The Kevin Sheehan Show - Heinicke Returns; A Game Too Late?

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

Would Washington have won the game in Philly Tuesday night if Taylor Heinicke had played? Kevin and Thom discussed this and more on today's show including whether or not Antonio Gibson has good enough RB vision to be great. Also, is Scott Turner a candidate for the Jacksonville head coaching position? Plenty on "Benchgate" and a look back 25 years ago to RFK's final NFL game. 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. The podcast today presented by Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. If you need new windows, I promise you it'll work out for you.

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And if your energy bills were high last winter, wait till this winter with the natural gas prices being what they are. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate. So there's no risk. There you go. Tommy's with me today. and we have this one final show before I'll be back on Monday.

Now, stuff happens over the weekend, not Christmas Day, but maybe on Sunday we'll come in here and do an early show. When I say we, not my partner here, Tom won't wake up on Sunday morning and do a show with me. I don't know, you might. If I called you and you weren't doing anything, you might wake up on Sunday morning and say, let's do something together. If you need me, I'm there. You usually are there when I need you.

It's true. Tommy's got a call. that is out today that you just have to read. It's Tommy at his best, sarcastic, funny, biting, attacking, all of it wrapped up into one, and it deals with the bench thing from Tuesday night. And I finished up the podcast yesterday talking about it. But we will get to that momentarily. You know, this is the last show before their next game.

I'm not going to do at this point. Taylor Heineke, by the way, came off the COVID list moments ago this morning. And God do they need him. And I don't say that because I'm this massive Taylor Heineke fan and think that he's the quarterback of the future. I'm not having that conversation right now. But God bless Garrett Gilbert. He did the best that he could on short notice.

They're much better off with Taylor Heineke being the quarterback. I'm much better off than Kyle Allen being the quarterback. Allen being the quarterback. Let me ask you, do they, everything's staying the same, and no one can predict that everything would have stayed the same. Do they win that game with Taylor Heineke? They would have had a much better chance, yes. I don't know if they would have won it.

A 10-0-0 lead would have grown to at least a 13-0-0-0-lead before Philly got on the board. Maybe. Here's the problem. They couldn't stop Philadelphia. And, you know, for whatever reason, people took exception to me lavishing praise on Philadelphia yesterday. I read some of your comments. It's like, dudes, get over it. I mean, be objective.

That team on offense is good. They've been doing this to everybody over the last month and a half. I mean, much better teams and better defenses. Go check out what they did to the Saints and to the Broncos. They're a dangerous team right now. really dangerous. I think they're going to get the last playoff spot. I think they're going to

win out and be 10 and 7. Now, I think the toughest game will be the game back here on January 2nd, but the Dallas game at the end of the year may be meaningless for the Cowboys. Yes, it might be. To answer your question, they certainly would have had a better chance

because they would have done much more on offense than they did with Garrett Gilbert. but they were really, really shredded defensively, so I don't know. I think they could have matched. If it got into a pissing match offensively, I think they could have matched up better. I think they would have been able to put more points on the board and kept up, particularly once they got a lead. I mean, what was that one sack that wound up costing them a field goal?

Taylor Heineke doesn't take that sack. Well, Taylor Heineke takes sacks. doesn't take that sack Like a 20-yard sack Are you talking about At the end of the first half Because they were At the end of the first half

They really weren't in field goal range Yeah they were They were in field goal range And then No they weren't They took like a 15 or 20-yard sack No they were at the Philadelphia 47-yard line

I just pulled up the play-by-play It was a 10-yard sack It was a big sack And the clock ran out And they didn't have any timeouts left To run another play and it was a bad sack to take because it was second and one at the Philadelphia 48, and they had a good chance to get into field goal range.

You know, but they weren't in field goal range. They needed another, well, at the Philadelphia 48-yard line, they needed another 15 yards, probably minimum. And they may have gotten it, who knows. But yeah, that was a bad sack. Yeah. You know, there are a couple of other things that I did go back. I think I mentioned this on the podcast yesterday.

And you know what, give me your overall thoughts of the game, because I haven't heard those yet. You express them a little bit in your column that I just read. But just give me your overall thoughts other than your thought that maybe they would have won the game with Taylor Heineke. Well, look, I mean, part of me is watching the game and I'm thinking, you know, this is a hell of an effort. Well, first of all, the first thing I thought of was you and I both agree, not that we discovered plutonium, that the way to win the game was to get turnovers before the game.

And that was the past. They were going down. And at that point when they had a 10-0 lead, I didn't think that they would be so ineffective offensively when they got the ball as they were. So I actually felt like they had a pretty good chance to win. once they had a 10-0 lead. And then as the game went on, my sympathies were, well, this is a hell of an effort

considering what this team had been through this week with COVID and all the uncertainty about personnel and all that. But at the end of the game, when I looked at all the numbers, particularly the offensive numbers of the Eagles, and I understand they're good. I've always agreed with you that they're better than most people think they are. It doesn't exist. Their effort does not excuse their lack of defensive success in stopping the ball, particularly stopping the run.

A very good running team, granted, but 248 yards rushing, with most of their defensive line that had been out healthy by game time and playing, kind of to me, wipe the slate. off of giving them an A for effort. I'm with you on the effort thing. I think it was the thing that, like, I just expect this now. I expect them to be a team that, for whatever reason, believes in their coach and their coaching staff.

And I think they also have a lot of, well, look, the two pro bowlers, one of them didn't play the other night. And then, you know, the alternate pro bowler in McLaurin, John Allen's just a, he's just a mature adult. pro. You're going to get the best from them. And, you know, if they've got those guys, guys like him and Sheriff and Terry McLaurin, you know, preaching the Rivera Gospel, they're in good shape. I mean, we've seen this from this team all year. Look, to be honest with you, I think their record right now, 6 and 8, is kind of reflective of the team they are. You know, I don't know that they're

much better than 6 and 8 and they're probably not much worse than 6 and 8. This is kind of who they are. They're 13 and 17 now in the 30 games coached by Ron Reve. And I think this is what we have in store unless they fix the quarterback situation moving forward. But what you are going to have is you're going to have credible, professional, you know, disciplined, energetic effort, you know, from a Ron Rivera coach team, you know, especially late in the season. He's proven that. And I agree with you. Like I'm sitting there watching it. You know, we both talked about turnovers.

I said they're going to have to stop the run more than anything else. Philadelphia is the number one rush offense in the league. league and they don't do it by accident. They've got a very good offensive line and they've got a dynamic run approach with a dual threat quarterback. And they really do it well. And yet, you know, as much as I like Jalen Hertz, I also, you know, I can empathize a little bit or sympathize with the Eagles fans who say, yeah, there's so much to like.

And then there's so much that, you know, you're like, really? You just threw it there? You know, and he's got a lot of those moments. and, you know, he took that fumble in the red zone in the first half. Did you see Siriani get on him? I mean, Siriani lit him up. Yeah, he followed him all the way back to the bench. Yeah.

And Sireani was asked about it, and he said, Jalen takes coaching really well. You can't, you know, he welcomes all of it. And look, he got coached by Sabin. He got coached by Lincoln Riley. You know, this guy was at the highest levels. And that's been his problem is he'll have a bad. too many bad plays that end up inflicting too much self-damage on the team. But my God, is he a good ball handler and decision-maker?

And they've got runners, and he's a runner. And he threw it accurately the other night and made good decisions the other night throwing the football. But I agree with you, like at 10 to nothing, you know, and hoping that the defense being back to, you know, some normalcy in terms of the players available, you know, getting ionitis and getting Allen back, et cetera. They didn't have curl.

They didn't have Fuller. There were players out there that hadn't played a lot. But, you know, they were, it wasn't what they would have fielded on Sunday defensively. Right. Although it wasn't that far off because ionitis would have been the big difference. But at 10-0, I'm like, man, you know what? They got two quick turnovers. They turned it into 10.

Should have been 14. Adam Humphrey should have caught the ball from Gilbert on that third goal. and then as the game went on, I'm like, oh my God, Philly is impressive on offense, man. Because even in their interception drive, they drove it down the field. And look, the first touchdown was set up by a Dallas Goddard drop that would have been a 25-yard play, you know, and a move-the-chains play. So Washington got fortunate that the ball bounced off his heel and got intercepted, and they turned that into a touchdown.

And then, you know, on the next, because that play was, going to go for big yardage. And they were probably going to open up the game shredding Washington and scoring, you know, and maybe taking the lead. But they got a couple of breaks, turned it into 10-0. And at the time, I kept thinking, they got a shot in this one. And then you saw them start to get worn down. And you saw what, if you've been watching Philadelphia, they're starting to do to them, what they've done to a lot of other teams. And then at 20 to 10, I didn't think, I thought it was over. I kind of thought it was over at 10 to 10, to be honest with you. And then at 20 to 10, it was definitely over.

And then Washington gets a huge defensive pass interference call on a deep shot. And somehow they take it in from there. That plate of Bates was great. And they score. And they were really one Jalen Hertz mistake away from having a legitimate chance to win the game. This wasn't the Dallas game. They were, I mean, it was 24 to nothing in 20. 27 to 8, and then fluke, I don't know, I shouldn't say flukeishly.

I mean, Dak Prescott threw it right to Holcomb. I don't know what he was doing. But this game at 20 to 17, I'm like, if they can get one stop and get the ball back, I don't have a lot of faith in Garrett Gilbert, but they just went down the field on their last drive. Who the hell knows? Right. But, yeah, you know, back to your first question, they would have had a much better chance to be better offensively. Gibson's injury was big in this game.

You know, the turf toe injury turned him into a different player than he was when he touched the ball for nine of the first 11 snaps for 46 yards. But anyway, I did go back, and I just wanted to mention a couple of things, because I think I said this on the podcast yesterday, that I wanted to go back and watch a couple of things. Pain and Allen in particular, it just seemed to me watching the game. that Philadelphia's total focus was on, you know, 93 and 94. Like, these are the two guys that can really screw up our running game, and I thought they were double-team the whole game. They were double-team most of the game.

Sometimes on the same play, they were double-teamed. But on almost every play, either Payne or Allen, if they were in the game, Philly was focused on double-teaming them. I said yesterday that they had good games because they were double-teamed, and yet they still made some plays. I don't think anybody really had a good game on defense, to be honest with you. But a lot of that was Philly's offensive line. It's really good, really good.

You know, Alan, though, Alan had one of the great defensive plays. That sack he got? Yeah, it was a great set. While he's still fighting off a block. Yeah, great sack. And by the way, pro bowlers so happy. Not that that's even a bit of a surprise. I think he'll be an all-pro too, hopefully a first-team all-pro.

you know, after signing a contract, too. I mean, there's just every, I'm telling all of you that don't know, John Allen is one of the combined, smart, adult, mature, winning attitude, and also great players in one body we've had in this organization in a long time. I mean, you know, you could say that to a certain extent about a guy like Ryan Carrigan, But I don't know that Ryan was ever kind of the leader that John is and sort of the authoritative voice in that locker room that John is. But, man, he... No, that wasn't his style.

That wasn't his... Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. He is... But you know what? Yeah. I agree with you about everything about Jonathan Allen.

And I was going to write this column, but, you know, the bench is thing. I had to write the benches thing. Yeah. But Jonathan Allen... is in danger of entering the Dan Snyder circle of hell, which is the opposite of the Ring of Fame, a Ring of Honor. You know, the players, the players who distinguish them themselves over Dan Snyder's tenure, who, you know, who are considered great, who fans love,

and their careers begin and end with really nothing to show for it. you know, like a London Fletcher, like a Chris Samuels, like guys like that, you know, I mean, great players who all of a sudden they're done, and they look back and they're saying, wow, you know, this guy was great. It's a shame nobody else noticed. And Jonathan Allen is on his way to that circle of hell. You know, I could see him stand. At least, you know what? at least I don't think they'll be able to screw up the spelling of Jonathan Allen's name when they induct him into the ring of honor.

London Flector. Yeah. Yeah, I thought you were going somewhere else with that. I thought you were talking about the budding up with the player. No, no, no. I mean, the players like the Samuels, like even Chloe. You know, I mean, these were all great players whose careers came and went and should be honored for it.

But really, you know, it's like winning the MVP on a losing team. It's hard to recognize greatness when you're surrounded by so much ineptitude. The other things real quickly that I noticed from the game and going back, it's just a couple of observations. They played a lot of five-man front. It's interesting, the five-man front, and you end up with the two D-Ns kind of as linebackers or DNs playing in a two-point stance. nobody defensively played it really well. They had two-hillet linebacker in the game. Rotymy number 57 had a rough night.

52, Jamin Davis, had a rough night, the rookie. It was just a bad night defensively, and they lost gap control. And even when they got it, they didn't tackle well, which is a change from where they've been. I think they missed a guy like Cam Carole a lot, And I think they missed, you know, Collins and Jackson when they went out. Both of those guys were scheduled for MRIs.

Hopefully everything works out well for them. But that was kind of a reversion. Is that a word? They reverted to where they were earlier in the year. And I wanted to read this quote from Ron Rivera. I don't know if you saw this yesterday, Tommy, or not. He was asked about what went wrong with the defense upon looking at the tape. And he said, quote, I know I've said it in the past. You really saw guys not

where they needed to be, but it wasn't because they weren't trying. I think more so than anything else, we got into the second quarter and you started seeing guys trying to do more than they needed to do. Guys were crossing face and looking inside. And by the way, that description right there would be much more about, you know, the back seven than the front four. But he said guys were crossing face and looking inside. We're trying to make plays from going backside. Got a little undisciplined at one point, especially at the end of the third quarter.

I want to go back and watch specifically that part of the game. I thought the guys really tried to do more than they needed to do instead of just staying where they had been. And then we haven't heard that. We haven't heard that in a long time. Well, you know what? Who made their return to the defensive line? Well, that's what everybody was pointing out, is that Montez Sweat was back.

And I watched a little bit. There were a couple times where he took that wide path, which allowed Jalen Hertz to step up a little bit into the pocket. We saw that a lot with Chase Young. But I thought Montez Sweat and watching him, first of all, he looked pretty healthy. And he looked like, you know, I don't know that he was like out of shape. You know, it wasn't a guy that they seemed to like fear having in the game a lot.

But anyway, I thought that that was an interesting comment. Yes, it is. There was one other observation that I made, and I've made this observation before, and it's about a player that I really like. I really like Antonio Gibson. And I said before the game, they got to feed them. You can't worry about the fumbling problem. Their way to winning three out of the last four before Tuesday night's game is really,

with Antonio Gibson. He was so crucial during that four-game winning streak. He's a power runner. He moves the chains. You've got to, you know, you got to ride him a little bit. And if he ends up fumbling, whatever, because you're not going anywhere if 24 doesn't have, you know, a big game. And he got hurt after that first drive. He's, you know, nine touches, 46 yards in the first two drives. And then the rest of the game, it was like 12 touches for like 19 yards. It was bad. But there was, um, There was a play that I just happened to have stumbled upon as I was going through the game yesterday. And it was the play where the guy, Avery for the Eagles, looks like he jumps off sides. It was 10 to 3 Washington second quarter. I don't think he was off sides, actually.

It was damn close. He timed it perfectly. And he disrupts the play on third and one from their own 34. Gibson had had had like a five-yard run on the play before to make it third and one. Shotgun, you know, they also went, by the way, on that play a little bit, no huddle, which they did on some third and shorts. And, you know, we've seen it before. It's, you know, it's a shotgun handoff kind of inside zone to Gibson, and he's got to read where to go. And, you know, he's moved the chains a lot this year. But this play, Avery disrupted. But there was another part of this play that I just noticed. And it's the one criticism I've had of Gibson. and, you know, Cooley, the first time we saw Gibson last year, Cooley said, you know, he's got a lot about him that you really like, but he's got a vision problem.

He misses a lot of opportunities for a hell of a lot more in yardage, especially on these zone runs, whether it's a cutback opportunity or keep pressing it to the outside. There was a run a few weeks ago, and I asked Rivera about it. I said, should Gibson have kept pressing to the outside on that outside zone? And he said, yeah, probably. And I forget what the rest of it was. But, you know, he's running and he's got to see it. And he'd cut it back and he got stopped. Well, there's a massive, easy cutback to the right to move the chains. And he runs right into the pile. And Avery hits him, but he's probably not going to get it anyway, even if Avery's not there. And I love Gibson. And I, And I know he's new at the position. He played wide receiver at Memphis. We all understand that. He's new at the position. He's powerful, man.

He yards after contact. I think he's better in the open field even than he was last year. That first play from scrimmage was an indication of that. But, you know, when you start talking about the best running backs in the game, and there's been conversation about what Gibson can become, because there's a lot to like about him. the big problem with him is he just doesn't have the great vision that the best runners in the game have. You know, Dalvin Cook cuts that thing back and it's going for six, seven, eight yards, move the sticks.

Nick Chubb, same thing. Derek Henry with the power, same thing. Jonathan Taylor, for sure, the same thing. And, you know, people have said, man, you know, look at his average yards per carry. It's so low. And it is. Gibson's the seventh leading rusher in the NFL, but in terms of average yards per carry, second worst among the top 15 rushers, top 20 rushers in the NFL behind Najee Harris.

Now, he was pretty good last year, but he had some big chunk runs last year. And this year he's had some big lost yardage runs that have impacted that a little bit on plays that he had no chance on. But just, you know, I've made this observation before because Cooley made it originally and Gibson's peripheral athletic running back vision. Rigo always said, what's the most important part about being a great running back? And Riggins always said this. He still does to this day.

Your eyes. Riggins said, you've got to see it. You have to have phenomenal vision. And Rigo had phenomenal vision as a running back, as a fullback. And that's what concerns me about Gibson, because I wonder how much that can really. improve. He's a keeper. I'm not saying he isn't a keeper. But I don't know if he's got greatness, you know, elite greatness in him, because I think that that's one of those things you either have or don't have. But I could be wrong, too, because he's never really played

the position. So maybe it's just going to take more experience at the position. But man, on that play, he ran right into the pile. I mean, right into the pile. And there was an easy cut back that he should have seen that the best runners in the game would see on a little inside zone that I guarantee you the running backs coaches and Scott Turner saying did you see just right back here we move the chains even with the guy who may or may not have been off sides disrupting the play a little bit he still would have leaned forward for three if he had gotten to that spot so anyway those were the only other things that um that I uh that I wanted to mention when I went back and looked at the game, the thing that I was really looking for was just to see how often Payne and John Allen were doubled.

And it seemed like a lot. Ionitis, too, was doubled a lot during the game. But whatever. That's where Ionitis played his college football. Temple University. Yeah. Yeah, they played their games there. That's the first time I saw him play.

You know who loved him? Good. Was Gruden. Really? Gruden apparently was the one that said that guy should play for us. There were a couple of players that Gruden really went to bat for over the years. You know, I've told you what Scott McLuhan told me one day, right, on this podcast. He said, the best coach he's ever been around in terms of the coach being a really good talent evaluator was Jay Gruden.

said the best head coach in terms of an evaluator, talent evaluator he's ever been around. Wow. Anyway. So Alan made the Pro Bowl. Sheriff made the Pro Bowl. You know, Brandon Sheriff's missed a lot of football games for this team, but he is really good when he plays. This is like, what, it's fifth Pro Bowl? Yeah.

I think it is. He's exceptional. And they missed him the other night. They have not run the ball when he hasn't played. That was his fifth game that he's missed this year. You know, that's five. He misses a lot of time. He misses a lot of time.

Oh, the other thing real quickly that Rivera said that I wanted to just touch on real briefly, and then I want to get to your column and a couple of other things. So he was asked about Terry McCorn's last few games. If you're not paying attention, Terry McLaren in his last four games, has nine catches for 124 yards. one touchdown. In his last four, I'm sorry, nine catches 124 yards. He's got one touchdown in his last seven games. So he is like, you know, he's basically gone away here recently. So Rivera was asked, and he said, in all honesty, you'd have to ask the quarterbacks about his lack of production.

because you got to understand every one of our routes, all of our offensive plays, all have specific starting points based on what the quarterback see. Would I like to see Terry targeted a little bit more because of who he is? Yes. But again, that's a better question for the quarterbacks to be fair. Oh, man. Yeah.

You know, there are very few times where a coach would do that. Like, he knows why Terry McLaren's not getting the ball. I don't know what the reasons are. but he knows, and you know what he did through that? He told you what the reasons were. It's the quarterback's fault. He also has said, you know, on if he ever feels like they need to force the ball to McClorn. He said, well, I think you can.

The understanding of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to do it, sometimes it puts it in the hands of the guy that's pulling the trigger. And that goes back to the quarterback. And then he said, I'm not trying to dump any blame on it or anything on any body. buddy. I'm just saying that if the quarterback sees something he doesn't like, he's not going to try and force it. He's going to try and do its best, closed quote. I guess the reason that that stood out to me or stuck out to me is, A, it's rare that you see him do that. But obviously they're not, look, Terry's had some issues. He hasn't been totally healthy.

You know, he's had the hamstring issue a few weeks ago. but his production is dropped off significantly here towards the end of the season. The season, the way it started, I mean, this guy was headed towards 100 catches and 1,500 yards. And by the way, like pretty much a lock to be a pro bowler, which he wasn't. And, I mean, he had, you know, in week two against the Giants, he had 11 catches for 107 yards. The Atlanta game, six catches, 123 yards on 13 targets. first eight games of the season, he was targeted 11 or more times in four of those games. And in two of the others, it was seven targets and eight targets.

In the last three games, he's only been targeted a total of 12 times. He's got five catches. Well, I might want to point out, somebody wrote a column about Terry McClaren's issues. and not that these affected him before that, but I wrote that Terry McClaren has had three concussions in the last four years. I know.

You know, and that's going to be, and particularly with the quarterbacks that he plays with, I'm not just talking about Taylor Heineke, but given the fact that he's so good at going to get the ball and he plays with such mediocre quarterbacks so far in his short career, It's going to wind up cost than a more.

I can't project on that. I know you wrote the column about it, and it's a concern. Understood. I think for him, I'm focused more on the football, which is this guy is in his third year. Next year, by the way, is the final year of his rookie deal. And, you know, I, a season, this third season, which was going to be an even bigger breakout season than year two was, is now going to, you know, he needs eight catches in 86.3 yards per game over his final three games just to match last year's results. And he was way ahead of that pace earlier in the year.

And I started to think about, you know, some of these really talented, gifted receivers that got stuck in quarterback, you know, wilderness with no great, Alan Robinson's the one that really comes to mind, you know, a really good receiver. But it's a really good receiver. never played with a quarterback. You know, whether he was in Jacksonville or in Chicago, he's just really never had a quarterback, and he's had some incredible seasons. You know?

Do you think that that McClorin could be James and Crowder? Well, no, well, they're totally different receivers. Crowder's a slot receiver. But in the sense that he leaves? No, that the year before he left, he had a down year. I mean, he had 103, no, he had 66 catches in 2017,

67 year before that, 29 in 2018, and he was gone. Wasn't he hurt a lot of that year, though? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and then they had a coaching change.

Well, you're talking about this guy's hurt. Yeah, well, he hasn't missed a game. I mean. Well, he missed one. No, no, that's true. he has not missed the game. Yeah, I don't think he's missed a game. We thought he might miss Tuesday night because of the concussion,

but he didn't miss the game. And look, Terry McLaren's not going anywhere. They've got to sign this guy. They've got to sign him. He's gifted. He is a legitimate number one receiver. I don't think he's a top 10 guy, like I've said before. But I think after 10, you can start to talk about McLaren,

but it would suck if he ends up being, on a team where he can't be unstoppable because of the quarterback that they have. Well, you know what? Then he joined a big club of everybody who's ever played receiver for this team for decades now. And other teams, too. You know, there are other examples. I mean, Alan Robinson's probably the best one. I mean, he's never really had a quarterback.

But, you know, he's produced at big-time levels. but I just the questions about McLaurin came up and I thought the answers were interesting and then I went and looked at the numbers and boy have they really tailed off I think we knew that you know by just observing the last several games and you know it's funny when the question was asked about forcing Terry the ball I think at times during the season I think Taylor Heineke has tried to force it to him I mean I think and I don't think that's a problem I mean And there have been many times where I think Heinekees put it up and said, you know, this is my guy. Like he'll go get it somehow.

I mean, and he's always looking for him. Anyway, look, they've got to go get a quarterback. They've got to aim high, swing big, and see if they – because a guy like Terry McClorn could be a massive star in this league if he gets into the right situation. And hopefully the right situation is here. Hopefully it's here. Okay, we got other things to get to. We'll start doing that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The benches you guys brought in, what was supposed to start behind that?

I couldn't tell you. You know, it just had nothing to do with what happened on the field. That was Ron Rivera after the game on Tuesday night. He was asked about it yesterday again on the decision to bring the team's benches to Philadelphia. and he said, quote, we just wanted to be comfortable. To me, it's got nothing to do with the game other than just some place to sit, closed quote. You and I both are in agreement. Everybody that I've talked to, by the way, is in agreement that this was Dan.

You know, Dan and Tanya, Dan, whatever. On, you know, as I said yesterday, no pun intended, keeping up with the Joneses, you know, the guy that he reveres. So tell everybody about your call. Well, that was, I mean, basically, I pointed out that the lead of my column is it's not the benches that makes the players. It's the players that make the benches. That's one of the things that we learned, pointed out the ridiculousness and the foolishness of how this had absolutely nothing to do in terms of the game, in terms of the team. but just like everything, just like so many things Snyder has done,

it became a source of embarrassment and ridicule, more ridicule than anything, because it was obvious to everyone that suddenly, after the Cowboys do it in Washington, you know,

Washington now does it in Philadelphia. And, you know, the guy, I quoted the guy, let me see, I've got to find my column here. Well, can I just read my favorite line from the column? Yeah, sure.

Go ahead. If they, meaning Washington, really wanted to take a shot at Dallas, they would have ordered Cowboys' Benches and sat on them in Philadelphia. That would have at least been good for a laugh. Yeah, that would have been funny. Can you imagine? See, that would have been a sense of humor where we were, But, you know, of course we would have thought that they just ordered the wrong benches.

You know, that's because you think the worst with them. But it would have been funny had they ordered the Cowboys' benches and put them, actually would have been funny, yeah, and put them in Philadelphia. But if they really, like, wanted to troll the Cowboys, although they would have just ordered the benches for Sunday night's game, not the game on Monday night, but whatever, which they did, too. They're going to use them for the rest of the year, I think. But go ahead.

Well, you know, it's interesting. I quoted a story in NBC Sports. Washington, they talk to the guy who makes the seats, Dragon Seats, C-O-O, Franklin Floyd, who basically said FedEx has our old equipment. They're probably 10-plus years old. FedEx Field, you're saying. Has their old equipment, yeah. Of course they do.

So what he's saying is probably what the Cowboys said was true, that the benches on the other side do malfunction. Well, the Seahawks had told him that. Yeah. So that's true. They weren't doing it to make some kind of statement. They were doing it because the benches really didn't work. Right.

And that means potentially they didn't work on the home team side either, possibly. He also said they ordered them on Monday, you know. So it was, look, everybody, you can do the math here. Jerry, who he reveres, ordered these benches. and by the way, they were beautifully logoed. And for Dan, that's probably a marketing thing, too, to see these big, you know, logoed. It's, by the way, a logo that's going to go away here shortly, right? But he just thought, you know, well, if Jerry thinks it's a good idea for his team,

but he clearly didn't tell anybody. And he's clearly getting involved in an area that he shouldn't be getting involved in. Because it became a story before the game, which I promise you, is not what Ron Rivera wanted. Ron Rivera would have sat on whatever benches. He didn't need, you know, social media lighting up like it did before the Cowboys game against Washington. You know, with Washington bringing their own benches. Like, it's just so pathetic.

It is. It's petty. It's petty. That's why I wrote a petty column. Yeah, I mean. It's just unbelievable. And I, you know, every time, every time, you know, we talk about this. And if I'm not with you, I always refer to Tommy's Surgeon General's warning.

Like, this is it. There's a, there is a, you know, root at your own risk. Because as long as he is there, he is always within arm's length of messing things up. because he is impulsive. He's petty. He really doesn't... I don't think he can read a room to save his life, which, by the way, would be in conflict with him being a really good salesman at some point in his life.

So maybe I retract that. I don't know. But there's always something. Like, seriously, if true, if he ordered these things and didn't check in with the chief football decision maker? Like, hey, I thought it was a really good idea. What Jerry did, you know, I want to offer it to you. If you think there's an advantage to having our own benches, you tell me, and we'll get those son of a bitches.

And I'll order those things. But you don't do it without checking in with Ron because you're enamored with Jerry and whatever he does. This is why, you know, the big picture on this organization is, I do think they've got a decent football coach. I think they've got a really good leader as a football coach right now. But Dan Snyder and no quarterback. If we're taking it at a macro 30,000 foot level,

Dan Snyder's still here and they don't have a quarterback. So until you fix one or the other, preferably both, it's going to be a lot of six and eights in December's. seven and sevens, five and nines, you know, four and tens and maybe the occasional eight and six where you got a shot, a legitimate shot at, you know, a wild card birth or a division title and a bad division year. But that's a one out of every four or five year phenomena. And I think they do have a good coach. I think they've got a really good leader as a coach. I like Ron Rivera. I like his staff. I like some of the players. But the big, you know, the

picture, I feel like we do this all the time, and I'm not meaning to do it again, but we just got into it because again, there's another, you know, there's another potential sign of him involved in an area he should not be involved in. I should say they, because it could have been her decision too. And, you know, as long as he is there, or they are there, that's a big mountain to climb. And I don't think it's climable, unless you get the course. quarterback. And that's a, you know, that's a big one to climb too because they've been trying forever and so have a lot of other teams. And you almost have to get a little bit lucky on that front. Yeah. I mean, you know, everybody, everybody should know this if they don't know it by now.

I just want to point out my conclusion of the column, I think it's the best idea for Dallas. Yeah. Tell them. No benches. No benches. You know, here's an idea. Nobody sits on any benches in Dallas. I point out George Foreman was 45 years old when he knocked out Michael Moore in 1994. The entire fight, Foreman refused to sit on a stool in between rounds.

That's the message you want to send, baby. Especially when your defense gives up 500-some yards. They haven't earned benches. You know, don't sit down until you stop a team. It's so true. It's so true.

Here's the other line from column that I liked. You wrote the Burgundy, you wrote the, if they really wanted to take a shot at Dallas, like I had said, they would have ordered Cowboys' Benches and sat on them in Philadelphia. They would have at least been good for a laugh.

This just seems small, though the team's house organ didn't seem to think so. Oh, house room. Okay. Nobody's going to argue that, are they? No, I don't think so. The Burgundy and Gold is making sure it has every, possible advantage on Tuesday night versus Philadelphia NBC Sports Washington wrote.

Getting a divisional win on the road is hard enough, but with the forecast promising high 30-degree weather with a 63% chance of rain, plus 10-mile-per-hour wins, the brand-new heated benches will be a welcome addition to Washington sideline no matter who is sitting in them. And Tommy writes, how about they bring them back to Ghost Town Field on January 2nd for Eagles fans to use, they'll need the additional seats? Now that was a petty sentence. In fact, this column seems pretty petty. Yeah.

One other quick thing, because it is Washington football team related. I saw somebody sent this to me. Oh, CJ sent it to me. Odd Shark, which is, I think, part of Bobata, posted odds on the Jacksonville head coach in 2022. Here's the list, Kellyn Moore, the Cowboys Offensive. coordinators plus 325, Josh McDaniels plus 350, Byron Leftwich plus 375, Eric Bianamy plus 400, Brian DeBal, uh, Dabble, uh, plus 600. Scott Turner plus 950. Joe Brady plus 1,200.

Scott Turner's got better odds to become the Jacksonville head coach than the offensive coordinator in Carolina this year who got fired a few weeks ago. Surprisingly. God, Joe Brady is such a good offensive coordinator. I thought. But Scott Turner, I mean, I'm telling you right now, job openings, this will be the first offseason where Turner's name's going to be bandied about a little bit. I don't think he'll get a job this year because I don't know how many openings there will be. But if next year Washington's offense is sort of overachieving based on the quarterbacks they have, or at least perceived to be, Scott Turner, in part because of his, you know, his name and who his father is. But I, I

It's not going to shock me if Scott Turner is a head coach within three years. I think our fan base would be shocked at that, but he is going to be mentioned at least. And then, you know, who the hell knows how he'll interview? The thing about Sean McVeigh, Cooley made this call when nobody in our fan base even knew who Sean McVe was. He said, Sean McVeigh is on the offensive staff. He's going to be a head coach within three years. and then he was the offensive coordinator for Jay and then literally the first job

and I said how is that possible? And he said because the first job he interviews for he's going to be such a good interview they're going to hire him on the spot and that's pretty much what happened. He's still the youngest coach in the league even though he's been coaching now, what, four years, five years in L.A., whatever it's been?

Yeah. Yeah. Why doesn't, look, I mean, I might not be crazy about the man's politics, but, you know, some indications that some things that I've heard that Jack Dale Rio does a lot more on this team than coach's defensive side of the ball that he's a much more influential figure. Why doesn't Jackdale Real get any mentions anymore?

Well, because... And he was not a bad head coach in Jacksonville or with the Raiders. What's his record as a head coach? It's not good, is it? It's barely under 500, I think. I don't know. Well, because everybody's looking for the young guy, and he's got to be in a sick.

It's 94 and 97 total, including postseason. He's 1 and 3 in postseason. Okay. He's 93 and 94 in regular season. I mean, because Jacksonville, obviously, and then Oakland, right, the Raiders? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's got to be because he's in his... How old is he? How old is Jack Del Rio? He's got to be 60, right? You know, I'm kind of congratulated with Jack Del Rio because he was such a... He's 58. He was such a badass. I mean, really, I mean, when you say badass, this guy was a badass.

And he was a great catcher in college. He played college. He played catcher at USC, one of the best baseball schools in the country. So I'm always kind of interesting. I mean, I talk to Jack Del Rio if I was one of these teams. I talked to Byron Lefich first. I think, I mean, that seems like the guy who should be a natural for Jacksonville. Yeah, in looking at this list, I mean, I'll tell you who is really the best offensive mind in this league right now is still Josh McDaniels.

And I know it did not work out for him as a head coach, but look what he's done with Mack Jones. Look what he's done with Mac Jones. I mean, I, Bianamy, left which, you know, Kellynne Moore, God, man, Cowboy fans, I don't know how they feel about Kellynne Moore right now. I'll tell you what, I kind of feel better about Kellan more than I do Mike McCarthy. God, he's a moron when it comes to clock management. The worst, the absolute worst in the league. And there are a couple guys, you know, on that list.

You know, Andy Reid's on that list for sure. Anyway, Jack Del Rio as a head coach. I don't know. I would assume that it's because, I mean, when's the last, what was his last year as a head coach in Oakland? Eight, nine years ago? How long ago was it? Let me see. His last year, it was pretty close. 2017. Oh, really?

He was fired. Okay. Yeah. Well, I mean, we're coming up on five years where he's been a coordinator, right? No, well, my point is, I would look at Jack Del Rio before I'd look at Scott Campbell. Scott Turner, you mean? that's what I meant. Yeah, I know.

It's just that that's not the move. You know, it's young offensive guys, you know, that can work with our young quarterback, Trevor Lawrence. You know, I don't think they're going to hire. You know, Doug Marone is gone, not because he isn't a good coach, because actually Marone, there's a lot of respect for Maron around the league. But they wanted the offensive guru to, you know, mold and mentor and develop Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville. He's not getting that job. He's already had that job.

By the way, I was thinking, what are the jobs that are going to come available this year? You know, that one really, I mean, at the beginning of the year, big surprise. Matt Nagy in Chicago, everybody thinks is going to be gone. Mike Zimmer in Minnesota, if they don't make the playoffs and win a game, he's probably gone. I don't feel sorry for Mike Zimmer based on his girlfriend now. I don't feel sorry for him either. You know, and everybody else, like I'm looking, you know, is Pete, Carroll going to retire? What about Joe Judge?

By all indications, Maris says there's no way they're bailing after two years of Judge. He's absolutely still convinced they made the right choice. So I think in the NFC, Pete Carroll is a possibility to retire, I guess.

You know, I'm talking about just things that are more than possible. There could be a long shot. I mean, Sean Peyton could leave or, you know, retire or whatever. Dan Campbell's not getting fired. Nagy, Zimmer, and Pete Carroll in the NFC. And then in the AFC, it would be...

It could be Vic Fangio. Vic Fangio would be a possibility. Just because, you know, and by the way, he would be, I mean, he would be hired so quickly as a defensive coordinator. Teams would be fighting over him to be their defensive coordinator. Obviously, the Raiders have an opening. Jacksonville's got an opening.

Houston, the guy Cully, who's 58 years old, I don't know what they're going to do with him. And then Stafansky? I don't know. It was a disappointing year, but you're not going to fire Stafansky after two years. Yeah, that's basically it. Somebody, oh, my producer,

Brendan, we were talking about the coach of the year. Because Belichick is the front runner and the favorite for NFL coach of the year, which is unusual that a guy like him would be up for coach of the year. But nobody expected them to win the division. And not only they might win the division, they could also end up being the number one seed in the AFC. But he asked me, said,

would you consider a guy like Brian Flores from the Dolphins if they end up with like a winning record? And I'm like, yes, that's the kind of guy. that coaches would tell you, oh my God, the job Brian Flores did. That team doesn't have one playmaker offensively. They were one in seven, and now they're seven and seven. He did a good job last year. There are a lot of guys like that. I thought Kingsbury was going to win it, but obviously they've taken a step back.

It looks like it's going to be Belichick to win. He's the favorite right now to be coach of the year. But a guy like Brian Flores definitely. I wouldn't count out John Hart. Well, that was another thing. Would you think about John Harbaugh, given all of the injuries they've had if they end up winning that division? Yeah. I mean, they started dropping like flies in preseason in Baltimore. Remember what? He lost both of his running back. Yeah, both his top three running backs eventually. Yes. And that was their game. I mean,

those were not, those were excellent running backs, Gus Edwards and Dobbins. Yeah. And God, I mean, the game this week is the game. I mean, I think Cincinnati's a better team. I think Cincinnati will win that game. All right, a couple of other things to finish up on, including an early smell test. The rest of it will be tweeted out before the games on Sunday. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

This segment of the show is presented by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and they'll double your first deposit all the way up to $1,000. Lots of bowl games. Some of these bowl games are canceling. Texas A&M is going to be replaced by Rutgers in the Gator Bowl. How about that?

The team that Maryland beat to basically become bowl eligible. Terps play Virginia Tech on Wednesday in the pinstrait bowl. I had Mike Loxley on the radio show. You can listen to that at the team 980.com. But go to my bookie, lots of football, man, from now until, until the Super Bowl, but over the next, you know, through January 4th, you got football day and night every day. MyBooky.ag, mybooky.com, Kevin D.C., the promo code. Take their free money, man. Take it. Take the free money and use it to bet if you're betting already. And just use

MyBooky as a way to comparison shop on point spreads. This is a safe place. They'll pay when they lose. And they've got fair pricing, fair lines, fair money lines, fair totals, mybooky.ag, mybooky.com. So Miami of Ohio today in the Frisco football classic minus two and a half is a smell test pick. And for now, the biggest anti-public play on the NFL board this weekend is the Christmas afternoon game at Lambo. Nobody's betting the Browns.

And I know the Browns are in a state of flux COVID-wise, but assuming they get people back, you know, like Kevin Stefansky and Baker Mayfield, etc. They're getting seven and a half against the Packers at Lambo. Take the Browns plus the seven and a half. I'll have more smell test selections for

you via Twitter on Sunday morning. I didn't know this. Somebody sent this to me, and I was reminded of it. I didn't realize it yesterday, but I talked about it on the radio show today, and I'm glad you're here with me to do this. 25 years ago yesterday, December 22nd, 1996, was the final game at RFK Stadium.

I was there, you were there, as you told me during the break. It was, just so everybody understands the context, this was the only season since their Super Bowl season in 1991, where they got off to a blazing start. They were 7 and 1 in 1996. I remember that. Yeah. And this is the, you know, this is pretty much the only season where they were legitimately like, you know, thought to be, whoa, seven and one at the halfway mark.

Haven't had a season like that one through the first half of the season since 1991. Anyway, it was a bit of a house. of cards. They weren't great defensively. Gus Ferrat was their quarterback. They had Terry Allen. They had Henry Ellard, Michael Westbrook, Leslie Shepard. And they stumbled a couple of times down the stretch. And then they had a huge game in week 15 or week 16, the 15th game of the season at Arizona. And they were eight and six going into that game. And if they won that game, then the season finale at home at RFK Stadium against the Cal was going to be for the NFC East Division title.

But they lost to the Cardinals. Kevin Butler kicked a field goal at the gun on a drive that was extended by a penalty. I think it was Romeo Bandeson. And they lost to the Cardinals a devastating loss. God, I remember how devastated I was. I mean, I remember exactly the house I was in, where I was watching it, when Butler kicked that game-winning field goal, because just the prospect of the final game at RFK,

the final regular season game, because if they won the game, they were going to host a playoff game, being against the Cowboys for the division title. It was just, it was too much to even. And so when they lost the Cardinals, they were eliminated from the postseason altogether, which meant the final game of the year

against the Cowboys was meaningless. Dallas clinched the division. They had nothing to play for. Washington was out. They had nothing to play. for, but it was the final game at RFK Stadium. And it was an incredible afternoon. Summerall and Madden were there to call it. The place was packed. There wasn't an empty seat in the joint. People had come prepared with hammers, with screwdrivers, with, you know, shovels, and they

were going to tear their seats and bring them with them. They were going to be on the field, taking chunks of grass. This was Pat Summerall and John Madden. You'll hear Madden first talking about at the very end of the game their memories of RFK. My final thoughts are really about being here at RFK. And like I said earlier, there's no place that I would rather be than right here in RFK Stadium today because there were so many great moments here. and the moments that we've been together over the years and games,

and it wasn't just one play or one group or one guy. It was a combination, to me, the memories of all the fans, and how great they were, and how this whole place would shake and jump, and the fight song, and the hogs and Rigo and players and close games, and Joe Jacoby going against Lawrence Taylor and the great battles in Joe Feisman. And, you know, I mean, all the players and things that happened here, and you just kind of collect them all and put them right in here and say,

Doug, this was pretty good. When you walked in here, you just got sort of a damp feeling. When you walked through the dugout out of the field, when you walked up into our booth, when you came here as a player, as I did way back in 1961, you had that feeling of intimacy, you were close to the fans, you were right there with him. They got to know you, you got to know them, whether they hated you or whether they liked you, you were right there with them.

There's no place like it. All the new stadiums they can build are going to be a thing that's necessary, no question about that. But you're never going to get the feeling that you had here. So you could hear the emotion, the memories, the nostalgia from Madden and Summerall, who had been there for so many of the big games. at RFK. I'll just say this. It was a gem.

It was our gem. It was not just a stadium that we knew about, that we, that was ours, that we took part in it. It was for the NFL. NFL fans knew what RFK was.

They knew how tough it was. They knew how loud it was. Of all of the places, I've ever been in as a sports fan or a media member. There's no place that matches the RFK, you know, intimacy, the electricity, the way that building kept the sound in. You know, many people have said over the years, and there's a certain truth to this, they had great teams, and that's why the memories are so great.

If they had been shitty like they've been here for the last 25 years at FedEx Field, you wouldn't think as fondly of RFK. That's fair. But it was also a stadium that was much different than FedEx Field. I mean, FedEx was a disaster from day one, and you knew it. And if they had had better teams over the years at FedEx, we'd think differently about FedEx, but whatever. They didn't.

And RFK was a special, special place that, Tommy, I can still smell it. I can still feel it. I still could walk into that stadium blindfolded and get to. to my seat, section 513, row 13 seats one, two, and three. Every single person that you sat with was there every week. Every single seat in that stadium was a seat owned by a season ticket holder. These tickets were so precious, they were so hard to get. And it was just incredibly special. And that last day, they won that game 37 to 10. I just remember the halftime with the former players coming out. And I remember just sitting there going, you know, this sucks. But then again,

you know, we didn't know. We didn't know what FedEx Field was going to be. It wasn't called FedEx then. We didn't know what it was going to be. We didn't know that it was going to be as bad. We didn't know that the teams that played in that stadium were going to be as awful. There was, to be totally honest, a little bit of excitement about the new place, you know. But it's for me in my sports, you know, rooting lifetime, the place that I would love to go back just once and feel a Skins Cowboys game, big game in that stadium one more time. There wasn't anything like it. You know, Jack Kent Cook wasn't there for that last game.

I know he wasn't. He stayed away on doctor's orders. He was about to, you know, pass on. I would not see the opening of his new stadium, Jack Kent Cook Stadium in Landover. And I'm reading some accounts of it, and they did the thing where they drove players around the field at halftime on a golf cart and stuff. And it said that Sonny and Art Monk at the biggest ovation, according to the newspaper accounts. You know, Rigo, Sunny, Art Monk, those are the three that the place just erupted for. That's my memory of it.

Rigo was right there with him, definitely. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And that was the 229th straight sellout for a Washington football team. The whole game. When they legitimately were sellouts. Yeah. And there was legitimately a waiting list.

Yes. If you had told me on that day that 25 years from now, you won't have anywhere near the same level of passion for this team. And that, oh, by the way, this team will only produce one more playoff win after 97. They had the playoff win over Detroit. Oh, two more playoff wins total over the next 25 years. I would have told you you're insane. Well, that's not going to happen. And the irony of it is, is that they had had a stretch there of 93, 94, 95, you know, three years of Petibone and then two of Norv Turner that were rough years, really rough years. The roughest years the organization had had in like 25 years, 24 years, you know, before George Allen had gotten here. But here we are, you know, 25 years later. And those things are, you know, primarily for people.

you know, my age, you know, a little younger and older, certainly. But, you know, my boys have asked me a lot about RFK, and I'll pull up games on YouTube, and you know, you can hear the sound like a big game against the Cowboys or Giants, and they're like, wow. And you can hear it. This game is available in its entirety on YouTube. If you just search YouTube, Skins Cowboys, Redskins Cowboys, 1996 finale, the whole game's there. And the open that Fox produced is it's not something to play on a podcast because it's very visual,

but it's an incredible tribute to RFK. It's like a two-minute open to the beginning of that broadcast with Summerall narrating it. And it gives you chills because it's so well done and it's a wonderful tribute to the stadium. But, you know, this was for the whole league new RFK. The whole league knew, you know, what kind of. of venue this was. It was really the toughest road environment in the NFL for a long time. You could argue some others. Some of the dome stadiums like Houston and Seattle were maybe louder in terms of decibel level because they were indoors. But there was no place road game-wise that was

tougher than RFK in those days. Denver was mile high was always considered to be really tough to play in, but, you know, nothing. It was, there were a couple of places, but RFK was right there at the top of the list. You don't remember a lot from that day because you had to read the story. You had to go back and find the story. Yeah, I do. I mean, I just remember it was just, I remember being there writing a column about it.

I remember, like, the field with all the people on it, tearing it up and stuff. But, no, I don't remember a whole lot from the game. People started in the fourth quarter. You started to hear this sound, and it was like people brought, like, drills in, and they brought, you know, hammers in, and they were hammering, and they took their seats with them. I think it was my brother, me. I don't think my father was with us for that final game. I forget who would have been our third.

It may have been my buddy, Ted. we didn't come prepared for that. I wasn't thinking because I'm not a big memorabilia guy, as you know. So I wasn't thinking about, you know, removing my seat or going down on the field and taking chunks of grass. But I sat there and watched the whole thing. And it was incredible. And for all of us, and so many of you who are listening, you know and remember these days, it really, it would be so cool. to have that again, but I don't think we're ever going to have that again. It's a different day and age anyway. Like I'm thinking, like, there are some really good venues in sports. Most of them, though, are college. You know, to really get that feeling of that kind of an electricity, that kind of raucous, you know, bloodthirsty environment, it's pretty much colleges now. Like, I know Lambo's

supposedly really good. I've never been to a game at Lambo. And I know Arrowhead is, and Arrowhead's probably the one now left in the NFL, where it's really almost a collegiate kind of atmosphere with all-season ticket holders and a legitimate waiting list and unbelievable passion for that team. I've never been to Arrowhead either. I think that would be a cool place to go watch a big game. I saw one game in Arrowhead in 92.

I've never seen a game at Lamba. Yeah. All right. Merry Christmas to you. Thank you. And by the way... I got one thing. Oh, okay.

One stupid little thing. Okay. Okay. I wanted to discuss with you. Okay. When you're watching movies, you notice that they give a warning before the movie starts

as to things that could upset you. Right. You know, they say sex. They say violence. Right. Language. All of them now. language, all of them now have smoking as one of the things.

Seriously? I haven't noticed that. Yes. It's smoking is one of the warnings. Really? Yes. I mean, this is so ridiculous. I mean, is the warning because people are offended by watching people smoking or they think if you watch people smoke in a movie, then you'll want to smoke. I don't get that at all. I don't think watching people smoke would make me want to smoke at all.

Do people know... So in other words, you can screw, I mean, screwing, shooting, cursing, and smoking. Right. And by the way, and by the way, anything that, you know, in this day and age would be deemed to be highly inappropriate. They're all... Yes. But whatever. You know, did I ask you this already?

Have you watched The Beatles Get Back thing on Disney yet? No, I have not. I don't get Disney. It's just so good. It's riveting. And it's phenomenal. But what made me think of that is just everybody's smoking. I mean, it's 1969.

You know? Yeah. Every single person, like literally there are shots where there isn't one person that isn't smoking. I mean, I'm old enough to remember, you know, being in a house holiday time, relatives, aunts, uncles, grandmother, you know, parents were everybody smoking. And the house is smoke-filled. Yeah. You know? You know, we didn't have anybody that smoked cigarettes in our house.

Oh, God. Except for me when I was like 8 to 12, but I didn't do it in the house. Right. And my dad smoked cigars, and that was it. Well, that was a better smell, for sure. Yeah. Nobody. You know, look, you can go online on YouTube.

Tommy Proplo, who was the coach, I think, at UCLA and then the Chargers. He smoked four packs a day. I know. He smoked during while he was coaching. Yeah, he's smoking on the sidelines. So did Len Dawson. So did Len Dawson, the quarterback of the chiefs. There are NFL films things where he's smoking on the sidelines.

Yeah, I know. I know. Wow. Well, you don't have to worry about it in your movies anymore. And if they do, they're going to warn you, there's people smoking in this movie. Yeah. So hide your eyes. Okay, for the second time, Merry Christmas to you.

I hope you have a good one. Are you going to Philadelphia? No, no, no, no. staying close to home. We're staying home here. Okay. We're going to have our son up here at our place for Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Merry Christmas to everybody listening out there. Happy holidays. Everybody out there as well.

Tommy and I both thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your warm feedback. And by the way, just all of your feedback because it's not always warm. But we love doing this and love having you listen to it. So no podcast tomorrow. If there's a lot of stuff going on, maybe I'll come in here as sort of a pregame thing on Sunday morning and put something out. If you're interested in the smell test again, Miami of Ohio today, the Browns on Christmas Day, and then I'm going to tweet out the rest of the picks before the 1 o'clock games on Sunday at Kevin Shee in D.C. All right, Tommy, I'll talk to you next week.

enjoy the holiday and enjoy the weekend. Oh, are you going to require vaccination cards for anybody that comes to see you over the holiday weekend? Always. Always, too. I require citizenship cards. I require passports. We're done. Bye, everybody.