The Kevin Sheehan Show - Haskins Cut + Cooley Film

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

Kevin and Thom open the show discussing Washington's waiving of Dwayne Haskins. Kevin talks Terps' upset of Wisconsin as well then it's Cooley with his thoughts on the Haskins release as well and his "Film Breakdown" of Haskins' final game against Carolina and a few other dud offensive performances too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. We're the 15th big in the 2019 Annabelle draft. The Washington Redskins select Dwayne Haskins, quarterback, Ohio State. That was less than two years ago when Dwayne Haskins was selected.

By then, the Washington Redskins. with the 15th overall selection in the 2019 draft. Yesterday, Ron Rivera addressed the media in his normal Monday presser following the loss to Carolina on Sunday and indicated that Dwayne had been demoted to third string and even demoted that sometimes change can be a good thing, which was a bit of a clue, and then it was just a couple of hours later.

Dwayne was released by the organization. All right. Tommy is up first with me, then Cooley will join us in about a half an hour to 45 minutes. I do not know if Cooley did his offensive film breakdown or not, but I'm going to roll with the possibility that he completed that, which would also lead to Dwayne's final film breakdown by Cooley in a Washington uniform. Tommy, Dwayne's gone. Nobody's claimed him at this point. Not even the Eagles, I think, are considered. You know how sometimes a quarterback will get cut, and the opponent will say, we're going to sign them real quickly, and we can learn something from them.

First of all, it would be too expensive to do it. I mean, for one thing, that player would have had to study the team's playbook. Yeah, well, I was just going to say that they probably don't even think they can learn much from him. But, you know, I've got a lot of thoughts on it. I'll let you start first. Tommy's column in the Washington Times today is exceptional. Let me just mention there are references to, among others, John Beck, and of course, Robert Griffin the third, and Lewis Riddick plays a prominent role in Tommy's column this morning as well.

But go ahead. Actually, let me ask you this. None of us are surprised that Dwayne Haskins isn't going to be a part of this team moving forward. We all knew that when he got benched in early October. But is there some level of surprise that he was released yesterday? Yes, I can't say no. I mean, I think that it caught everybody by surprise. You know, look, conspiracy theories are all legitimate when it comes to this organization. And there's a thought that Rivera said, okay, I can't cut them, then I'll play them.

Instead of this theory that he played him to give the team the best chance to win, there's this notion that, and I think everything's on the table. Who's got that notion other than you? Huh? Who's got that notion that he tried to prove to the owner that is that what you're saying, that he kept him one more week and started him to say to the owner, look, he sucks. No, no, no, no. He didn't keep him one more week.

I think it's entirely possible. The owner said, no, don't cut him. That would be the ultimate insult to me. You don't have to play him, but don't cut them. Oh, okay. You thought that last week. Okay, so go ahead. What's the notion that some have?

Well, the idea being that, okay, I'll play him. He'll embarrass himself. Like apparently, according to the Washington Post, Jay Gruden did by putting him out against the Giants last year. Right. It was to show up the owner. Yeah, well, we knew that. That's old news.

And basically, at that point, at the point, of Dwayne's performance Sunday, Rivera banked on the idea that it would be bad enough that the owner would have to let him, let him cut him. Do you believe that? That's a possible. Yeah, look, I don't know about that. I do think it's possible that the owner told him not to cut him.

I think that it's entirely, I think unless we are totally basing it on this theory that we like Ron Rivera, if we base it on the owner's track record, there's no way that the owner said, yeah, go ahead, cut them loose. I mean, you know, but that question was never asked. I know. Nobody asked it.

Nobody asked. We talked about that last week. That was our last podcast. That was our last podcast. I said to you, the question that should have been asked by the reporters is, did you consult with Dan Snyder about any of this? And it was never asked, which would have been a fair question. but your position last week was that Snyder wouldn't allow Ron Rivera to cut him last week.

Right. And so that's still your position. Not that he forced him to pull. Until he embarrassed himself so bad that, you know, Rivera said, you know, there you go. There's your quarterback, buddy. Right. Well, I think that's entirely possible. I think you can't go wrong.

banking on the weaseless of the Washington football owner. Yeah, I mean, look, is it possible that he said don't do it today? And then he changed his mind and allowed it to happen a week later. I guess it is. The reporting is that Rivera had thought about, you know, cutting him last week. Peter Schrager from NFL Network and Fox said that Doug Williams was, and others said essentially, wait on this, you'd be depriving the other 52 in the locker room, which was my position as to why he

kept him last week because he didn't know what Taylor Heineke could be, and that Dwayne knew the offense, and that, and you know what Rivera said yesterday, he said, look, I put him back out there in the second half because I was hoping to see the second half from last week when he played pretty well against Seattle in that game. Regardless of what, why it happened now versus last week or a month from now. We all knew that Dwayne Haskins was not going to be a part of the organization next year. Let's start with that. That became an absolute certainty for most of us and most of our minds when he was benched,

you know, after the Baltimore game. And certainly if it was reinforced after the stripper gate situation from last week. The fact Tommy that Rivera did it this week versus last week for me anyway, I just, I think actually he really wanted to beat Carolina because they had a chance to win the division. And he was thinking about other people in the organization and depriving them of an opportunity for something that wasn't their mistake. And he rolled the dice on Dwayne one more week because he probably knew then it was a long shot on Alex. But for me, when it comes to this complaint that many had, and I'm not saying that you had this necessarily, the hysterical reaction last week from some that he missed out on this, you know, important opportunity to make a very emphatic culture statement on the organization and that, you know, he'll never have that opportunity again, that last week was the moment that you had to cut him. And it's the same old, same old. I don't feel that way.

I didn't feel that way last week. I don't feel that way this week. Him getting released yesterday was a pretty emphatic statement about a lot of things. It hasn't happened ever that a quarterback that got drafted in the top half of the first round has been released before the end of his second season. That's a pretty big statement. And if he had cut him after the season ended, I wouldn't have thought that it was, you know, a lost opportunity that he didn't cut him last week. That's me. And I think the other view

is reasonable. That's just the way I feel. But, you know, the bottom line is, to your point, Ron Rivera, if he hasn't been warned already, and if he hasn't sort of figured out, you know, whenever it was that he decided that Haskins wasn't the guy, which, you know, we're being told through Jason Locke and Forrest's story on Sunday morning, and this has been my contention all along, that Rivera's known pretty much deep down in his own gut that this was not going to be his quarterback, which is why I think it was a sham all along. Like they should have tried to trade him when there was actually potentially at least a limited market for him, you know, back in May or before the draft or shortly after the draft.

They should have done that. But I do think that's where probably the owner said, ah, give him a shot, give him a shot. But this should be a warning because the root of this issue of the Dwayne Haskins situation here on December 28th, 29th, 2020. The root cause of this is the owner. And Rivera should be warned that his 21-year record of wrecking and ruining and damaging this franchise, that he lurks. You know, and maybe he did more than lurk last week. Maybe you're right. but he lurks.

You know, people said to me yesterday, look, it's a really good sign that Rivera was allowed to cut him. Okay, it is because if you... I saw you point this out on Twitter and you're absolutely right. Go ahead. But eventually, you know, Gruden was able to cut Robert Griffin the third and Shanahan was able to bench and then trade McNabb and Haynesworth also. Dan's decisions, the ones that he makes,

without any, you know, against the better judgment of his football people, have always failed, always failed, always led to a long-term miserable situation that eventually gets to the point where he will reluctantly consent. You know, it's always long overdue. It's always long after the fact that the damage has already been done, but he consented to Gruden cutting RG3 eventually. he consented to Shanahan benching and then trading McNabb and trading Hainsworth. So it's not like this is an unusual situation that Rivera got to cut him.

You know, Marty was the fastest trigger allowed ever because Marty actually contractually was able to do it with, I mean, he had total control contractually of the football operation. And Marty said after two games, this loser Jeff George that you wanted to, so badly last year, it's either him or me. Make your choice. And that was the quickest trigger we've ever seen on a Snyder player, on a Snyder, you know, jock sniffing, you know, attempt at a marketing buddy to go to hang out with them. But this isn't unusual. It's not unusual that eventually it got to this point. By the way, the release says all you need to know about is value, because if they thought they could get anything in the off season, they're not. It's zero right now. And for Dwayne, Tommy, I know this is

going to sound like, you know, Coach Sheehan, as Doc would say. But I do, through, you know, personal experience, sometimes I empathize with some of these young people who are clueless and who haven't been given good direction and who, by the way, in his case, came into a really bad situation. He was drafted by the wrong organization, period. I'm not taking blame away from him. He deserves much, if not most of the blame. But I hope for his sake that somehow this is, you know, one of those moments that makes him self-aware about what his role was, honest about what his role was, and that he takes the route that RG, it takes a different path than RG3 took, which was blaming everybody else. You know, victimhood, as you pointed out in your column. I hope he doesn't go that

route. His statement from yesterday was a good statement. You know, it was the right thing that he said. He said, my time with the WFT has unfortunately come to an end. I thank the team and fans for the opportunity to play for the team I grew up rooting for. I take full responsibility for not meeting the standards of an NFL quarterback, and I will become a better man and player because of this experience. I don't know if I believe them. I don't know that if what happened yesterday and what's happened over the last several months has really sunk into a guy that I've been told now for a year and a half is incredibly immature and just doesn't get it. Not a bad kid, not arrogant, not insufferable like RG3 was when he was here, but just a kid that was incredibly immature and didn't get it. But anyway, I hope he finds a place where he has support and then he grows up.

if he doesn't grow up, it's over this time next year. He's got no chance. Whatever chance he gets the next one will be his last. I would think you're right on that. Listen, I don't think Ron Rivera mortgaged his opportunity to change the culture. But I do think he took out a second mortgage. I do think he put himself further into debt. Irreversible?

No. This was the only opportunity? but I think it stopped the momentum of culture change and changed the conversation back to same old Washington football team. Really? Yeah, I think it did. I think it did. He started a guy.

I don't care if he thought it was the best opportunity to win. He started a guy who had betrayed him and his teammates. with in 2020 arguably the worst sin you could commit and he started him he said that's okay we'll take away your captaincy we'll take away some of your stripper money but we're still going to play you that's what he did i don't care why he did it he did it i know but that's a step back but what are the ramifications to that well again the the ramifications are the the the The new media director for the Washington football team, Julie Donaldson, going on Twitter today and admonishing the fans tell them they have to be part of the culture change too.

She did that? Yes. Unbelievable. Hold on. Let me read it. What did she do? I retweeted it. I've read too many comments on folks being flat out mean at Haskins release.

Were mistakes made? Yes. Is there growth to be had, yes. Does that entitle you to be cruel? No. Much was expected. There's disappointment on all fronts. Don't be a part of the story.

Let's all be better. Now, go down about two or three after that. On that tweet. If fans want a culture change, they have to be part of it. Ugliness is not a part of that. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. I mean, that's so weak.

Yeah, Julie, you never, ever blame the customer. No. Ever. No. No. You never put it back on the customer. Especially these customers. Not considering.

You're lucky to have. Yeah. The very few that are left and the many more who really were treated and insulted so poorly and so badly for two decades plus. This is not about the fan base. It's not about the media. It's about the organization. The organization has to change. change and a big part, the 99% part of that change, they have to win.

Because even if you have nice people like Jason Wright and Julie Donaldson and others in the organization and they're treating people and clients and partners, business partners, better than they ever have, because this organization treated their business partners, literally like they were, you know, third class citizens. And all of that is important, you know, it is to, you know, the relationship building and the revenue generation for the organization, but nothing matters more than winning. And by the way, as I've mentioned to you many times, I do think because of the experience many of us had with Joe Gibbs and the teams that were Hall of Fame teams, winning with some

level of decorum in class would be also, you know, preferable from my standpoint. I'd like to see the, you know, the underpromising over-delivering year-in and year out. Winning without shame. Yeah, winning without shame. And winning with like this, oh my God, they just won again. How did that even happen? I didn't even see it coming because that's what it was with Joe for so many years. No, look, I love Julie, but you can never, ever put this on the customer. It is not the customer's fault that they feel the way they feel. They have absolutely for 21 years been insulted at a level that very few organizations can recover from. Very few. You know what? I have not seen.

Actually, just reminds me. I wonder what the TV ratings have been here locally over the last few games. Like the Pittsburgh game, I would have thought would have had to do well, even though it was a Tuesday you know, afternoon, right? Tuesday afternoon or Monday? I can't even remember now. Monday afternoon. And I think, I would guess that Sunday night's game is going to be a monster. You know, people are going to tune in for that. It's a holiday weekend. It's at night. It's Sunday. It's for the division. But yeah, I would agree with you. In Washington, two huge markets. Yeah. And not to, I'm wondering how it'll do here, though. I'm just saying here. Right.

So let's let's not that bury the lead on all this The most important thing as you know Is I had this I had this kid pegged from day one Right You did too to some extent Well no I don't hold on for a second I'm going to let you I'm going to let you

Do what you do best which is break your arm patting yourself on the back Here in a moment I mean I did not. I was very much against them drafting him. I didn't see it. I did not think he would be a good pro quarterback. But I was open-minded, and what I saw last year was I saw on what I emphasized and said many

times. The kids got talent. He's a bit of a gamer. I want to see more. I want to see him start 16 games in 2020. I want to be able to get to the end of this season and be able to make the call on whether or not, you know, he's, he's, you know, worth continuing with, but you have to find out. And I was definitely more encouraged than discouraged at the end of last year.

Now, I did not like what I saw at the beginning of this year. And I didn't like a lot of what I was learning along the way about his maturity, which we shared a lot of that with you guys over the years. But I was not right in the sense of, of, I would not have bailed, last year. I would not have bailed this year. I put it on Rivera. If Rivera chose to move on with it, I was fine, but I thought he had a chance once I saw him at the pro level. And who knows, maybe that talent will emerge somewhere down the road if he grows up. But, you know, it's the intangible stuff. He doesn't have any positive intangibles, none. I mean, and to me, this was the way

was going to end. So take your bow. No, I don't have to. People recognize that. That's okay. No, sometimes people don't recognize that. So what do you think you were most right about, that he was what? Well, that he was, how do I put this? He was vulnerable to outside influences. that doesn't necessarily mean people but just the outside influence of being a star the outside influence of the trappings that come with being a social media

celebrity we took tremendous and myself I took tremendous abuse to criticize in social media activity we both did I mean whenever this came up on this podcast when you would go off and I would say, look, these are red flags for me too. I mean, I'm not going to dispute that if it doesn't work out, these were major red flags.

The guy that is more interested in personal brand, the guy that would appear to be more interested in his own personal brand, the guy that would appear to be incredibly sensitive to criticism, the guy that's retweeting positive things, there were a lot of things. I mean, you know, the league done messed up to the selfies at the end of the Detroit game when he should have been in there for the final snap to taking Joe Thaisman's jersey. By the way, I had Joe T on the radio show this morning.

And you know, and you could tell that Joe T would like it, you know, sort of protect it again, I think. And that this was not, you know, we mentioned this many times. I'm not big into the jersey thing. But if it's a protected jersey, the owner can't go back to the player and say it's your call. It's the owner's responsibility to preserve and protect those jerseys that are and have been protected. You don't give it to somebody who hasn't proven anything, but that gets into the whole owner, falling in love with a kid that went to a high school that his son goes to. They're not even classmates. They're like four years apart or three years apart or whatever it is.

And him, you know, having this incredible thought that like a local star was going to help him. Like name one Hall of Fame great player in the history of this franchise that was from here. Does anybody give two craps about where the player is from? But that's how stupid the owner is. And the bottom line is the owner commandeered the draft room in 2019. He's done it before. And this is what, you know, as you said, is what always is there lurking. is the possibility, no matter how good of a man Ron Rivera might be, the guy he works for isn't.

Yeah. So this is the end of the Dwayne Haskins era. The Washington football owner basically tossed away a 15th pick in the first round. I mean, you know, I mean, those, I mean, how many times Washington has picked in the past 20 years earlier? than that. Chase Young this last time. Carrigan was what, the 11th pick in the draft? Something like that. And Trent Williams was the fourth pick, I think, in the draft. That's it. They're hard to come by. I mean, like Mike Tomlin said to Chase Young, I don't want one of you because that means I would have to have lost 13 games to get you. Well, Joanne was taken 15th.

Right. I know that. So my memory. The guy. I mentioned before that are the only ones who came, the only draft picks they had earlier at 15th. I mean, 15th and down, they're hard to come by. Yeah, the first half of the draft. You know, let's not bury the lead. The lead is, as you said, the owner made a pick in the first half of the first round against the better judgment and wishes of his football people. And it is, he's gone.

This has never happened before. He's gone in less than two years. And by the way, there's where, you know, potentially, potentially it's not, you know, done yet. That's more than anything in my Haskins commentary over the last two years, that's where I was dead wrong. when I said before this season started, I think the bust potential now, after watching him last year, in my view, is very low. And I remember saying there are red flags about all the intangible stuff, but in terms of his football ability, there are things he can do at a very high level. And by the way, I still believe that, but there's no doubt that this would be, if he, this is among the biggest busts in franchise history. Draft bus for sure.

Heath Schuller would probably top that list because Heath Schuhrer was taking four overall. You're right. This is among the top three overall draft bus of all time for the Washington football team. And, you know, I mean, the track record shows that the owner won't learn from it. They won't learn from it.

I know. But, you know, we'll see. I mean, there's another story out there today. I know. I mean, it's every day there's something else about Snyder. This one is that last night, the guy Moog, I guess, claims that he was harassed by Snyder and intruders that came to his home on behalf of Snyder. This is a new sort of story about the owner and the owner and the minority owners. the limited partners are accusing Snyder of what they called corporate malfeasance and harassment

where Snyder sent intruders to the home of John Moog. So there's a whole other part to this. Look, the bottom line is we'd all as fans of this team, and I speak to you because not to you, Tommy, but to all of the fans out there that are listening like I am, we all know what the get-out-of-jail-free card is. It's him losing the team. It's the only chance. It's the closest thing to a Lombardi trophy that you've seen since the Super Bowl. It's, and there's no guarantee you're going to get a great owner to replace them.

But you know what is it? No, there's not. But you know what is guaranteed? You won't get one that's worse. It would be impossible to get one that is worse than what Dan Snyder's been as the owner of this football team. We've done this too many times. Bottom line is Dwayne Haskins, major bust released. They have a game Sunday to beat Philadelphia to go to the playoffs.

We'll talk a little bit about that here in a second. I did want to mention a couple of things. People had tweeted me and said, you know, who did, you know, and a lot of people, by the way, Tommy, didn't believe the whole reporting, whether it was Diana Rusini or, you know, this stuff that we talked about. a lot of us knew what it happened on draft day 2019. And you would say, well, how do you know? Well, they wanted the message out there.

You know, Jay Gruden and the football people, it's funny, Diana had a theory. She was on with me this morning. Diana was all over the reporting on draft day and before draft day in 2019. And her theory was that they wanted to get the message out that Snyder was taking over the draft. and he wanted to draft Haskins because they thought there would be a lot of pushback on Haskins from media members. You know, and analysts, like, don't draft Haskins that high

and that maybe that would convince Snyder not to, you know, force them to do this. But actually a lot of the people, and you talked about Lewis Riddick in your column, you know, a Riddick among them who said, no, no, no, this is a great pick. And the Giants are the ones that fucked it up. You know, Dave Gettelman's the moron.

And so, you know, it actually backfired a little bit. But yeah, a lot of us had a lot of those people saying you're not going to believe what's happening here. We have worked all year long to put this draft board together. And he is telling us we have to draft Dwayne Haskins. Now, I got into it because some of you asked me, well, who did the football people want? The football people really liked Montez Sweat. They really did. Sweets value in that draft start.

to drop because there was a concern about a heart condition that he had. And they were able to trade back into the first round and select sweat. And they ended up getting what appears to be a great bona fide star player for years to come. The other guy that I was told back then that they really liked was Darnell Savage Jr., the safety out of Maryland, who has played very well for the Packers. He was selected five spots later at, or six spots later at 21 by the Packers, and he's turned into quite the player. Those were the two players and the two names I heard. I knew they liked sweat, and I heard at the time that they really liked Savage Jr. And I think they may have selected Savage Jr. at 15 if they could have talked Snyder out of forcing them to take

Haskins. But then I think they would have been forced to trade back into the first round to select Haskins later and they would have missed out on sweat. That's how I think based on what I, you know, was told at the time, I think that was the deal. It was like they ended up drafting Haskins, but they were able to trade back in to get sweat because Savage was already gone. I think if they had stayed at 15, I think they would have taken Savage, maybe sweat, and then the owner would have forced them to trade back into the end of the first round to take Haskins. And I think that's how it would have gone. It cost them. It cost them. Oh, no doubt. It cost them. Of course. That's the bottom line. Yeah. The owner, not just in a failed draft pick, but the opportunity that they had,

they blew it. Yes. Now that he is done here, we can just briefly, because I want to get to the Philadelphia game, we can briefly talk about, well, who the quarterback is going to be in 2021 and beyond. I personally don't believe they'll go Alex Smith. I think this injury is sort of proof that you can't rely on him for 16 games. I do think that they'll resign Kyle Allen and that they'll bring Kyle Allen back and that he's a potential starter in 2021. I would like them to go after a veteran quarterback like Matt Stafford if he's available. Like to me, Matt Stafford has always been underappreciated. He's been a part of a bad franchise as well. and some bad teams, but I think he can play.

And I think a veteran with, you know, four or five years left maybe at a high level with this young emerging defense would be the way to go, rather than roll the dice on another young quarterback and have to wait it out and waste a growing, emerging, you know, potential top five defense. That would be my, that would be the way I would handle it. Now, I don't know if Stafford will be available, and I don't know what he would call, and all of those things would play into the decision. But I've always been a Matt Stafford fan,

and I am a fan of going the veteran route for next year and beyond rather than the rookie route, unless they really love somebody, unless they think at 19 if they win the division, or at 11 or 12, if they don't, that they've got an absolute lock with the next Patrick Mahomes or somebody like that. Wouldn't surprise me if they're Justin Herbert. Yeah, or Justin Herbert.

who looks to be. I agree with you. I agree with everything you said. They do have an opportunity here. Like I've said, it behooes Ron Rivera to have success as quickly as possible. He can't operate under some five-year plan because the longer he's trying to build a winner, the more time the owner has to screw it up. Right. So I agree with everything you said. I think Matt Stafford would be a really good fit. and make this team very competitive moving forward based on the defense and based on, you know, a couple of offensive players like Gibson and McLaurin and even Logan Thomas to some extent that they, that, you know, the weapons he would have to at least start with. So I agree with everything you said there.

I can't, I mean, I think that's the way to go unless, but I still think they need to draft a quarter. within the first three rounds for the future. Yeah, I think they like Kyle Allen a lot. I really do. And that in many ways could be their young quarterback. Real quickly, too, I just wanted to mention one other thing. I just had my notes on this. Giant fans were truly insufferable on draft night 2019.

If you were a giant executive. I mean, they thought that Dave Gettleman had just committed the worst sin in the history of men. mankind by taking Daniel Jones and not taking Dwayne Haskins. And Gettelman looks pretty good right now. And that's not claiming that Daniel Jones is the savior in New York. I personally think Daniel Jones is going to be a good quarterback. And I think if you look at the Giants' demise over the last couple of games,

it's because Daniel Jones either didn't play or when he did play like Sunday against the Ravens, he couldn't move in that game or in that cardinal game. a few weeks ago. His injury has derailed their season. They were actually on their way to potentially winning this division had Daniel Jones stayed healthy. They were playing well. He was playing well. He had stopped turning the ball over.

So right now, Gettelman looks good in New York and the giant fans, like most of us, on draft night, which is the biggest crapshoot and the biggest unknowled. for any of us is the draft. You know, every year when we talk about the draft, I'm like, this is the thing that really we know the least amount about, because we just aren't, we're not sharp enough to be able to take a college player look at him and say whether or not he'll be great at the NFL. And I say that because a good hit rate by the experts is like 38%.

So they're wrong 62% of the time. Yeah. It's a guessing game. Exactly. All right, two things real quickly before we wrap it up with Tommy. Number one, do you think they beat Philadelphia on Sunday to win the division? And who do you think they should start if Alex Smith isn't 100 percent? Alex Smith or Taylor Heinecke? I think they do be Philly. Philly's pretty bad. And I think I go with Taylor Heineke. I think I go with. the more mobile quarterback at this point. I think they're going to beat Philadelphia too. And you know, I did not.

I picked Carolina last week. I did not think they would win that game. I think they're going to win this game real quickly. Just as a side note, yesterday they were a one-point underdog. Today, Washington is a one and a half point favorite. There's a lot of sharp money on Washington this week, and I think the reason is multifold. Number one is that there is the prospect that Alex Smith is going to start the game.

Number two is that Philadelphia is, done, they're out of it, and maybe, you know, there's a lot going on in Philadelphia, like maybe this is Doug Peterson's last game. Number three is Philadelphia, they turn the ball over a shitload, and Washington's defense is good. I like Washington to win this game. If Taylor Heineke has to start and Alex Smith legitimately can't play, you know, I will revise my prediction, perhaps, although I still think they'd have a chance. But if Alex Smith is 100 percent, I think Washington wins and maybe wins easily if Alex is 100%. Last thing, Tommy, because I want to do this with you instead of Cooley,

because I know Cooley didn't watch it, and I'm sure you didn't watch it either. Maryland's win at Wisconsin last night was really an incredible win for the Maryland basketball program. And, you know, look, they're coming off a Big Ten championship season last year. This is a weird year in all of sports. I understand that. The Big Ten is just unbelievable in basketball. They've nine teams ranked in yesterday's AP poll. Wisconsin had demolished everybody in the last couple weeks.

They beat Louisville by 40 points recently. It was like 38 points. Maryland was a 10-point underdog going into Madison, and you knew right from the beginning, if you were watching that game last night, that Maryland, there was something to, them. They played well on Christmas Day against Purdue and really lost a winnable game. They went 10 of 21 from the free throw line. Last night, their defense from the jump was so exceptional. Daryl

Morsell, who had had a tough start to the season, was incredible defensively. Aaron Wiggins stepped up. Iyallis scored all 17 of his points in the second half, and they beat a sixth-ranked Wisconsin team that a lot of people thought had a chance to be a final four, if not final two. team with Gonzaga. That's how good people thought Wisconsin was going into that game. And Maryland went in there and they were so good defensively. I just, I loved watching that game. It was sort of for a fan of the team, it was really, it was, they just, they brought an energy and a toughness which Turgeon's teams have. And all those people that bash Turgeon and call me a turgeon sycophant, I've never claimed he was an elite coach. I've never claimed him to be

Tom iso, but I think he's a good coach. And I think last night is the reason why his teams play hard and they improve typically. And this team's made a big jump since that blowout loss to Clemson. But it doesn't get easier, Tommy. They play undefeated 16th ranked Michigan Thursday night, New Year's Eve. Then they go to Indiana. Then it's 10th ranked Iowa. Then it's 15th ranked Illinois. It is all you need to know about the Big Ten is Northwesterns in first place with a 3-0 record and Michigan State's in the last place with an 0-and-3 record. It is every single night in this league, it's going to be worth watching with any of the teams. There's not one bad team in the entire league.

You can rarely say that in college basketball. You want to talk basketball? How about them wizards, baby? Oh, God. You know, they were so overwhelmed by their 0-1-2 start that they had to sit their super star Russell Westbrook. He must have a case of the vapors for something like that. He doesn't, he doesn't playing back-to-back-backs. After after playing back-to-back games. You know what drives me not? So now they're 0-and-3, right? They're own three. They haven't lost

in the last 10 minutes, have they? They have not. And two of the losses were to Orlando. You know what the worst part of it is? I mean, defensively, they suck. I can't, Bradley Beal is a great score. In the last two years, it's hard to watch him. He complains all game long. All he does is whine to referees. It's really somebody needs to get to him and say, dude, it's a terrible look.

I've never seen a player whine more than Bradley Beale does now. That is a new, it started last year. And it's this whole notion, I believe, I'm projecting here. I'm an elite player now, and I deserve elite player calls. And he spends 40% of the game, bitching to referees. Shut up and play. You were 10 of 29 the other night, and you were 0 for 7 from behind the arc. And the night before that, you miss five free throws.

He's a really good player. He's not an elite player. Bradley Beale is a great number two. He's not a number one for a championship contender, not even close. Well, that's okay. They got a number one. He is fun to watch, but God, is he a terrible shooter? All right.

What else you got for me? That's all I got here from sunny Miramar Beach, Florida, where it's supposed to be 70 degrees today. Tommy sent me a text yesterday or two days ago. I forget when it was at this point. just finish to swim in the beachside heated pool. Well, why don't you go in the ocean? Why don't you take your body into the ocean one time and let it heal? That's a little bit cool.

Yeah, it is a bit cool even this time, or definitely this time of year. All right, thanks. We'll talk later in the weekend, get your official prediction on Philly, Washington. See you. Okay, boss. Chris Cooley up next right after this word from one of a. our sponsors. Now, he does have some film breakdown from the loss against Carolina. Obviously, we're going to start with Dwayne Haskins being released. Your thoughts? Well, I think it's

hysterical. I text you and I said, well, he's gone or whatever I said. You said he's done. What did I say to you? You said, Dwayne gone. You called me immediately. I'm in a meeting. My wife says, don't answer that phone. Real quick. So what do you mean? I rarely know things before you know things, but I was not attached to Twitter or my phone at that point. I was actually in the car driving and I was listening to a podcast and I saw and I looked down on my phone and I'm like, Dwayne gone. Like, because the title of the podcast yesterday was Dwayne done?

And I think, and I think, and I thought immediately like you were, you were questioning the title of my podcast. I think that's what I thought and why I called you real quick. I hear you. Yeah. Well, I thought it was, first of all, my first reaction to this conversation is you immediately go, okay, I got to go. Hang up the phone.

Like, immediately you had business to do now that Dwayne was gone. Want to talk about it? you didn't want to think about it with me. You just said, I gotta go. Well, what were you going to do? Well, I, first of all, you were going to tweet something? Or were you going to go call someone else?

Or what was the plan there? Well, I just, board it. You just left me. High and dry. See later. Thanks for the news, bye. Well, it's because, like, you typically, this is true.

You typically, if you have, like, something like that, you're just, you know, you just saw it on TV or you saw it on your phone or whatever. And you're not going to sit there and provide a lot of the details. And I wanted to get to the details. So once you told me about it, it was at that point, I'm like, oh, well, I want to go check out, you know, who reported it and what the deal is. And if the team's put out a statement yet or anything like that. And I knew you were very busy yesterday.

You told me that, that you had to be off the show at a certain point because you had a very, very important meeting. What did you do? What did you do immediately after I told you? Went right to my phone. Yeah, you had something to tweet. I actually pulled over, turned the podcast that I was listening to off, turned our station on, 980 on, and immediately started reading everything that was going on. That's what they did. So you just needed details and I wasn't going to give them to you.

I didn't think you were going to give me a lot of the details. And you're not a, when it comes to stuff like that that you don't have the information on, that you didn't, you know, that you don't have like. You didn't know that I didn't have the information. No, you, no, when you went, well, first of all, when you said Dwayne got released. I said, but you said it's all over the place. Because if you would say to me, they're going to, I didn't have information. They're going to release them. You've always said, like Cooley's always got information.

I know, but you just said, I just saw it. It's out all over the place. So I just assume that you didn't have. you know, inside information on this. Did you? That was a super, I might have. I don't think you did, though, did you? That was a super quick assumption by you.

So what did you think of it? I think it was the move that should have been made a week ago, is what I think of it. But they did believe that Duane gave them the best chance to win a football game. So they played this, they've been walking this fine line with talent versus morals, and then morals versus talent on some players. And this case, like, geez, if we could just give us that beat performance, we can beat Carolina. So we need that.

Look, I think they should have done it a week ago because I'm not surprised by the way he played. I think they should have known enough to know that with any circumstance outside of football, it wasn't going to be good for Duane. It was going to weigh on his mind. It was going to press. Keep in mind, he'd already spent the better part of one prep day fucking around. I just, I think they could have done it.

Went to Heineke on Tuesday. It sets the standard for your team. It's, look, I'm not going to be over-critical of the fact that they didn't release him. But I think you then went to Talent versus Morals again at the end of the week and went, yeah, his talent's done enough there to overcome the morals. that's that's that's we've seen enough we thought we'd seen enough he had no K performance maybe he was enough to win a football game he wasn't he clearly wasn't and he's a problem yeah we're we're gonna move on you didn't think he was going to play that poorly I don't think he was going to play that poorly

I think he's capable of playing that poorly because I've seen him play that poorly in earlier performances this season no no that was by far in a way the worst in terms of games he started, that was the worst he's ever been. It was the worst he's looked, but it's not by far. I thought it was by far. Go back and look at what we've graded him in through the first five weeks. There was a couple bad grades. I know that. I've seen bad, Dwayne. I'm not surprised by this performance, just so we're clear. Well, I think that Ron Rivera, I think Ron Rivera was surprised by the performance. I don't think that Ron Rivera thought that he was going to be so God-awful, because I think if he knew that going in, he would have cut him.

I shared this with Tommy earlier. I'll do it with you. I don't really, I didn't have a problem with him not cutting him or punishing him more severely last week. We all knew when he got benched in October that Dwayne Haskins was not going to be a part of Ron Rivera's long-term plan, that this was going to be it. He was not going to be on this team. We definitely knew it after Stripper.

if you didn't know it before that. I just don't see this like, you know, this lost culture statement opportunity from last week being a big deal. I think they made a big culture statement yesterday. This is the first quarterback since the merger that was drafted in the top half of the first round as a quarterback that was let loose before the end of his second year. I mean, that's a big statement.

If they had made this release when the season ended, it would have been a big statement. I just don't see this like, oh, he should have done it yesterday and he missed out on this big opportunity. And therefore, he can't be trusted to change the culture. I just don't see it that way. I think cutting him yesterday was a big deal. It was enough of a statement yesterday. I don't disagree that it's enough of a statement. I do think it's a big statement.

I just think it's interesting how you walk the line of the week to make. You know the right thing to do. They knew the thing they wanted to do. They just thought he gave him one chance throughout the week. But there's a 50-50 shot, that he really gives you the chance. And they probably knew him well enough to know by the time they got to Thursday. This dude ain't ready for it. Well, then that's on that.

And that's the next thing is. Ron didn't say that. He said that he practiced well all week. Of course he did. Validates the decision. Okay. He's not going to say, like, no head coach is going to. go yeah uh the stripper gate thing happened monday we called him in he was he was a man about it for

sure but then you know as it got into wednesday you could see he was a little complacent practice really not that good uh kind of all over the place on well then he should have started he was definitely no better like then everybody's going to go what the hell did you play him yeah well he's going to say he practiced well yeah but if he really felt that way then why didn't why didn't he start heinicky should have It would have been more of a statement. We find him. We took away a C, and we're starting this guy instead of him. You know, that would really be a slap at Dwayne.

Dwayne wasn't ready. He didn't prepare himself. And then, by the way, cut him today and say, we gave him one last chance. We had a game to win. He didn't prepare the right way. He wasn't prepared. That's why we started Taylor. And he's done.

And we wish him the best of luck. I think that I think I take Ron at his word that Ron, and he says, said this yesterday too before he released him. And his Monday presser, he said, you know, why did he send him out there in the second half? And he said, I was hoping for the second half that we got the previous week, which by the way. I understand that. You're hoping he's going to feel his way through a game, which is the only thing he's ever done. And the only time he's ever had success is when he started to feel his

way through a game. I think it's just really a shame. It's such a wasted pick. Well, blame your old friend. I do. Okay. Everyone knows where the blame is on this one. Yeah, they certainly do. Don't indict me on this thing. I'm not. You knew clearly going into this.

This wasn't my pick. I know. Look, it's funny, because Tommy took credit as he does when he gets something right because he just thought that Dwayne Haskins, all of the red flags, the social media, all of that was a reflection of the kind of person he was and it wasn't going to work out. You and I both and me before you. I was the one that said, go watch Haskins. I said, I don't think he's a pro quarterback.

I don't think he's a first round pick. And you came back after the first time watching him and you said, oh, my God, he isn't. And then you really got into the film and you dissected it. This was over the phone. And I asked you, I said, this is a local dude. Should I, because what I watched was through four games at Ohio State, I'd kill him for. Yeah. And you said, yeah, he was supposed to go to Maryland.

Yeah. And then he left to go to Ohio State, kill him. No, no, no, but I said, remember when I got back from that Penn State game. This is in the middle of the college football season. I said, I don't see it with him. You and I were on the, we don't have to sit here and rehash it. You implored the people you knew in the organization not to draft him. I was against drafting Haskins as well.

Now, with that said, when I saw him play last year, I actually saw a guy that I wanted to see more of this year. I wanted to see him more. I thought there was talent there. I thought some of the things that we thought were big issues with him coming out. I thought that, you know, I'd like to see, you know, the opportunity for him to play a lot of games and grow. But the intangibles, the red flags were always there on him. The stuff that we always heard, preparation, work ethic, you had, you know, you knew this firsthand. All of the social media, you know, sensitivities, the personal.

branding, you know, emphasis in his life. All of those things are red flags. And so many people, many of you listening to this, you know, always said, stop it. You know, this is what young people do and, and, you know, OK, Boomer and all that stuff. And that's fine. But, you know, this is, you, you, he was consumed with his personal brand. He was hypersensitive to criticism on social media. He was putting out videos of himself, throwing in three-on-threes in the summer to show his body. He would retweet good grades from pro football focus and never even consider retweeting a bad grade. He would unfollow those that tweeted out bad grades and bad charts. Yeah.

Oh, he blocked him. And then, you know, he said, don't be a fan later. And the league done messed up. And look, the jersey thing with Joe, I just, again, for those of you that have already heard it, but I'm just telling Cooley, he knows what my position was. But I had Joe on the show this morning on the radio show. I just think it was, I couldn't care less about all these jerseys, but giving away a protected jersey and putting Joe on the spot was an absolute cowardly move by the owner.

And it just don't ever do it again, Dan. Don't ever do that again. Don't ever put a star Super Bowl. winning quarterback whose jersey is protected on the spot to say yay or nay for a kid that's never thrown an NFL pass before. Don't do that. Okay. There are a lot of things I'd like to say don't do.

But that's one of them. But anyway. So, I mean, the thing that, there are a couple things that bothered me the most. And keep in mind, these are all after the draft. And what I'm going to talk about is before I actually got to know DeWing. Because I did. I like DeWain. I actually, I hope he figures it out.

I don't know if he's going to to be a starting NFL quarterback. Now, I think there's a lot of things he can figure out that he'll be fine in life. He's a good kid. But I don't know if he's grown enough to be a starting NFL quarterback. Probably being a backup for two or three years is the best thing for him. But the draft party branding, the dad stuff in the media where the dad was controlling the media and what got reported about Dwayne. and the dad was going after people and only allowing certain interviews from certain people, and then the party where you're charging money and the brand things, I hate that.

I don't hate it as much if you're a fourth round, fun-loving dude who is a H-back or a receiver or something. Not to an example. I don't hate it in my position. Yeah. I might need some branding for my post-career. Yeah. But when you're a first round quarterback, there's one thing that you can do to make the most possible money.

And it's a lot of money. The one thing, be good at football. Yeah. If you're just good at football, you're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. If you're just pretty good at football, you're talking about 13, 14, 15 million dollars a year in a contract. That beats the shit out of any t-shirt sales. on the internet. No doubt.

God, so that was the thing that I hated the most, like the first round picks, and it's a flaw in the PA, and it's a flaw in some of the advice given to young players, in that you're told early through the Combine stuff and the meetings with NFL people,

it's not for long. Make your mark. Well, that's great and grand. But if you're a first-round quarterback, it should be for long. God, it's so true. Just go play football. They should take them and cut them in half by position and round and draft status and who they are and say, hey, you're a dorky outside linebacker from Illinois.

You might have some positives from doing some fun things on social media and creating a small brand and doing some charity things outside. Player B, you're a star quarterback from Ohio State taking the first round. You don't need to listen to anything outside. Block it out. Let's talk to you on a different level. You just got to watch film for like 10 hours a day. I don't think I don't think I'd have different messages. I understand your point because the fourth rounder from Illinois, you know, the odds are he's going to have a very short career.

But I think the problem is, is that there are plenty of those guys that end up having a very long career, and they focus only on football, and then that second or third contract ends up paying them a lot more money than had they not focused on it for a little branding company. Like, you know, Dwayne's Kingdom of Pride clothing line, you know, the official clothing line for Dwayne Haskins. And, you know, in his rookie year, he's tweeting out messages.

Prior to his second start, I think it was, for Thanksgiving's, you know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale opportunities. This is such bad advice. And whether, look, I don't know if it's advice. Maybe it's him. Maybe it's all initiated by him. But God, for anybody that's at a certain age, and really this goes in any sort of field,

focus on your job and how you become better at your job and how you create more value to the people that you employ, because that's how you'll end up making more. more money. In the case of an NFL quarterback, I could sit down in 30 seconds in front of a whiteboard and say, Kingdom of Pride, okay, social media follows equals, you know, let's call it the opportunity for $300,000 a year in revenue. But if you're really good at football and you focus only on this, you might make $40,000. dollars a year and have it guaranteed for five years.

That's 40 times five. 200 million, Dwayne. This is what you have to be focused on your personal brand and your emphasis on your personal brand is off-putting to many employers. Even before we get to the conversation as to whether or not it's affecting your craft. If it affects your craft, you're done. The fact that it's important to you for a lot of people and a lot of employers, it will be bothersome to them. It will be off-puting to them.

Don't off-put your employer. Prove to them that you are beyond what they drafted, beyond what they've paid a rookie deal to. This is one of the things that I remember having this conversation with Sean Springs when he got benched in October. I'm like, look, he came into a terrible situation. He was picked by the owner. None of the football people wanted him here. He had a coach who didn't want him. But you know what? Like guys that get it, you say, fuck that. I'm going to prove to Jay Gruden and to Kyle Smith and to all of these people that they were wrong and the owner was right. I'm going to be the first one in, the last one out. I'm going to know this playbook inside and out. I'm going to improve in my footwork. I am going to become the best employee and the best worker. and the most improved, and it's going to be totally about proving the football people here wrong. But that never entered his mind. And in part, Cooley, because he's too childish to have entered his mind, but also because the kiss of death,

which is owner entitlement. When you're entitled and you come into this organization and you're preferred by the owner, it is really, it's a bad position to be in, as we know. known we've seen over the years. I wonder how much he felt owner entitlement. Well, he called him Dan. He was the only one that called him Dan, okay? Everybody else calls him Mr. Snyder.

And in the game that he got pulled against the Giants or whatever, it was Dan who came down and told him, you're not going back into the game. Is it an RG3 relationship? I don't know. No, no, maybe not. I don't think it was an RG3 relationship. By any means, but it was also, it's not that uncommon. And I don't think Dan was the one that told him he's not going back into the game.

I think that the doctors, I know what he said, I know what happened. The doctors told him back in the game, he's not going back in the game. He wanted to go back in the game. No, you don't need to go back in the game. But it wasn't uncommon for Dan to be down there with any player with an injury, where they went into the locker. He always went into the locker and check on players with injuries. Maybe not West Switzer if he went into the locker.

Maybe not Kirk Cousins. No, I think he would have went down for Kirk Cousins. If Terry McLaren went into the locker room or next week, Logan Thomas went into the locker room or someone that's impacting his team, he's going to the locker. Do you think the owner entitlement thing with DeWain? I really don't. I think that that's just he felt close enough. But I also think Dan wants to be called Dan by the players. I don't want to be called Mr. Snyder by all the players.

Why does he force a coach who's older than him to call him Mr. I don't think he forces a coach to call him Mr. Snyder. Whatever. Do you think, do you think, if he had, I think I would have vomited. Do you think Duane will get a second chance? Oh, he's going to be in a camp next year. Okay. First round quarterbacks always get a second chance and most times get a third chance.

Also, was I right? I told Tommy earlier, I remember having this information, not from you. that the football people wanted either sweat or Savage Jr., the Maryland safety, who ended up being taken by the Packers six picks later at 21. It was one of those two players that they would have selected, had they been able to convince Dan that Dwayne wasn't the right pick there? Yeah, that was, I think, of 100% true. Yeah.

I mean, it's crazy because they would have taken sweat. you didn't know sweat was going to fall as far as he did. Well, he had the heart condition, you know, concerns, remember. Right. But I think they would have taken sweat. Okay. I know that, I know. Because I know Dan knew the football people wanted sweat,

and that's what was a driving factor in, now you can get your guy. He's still here. Let's go ahead and get your guy. Go make the trade. But can you imagine, like, God, they take a savage and sweat? I know. Yeah.

if they had taken Savage and then traded back into the first round and gotten sweat. Or just taking sweat and then fell into Drew Locke in the second round where he went? Yeah. Well, you like Drew Locke. I did too. He's had some option downs, but I still like Drew Locke. I think he's going to be good in Denver. All right.

Now that we know for sure, I think we knew this anyway, but it's no longer even an option that Haskins is not part of this moving forward. Who's the starting quarterback in 2021? I don't know. How would you handle this? You are definitely interested in what Kyle Allen brings. I think that you're definitely really still intrigued and have Alex Smith under contract

with how he progresses through another offseason and if he's healthy. And if you were to say Alan, or if you were to say Alex Smith, is your starter, but we see Allen as a comparable to Alex Smith type player that we can go into the season with those two, but you still acquire somebody else. You got to go draft a guy. So you would do it through the draft. What about Matt? What about Matt Stafford? This isn't, this isn't offseason yet. This is just like thinking the easiest process. Carson Wentz is

available. He's definitely intriguing to me. What about Matt Stafford? Matt Stafford is big time intriguing to me right now, maybe even more than whence, because you have a team that can win and you're lacking a receiver and a quarterback on offense. Stafford would answer that question right now. And I think Stafford is a guy that takes you from a team that's scoring 18, 19, 20 points a game to another to 27. I think Stafford's worth a touchdown a game. And so if you're saying we need to score 20 plus, Stafford will do that for you right now. What do you think? Like I don't know.

Like Stafford right now? Like 34? Is he even at all? Five? Is he? I think he is. I think he was in the league four or five years after I was. He is 32.

Yeah. I wouldn't be hesitant at all on Stafford. But I think if you're going to go. the Stafford route, you got to keep in mind, you're going to have to pay a boatload of money at the quarterback position where you have two guys that you could work with and you can still draft a dude that isn't going to cost you a ton of money. You are going to have to pay Jonathan Allen, Duran Payne, Montez Sweat in a couple years. You are going to put a boatload of money into your defensive line if you want to keep that together. Yeah. So like the idea of think

what you need as a team. How many points do you think you need to score if you believe in your defense that much? Do you need a legit baller quarterback and how much is Stafford going to cost you? I don't think about it that way. I know you do. I think about a defense that's emerging that you add a couple pieces has a chance to be a top five elite defense next year and for the next few years. And I don't want to get that opportunity waiting on a young quarterback or rolling the dice

on an unknown quarterback who, by the way, they might not even like anybody that they'd have the ability to draft. never forced that. I've always been a Stafford fan, as you know, I said many years ago, believe it or not, people, if you didn't hear it, I always like Stafford more than I like cousins. And I, if Stafford becomes available because Detroit waves them, which they've got an opportunity to do in this offseason, it's their out opportunity or if they decide to trade them, there's going to be a big market for Matt Stafford if they move on from Matt Stafford. Understand there are teams that are closer to thinking they can.

win the whole thing with a quarterback, like San Francisco, like New Orleans, if Breeze is gone. You know, I could probably come up with another three or four off the top of my head here if you gave me a minute or if you gave me 10 seconds, but those are the first two that pop into mind. How about the Rams and their opportunity with a real quarterback? So, you know, Washington may- But they just paid golf. Yeah, and Washington would have to move on from Alex and take, you know, and take the the opportunity to get out of the deal next year,

or this coming off season. Anyway, I think netting it out, I think the veteran path is the way to go, and it's not Alex Smith. I think they should bring Kyle Allen back, but Kyle Allen should sit behind a statured, resumeed veteran quarterback that doesn't waste the next two to three years of what could be an outstanding defense.

that's what I would do. I completely understand where you're coming from. No, there's some guy. There's going to be some opportunities. I mean, how about, probably wouldn't have to pay that much. Well, Mariotta's got another year in Oakland. He did a two-year deal. But if they wanted to move on a bar and keep Mariotta,

that would be, I think, potentially intriguing. The answer to Cam Newton is an emphatic no. His career looks over. He looks terrible. I've been a James Winston fan. I don't know why because 30 picks would not be a Super Bowl contending season, even if it came with 35 touchdown passes. I like Dak Prescott a lot.

I just can't see him making it out of Dallas. What about Sam Darnold? I like Darnold. The Jets are going to have a top five pick. So now all of a sudden the Jets just beat two playoff teams back to back with Darnold. So they don't necessarily have to waste a top pick on a quarterback. I like Donald. I like Donald, too.

It hasn't been good enough. No, it hasn't been. But Donald would be a guy that would be a potential, a potential trade type of situation. Yeah. Matt Ryan's a possibility. You know, if the Falcons decided to go in another direction in a younger direction.

I think you could take a look at it like you're talking about and just say, you know, for example, Indy. They know they have a good defense and they know they have a good defense and they know I have some players, they just needed the quarterback. Yeah. Went out and got 38 or 39-year-old Philip Rivers, and they said, look, we got putting a bind with the Andrew Luck situation, which isn't that, it's a different way it came about,

but it's not that different than Washington is, we got put in bind with the Alex Smith situation, but we still think we have a team that could win. Why do we want to build? The funny thing is they may win 11 games and not make the playoffs. Isn't that crazy in the AFC that you're going to have an 11-win team, not make the playoffs? Yep.

There are so many scenarios for this playoff. This is a great December. It's going to be a great NFL playoffs. I hope Washington's a part of it. By the way, I mentioned to Tommy. We're now one and a half point favorites. I think we're going to win Sunday night. I really do.

I think we're going to win and we're going to host Tampa Bay in the first round of the postseason. I think that one and a half point favorite is telling you right now that Alex Smith is going to play. There's no doubt that's a big part of it. All right. Coolie's film breakdown right after this word from one of our sponsor. All right, Cooley's film breakdown brought to you by my bookie today. Every sports fan knows that it's not about how you start the season. It's about how you finish.

And Cooley, the smell test, 5, 2, and 1 last weekend after a 6-1 and 1 weekend before. I'm closing in on 500. I think I'm two games now below 500 after being at one point, like 16 or 17 games below 500. This season's going the opposite direction of last year where I started fast, finished slowly. This year started slowly finishing quickly. I may have, by the way, a bowl pick at the very end of this show today. Sign up at mybooky.ag right now, and they will match your deposit halfway up to $1,000. And while you're at it, you can ring the holidays in with a bunch of giveaway opportunities. MyBooky's hooking players up with free bets, casino chips, blackjack

tournaments, huge cash prizes, and it's all week long. To get in on the action, it's simple. Sign up, make your first deposit, enter my promo code, Kevin, D.C. to claim your bonus and start taking advantage of the holiday freebies. Head over to MyBooky to discover this year's batch of fun with on-site promotions, and you'll win big with multiple days of giveaways at MyBooky.ag. This holiday season, bet with the best, bet with my bookie. All right, it's time for Coolie. least film breakdown we're going in depth play by play the cooley film breakdown here's cooley and kevin the film breakdown is going to be a little bit different today we can give some grades but again this goes back to when robert played tampa and i said it's hard to grade a lot of this

oh boy it's really not that hard to grade a lot of the rest of the play it's just bad enough with the quarterback position that they didn't have a chance to win but this game in particular some grades and there's some things that you can see from pretty much everybody else on the field i will say this having no receivers hurt them in this game having no terry mccloren definitely definitely hurt them in this game sure so because there's no question that camsims is not a number one that gandy golden has no business in in any realm of the nfl being a 57 snap a game number two like that like that i would play to robert foster at two more than I would have played

Gandy Golden and if you were watching him as the game went on there's not a doubt that he should have been off the field same time as Dwayne yeah and then three

before we get into some of the stuff Carolina plays a three three front you gashed them when you ran the ball yeah why did they stop why did they stop I don't know it makes no sense to me

like they'd have a good run they'd get a first down and they'd go drop back I'll get through it because I just wanted to go through some of this game. The early part of this game, Duane's late with the ball, he's got a wild overthrow. He throws behind, way behind Logan Thomas on an out route. The timing of the motions and snaps are not good early in this game. The tempo of the offense at the line of scrimmage dictating what happens before the ball snapped is poor.

I mean, the first good throw he makes, he's, I don't know, what? drives in or whatever it is, it's that sidearm throw to Sims Jr. on the sideline, he's rolling left out of the pocket. He's not over the line on that throw. He wasn't. No, he's a yard and a half behind the line of scrimage. Good. Thanks for checking.

And then he gets to the interception where he's just staring Logan Thomas down. He looks to me like he's looking directly at the linebacker dropping right into Logan Thomas, saying, I'm going to throw it anyway. Just got to throw the check down. linebackers 13 yards down the field. Last time I checked, our checktowns are pretty good, especially when they drop that soft. You just got to throw the check down.

They're not good early in ballgames. They're not consistent with what they're doing offensively. They're not taking advantage of what the defense is giving them, and their quarterbacks have not been good getting into rhythm early in games. They have not done a good job getting any of their quarterbacks into an early rhythm. For the most part, almost all the rhythm to quarterbacks seem to be in that two-minute possession right before the end of the half. If you think back over the progression of this season, more times than not, the true rhythm started when they hurried it up. Yes.

And they got into a two-minute situation right before the end of the half. Man, Alex Smith's back in. Let's hurry it up right now against Philly. Let's put the pressure on them. Let's hurry it up. Let's go quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. Let's get some short game, some three-step drops. Let's get the ball out of his hand.

And that's what they should have done with Duane. So I get to that, I think it's the fourth drive of the first half or the fifth drive, the two-minute drive, three minutes, six seconds left. They start out. Gibson's got a 22-yard run around the edge. 22 yards, sheriff, heck of a job, pulling and pinning. Rui, pull and kickout. Logan Thomas pins the edge.

We're off. We're rolling. Gap scheme run. We're damn good against the three-man front. Get leverage blocks and you can get guys in space with the offensive. line could have run gap scheme all day all day against these guys gives it makes a good cut 22 yards down the field we got something going on they stay in a soft three three front here we go next play let's drop it back on first and 10 she got plenty of time yeah i don't yeah yeah plenty of time

just keep running the football jesus you this is a one yard gain dwayne doesn't read it out in second 10 okay here's from second 10 well it's run it again mackisick Nine yards. Second, ten. Third one, let's run it to McKissick. Here we go again. You still have some time. Right.

Potentially, right there, you're running right into the two-minute warning somewhere around midfield. You're going to get to the two-minute warning. The ball was snapped like nine, ten seconds left, eight seconds left before the two-minute warning. It's a great situation to run it again on first and ten. Dwayne throws a checkdown, and McKissick,

he ends up getting 13 yards. He goes out of bounds on that play. Right. he cuts that up and that's 23 yard gain he's trying to do the right thing but he lost track of the time so then you get a first in 10 it's an rPO call duane should have thrown the screen missed the rPO look he's got leverage to sims on this little quick screen two got two receivers outside blocking him he's the inside guy hands it off two yard loss you can't miss that on an rPO man plus now we're inside of the two minute warning maybe we don't have enough time to run the ball but even

If you do, like just lock it up and run it. You even run it on them. Run a gap scheme. Don't run that zone stuff with RPO where you're not fully blocking the backside. Either run it or throw the stupid screen, and he should have thrown the screen. Second and 12, Dwayne misses an easy slant opportunity. He throws the flat out to McKissick. The slants open behind it on a second and 12.

You know, one yard gain. It's crap. Third and 11, the next play. This is where he rolls left and throws one low to Cam Sims, drops it dropped three balls in this game went right through his arms down there on the sideline yeah that was actually not a bad throw there is literally zero reason for him to leave the pocket here right he is working the right side of the field he has a three man rush he is looking i think at stephen sims who's clearly covered in the middle of the field and if it's not it's gandy golden who's clearly

covered on the outside all he's got to do is transition plant and throw back across the field in timing to cam sims who's running a post comeback 10 yards to the post and then bend hard back outside. Wide open. Wide, wide, wide ass open. No reason to leave. He does that slow, weird, awkward spin out and roll left thing that takes him about a second and a half to pivot out.

It's a low ball. It's not a great ball. He's wide open on the sideline. Ball could have hit him in the chest. But he's running left. Still should have been caught. Right. Then he throws a pick on the last play of the half.

that's that last play of the half, just throw the checkdown to Logan Thomas in the flat. There were seven seconds left. Let him run out of bounds with one second left. You got a hell merry opportunity. Like, you're not getting, okay, Keff, here's what you're going to get. You're going to get a 15-yard-out route

that's going to get you down outside of field goal range. A little bit closer for Hail Mary opportunity. Or you can just throw the flat right now to Logan Thomas. What do you want to do? Let's throw the pick into double coverage. Jesus. Did he look? Nope, he looked right at where he was throwing the ball.

No, no, no, no. Did he look to you, remember I described him yesterday as sort of borderline disinterested, and we know he was unprepared, but that he just wanted it to end. Like, he didn't want to be out there. I think I would have a hard time saying that. He looked like he looks when he's playing poorly. Like, he's just frustrated. I don't think he, I don't know.

I don't think there was a feeling in Dwayne that he didn't want to be there. I think he knew. I think the week leading up to it made him feel like, you know what, there's so much pressure on me right now. Plus, it's a big game, and I almost wish that I had been benched, and I didn't have to come out here. That was the worst he's ever been, Cooley.

The giant game when he came in for the very first time off the bench, fine. But in terms of starting a game and what was that his 14th start, whatever it was, that was the worst one. It was the worst one. It was the worst one. But there's been a lot of starts that are comparable, especially first halves. So you get into the second half of this game, Dwayne's dog shit, right? Yeah. You got, after you give up like a seven and a half minute drive or whatever it is, you're still down 20 to three. Right? Yeah.

You're still down 23. Like, you got time to stay balanced. Yeah, they didn't. First and 10, drop back. Dwayne's throwing the button hook to Cam Sims. Almost a pick because he's so damn late on the throw. Sims comes out of the break open on the hook. The ball, he's waiting on Sims to break open.

That is the worst thing the quarterback can do. Anticipate the throw. You're not looking at Sims beating the corner. You're looking at the flat player carrying the, carrying the defensive flat player out of the equation so you have a window to throw. You counting on Sims to be open, you as a quarterback just got to make sure underneath coverage isn't there. If I'm a coach, this is one of those ones where I'm like, what do you want to do? Pull him.

Just get him out. You can't sit there and jerk the ball off. No. It's got to be out. Ball doesn't want to be jerked out. You've got to be able to speed up your process and get it out. He struggles to speed up his process. By the way, Sim sits there.

and waits on the ball. Still could have been a completion. Sim sits there like, I'm going to sit here and wait for the ball to get to me. Like, dude, run through the ball. There's a play, a Teddy Bridgewater throw in the game to Robbie Anderson, I think it was.

Oh, God, he attacks the shit out of it. Jimmy Morland is waiting for the pick that's coming right into his arms, and here comes Robbie Anderson just attacking the ball, takes it right away from him. It was great. All receivers don't do that.

So then you end up getting into a third and two, which is its biggest, throw of the day. Right. Where he scrambles around. Well, he didn't need to scramble around. Oh, boy. Didn't need to go flying all around.

Couldn't sit in the pocket and delivered a throw to Sims who ended up being wide open on the sideline. But his biggest throw of the day is a 50-yard throw that's like across the field to a wide open receiver, who they left. Yeah, did they just leave him? Was it just a busted covered? Yeah, they just busted. They didn't see him as Duane ran left.

Maybe that's the plan. Pivot, run left, try to throw all the way across the field. Your arm's strong. Let's see if we can get guys open over there. So he gets 50 yards down field. They've been gashing them running the football. Out of gun, Gap scheme runs. And they go with a fucking toss where they're out leverage to that side.

Sprinkle comes out, bypasses a corner and Shaq Thompson. They blow it up in the back field. And you're like, God, they're playing three guys on the line of scrimmage. Run inside. Yeah. You don't, toss is not a good play here. I'm playing a soft box with outside leverage. Can I just bring up one thing before that play?

Back to the 50-yard play to Sims. You know, there's like this thing that quarterbacks and analysts will say, you never throw back across the field. You know, if you're rolling left, you don't come back across the field. Especially in the red zone, I sort of feel like if a quarterback's rolling right and, you know, that the tight end or a back or somebody who sort of just leaks his way into the left side of the end zone and the corner of the end zone, that just a chuck, like quarterback's rolling right, the intention all along is he's going to turn and he's going to fire it back the other way. But because there's this rule, you don't throw back across the field.

You know, it's like almost the defensive players know that the rule is he's not allowed to throw it back. And I think all the time, especially on the rollouts in the red zone that cut off half the field, they're very low make probability plays I often feel unless the ball comes out immediately to a fullback or a receiver, you know, who did an in and then an out, you know, towards the pylon that sometimes if you just leak some tight end who's lined up on the right side at the line of scrimmage, and he goes towards the right and then he just sort of slowly meanded. is way back over. The quarterbacks, you just turn and chuck it in that direction and that that person's going to be wide open all the time. Call that the oh shit play. I mean, why don't you see more of that? It seems to me like whenever you get a replay, this really goes for red zone plays more than

anything else, that there's always somebody who's way over on the other side going, look, I'm here, but the rule is can't throw back across the field in the opposite direction. That's a, that's a recipe for disaster. Well, in the red zone, when you have basically, you know, the end zone as a defender, just throw it back towards the other corner of the end zone and see what happens. No defender is going to be there. This isn't really throwing back across the field. I know.

It is. It is throwing the ball all the way across the field. I'm not sure if anybody had hung that he would have seen them. but my i mean kem sims is open by 15 yards i'm watching this again and it's like well shack thompson decides to rush yeah he tried to rush that was and it looks like he should have probably stayed in coverage yeah like he ends up adding to this rush i don't know who should have stayed out in the flat to be honest with you for carolina well he's

flushed left and he never comes back and goes right but he did that time yeah all right what else um so then after the second 16 you throw a checkdown to McKissick, you get 14 yards. It's a third and two. It's a good play. Let's just throw checkdowns to McKissick. But here's a question for you. The third and two play ends up being a batted ball.

I'm third and two against a three, three front. I'm running the ball. Twice. I'm running that. I'm committed to fourth down. I got McKeate. I got Peyton Barber and I got Antonio Gibson, and I got a three-man front. How many?

Two runs dead in a row. And by the way, Kev, I'm going for it on that fourth and two. I thought about it as I watched this film and I say it to myself, this is the only fucking chance we've had down there anywhere near the end zone. Our quarterback's struggling big time. I am counting on this offensive line who's played well to block it up and get a fourth and two. I'm going for it. I don't give a damn about getting this to a two-score game.

I don't know if I'm going to get back down there again. I might need the field goal later. Well, that's fine, but then you should have run it on third and two, which is what we're saying anyway, and then run it on fourth and one. Like if you didn't make it. But the funny thing is, is just how many times, especially in the red zone, in third and two situations, we've seen shotgun and we've seen some sort of zone run with Gibson or Barber or maybe even McKissick, usually Gibson or Barber. And it always delivers. And it's going to deliver against, you know, a basic three-man front with three behind it. Yeah, I thought that this was the first game that I really questioned some of the decision-making and play calling from Turner.

And here's what it is. That's what I really think. He just doesn't know the direction to take this offense with Duane. But we've seen Duane. At any time, he can make a throw, so let's drop him back. Let's see, we're down 20 to 3. The truth is McKissick's wide open on this play. Oh, yeah.

He scores. Does he drop it? No, the ball got deflected. I know it got deflected, but it looks like, watch the play again. It looks like from the end zone cop, you had a chance to catch the ball. It was deflected and it was low when he was moving away from it. Slide and get it. There's nobody out there.

He wouldn't have gotten the first down if he had come back to get it, more likely than not. But the point is, if it doesn't get deflected, I don't know if it was an accurate throw anyway because he's missed these kinds of throws, but it would have been, had it been an accurate throw. It wouldn't have been a first down. It would have been a touchdown. No doubt.

find a window to throw that ball. Right. That's the other thing is find a window to throw that ball. Yeah. So now we're sitting here saying, okay, it's third and two. We're deflected. We can't go down fourth and two because we don't trust our quarterback, right? That's, I think, really why you don't go for it in that fourth and two situation.

You get a stop. You come back out in the fourth quarter. It's 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter. You're down two scores. You can still stay balanced. I know. I know. You can still stay with a.

balanced offense. Fifteen of the first 16 plays of the second half for throws. One run and it was that six-yard loss. That was it. It's insanity. Well, I mean, you know, score dictates this stuff. And I do, well, it shouldn't have in this case because there was enough time. But I think the eight-minute drive to start the third quarter, which is why I said to you

yesterday, I know the defense didn't allow points and, you know, stuff in the second half, they allowed an eight-minute drive to start the third quarter. Okay, they ended up getting a play that stopped the drive from Chase Young, but you're down 20 to 3. You need a 3-and-out, brother, to start the second half. Not 13 plays in 8 minutes. You need one, but you still got out the field. Okay, but Chris, you still gave him a chance to win a ball.

You got six minutes to go in the third quarter down 20 to 3. You needed the ball back with 13-12 to go in the third quarter. No, you don't. Okay, well, you needed it. with more than six and a half minutes to go. You still had four possessions left by the time you got the ball back. Look, I'm not saying that I would. You just need to not give up.

I would have been balanced for the very, for the sole reason that my quarterback had zero chance of succeeding not being balanced. That's good. That's the sole reason. The other, the partner to the sole reason is that they're begging you to run it. They're basically saying, run it.

And the thing is coolly, too. The way they were running it, it wasn't going to be, you know, four yards here, five yards here, third and one. They were getting chunk runs. Like they were moving the ball

better on the ground in terms of yardage gained than they were through the air. In the first half, Gibson had nine carries for 67 yards. The quarterback threw for 36 yards. Hey, what do you want to do, coach? I just feel like he's going to get,

hot. Well, you know, he did last week. Here's my other complaint as we're just talking about play calling. They ran zero draws to soft defense a lot of times in the first half into the third and early fourth quarter of this game. Zero draw plays. They ran zero screens to the back, which they can't do. They don't know why they can't divide that.

It's the easiest play to create. just go pull 10 Chiefs screens and run them that way. Chiefs get two or three big screens a week to the running back. Andy Reid Doug. They got a lot of guys getting downfield in the secondary, but that's what Carolina was doing to us anyways. Because they believe that Duane would make bad throws and make bad decisions, which he did.

Screens and draws, really good friend to the quarterback, especially into soft defense. You think you'd be able to hit the screen with a touch pass? Maybe they're concerned. Here comes the pressure, and there's a McKissick. The whole thing set out. He's got three linemen in front of him. Oh, he overthrows it.

You know, watching really good screen teams like the Andy Reid coach teams, whether it's Peterson or Reed or anybody else, or watching, you know, the Gary Kubiak and Stefansky screens, like with Dalvin Cook in Minnesota or Chubb and those guys in Hunt in Cleveland. It really is, it's so beautiful to watch when you can get your a really big time running back playmaker with blockers in front of them against an outman defense. And usually what faces the defense are DBs that they're trying to block. It really is such a great way.

The problem is, is too many coaches. call it Cooley, this is my opinion. Second 12. They call it in the obvious situation. Second 14. You know what Minnesota does and you know what Andy Reid does? There are a lot of first and 10 screens. You know, and those, because they look like play action,

because they run a lot of play action. And then here comes a touch throw to Kareem Hunt or to Dalvin Cook or to Clyde Edwards-Aler. And it's all of a sudden it's a 27-yard player. It's a 14-yard play, but it's a chain-moving first-down play. I like when the screens are used in non-obvious screen situations. It's because they understand that in first and 10 or second-and-10 or less run possible situations, that a screen isn't just another pass play.

It's another facet of balance. Right. that's the thing that people that they get caught they get caught up in so much with got to run at 50-50 the screen isn't a run or a pass it's another balanced type play that helps both the run and the pass it's also where the zone read and rPO stuff comes in too it's all a facet of balance and they understand that i also like i don't think turner understands i also like um And not every team's capable of doing this, okay, because you have to have the receivers, you know. But I like the second and 15, you know, let's not run a draw.

Let's not run a screen to get eight back or to get 10 back to set up a third makeable. Let's throw it deep. I mean, let's take the shots here. I love that. Yeah, this isn't where they're expecting us to take the shots. Let's take the shots because they're thinking it's coming underneath and they just have to rally to make a tackle and then it's third and nine or third and eight i'm if they don't and if they if they play it deep then here we go there's logan thomas sitting over the ball for seven yards and

we're still back into a third and eight third nine right um it just seems so NFL predictable and you know when you watch college games it's so different but then again the talent's different and in the talent on defense in particular is different but anyway um all right go ahead what else on Duane. Okay, so let's finish this last drive with Duane. Get it in the fourth quarter. You still stay balanced. They choose not to stay balanced.

The first throw is as bad as it gets, first and ten. Is that the gift to throw? To Duane's left, it's no. Is that the Sims throw? It's two Sims throw in a double coverage. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. To the left, they have two slants. To the right, they have a flat and a slant and go, sluggo, slant and go.

there's a two-shell coverage or middle of the field open coverage two safeties the slant go should be dead just throw the other slant on the left side throw the quick slant it's two shell take the easy play don't force it into double coverage right there that was stupid you check down to gibson on the second down and then the third down he throws it to robert foster who does a hell of a job getting what? Oh. The 20 yards plus on the crossing route. Outruns a dude gets 20 yards plus.

You can sort of see why they like it. We can still stay balanced with 1301 now on first and 10. No problem. Choose to throw it. It's batted down to McKissick. Again, getting balls batted down. Yeah, amazing. Second and 10.

We're going to throw it. You get Logan Thomas for seven. You get third and three. You get a defensive holding on a third and three, whoever was covering Logan Thomas. But he rolls out and. throws one to Gandy Golden, that Golden just drops. Yeah.

She's just like, my God, we can't throw and catch the football. Now 12.09. Can't throw and catch the football. First and 10 again could still stay balanced, couldn't we? Nope, we're going to throw it to a blanketed Logan Thomas on a crossing route and in completion. We're back to second and ten. We've now had three second and tens on on this drive where we could have stayed balanced. Get a check down to McKissick. And then you throw a little screen out to Logan Thomas on, what, What, third and five? Shit blocking by Sims Jr.

No attempt to help block. And you get to a fourth and two, and my God. Okay, before that. When we don't have a quarterback that can read. Before the fourth and two. Go ahead. You just said something about Sims Jr. that I hesitated saying yesterday because I hate,

I think it's really, I hate the criticism that criticizes somebody's heart. but Sims Jr. when I watch him, I don't think he tries very hard. I don't think he competes very hard. That's my impression of him. I think that's a really hard accusation because you don't really know what's in their heart. But when I watch him, I see a guy, just like I said about Inman. And by the way, they cut Inman last week.

You saw that. I don't see a guy that's trying hard enough or competing hard enough. Anyway, the fourth and two. Watch the third and two. Watch the third and five. Let me pull it up. I throw a little out to Logan Thomas with two receivers in front to block. Sims Jr. just absorbs it, gets blown up, and Logan Thomas gets three yards.

If Sims just goes and cut walks out there. He didn't want any part of that block. Don't want none. Don't want none of that. Just so we're clear, like let's be clear of the situation that we're in right here as a player on this team. You are down 20 to 6. you are driving. It is a third and five.

This is to clinch the division. Yeah. Go play hard. Yeah, he doesn't. Cooley, he doesn't. Oh, my God. There's got to be a moment. Like, this is a third and seven in the first drive of the first half of the season.

We're like, ah, God, I got to be better than that. But in this moment, don't want none, doesn't work. Nope. All right. So you get to this fourth and third. two. We've already had Dwayne not balls batted, not be able to read coverage to the right side of the field and we get to this fourth and two and he drops back. They are running a mesh concept where normally there would be two crossing routes, but instead of crossing routes, they would run

Cam Sims and Logan Thomas on whips. He reads this to the back first. He looks on this fourth and two to McKissick in the flat. It's fine. I wouldn't want to read it out that way, but he looks to McKissick in the flat immediately as mackisick is covered by leverage logan thomas is wide open should have just banged it on logan thomas it's a two-yard gain there's a touchdown throw that mohomes threw to kelsey in the end zone in way tighter coverage zip it into logan thomas boom back hip throw conversion no problem done fuck the cam sims that we're going to talk about here in one second that he misses logan thomas if you're reading this across the board flat immediately to logan thomas Covered and flat, whoop, Logan Thomas.

Boom, easy, easy throw. Right. And that's the way he... Watch it. Yeah, no, I'm watching it right now because I focus on... That's an across-the-board progression. Right, I focused on the camp sims, which you'll get to, but in order, no McKissick, but Logan Thomas is his next read, and Logan Thomas is open, and there's enough room for him

to make the quick throw and we move the sticks. Yep. Plenty of time, but he bypasses Logan Thomas and goes to Sims in the middle of the middle of the filled, which is ridiculous because coverage is soft enough. So he's looking over the ball at about eight yards to Sims, who is not there. And then instead of just progressing into the third part of the triangle, which this play is, it's a triangle play. You read this as a triangle out.

His can decides the first. I got a run. Now, Sheriff. Yes, he was looking to Sims Jr. He just bypassed Logan Thomas, which is weird because Logan's open. but then he scrambles and you're like god now brandon sheriff your star player gets blown up on this play that said god i hope he goes to sims junior if he's got one second more in the pocket brandon gets beat with the spin move but the ball should have been out twice by now yeah but cams

sims not sims jr is the one standing by himself with a sign that says i am open and nobody's in the same zip code that I'm in. Can you just throw it to me? You could throw it way up into the air and no one's going to be able to get here in time. There's no question about it. But the thing that would frustrate me the most as a coach in fourth and two is watch the end zone copy as Dwayne hits his top step. Logan Thomas has two yards of separation from the inside defender and there's a

defender coming down from down on his back that's four yards. behind him. It's an easy throw. And there is a massive throwing window between sheriff and Moses. Yeah, I see it. Should have been to Logan Thomas. He hits his fifth step. This is a no-brainer throw. This is an easy benching through the game. Now you're into the fourth quarter and you watch this drive where you couldn't stay balanced. You locked into a defensive holding on one of these calls. You had no first down completions. It's like, what do we what are we going to do here? This is a no-brainer. Hineke.

I thought Hineke was going to live in this game. Dwayne was an F, just so we're clear. Yeah. I just wanted to go through this game because I think Scott Turner was an F. Scott Turner was an F. Yeah. I didn't think Scott Turner did a good job. So I wanted to progress through this game because I thought this team had opportunities, even with Duane, to score 20.

Right. So you get to Hineke, who on the first play makes a pretty good throw. the second play makes a good throw on a dig route to Gandy Golden, but pull up the second play for Heineke, his second play of that drive. Yeah. If you're reading this out, you're trying to clear the middle of the field with Logan Thomas running across deep down the middle of the field.

You read that as number one. If anybody was pulled with that, then you go bang to the dig. Right, but nobody pulled. Who the fuck is covering Logan Thomas? Nobody goes with Logan Thomas. But he's probably expecting Logan Thomas and for the dig to be open, but nobody wants to look at them. I don't care what you expect.

The way this is read out, it's not often thrown, but there is nobody to cover. The safety does not move for an instant with Logan Thomas. He was wide open. He is wide open. And then Golden drops a dig. Yeah, Golden really struggled. But I thought, you know, Heineke, he's hanging in the pocket. He gets to Logan Thomas laid.

He makes a quick throw to Sims. It makes a big throw down the seam to Logan Thomas. I thought he made a baller throw to Cam Sims who dropped one deep over the top. Right. That was an, he read that out really well. They had a deep corner out from the inside with Sims Jr. And the outside, they had Cam Sims on a post. You're really, there's a four across the top quarters coverage.

He's looking at the safety of that side. If that safety holds on the corner route, let's let it fly. He lets it fly. It's a great ball. Sims has got to come up with that thing. That's a drop. Yep. I mean, it would be a really good catch, but a receiver, a number two receiver has to make that catch.

Yeah, no doubt. If you want to see a running back have a hard day, watch McKissick on that play. On the deep shot to Camson? Pull that play up and watch McKissick. Great job stepping up. Here's what I would say in McKissick. Awesome job stepping up at the pocket and giving him time. You took one for the team, buddy.

Hold on what I'm watching. he just gets waxed yeah he got run over all right nice job jd good job hey did your job didn't you technique no responsibility yes the bad throw that he makes is the next throw is this is this the one that went over the head over sims junior but you are talking about effort this is the shittiest effort for a football down the seam in a big situation sim junior that i have seen this is turned it down. No thank you. Now, it's one thing to turn it down when you're blocking somebody and you don't want to

take that hit. But it's another one when you're open up the seam and you know the ball should have been on you. It's a little bit late and he did airmail that ball. Okay, that ball's overthrown. But it's not as overthrown as it looks because Sims quits on the route and then he doesn't even jump. Well, he thought he was going to take a big hit.

He thought he was going to take a big hit and he said, fuck that. Turn it down. It's not as bad. He's just a little bit late. He's not going. And it's not going to get a hand on it, though. I mean, that's way over his head. But this goes hand in hand with.

It doesn't stop running. This goes hand in hand with what we said. I mean, I hesitated to say it yesterday, and I didn't say it. I'm telling you, I did not like the way Sims Jr. competed at all. And that's why I was so loud yesterday saying, if they put him back on punt returns in a game, you have to win Sunday night, they should have their heads examined. because this guy is not fit to return a punt.

He can't catch anything, and he doesn't compete hard enough. I didn't say the compete part yesterday. I'm saying it today because I really felt that watching him on Sunday. I can't disagree, and I want everybody to know one thing, too, when we're talking about this. He stops running the second this ball is released because he knows there's somebody over the top. If he doesn't stop running and goes and jumps for this ball, just keep in mind, you can't really hit. a defenseless receiver. Now, guys do, but this is more seven-on-seven.

This should be a fearless moment to stretch the seam hard and go up and get this ball. This ball is not as bad as it looks. Now, it's not a good ball. I mean, at 5'8, he has no chance to catching it. Let me put it to you this way. If there was no coverage there, if this was one-on-one, this ball gets caught. I don't agree with you. Watch it again.

I'm watching it over and over again. He's a short, I know he's stopped and he's afraid of getting hit. All that's true. The ball was also six feet over his head. That's what happens when you start fucking shuffling down the scene. But if you run through it, it's still going to be over his head. I will bet. I will guarantee you on my life that if you just run and there's nobody there, this ball's caught in stride.

Okay. What is? Not with his hands. Okay. Now, now we're factoring in a different part of this equation. But as far as egregious ball, I don't think so. All right. What's next with Heineke?

So, I mean, he gets him down the field. I thought he did a really good job. The only thing I think he misses here, I think he misses when he falls down on the sack. Sims Jr.'s open. He sacked himself. He sacked himself. He did.

He trips up and sacks himself. Sims would have been the last reading that progression. But he sacks himself. He gets to a third and eight. it's then there's some miscommunication. I'm not sure who it is, but between Logan Thomas and Robert Foster on the side that he throws the third and eight deep into the end zone. There's no chance there's a holding on West Switzer.

I cannot see it. I cannot find it. I don't know what they called. They did call holding. You get to third and 18, which is now my newest scribe. It's a three-man rush. Why are you keeping a McKissick end to block it up?

Right. They went four burts into the end zone to drop eight into the end zone. locked it up with six to protect against three. Did you like the way Gandy Golden was really working hard to get open? Then Gandy Golden still has a chance, and it is the worst attempt at a 500 ball of all time. 500. Yeah, I don't know.

Gany Golden's terrible. He didn't. Why did they have him out there for that many snaps? No idea. He's terrible. I mean, that was his first real opportunity. He made a heck of a throw to McKissick off a little bit. Look, here's the thing I liked with Heinecke.

Had a couple good scrambles when he had to scramble. It wasn't just soft coverage, Kev. They blitzed. They came after him. He had to throw hot twice. He was decisive and made some good decisions with the football. There was one throw that's a little bit late. But on the last drive, big throw vertical to Logan Thomas,

that Logan dropped down the scene before he has a couple good scrambles. Logan dropped another throw down the first. seem they had six or seven drops we can't throw and catch the ball here and then he extends the play staying kind of alive in the pocket and throws a touchdown at kisick to give him a chance for an on-sides kick heine key was fine i thought heinickees was a b plus in this game if not better he throws he throws a catchable ball doesn't he i mean the catchable ball yeah it's thrown with a lot of touch even the even the deeper balls there's not you know there's not a lot of gun slinging there not a lot of gun slinging i like him i thought he was a b

plus in this game. Game a chance. You think they can win with him if he's got to play Sunday? I don't know. Yeah. Yes, the answer is yes. The answer is yes because I think you've got to find a way to score 20. Right. So, yes.

You asked about Gandy Golden. He has zero fluidity. He stumbles a ton. He has no idea how to stem his routes. He looks like he's not trying, but I think it's because he's lost. There's a ball at the end of the half that's thrown to him by Duane that he has zero interest in coming back to the ball to win, literally just watches it bounce in front of him. You're like, dude, if you just attack that ball, it's a catching an NFL game. It's like, do you want to try for it?

What's a WTF play? The drop down the off script play on the third down and three that they had a defensive holding, and then that effort play in the end zone is garbage. he was not open consistently he does not run good routes he's not a positive impact on your team i mean he was your other f for sure in this game wow uh they need terry mcclaren back don't they they need terry mcclum back big time um oh my god i'm looking at the play that he didn't come back for look it's a shitty throw by dwayne but gosh there is no effort from gandy golden to come out of that break and just come back hard i mean they just watched it hit the ground yeah maybe they just all looked at dwayne and said we got no shot with him hey uh you guys all bring it in here

dwayne is uh doing something i don't know he's he actually got in his car he left who knows where he is but all you come on we're gonna play like dog crap to make sure he never plays again don't even try that didn't happen just so clear yeah that's a that's joke uh so you're Sims Jr. was not good in this game, although he had a couple catches, had the one sideline catch. I didn't think it was good in this game. I thought he was a D.

Cam Sims was not good in this game, had three drops. Could have really impacted this game in a positive way on 71 snaps. Runs, he's a little bit more fluid as a route runner, is open, has some buildup speed, gives you a chance. He's your two receiver, and he's a mix-in two-receiver in an ideal situation, not a starting two-receiver.

He's a D in this game. The third and one trick play to, not trick play, the wildcat play on third and one. Yeah. They go with an unbalanced offensive line and Sprinkle gets smoked across his face from the backside immediately and it's blown up.

Like, dude, come on. Sprinkle can't, Sprinkle is not helping them, but they don't have another tight end. I don't think, Kev, that I would, mix in any more what you call 12 or 13 personnel between Sprinkle and Marcus Baugh I just I don't think that that gives me my best 11 on the field yeah but which receivers would you prefer to have on the

field if McLorrens out any of them okay Robert Foster any of them I sprinkle only played 11 plays but sprinkle was a D in this game Logan Thomas had a couple drops in this game was okay as a blocker made a couple catches as well in this game. Logan, I thought was a C plus. Your offensive line, did I miss any receivers? I don't think so. MacKissick. McKissick was all right. McKissick played a ton.

He played 49 plays in this game. Had some big receptions, had some yards after catch. We mentioned like the two minute play where he could have got up the field a little bit more. You didn't talk about Isaiah Wright. Isaiah Wright wasn't very good in this game. He only played 13 plays. He had really no impact. Stumbled on one of the routes that he had a chance to win. He was 13

plays. D- minus. He's, why did they play Gandy Golden and not Isaiah Wright? Isn't that weird? I think Gandy Golden went out early in the season.

Remember Gandy Golden hasn't been available you know, and so he's coming back and just becoming available for the first time since very early in. Well, he wasn't good very early on. And they liked him. He didn't like him. So,

I'll make a prediction right now because for those of you that don't know this, we've mentioned it before, there are people out at the park that listen to this podcast and listen to this film breakdown. And there's been a lot of reaction to it at times because it's been amazing how some of the film breakdown grades lead to fewer snaps the next week. The prediction here is, well, I mean, this could change obviously with McLaurin. But I would bet you that AGG doesn't get 59 to the 71 snaps on Sunday night, if that's a good. It gets 13 snaps. Yeah. By the way, I'm suggesting that they take Kooley's advice.

And it's just matching up with what they think already. I mean, that's the... Well, it's matching up with everybody watching on film and their NFL coaches. Yeah. But you do like Robert Foster a little bit, don't you? I think Robert Foster's got a little bit more to him. I think that I'm more intrigued with Foster than anybody else right now. Than the AGG?

than AGG or Isaiah right. I think there's more to Robert Foster. Okay. Are you finished? I mean, okay, here. McKissick was pretty good in this game. I would say in that C plus B range. I thought that Antonio Gibson could have been a explosive 160-yard day.

ends up with what, 61 on 10 carries, but had 67 on 9. They never went back to him again. How did I miss that you had not evaluated Gibson yet? He was the best player in offense by Miles. I thought Gibson was good in this game. I mean, he missed the one throw that Dwayne threw way past him. Oh, my God, that throw was six feet away from him. He was on that throw.

He was deciding in the moment whether he was going to throw to Logan Thomas or Antonio Gibson and threw it to both of them. Gibson was outstanding. By the way, I thought his vision was really. His vision and cuts were great. Yeah. The only play that's a negative is a toss play where he's got three guys in the backfield. Where are you going to go? Well, that's not his fault.

That's not his fault. And I thought Robert Foster was, he played seven plays. I thought he was good. Why is he playing seven plays? They don't, there's some discrepancy there. I don't know what it is. he's like he had a couple drops a week ago yeah he did

but there's no one better than him and I'm not going to classify that he's heads like heads and shoulders above the rest but there's no one better that I can see well than McLaren yes but you like Cam you like Cam Sims as I like Cam Sims as well but I'm talking about Isaiah Wright or AGG

right or Sims Jr. Or Sprinkle. I'd take all 11 of Sprinkles plays and give him to Foster. Right. Moses was good. Sheriff was good. Lucas was actually pretty good. Gave up the one sack fumble, though.

Ruehier was, like, everyone in the offensive line was really pretty good. Switzer was probably the lowest graded at a C-plus, B-minus. The rest of them were between that B and A-minus range. They were only trying to block three people. They should have been awesome. They should have scored. They should have beat Carolina. They should have been better on offense.

It's a combination of your quarterback or your offensive coordinator, a bad plan for what went into this game. A week that was a melee, it was really sad for me to watch this. Weak play out, this game play out, with the implications of winning the division. vision with one win against the four-win team. Granted, I get Carolina is a good team, but they're not a great team.

They could have beat Carolina. I have a question for you right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, one question, and then we are done for the day off of Cooley's film breakdown of the offense. So you gave Scott Turner an F, which is by far in a way the lowest grade. You haven't graded Turner or Del Rio out all season long, except for when I've asked you, to grade them and what you thought. And I think, you know, prior to this, I may have asked you once or twice. I was looking through my notes.

And you gave Turner a B, and I think you gave Turner like a C plus in another instance. Is this one of those things that you think, because I think Scott Turner's been pretty good for most of the year? I really do. Do you think this is one of those deals where after the fact Rivera sits down with him after looking at the tape or Turner, you know, with Zampese and some of the other offensive guys that they look at, themselves on Monday and they say, why the fuck didn't we run the ball more? I mean, they could not stop Antonio Gibson in the first half. Why did we even think about throwing it in the first half? Forget about getting behind and maybe the score dictating it. Why in the first half did we throw it a lot more than we ran it when he was against this three-man front was gashing it and was on his way to a

125-yard plus day. Do you think that they are able to self-evaluate and do a deep dive, as old Bill Callahan would say, and come up with the right answer? The right answer changes week to week. It might not be the right answer next week. But I do think they need to do a deep dive of self-evaluation and how they keep balance in first and second-down situations. We've got to find a better way to keep balance.

and maybe to Scott Turner's defense he's going to sit there and say look our third down percentage has been outstanding but their big chunk play opportunities and some of the things that they they don't get big plays in first and second down situations they don't get enough big plays in general and that's I think you through balance and through some of the things that they don't show and don't do on offense they'd have more of an opportunity to score more points. Right. You can't sit here and say that they've been outstanding on offense all year when they can't figure it out in games, and you're just hoping your quarterback gets hot.

I'm starting to become a believer that Antonio Gibson has a chance to be a big time running back, like a guy that can rush for 1,200 yards plus in a season. Do you believe that or not? I think he can. I think they have the offensive line to do it. I think that he's going to develop into a guy that can run more from quarterback under center as well. I think that's one of the things he's a gun running back.

And I think that's a primary reason why they are in gun as much. If he becomes a back where you can keep more balance with some under center stuff as well, I think he can be a 1,200-yard rusher. Carolina with Norve had a fullback, and Scott Turner was a part of that. This team doesn't have a fullback, and Scott Turner runs out of the gun much more. Do you think that that's something they could think about in the offseason, especially now that they've got a 225, 230 pounds, 6-2-inch guy that could carry the ball 25 times a game? It's going to depend on how he develops and how he sees things.

I just don't think he sees it as well when he's got a ball. take that long track from under center. Okay. So if he's developing, yes. By the way, I like a fullback. I think there's a lot of things you could do with the fullback. Let's just watch the teams that have one. They seem like they use him so well, but you've got to have a coordinator that understands how to use them.

You know, whether it's Kyle or Kubiak or some of these guys that have always had a fullback, they know how to use these guys. Nor have always had a fullback. Norve had a fullback when he was here as the head coach. and that fullback was so active as a as a blocker as a runner but definitely as a pass catcher. There's no doubt. I mean, you're just talking about it in that fashion.

Like just having a two-back set, I think is good for Washington right now. Like, how many times did they go two-back? McClorn hurt. You're two of your best five without question. Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissick, Antonio Gibson played 21, 21 plays. What's wrong with the two-back? Except both of them are good receivers.

Like that goes into the balance and who you're playing and everything you're doing. That goes into the F grade. Gibson played 21, you meant. Gibson played 21. Yeah. Well, that means they're never on the field together. Right. I mean, you know the other way, I mean, you watch it with Kyle in particular.

Good God. Having a fullback as part of a two-back set, especially if that, if you have proven that you can run the ball, is so effective in the red zone. the fullback becomes such a very difficult cover in the red zone on play action. I just, I'm surprised actually that... You know who could be a fullback? Some? You don't have to have a true fullback.

Barber. Logan Thomas could play fullback. Yeah. Logan Thomas is as physical as it gets from extension. He's not great on the line of scrimmage, but if you run him at somebody, he'll hit him in the face. like I was sitting here thinking where you're going to end up falling in this draft but a tight end is still something that they need I mean receiver is something they need as well but receiver God you find the guys in the second and third round that are starters every year

this kid Kyle Pitts out of Florida the tight end Kyle Pitts out of Florida is as good of tight end as I've seen come out in a long time yeah you could integrate a couple backs Kyle Pitts McKissick Antonio Gibson that would be big for them to have that position where you could really win at that position. I'm not taking away anything from Logan Thomas's season, but he's not a separator threat. Right. Kyle Pitts is.

Kyle Pitts is ridiculous. So like when you say like, yeah, they could have a fullback, but Logan Thomas can do that. He's, he's tough as nails. I'm just, I guess the reason that they did, that they didn't employ it that way is number one, that Dwayne was more. comfortable in shotgun than under center. Number two is they didn't know going into this year that they were going to have a potential, you know,

20 plus carry a guy back, you know, tailback. But they do. I think they do. I'm really... They do as well. I do think a big part of the gun stuff is just your backs are more comfortable in gun to run the ball.

That makes sense. That makes sense. You know what? You just, when you mentioned Kyle Pitts, I just started thinking, you know, I really want them to win Sunday night. I want them to have a playoff game because part of that will just be a game changer in the off season as when we view next year because you're going to be like, okay, whatever.

They were seven and nine, but they were a playoff team and they gave Tampa all they wanted before losing in overtime or whatever happens. Or maybe they win the game. And then you're like, man, they really are getting close. And there's one reason we feel that way. We feel that way because of their defensive front in particular and the fact that one of those players may be developing into the best defensive player in football. So now if you can add a couple of pieces there

and just add one or two and you can get a quarterback, I mean, all of a sudden, they're like a legitimate contender, maybe for the first time in forever. So anyway, all right, have a good day. Back tomorrow with Cooley. We'll talk about the defense from the Carolina. line of game, and we will look forward very much to the Philadelphia game as well.