I'll never forget being in the stadium,

day, it was early in the season, too. You know, the Redskins were a two-and-two football team. And they played so poorly, and the second half people were leaving. And there was a sense that I had as a lifelong fan that had gone to so many games over the years that this was the beginning of apathy, that they had screwed this thing up. The owner had so many ways to Sunday that this Jim Zorn year two thing that people now are getting to the point where they didn't care anymore, which is why they had to fire him, fire, look, that season was the season that the owner who had this yes man in Vinnie Serrado

that he could rely on to take the bullets for him at every turn, or at least he thought he could, he couldn't keep him around anymore because he only, he had, that was the Gibbs. His racquetball partner. Gibbs was the move in 2004 after the Spurrier disaster. And the move after the Zorn disaster was to get rid of Vinnie. You knew you were going to get rid of Zorn. And Bruce Allen came in at the end of the year. Bruce Allen was hired before Shannahan was.

But remember, they tried to hire Shanahan after the previous season because they knew Zorn was not a head coach. They'd have been better off hiring Gracie, Allen. Anyway. I want to reminisce for a second. Do you remember sitting in the studio at Redskins Park and looking at Zorn after they had just, beaten the lions and asking him

Beating the Rams. Getting ready to play the winless lions. Okay, if he thought his job was in jeopardy. I asked him that. And this was after a win and he looked at you like you had two heads. He wanted to kill me. Like we just won and you're asking me if I'm worried about my job? He had no idea what was going on. Do you remember what happened after we went to a break? First of all, Jim Zorn, he was so involved in coaching

that when Tommy and I did his show live from our park studio, he would just stick around and listen to the rest of the show. Like most Tuesdays when we did this, he would just sit around and hang out with us. But that when we got done and we went to a break there, he looked at me and he said, why would you ask me that question? And I said, you know what?

That's a fair question because you just got here. You've only been here for a year. But for most fans, it was the natural question because you barely beat in a problem. opponent last week, and you're going to face a winless team, and all of us sort of have this sense that this is a big moment for you Sunday. And I said, it's not that I apologize, but I probably should have prepared you for that, you know, prior to that. And he just walked away, you know, like, what are these guys? They lost to the Lions. And from that next week, the Lions ended that

winless streak. It was like 19 games in a row they had lost because they had gone 0. And the year before. And I think it was an 18 or a 19 game losing streak. They ended the streak against Zorn's Redskins, Jason Campbell, Clinton, Portis, Sellers, the whole group. And from that moment on, you knew he was dead man standing. Heck of a neighbor, though, right? Make a great neighbor. One of my favorite all-time lines from Tommy.

Oh, that old Jim Zorn, he not much of a coach, but he'd make a heck of a neighbor. Because he was such a nice guy. Very nice man. Weird, but a nice guy. Do you know, I think he's coaching. You know, he's the guy who gets picked to coach all these obscure all-star bowl games. I think he's the head coach in what's called the Polynesian Bowl. That's not true.

No, I'm serious. Really? What's the Polynesian? A Samoan thing? Jim Zorne named head coach for the 2019 Polynesian ball. I told you. How would I make that up? Mike Bellotti is the other coach.

The Oregon coach. Oh, wow. And he had coached the NFL PA team in their college game that they do. And that's what he gets picked to do. Look, Jim Zorn is a Seattle legend, a legend in Seattle. He was their first quarterback when they were an expansion team in 1976. He was this left-handed gun-slinging running around playmaker on some bad Seattle teams and was a lot of fun to watch as a player. Real quickly, I want to tell you about Ferris,

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All right, so we've got our American League Championship series, and it's Red Sox and it's Houston. I thought the Yankees had a chance there in the ninth last night. And I was rooting for that. I wanted to see a fifth in deciding game back at Fenway. Boston and New York. But look, I think Boston, I picked Boston to win at the beginning of the playoffs. I don't feel quite as good about it because of David Price being part of that rotation for the Red Sox. He seems to have October meltdown because the reason I picked the Red Sox in part was because they could throw Rick Porcelo, Chris Sale, and David Price at you. And pitching matchups to me in the postseason mean everything.

in terms of success. Houston's the prohibitive favorite because they're so talented. I mean, they're just a juggernaut. You think they're not the prohibitive favorite in the series. You're making them the prohibitive favorite? They're not? Well, it's not prohibitive. I'll check that right now.

Maybe I just use that word too often. They're the favorite. People expect Houston to repeat now at this point. But I'm going with the Red Sox. I don't feel great about it. I'll find the series odds here in a moment. I don't feel great about it, and I think they're going to play to Dodgers. You know, the Brews have had a nice run, but I think the Dodgers are going to return to the World Series,

and I think the Dodgers are going to win at all. I think Mani Machado is going to get a World Series ring, and Stan Kasten, the president of the Dodgers and part owner is going to get another World Series ring. I would like, you know, going into these post seasons when you don't have a rooting interest, I always try to create one. I am a big Clayton Kershaw fan, as most people are. I'm actually seeing Houston as a slight favorite. Yeah, that's what I'm seeing right now.

The Dodgers are minus 1.25, so they're a slight favorite over Milwaukee. And right now, actually, you know what, on my site, on one of my sites, it's a pickum for the series right now. Yeah. Pick them to win this to. to win the ALCS. Well, who do you like? I don't, this is an area of expertise that you have.

I, I, I sort of sense that Fenway will be an advantage that you should see high-scoring games in the series, don't you think, Tommy, and with both parks. But I am more interested in watching Kirschaw pitch one to two times in the NLCS. He was brilliant in that NLDS start that he had. Really, one of the better, I think it's his best playoff start ever. Yeah, because he's had an Iraq. He has had a very erratic, but it's been better here in recent years. Yes, it has.

And, you know, he can opt out of his contract, not that he probably will, but he could be a free agent at the end of this year if he wants to be. We saw him last year against Houston. I'd love to see him in the World Series again and get a ring. I think it'll be the Dodgers and the Red Sox. That would certainly be the matchup that the networks would want. Yeah. To see Milwaukee against Houston is probably not what Fox wants. Is it Fox doing the World Series?

I think it is. No, I think it's C-SPAN. It might be C-SPAN at this point. By the way, the ratings have been up compared to last year. Look, sports ratings in general have been up over the last month and a half. I mean, whether it's football, baseball, a golf, and that's the Tiger effect. That's the Tiger effect. But in part, like we've talked about this before, the phenomenon of television right now is advertisers want to go where there's live events that people will watch and not DVR their way through

the commercials. This is why they're attracted to sports. And this is why, I mean, this is what's killing network TV because people tape them or DVR them and go through the commercials. I don't watch any commercials. So people aren't, well, they're not

going to do that if they're watching a sporting event unless they tape it. And most people will watch sports live. That's why it's so attractive for advertisers now. All right. Let's finish up the show with some coaching blunders for the week. Bad Play Calls. Block management gaffes missed opportunities.

It's Coach Sheehan's blunders of the week. All right. You know, there weren't a lot of them that I found. Some of you texted me or tweeted me some situations to look at, and I went back and looked at them. Can I ask you a question? What do you call your Coach Sheean minions who find material for you? I mean, do you have a name for?

You got to come up with a name for these people that say, oh, Kevin, look, look at this one. I found one for you. I get a lot of those. I know. I do. You got to come up with a name for them. I'll leave that up to you. You know what?

I'll do that. Sometimes I'll get these and I'll go back and look at them because I haven't seen them. And I'll be like, nah. I'll give you an example. Tim Murray texted me and said, look at what Justin Fuente did down 3116 early in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame. And I actually did not. I wasn't watching that game at that point. Notre Dame is pretty good now.

Man, their fortunes have turned very quickly with the quarterback change that they made a few weeks ago. But down 3116, they had a fourth and seven at the Notre Dame 35. 3116 is theoretically two scores, right? But it isn't just two scores. It's not two scores with extra points. It's also two scores with making a two-point conversion. And two-point conversions generally for most teams are less than a 50-50 proposition. position. So when you are down 15 with 1350 left in the game, I know everybody watching the game

is thinking it's two possessions, it's two scores. But more times than not, it's more than two scores. You're going to have to score three times because the... You're going to have to hit the two-point play twice and that your odds of doing that. No, you only have to hit it once down 15. Oh, down 15? No. Yeah, down 15. You only have to hit it once. to tie it. But my point is, is that for most teams, the two-point play is a less than 50-50 proposition. So therefore, less, you know, more times than not, it is more than a two-score game. You've got to score three times. So my point is with so many possessions left in the game,

now the context of that game may have been they can't stop Notre Dame so they need to score touchdowns. So they should go for it on fourth and seven and only think about a touchdown in this drive. But if you've got the kicker from 52 yards out and you kick it and it's 3119 with still basically the entire fourth quarter to go, I don't consider that to be an egregious coaching blunder. Now, if it's fourth and one, you know, then you might as well go for it. But I consider 3116 with 1350 to go. I'm more or less going to think of it in terms of we probably have to score three times and one of them may need may have to be a field goal. By the way, you mentioned fourth and one and going for it.

Is going for it all the rage now? Is that growing coaches the notion of going forward on fourth down? Well, I mean, all of the people you love and I love, you know, the analytics people will tell you that that basically going for fourth down, you know, increases win probability. It doesn't decrease win probability based on certain, you know, fourth and, in, three or less situations with certain field position. You know, just like, and I know this, and I mentioned this on Monday, and I said, why was Doug Peterson going for two down 20 to 6 when it's 20 to 12, you know, kick the extra point and then you're down seven with a chance with another score

to force overtime? And several people, you know, tweeted me and said, look, the analytics say that your win probability is increased down 14 by going for two and making it a six point game because the likelihood is that if you have two opportunities to go for two, that worst case is you're going to get one, miss one in sort of a 50-50 two-point world. So that gets you your tie anyway. And the chances potentially of winning the game outweigh the risk of missing both of them and losing them. I, again, I understand the math on that. I also understand. stand context. First of all, I did not realize that the Eagles apparently were a 60% two-point

conversion team at this point. So if you are really successful in two-point conversions, you know, the math changes. If you're not higher than, you know, 47, 48%, I forget exactly what the number is, then that is a bad strategy. If you're lower than 47% it's a bad strategy, your win-prim probability is actually decreased. I will just say this, though, context is everything. Philadelphia was having a difficult time moving the football in that game, scoring, converting, you know, two- and three-yard plays, you know, in that situation. So I felt like their chances on making the two-point conversion in context weren't, you know,

they were not at 50% or better, or 48% or better. Now he made it, they did make it, and then they couldn't get the stop. And Minnesota in a big drive, drove it down the field, got the field goal, which ended up essentially clinching the game. So I did want to point out that I do know the math. I'm not a big, pure numbers guy when it comes to this thing. In football in particular, there's just a ton of context that has to be considered. I do know, though, that two-point conversion plays are on the rise in terms of their percentage.

of success, you know, at least for now. There was, okay, so there was one coaching blunder of sorts and one that I've already talked about this week, but I'll mention briefly here. I did not think Jason Garrett made the mistake punting in overtime. I mentioned that yesterday. Jason Garrett doubled down on that, even though Jerry Jones criticized him to a certain degree saying that they should have been more aggressive in that spot. Again, context is everything. If you were watching that game, they weren't going to make fourth and two. And it was closer to fourth and two than it was fourth and one.

It was nearly two. Houston's defense was dominating Dallas. And Dallas, more likely than not, I think in that fourth and two situation, had a one and three shot of converting, which means I'm throwing that out. That's an arbitrary number. It's just my hunch in the moment was punted. You're not going to make fourth and two.

Pin them deep. Your defense is playing well. You'll get it back in good field position with a chance to end the game on a field goal because you need a touchdown now to end the game anyway. So anyway, to make a long story short, on that particular perceived coaching blunder, I did not think it was a blunder.

I thought Jason Garrett made the right call, even though they didn't get the stop and Houston ended up winning the game. All right, there was one specific sort of borderline coaching blunder, I'll mention it. Kentucky's playing Texas A&M in an SEC game, 14-14 late in regulation, a game in which both teams are strong,

struggling to score, struggling to move the football, struggling to throw the football. Kentucky's got a third and 11 with the clock rolling at the end of regulation from their own 37-yard line. They called a timeout with 13 seconds left. Now, a lot of you tweeted this was another one of all my... Oh, your minions. I don't like calling them minions. That's a condescending term. Okay.

I want to come up with something positive. Okay, well, let's work on that. Think in terms of coaching blunder negative, but those that are following this segment, and help me out with it, it's positive. Okay, I will. We'll come up with something. And we're open to suggestions. I'm open to suggestions.

But I usually, you were good at coming up with labels for things. You label a lot of things. That third and 11, they called the timeout, and then they chose to throw the ball there in that spot. First of all, they called the time out with 13 seconds left. And essentially, that meant that they had to get a big chunk play on that play to even get close to field goal range. The quarterback dropped back.

He had already been sacked on two of the three previous plays, so there was a lot of momentum for A&M. Quarterback drops back. He gets sacked again and fumbles. Now, Kentucky recovered the fumble. The offense recovered the fumble, but they were really potentially then looking at if they lost the ball, A&M was already in field goal range to win the game.

Now, A&M won that game in overtime, 20 to 14. For a lot of you, that pushed. A&M was around a six-point favorite. And by the way, Tommy, A&M's a six-point favorite. Not everybody had it at six, some had it at six and a half, somewhere on there. But if you had it at six and you had the second possession in overtime in a tie game, all you need is a field goal. Usually you'll just run one place.

They just kept running it. They didn't trust their field goal kicker. They scored a touchdown. So you got to push if you had A&M laying the number. And if you had Kentucky, that was a painful push. I wanted to just mention this. We're off coaching blunders.

Can I bring something up? Sure. And I don't know if this, in the big scheme of things, it wasn't really a coaching blunder. And I may be missing something that's very obvious. Rick Jacklitch? No.

No, not that guy. Not that guy. That's a human blunder, not a coaching blunder. It's a human being blunder. Wow. There. But when the Redskins had fourth down and they punted early in the game.

And there was a running into the kicker penalty. And it was five yards. It wasn't rough in the kicker. It was running into the kicker, which instead of fourth and seven, it made it fourth and two. Now, New Orleans had gotten a ball on the 37-yard line.

Very good field position. Okay. Why doesn't Jay Gruden... Should have punted it again. Yeah, punted again to maybe get less field position for the Saints. You know what? God damn you, you're good.

Because I made that note. I didn't mention it yesterday. I forgot to mention it today. And you are 100% correct. It was not a good punt. He had the opportunity to punt it again. By the way, five yards up field. I thought what I mentioned about that play yesterday on the show is I really thought it was roughing the punter.

I actually thought that should have been a 15-yard penalty. It could have been. But to just say, you're waving it off. No, you're right. Give him the ball on the 37. I don't understand that. You are absolutely 100% right. Please, I didn't discover Futonio, Kevin. And that was, that's a coaching blunder, and I should have had that one.

Good job. I have a really interesting, I guess it's a stat. Alabama is so good that they have not punted for the last two games at all. Their punter is not punted one time in their last two games. Wow. You know, we may be watching, although Alabama defensively, you know, they gave up 31 to Arkansas Aaron on Saturday. You know, Bama didn't cover in that game, I don't think. I don't think they covered.

They may have. I don't know what the number was, actually, now that I think about it, because they won 65. Was it 65 to 31 was the final score of that game? Something like that. Some people are suggesting that Bama's defense may have a few issues, but offensively, we have not seen a better Alabama team in recent years as good as they've been. Here's a great stat. You want a great set from that. The quarterback, too.

20 total touchdowns, 18 passing, two rushing, 25 incompletions. I know. It's ridiculous. The ball never hits the ground when they throw it. It's unbelievable. It's almost Drew Breeze-esque from the other night. Drew Breeze's 29 passes only hit the ground three times. Three times it hit the ground. That is, if Alabama's got the best schedule to in the SEC, with the exception of having to go to Baton Rouge. you know, and then you'll get an SEC title game potentially against Georgia, although I think Florida's got a chance to potentially run the table and be in that SEC title game as well.

Can I give you another Alabama stat? Please. According to the United Nations, Alabama has the worst poverty in the world in any developed nation. I just want to point that out. Although Birmingham, you've been, right? It's not a terrible city. It's been about 20 years since I've been there, but it's literally one of the poorest places in North America. I'm sure. I'm sure. I want to tell you about launch workplaces. If you live in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Upper Northwest D.C. and you don't want a long commute and you're working from home right now, but it's too noisy and you want to get out of your home. Check out launch workplaces in Bethesda. They have flexible and affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. It's a beautiful new space, provides fully furnished offices, conference rooms,

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workplaces.com. Man, we talked a lot today about a lot of things. What will we possibly come up with tomorrow? I'll tell you what, we did this for a long time. We'll have a lot tomorrow. We'll have a hell of a lot tomorrow. What else you got? You got anything else?

Or you want to save it for tomorrow? The Caps Vegas Rematch tonight. Yeah, the Stanley Cup rematch. Definitely want to talk about that tomorrow. And let me tell you if the Caps lose tonight, then they've lost the Stanley Cup for 2019. They've I don't know. They're going to go ahead and play those other 79 games anyway.

Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to Charlie Casserly who joined us today. Tommy, thanks. As always, we're back tomorrow. Tell all of your friends about this podcast if they don't know that we're doing this. You can get it. If they don't know what a podcast is, just tell them to go to the website, the Kevin Sheehan Show.com.