The Kevin Sheehan Show - Is Dwayne Done in DC?

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Kevin and Thom today following up on the news that Dwayne Haskins was demoted to 3rd string. They talked about the ramifications for Rivera if it doesn't work while also contemplating the real possibility that Haskins has taken his last snap in Washington. Lots more on the owner's role in all of this and some Kyle Allen/Alex Smith predictions as well.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. The one thing a lot of people don't see is the frustration on the sidelines on the other players as well. I look at that. I see that.

I feel that. You know, the guys want to win. And right now where his development is, I think our best. shot to win now is with guys that have been in the system. And that's what I'm doing. And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. That was Ron Rivera yesterday in what was very much a train wreck of a press conference for the new head coach in Washington. It's a sports fix Thursday. Tommy's here on the phone from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where he has sent out, once again, another very pleasant and pleasing and relaxing picture.

Now, this one did not get the same number of likes, and I can tell you why, if you want me to tell you why, but let me describe it first. You're holding a cold beer. You're sitting in a restaurant at a table. You've got a plate with a cheeseburger. Is that just a regular cheeseburger, or is that cheese melted over an egg on top of the burger? No, that's a regular cheeseburger.

Okay, I didn't think you were that brave. You've got French fries on your plate, a big smile, a Tyson Holyfield hat on, and this one is pleasant. Don't get me wrong, but it didn't get the same feedback that your other one did because the other one had the beautiful view of the ocean in the background. Whenever you see pictures with water, with beautiful blue ocean water in particular, I think even more so than lake water or a stream, the ocean water is the most. most relaxing picture. The sound of the ocean and the waves. That's the most popular,

you know, sound that people like to fall asleep to. Is the sound of ocean. Do you have a sound machine? So we did for years. It broke like a year ago and we haven't replaced it. Oh, okay, because we have one. It's a new addition.

Yeah, we need to get a new one. I like it. And one of the sounds are waves slapping up. It's my favorite one. On the shore. Would you rather hear waves or a stream or a brook trickling, you know, that sound, which is also a relaxing sound. A lot of people like the sound of rain. Rain is one of those sounds that is very soothing and help sleep.

I like the sound, well, I like the real sound of the ocean with the ocean breeze coming through a window somewhere. That's always nice. Yeah. Actually, I'd rather fall asleep to the soothing sound of your voice. Oh, that's so nice. That's very nice. No, your picture on Tuesday, it's Thursday, right? So your picture on Tuesday was liked by 259 people, and your picture yesterday has only been liked by 110 people. So I think the water-

It's kind of a repeat. I mean, I can't, you know, at some point posting pictures of me drinking beer, it's going to get old. Do you know what, though? What's better than that? That being seated on vacation with water in the background and a cold beer in front of you. Oh. Yeah. Absolutely.

We were in Manteo, the small little town where Andy Griffith used to live for years. Oh, really? Yeah. I thought that was made there. You know, he was born in, he was born in Mount Airy. Mount Pilot or Mount Airy? Mount Airy. Okay.

which Mayberry was kind of patterned after. But he spent much of his adult life living in Manteau on a big 70-acre complex. And it's a beautiful, like a lot of towns, it's a beautiful seaside town. And we had a great time yesterday. Weather was like 79 degrees and sunny. And today we're going to look at the sand dunes. Oh, good. And, you know, hang gliding is big down here, so I'm thinking of trying it.

You know, so you're in, where are you, Kill Devil Hills? Yes. So I know that is the Outer Banks. I don't know where it is in relation to where. There was like a three or four year period. The kids were young. We went to Corolla like two years into Duck, which is right next to Corolla, two years. I love that whole area.

The problem is it's a long-ass drive. to get down there. It took a five and a half hours. Yeah, well, if you're going down there in the summer where there's beach traffic, it can be six and a half. Yeah, I could see that. But it really is, I could see that. It's beautiful down there. We're also going to Duck, I think, today, too, because they've got a nice boardwalk and nice downtown shops. Yeah, Duck is very, very lovely. I'm looking at the map now. I see where Mantello is. And, yeah, so you're just south of Duck. Yeah, it's that it's that road that comes into Route 12. or whatever, which is the true outer banks road that is separated. You know, there's water on both sides of the road, basically. Yeah.

And that, where you are, Nags Head is south of you, according to this map. And then, yeah, duck, and then Kerala is further north. This hurricane is, well, it's a Gulf hurricane. So I don't know where it travels once it gets to the U.S. mainland, if it's going up near us or not. I really haven't actually followed that. Usually that's something I like to follow. Anyway, nice picture. Follow Tommy on Twitter at Tom Levero.

He's having another vacation. This guy gets more vacation than anybody I know. It's phenomenal. I mean, you know what? You've burned it after all these years. You're such a generous boss. Yeah, it's me. It's me that's giving you vacation. That would be funny.

So, well, you know, we spent time on the show shortly after, the Dwayne Haskins news that not only was he being benched, but he was being demoted. And then we got a chance to listen to old Riverboat Ron. Riverboat Ron didn't keep it short. There was nothing short about his press conference. You just heard one of the soundbite bites and maybe the sound bite coming in where, you know, basically he took his quarterback. He stood him up and he said, you can either take this bus standing up or you can lie down, but either way, I'm going to run you over with it. And he did. And then he backed up over him again a couple of times, as did Scott Turner. And of course, you know, there was a lot of, as Barry's Verluga wrote this morning, a lot of window

dressing, you know, in cliche, oh, this could be good for him and, you know, sitting back and getting a chance. Oh, he's got an NFL arm. But Tommy, you know, the bottom line for me, and I want everybody to understand this, it's over. Dwayne Haskins is not playing in Washington again. There is, I mean, when I say that, could Kyle Allen get injured and Alex Smith come in and get injured and Stephen Montez get injured? Because I bet you Montez gets another shot before Haskins does. And then Haskins is on the roster because they haven't traded him yet and he goes in there.

Yes, but he is not going to be on this roster in 2021. If you people didn't get that from not just the benching, but the demotion to third string, inactive where there's no chance to even think about getting him reps to develop him in practice, then you're missing it. Yesterday was the culmination of what I believe is the biggest problem with this organization, the owner, the owner and the owner's conversation with Ron Rivera that at some point probably last December, you know, went, hey, Ron, you know, what do you think of Dwayne? You like him, right?

You like him. He went to Bullis. My son went to Bullis in Potomac. He went to the same school. We love Dwayne. You love Dwayne. You love Dwayne. Well, Mr. Snyder, for $8 million a year, I can learn to like him.

And at the very least, I like him enough to give him a shot. That's all, Ron. That's all I want you to do. Because you're my man. You're a good man. You're a decent man. And we're going to create coach-centric here in D.C. You're the guy.

You're going to run my franchise. you're going to give Dwayne a fair shot. And once you do, you'll see, you'll see he'll prove it to you. You're going to love him. You're going to love him. Tommy, this was a total charade, a total sham. And this is what bothers me more than anything else. It's time for somebody to man up and say, hey, hey, Danny, you know, hey, friend, not Mr.

Not sir. If you want me, we're doing it my way. and I don't like this guy, he can't play. I don't see it, and I'm not going to waste one second. If you hire me, I'm going to trade him. That's going to be the goal, and I'm either going to draft Tua, or there's a guy down in Charlotte that we like as a young kid. We're going to trade a fifth or a six for him,

and we'll give him a shot, and we'll address quarterback next off season. But that's not what happens here, and it doesn't happen here because of the owner. And the one thing I would say, Tommy, you know, I said this on radio this morning, and you've been a part of it and a big part of it. And it's been a big part of what I've enjoyed about doing this over the years is having these conversations and these debates and these conversations you and me or you and me in callers and and and just have it. They're cute. They're fun. They're diversions in our lives. They deal with something that I like.

I mean, football. I love football. I love talking about football. you know, should they have called timeouts or why didn't they throw the ball down the field more? Or why didn't they draft a tight end? But let's understand why we're here. We are here for one reason and one reason owner. One reason only.

And it's the owner. It's Mr. Snyder. Okay? Mr. Snyder is the owner of a team that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be good as long as he owns it. It's a rotting franchise from the top down, and it has been for a long time. God help us if he doesn't sell the team because we're going to live through this for the rest of our lives. I quoted you this morning, and it's one of my favorite quotes from you over the last few years, because it's so spot-on accurate.

The day that they cut DJ Swanger, when you said, if they really wanted to punish him, they wouldn't have cut him, they would have made him stay. And, you know, unfortunately, we don't have a choice. We're here. They can't trade us. We can't go to another team. We could. But the sentence we've been serving is unfair.

It's unjust. And I guess we can hope and pray at this point that maybe there will be another post story that comes out that will produce something that Roger Goodell will think he can sell to the other 31 owners. Or maybe Beth Wilkinson's investigation will reveal something. indisputable that allows the commissioner to go to the other owners and say, this is it. We can get him out now. But if he doesn't sell the team, they're never going to win. They'll have an occasional bright spot.

And we'll still be here having the cute conversations we've had for 17, 18 years together. It's fine. I'm not going to stop having football conversations. But we need to understand the disclaimer. It ain't going to work with him. Like Tommy, I said this morning, I think I've used this line before on the podcast with you because you can appreciate this. One of my favorite scenes from one of the greatest sitcom episodes of all time, the dinner party, you and I are big office fans. Yes.

Is when Jan's in the kitchen with Pam and Angela, and Jan says to Pam, you know, when you used to date Michael and Pam like hesitates and what? What are you saying? And then Pam says to Jan, no, no, no. you don't understand. I have never, I will never, ever, never, ever, ever, never, never, date Michael. That's never, ever, ever happened. And it's the same thing with Snyder. His way will never, ever, ever, ever, never work. There's no chance. He's the current worst owner in the NFL. He's one of the worst owners in sports. And he's ruined what me and many of you who are listening, you still love so much, but that's like years ago. And these coaches that come here

and take the money and tell Dan what he wants to hear is just another indication. And I think what we saw here was a major sham. It was a charade. It was an exercise the last few months. Ron and Scott were not Dwayne Haskins guys. But because this was going to be a developmental year, they figured, we'll prove it to Dan in the first four games. We'll give them sort of a fair shot. And it's not like they had a great solution necessarily. And four games into it, you know, they use these standings as a way to say, hey, you know, we're in this division. If Dallas had been four and O and Philly had been three and one, I think this would have lasted, the charade would have gone on another four or five weeks.

But it is over people, over. Dwayne Haskins is not going to be on this roster in 2021. And personally, I think they should trade him before the trade deadline. Get rid of them now. You don't want this going into the offseason. They know how they feel. For whatever reason, they may be right, wrong. And we don't know what the reasons are because we're not there. It certainly wasn't based on four games in 262 snaps because that is an unfair way to evaluate a player.

No one thinks that that's fair and long enough. So it's clearly something else. And let me just end with this before you go on your rant here about what you heard yesterday. Ron has every right to do what he did. Every right. He can have the gut feel after spending a little bit of time with Dwayne and maybe even before, you know, reviewing him on tape and maybe talking to guys like Gruden and others. He can say he's not my guy. I am not going to invest in this.

That's fine. I just don't know why it didn't happen a month and a half ago, why we had to waste everybody's time here. You're only going to give Dwayne Haskins a legit chance if there's something there you believe in, something there you think you can develop, something there that you think is worth the weight. In your words, something there that makes the juice worth squeezing. And it's not for them. And that's fine. I just don't know why we had to go through all of this.

I do know why it's the owner. To hold the owner's hand. Yes. And that's why. He had to hold his hand. And that's why we're doomed. Doomed. Yeah.

Look, this is why I always would, when I, I mean, for the past 10 years, I've always referred to the Surgeon General's warning. And when we talk about how good this player is or how great this coach could be, or wouldn't it be great if they did this or if they won a couple of games? I always say, let me read the Surgeon General's warning. It doesn't matter who coaches his team. It doesn't matter who plays quarterback for this team. It just doesn't matter as long as Dan Snyder owns the team.

That is it's proven more and more every single day. But, you know, and Rivera has the right, like you said, to do everything he did. but he's all over the place. I mean, he, he is, I mean, what, you know, he, he talked about this thing, uh, that I heard from the players early on just before the season that they're tired of losing. For 10 years, this team's been kicked around. Enough's enough. What players have been here for 10 years?

Where are the players on this team who have suffered through years of losing? No, I mean, I don't, I mean, there's a handful of them, but I mean, I'd be more impressed if he said the fans, you know, who have suffered through decades. He asked the fans, Tommy, and the media to support them about a month ago, remember? Let's not focus on the negative. We've got some nice young players here. We're looking forward and we need your support. He asked for everybody's support. And then on Dwayne, it was only a week and a half, two weeks ago.

He said, well, of course he's going to play. What do you think he's going to learn being on the scout team? You know, there's been a lot of mixed messages. And it's all because when you go down the path of not being honest and a hundred percent honest with everybody and yourself. And you're playing this little game of, you know, I told him, I told him that I would try to make this work. I know it's not going to work. Then you end up, you know, coming up with all these different things that are trying to cover or trying to move the conversation in a different direction. I mean, the players, I mean, for him to say that the players on the sidelines, you know, that he's, that the other 52 guys was another comment that came, that he owes something to them.

I mean, that's a roll the bus over Dwayne Haskins. those kinds of comments. I mean, how about the other 52 players on the sideline when your head coach is throwing in the talent back-to-back weeks by not calling timeouts, by admitting publicly that this is a developmental year, that this is a process. And now all of a sudden, and you're throwing in-game quizzes at this guy. I mean, I'll tell you, I'm a Ron Rivera fan.

I was a Ron Rivera fan at Carolina. pleased with the hire. I think he's a good coach. I think he's a decent man. I think when you come here, all the other bullshit that you have to put up with. And by the way, he's sick too. Let's not forget that. And yesterday for him, like, I mean, he couldn't get it right on the games. Like he's, like if Dwayne goes, I looked at the first four games and I thought if we went two and four, well, that's six games, coach. Okay. You meant two, two and two. I mean, somebody should have quickly correct. directed him. And it was funny because in the transcript, they wrote two-four-four, like he was saying two-for-four. Like, if we go two-for-four, like, if we win two out of the four,

but he was saying two-end-four, whatever. It's a bunch of losers in the organization everywhere, and it's been that way for years. I hope that some of the people there that are there, who I like, I hope they succeed. But they'll end up, you know, being somewhere else because the good people don't stay in this place. But to say some of the people. To say some, of the things about the two and two. Well, if Dwayne, if we'd gotten one more, I think Dwayne would still be the quarterback. Really? What?

Because it would have been too. If they hadn't won any games, would Dwayne be the quarterback? I think, by the way, I think that the media did a pretty good job with him. I don't know how you felt. There was one question that I think should have been asked. And that one question is, you know, actually, a couple that you would have followed up on is, if it doesn't go well here over the next couple of weeks and you fall out of contention, let's just say you're one in five, one and six,

will Dwayne have a chance to get back into the developmental role as your quarterback? And also, the bottom line is the most jarring thing of the whole day yesterday is he wasn't benched, he was demoted to third string. Like that is, you know, that is see you later. We have no desire anymore. to see you develop. We're done with that. And then the Alex Smith thing is a whole other thing.

I mean, I can't believe he's going to play. I was told by somebody in the know that this could be a bridge to Alex. I just don't believe it. I don't believe it, Tommy. I just don't believe Alex Smith is going to play. But he could on Sunday. Yes, absolutely he could. Now, let me ask you this.

You've always been a big believer of not looking at the schedule to really make judgments as to what you can do and can't do. Yes. But that's what Ron Rivera is doing here, right? Yeah, I just think that he's using it as a convenient way to shelve Dwayne earlier than he would have. He knew in August or maybe even in January that Dwayne has. Askins was not going to be the quarterback of this franchise. And I think, by the way, Scott Turner feels even more strongly about this, just so everybody understands that Turner as a first-year offensive coordinator.

And by the way, you can question his credentials for making this, you know, early evaluation, which is fine, because they may be wrong on this. I think they certainly didn't want him to quarterback any longer than he had to, but they use this as a way to make the decision quicker. And to be able to say to Dan, look, and by the way, there's that quote at the end of the, he's asked about whether or not he talked to Snyder. And his first part of the answer is, I don't tell anybody what I'm thinking. I don't want anybody to think people are telling me what to do.

I thought about this as we were beginning to go into the beginning of the year. And I looked at the schedule. And I said, wow, our first games are very good. telling. So he was already thinking about it. But then he comes back in the same answer and says, and says, now, I did talk to Mr. Snyder. I explained to him what I wanted to do. I explained to him why I wanted to do it. And he was very supportive. He told me, Ron, it's your football team. Those decisions you're going to make, you're going to live with those decisions. And I said, yes, sir, I am. And then he said, well, I'm all supportive and I'm all behind you 100%. That's it. So,

initially he says, I don't need to talk to anybody about it. And then he says, oh, well, I did talk to Mr. Snyder and call him, sir, in the process. You know, people are going to get on me about, he's from a military thing. I just personally don't understand how somebody who's older than somebody else refers to him as Mr. and why somebody would want an older person to refer to them as Mr. That's just me. And by the way, I grew up very much yes, sir, no, sir. Mr. This, the whole thing, and taught that way. But I think you get to a point where you're in your 50s, and if a guy's older than you, even if he works for you, hey, my name's Kevin.

My name's Dan. You're Ron. I'm Dan. But that's not what we have, obviously. People couldn't even look at him in the building, you know, when they were walking past him. Anyway. What if, what if, what about the possibility?

that people have brought up, if Rivera had been looking at the schedule, let's say, way before the season started and thought of this, why wouldn't they have gone out and signed Cam Newton? Well, because signing Cam Newton would be an admission that you're not going to give Dwayne a shot, a chance, right? Yes. And I do think that the whole Cam Newton injury thing had something to do with it, and let me throw out one other possibility there, Tommy.

Because I think that there's some truth to this, but I don't think I said it on the radio show because I just didn't get around to saying it. I don't know that Cam would have come here. I think Cam's opportunity with Josh McDaniels was much more appealing to him than his opportunity with Scott Turner. Yeah, and I think he knew. New England, Washington, too. Right.

But offensive. I think that he knew that. That was going to be coming. Yeah, I think he knew that that was in play. That's right. But I think even if he didn't have a lot of other options or had lesser or, you know, something equivalent in terms of, you know, starting job with a team that wasn't going to be very good, you know, I'm not so sure that Turner was somebody he completely believed in.

Now, I'm not knocking Scott Turner. I actually thought he called a really good game Sunday. And I think he's proven here in the first four weeks that he can design a game plan around what his players do best. You know, the problem is he's been limited a little bit. But the bottom line for the trade for Kyle Allen, a fifth rounder, was Kyle Allen's got an advocate here. He is an advocate in Scott Turner and Ron Rivera,

but really Scott Turner. Scott wanted to bring in a guy that he was comfortable with so when the charade, the sham of proving to Mr. that we're going to give Dwayne a shot that they had somebody here that they'd be comfortable with. Because not only could you say that about Cam Newton, Tommy, you could say that about Tua. You know, you could say if they were absolutely convinced that Haskins wasn't the guy, which I believe is probably true. What about Tua? Well, Tua would have been, you know, a massive indicator that they don't believe in Dwayne.

You don't draft the quarterback number two overall and then say, oh, but we're going to give Dwayne a chance. So you know what now let's say the season let's I mean look he has called riverboat Ron and you know I mean this didn't just pop into his head but but to make the move now when he thinks they have a chance and I don't think it's a realistic chance but he thinks he have a chance to maybe win a war to division with like maybe even a seven eight and one record or a six and ten. record or who knows what. You know, I understand how doing that would really help Ron Rivera get off to a very solid start with the fan base here in Washington. Like I said before, the best thing that Ron Rivera could have is early success to cement his place among the fan base as a powerful figure, as the guy with the same. say in that organization. Now, let's say it goes the other way. Let's say the season really goes

south and they went they went three games again or four at the outset, total. Has he done himself damaged? Yeah, there's some risk here. Cooley pointed this out on the podcast yesterday. There is risk that Ron's taking because regardless of how you feel about Dwayne, nobody's super excited about Kyle Allen. So if Kyle Allen comes in and promptly soils himself and they're one in eight in five weeks and then Alex comes in and gets, you know, it looks like the, you check down Alex from the year before and isn't very good. He's going to look bad for not using the developmental opportunity to see what Dwayne had. But again, like, I don't, so yes, I mean, He would be crucified by the fans.

He would be crucified by the media. And then he's got to worry about what old Mr. Snyder thinks. Now, on the other side, the flip side, if Kyle Allen comes in and they start winning games against the Giants, not a big win. But if he comes in and beats the Rams on Sunday and plays well, and then they get on a roll and somehow they actually do make the playoffs, he's going to look really good. And then again, I'm going to then ask the question, you knew this all along. Why didn't you just man up and start them in week one? Because maybe we would have had another home game instead of just one home game. Whatever.

I mean, just the thought of that is ridiculous. They're not going to win the division. Come on. Dallas and Philly are better. You know, Philly's banged up. Right. I mean, eventually the talent will prove that out. Dallas is good enough to have a.

to win seven games. And they're going to fire Mike Nolan at some point, hire a defensive coordinator. Right. And that will jumpstart them a little bit defensively. Yeah, everyone's going to find their level at some point, I think. I don't think they're there, the Washington football team is on the verge of one of those accidental good seasons. Yeah, I don't either.

I don't. You know, it's funny because I think this was. The standings allowed for him to do this now. And at the same time, some of the things he was doing leading up to now were almost suspiciously, you know, reeking of a setup, you know, the in-game quiz, the throwing in the towel in two back-to-back weeks, pointing to a record of one and three and saying, well, if he had been two and two, well, you know, if you had actually tried to win some of these games, maybe you would have been two and two. but probably not. But this idea that some of our fans have, I'm just telling everybody that, oh, we, you know, and it's positioned in a few ways.

Number one is there is an opportunity and they can do something in this division. Okay. Number two is, they're going to let Kyle Allen come in and beat the snot out of the Giants. I got news for you. They're not sweeping the Giants,

okay? The Giants, it's not like they're a lot better than the Giants. I've watched the Giants three games against the Steelers in the opener, against the Bears, and a little bit against the Rams. They're not terrible. And by the way, Daniel Jones isn't terrible either. I don't think he's terrible. I see something in him.

I saw something in Dwayne. I got a lot of push. I got a lot of feedback, Tommy, with, are you really disappointed? Because you've really been touting Dwayne? And I'm like, yeah, I am. I am disappointed. But I'm disappointed for a few reasons. I'm disappointed that, A, I don't think he got a fair shot, but I can.

concede that I don't really know if he got a fair shot because I'm not there in practice. I don't know what the reasons were. The reasons weren't four games and 262 snaps. They're much deeper than that. And I do think it's fair that they get to do what they want to do. I just wish they had done it sooner. But I'm also a little bit disappointed at the way Dwayne played this year. Because even if he had this sense from the beginning that they wanted Kyle Allen,

which wouldn't surprise me at all, and that he wasn't getting the support or the advocacy of somebody there, which he hasn't had since he got here, right? He got here last year, the coaching staff and the football people didn't want them, just the owner. Even the interim coach really didn't want them.

And then this coaching staff inherited him, and it's clear now four weeks into the season, they didn't want them. You know, everybody needs, you know, an advocate. Everybody, every, it doesn't mean that Ron, may not have taken the job and loved Dwayne. I mean, Matt LaFleur took the job and loved Aaron. Why would you care if you got the job and Aaron Rogers is your quarterback? But when it comes to, you know, unprovens and unknowns from our standpoint, he has the right to do all that. But Dwayne just didn't get a fair shake here.

I don't think, I would be surprised if anybody really strongly debated that. No one's been an advocate for him. No one's tried to say, you're my guy, and we're going to develop you. and we're going to scheme around your strengths and weaknesses, and we believe in you. We believe in you. Nobody's done that. So the worst, do you think that, not the worst thing, but in terms of his NFL career,

the one team that hurt him the most going to when he was drafted was his hometown team? Oh, no doubt. This was the worst place for him to land. The worst. It really was. It's unbelievable. One other part that I'm disappointed at, and I was leading into it, which is I think Dwayne could have done more. I think that the competitor and the urgency that I saw at the end of last year in particular, the playmaking ability that was a surprise to me.

I didn't see that this year. You know, I didn't see him look desperate. I didn't see him, you know, he made some big throws. Look, the one game they won in the division that all of a sudden is a big opportunity for Riverboat Ron was won in part because, Wayne made some big throws with the game tied late. You know, two back-to-back third down throws that moved the chains that ultimately led to a touchdown that gave him a 24 to 17 lead in the fourth quarter. Don't forget that.

You know, there were moments this year where he wasn't terrible. You know, he wasn't terrible on Sunday against Baltimore. I'm not suggesting he played a great game because of the statistics because I don't think he did, but he was better than he was against Cleveland. By the way, as a quick aside, I do now believe in thinking that I'm know for certain that had he turned the ball over a bunch of times against Baltimore, he would have gotten benched in the middle of that game. The Ian Rappaport story before that game about, you know, if he plays poorly,

that you could see Kyle Allen today, I think was true. But, you know, in that Philadelphia game, he had, I'm looking at it right now, third and eight, and he threw to Logan Thomas first down. Third and nine, he throws a dart on a slant to Inman, first down. You know, fourth and, third and two, he scrambles a little bit, gets it back. Could have been like a six-yard loss on that play. And he made a really good play to get back to the line of scrimmage to set up with the fourth and one, which was the Peyton Barber, remember, play for the first down.

And they took the lead. They took the lead and they won the game. I've never said to anybody, I think he's the next Aaron Rogers or the next Tom Brady. or Peyton Manning, just like I never said that about Kirk Cousins either. People like to say that I said that. I never did. What I thought about Kirk Cousins was true and accurate, and that is I saw a guy that could be a consistent top half of the league starter.

That's true, not debatable anymore. I saw that in Dwayne last year. I saw a guy that wasn't going to be elite, wasn't going to be, you know, a massive difference maker, but a guy that had the talent and the ability and the competitive level. to be a top half of the league's starting quarterback. And I would just suggest that the story hasn't been completely written on that yet, just because geniuses, you know, Rivera and Turner have decided he's not the guy.

But to be fair, Gruden, who is an offensive guy and understands quarterback play, he didn't see it in Dwayne either. So you got two staffs now back to back. Remember what we said about Griffin, right, Tommy? Shanahan staff didn't see it. the Gruden staff didn't see it. At some point, it might be the player. Yeah, yeah, at some point, it might be the player.

I mean, you know, you talk about the way Dwayne played in that first game. I guess can't get over the reality that if he didn't play as well, he'd still be this. They wouldn't have won and he'd probably still be the starter. At 0 and 4? Yeah. Why? Because they wouldn't have had a chance to get back into the division race?

Yeah. I think they'd be farther away from the division race. And they'd be saying, well, there's no point in changing it. We're not playing for anything now. Now, if this pays off for Rivera, it builds him up in the fan base big time. I mean, this is the kind of thing I was talking about. You know, I mean, maybe a little bit less than what I was talking about. But still, this is the kind of thing.

If it works for him and Kyle Allen plays well and they start winning, games and they're competing at the end of the year for some kind of of shot in the playoffs and NFC East title, then he will have built up a lot of goodwill among what's left of the Washington fan base. And, you know, I mean, in that sense, I think, I understand it's a calculated risk because the other option is to, you know, to be like every other team that I've felt like, like he said, in a way, you know, they're tired of losing here. Well, another year of four and 12 isn't going to do anybody any good, development or not.

It certainly isn't going to do Ron Rivera any good. So this is, I mean, they call them Riverboat Ron, and this is a risk that, I think could pay off for him. I don't disagree with that. I think that if they were to make a run here, he'd look genius. Yeah. I mean. Yeah.

And he'd be considered the savior. They'd be holding virtual parades for him. You know what's funny, Tommy? As you were saying that, I was thinking, remember the conversation at the beginning of last year. We all said, would it be better for Jay Gruden to start Haskin's 16 games? and go 5 and 11, but maybe have an upward arrow at the end of the year with his total focus on developing Dwayne rather than making the playoffs versus having a chance starting Case Keenum, you know, to go, or Colt McCoy to go 8 and 8 or 9 and 7 and eke out a wild card.

The bottom line is it would have been much better for, you know, Jay Gruden if he had any aspirations of being a head coach beyond 2019 to have said, we're going with Dwayne. I believe in what the owner did here. I believe in what our, you know, he wouldn't have said it that way. I believe in what we did here. And we're going with Dwayne. This kid's got something and to stick with it for 16 games.

He might still be here. Yeah. He might. He might have not gotten fired. I mean, Bruce might still be here. Oh, my God. I mean, that's what, but that's just, you know, that's just an illustration of what it takes to, you know, sort of be in favor. I mean, look, we're here because the owner went in on draft day 2019 and trumped his football people and actually wanted to trade up to get this guy.

And here's the thing. You know, there's so many outsiders, NFL outsiders, Lewis Ramos. critic was critical. Others have been critical that Dwayne was not treated fairly, that he never had the support he needed. What were they supposed to do when, if you're Jay Gruden and the owner comes in and usurps everybody in the football organization and tells you this is your quarterback moving forward? You're just supposed to suck it up and swallow it? I know. It's, true. I mean, Riddick's got up, see,

I remember Riddick's words. First of all, Riddick was absolutely ridiculous when he said that they ruined Dwayne Haskins by putting him into the giant game last year. That's stupid because he's the backup quarterback. I mean, he's, if the backup quarterback's going to play, if somebody gets banged up,

hurt or is really inept as as Keenham had been, right? It was Keenham in that game. Yes. But I understand the point about coming into an organization, without somebody thinking that being on board with it. Somebody in your day-to-day, you know, the people that are really responsible for the development for your growth and those people having zero interest in it.

And it was set up that way because the owner is all. Look, you can say the same thing about Alex Smith. Do you think Jay Gruden wanted Alex Smith? No. I mean, Bruce Smith gave him Alex Smith. conference when they introduced them. Right. I mean, my God, it was ridiculous how this tastefulness was for him.

Right. So, I mean, and that's Alex Smith, you know, that's not a rookie quarterback. Alex Smith actually had a resume. But it wasn't, you know, Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder knowing absolutely nothing about football, just figured, oh, well, you know, we got to make people forget about this Kirk Cousin's debacle. Let's get ourselves some Alex Smith. Jay can work with Alex.

Never even asked Alex. never even asked Jay. It was a surprise to Doug and everybody else there. Look, it just continues the shit show that this place has been. But the Lewis Riddick thing, it is fair. It is fair to look at Dwayne's situation and say he hasn't been, he hasn't had a chance here because there isn't anybody here that has had his best interest in mind. There isn't anybody here that's felt it was worth investing the time to get to an answer. No one's... That's not their fault. I mean, I know it's not. But it's not his fault either. It's not his fault.

It's the owner's fault. Yeah. It's all the owner's fault. Right. I mean, the people who didn't want Dwayne, the people who didn't, you know, give Dwayne to support, they didn't want them. Right. They didn't want them here. Yes.

That's what I'm saying. I mean, it's, the point is here is that, you know, first of all, it's like we can go back historically through this, right? And let's do that right after this word from one of our sponsors. I mean, Tommy, think about just every single coach pretty much that has come in here has had the challenge of having to deal with a quarterback that was here that the owner was infatuated with. All right, except for Jim Zorn. Marty Schottenheimer comes in and Jeff George is here. And he's got a young Dan Snyder to deal with. And Marty's the one that handled it best.

Marty was the one that said, Vinny's not allowed in my building. Fred Drasner, your minority owner, that parking spot that you've got his name on, that's done. That spots for players and coaches. And after one game, he told Dan that Jeff George is a loser. and I'd rather rebuild and try to win with Tony Banks and Kent Graham. You know, I'll let Kent Graham and Tony Banks with one audible take snaps before I let your loser take another snap for me.

He's the only one that just came out right away and said, men, there's a glean here. And Dan, you don't know what you're talking about. You hired me. I'm going to do it. And of course, after a year, it wasn't any fun for Dan. Then Spurrier comes in and it's Patrick Ramsey. Look at what I got you, Steve. I got you Patrick Ramsey.

I went down, I worked him out myself. And there Spurrier had to sit through this Patrick Ramsey guy when he knew there was no chance. Even Joe had to come in and at least give Ramsey a shot. And Ramsey lasted a half in the opener against the Bears game in 2005. But really, he brought Brunel in. I mean, Gibbs had his own choice there. then we had Mike. What happens three hours after Mike's hired?

Hey, we got you Donovan McNabb. I know. I mean, you know, and then, of course, Mike, look what we got you. We got your RG3. Now, Mike was on board with that. But in 2013, the all in for week one, you know, the Nike campaign, the self-produced documentary. And you and I've talked about this many times. I've told Mike this before.

I've told them, you should have gone to Dan before the 2013 O. opener and said, Kurt Cousins is going to be my starting quarterback, not only in the opener, but this year. And if you don't like it, fire me, period. But he didn't do it, right? Jay takes over. He's got to make Robert work and realizes it's not going to work. Everybody comes in.

And now this guy comes in, it's got to make, you know, he's got to at least say, yeah, I like, I like him. I think I'm going to give him a shot. We're going to give him a chance to develop. He's going to get a shot. When they all know deep down, that's not the right answer. The right answer, I mean, I guess taking the money in the situation like Gruden was in is the right answer. The right answer is, no, I've watched the tape, I've talked to people, he's not the guy.

We're not wasting any time here. This is pro ball. All right. This is the big leagues here. You don't know what you're talking about. I do. We're not going with that guy. But none of them have done it.

except for Marty, I guess. Ron Rivera, you would have thought would have had the leverage to have done that. Yeah. I mean, he would have been in demand as an off-season coach. No doubt. And he could have said, you know, maybe he didn't think so at the time. No, I mean, I'm not sure. I'm sorry.

He seems like a very nice guy. I'm very sympathetic and poll for him a thousand percent as to what he's going through. But he's a little bit all over the place. So he may not have, he may have had a totally different idea when he took this job. He may have thought that Dwayne was the guy. I don't think so. No, I'm convinced of it.

You don't bench somebody, you don't demote somebody to third string four games, 262 snaps into it if you actually had legitimate belief that this was a Well, maybe to know Dwayne is not to love Dwayne. Well, look, I'm not saying that he didn't look at Dwayne and say, like he said yesterday, guys got a big arm, big kid, did some nice things. Remember he was complimentary about him, you know, in the Detroit game, you know, and he challenged him in the offseason and he got in shape and all that stuff.

And I'm not saying that, you know, he was 100% convinced, but I think the strong lean between him and Turner, at least after a couple of the toss arounds in training camp, was, eh, this isn't the answer. And I just wish that somebody would have the stones to stand up to the owner and say, you've hired me and you're paying me to turn this around. I know you drafted him. I know he went to a high school that you're really fond of. I know that you're fond of the kid and, you know, the big draft night party and the clothing line and all the other stuff. And you think he's a wonderful kid. And by the way, I've heard really good things about him, too. I'm being a little bit sarcastic there. But even Cooley, who was not a fan of him coming out of Ohio State, got a chance

to know Dwayne last year and said over and over again, he likes the kid. Like nobody has said that they dislike him. But somebody's got to have the stones at some point just to say, no, we're not doing this. It's a waste of everybody's time. You know, I got a guy. His statistics look shitty, but he can run our offense and we think he could be potentially a starter in the league in Kyle Allen. But if he isn't, we're using this year to develop him. We think he's got a bigger upside. We're going to use this year to develop and learn whether or not he's the right guy. And I don't know. Bottom line is a benching is one thing. A demotion to third string means it's over. And if you come to the conclusion,

It's a burial. If you come to the conclusion after 262 snaps and four games, then you felt this way. You were predisposed to feeling, you know, feeling like this was a possibility long before this happened. I think so. But, I mean, I think when he took the job, it's very possible. I think this guy is a little bit erratic at his thinking. I mean, I think he's a little bit inconsistent and erratic. I don't think. So I think it's very possible that when he took the job, he believed that Dwayne could be the guy. And he has since changed his mind. Two things. What kind of impact would there be or do you expect any impact of a Haskins and Haskins pushback? So I had Sean Springs on the show this morning, the radio show, and I would urge anybody that, you know, that haskins.

hasn't listened to it to just go to the team 980.com and to the podcast there on the website and listen to my interview with Sean Spring. Sean, for those of you who don't know, is a real friend of the Haskins family. He's been a mentor of Dwayne since Dwayne was young. And, you know, I said, you know, how is he doing? And he said, you know, he was surprised. You know, he was surprised. And I said, how will he handle it? Will you tell him, will you give him advice on how to handle it? And he said, my advice to him is you've got to take the high road. You've got to take the high road on this. You've got to be there every day. You've got to show up on time. You got to do what they asked you to do. You've got to be a good teammate because the word spreads in this league. And how he handles this may,

you know, really influence the next opportunity he gets, which is really good advice for anybody. Yeah, but I'm not just talking about the kid. You're talking about the agent and the family? The agent, the family, the owner. The whole Haskins, great. The owner. Well, the owner according to Riverboat, said he's all behind Riverboat's decision. Yeah, but how many phone calls is the owner going to get from his Bullis buddies, the Bullis alumni mafia or whatever.

Well, let me just, let me clue you in on that. He's not going to get any calls from the Bullis alumni. because I don't think anybody knows him from there. I'm not sure that there are a bunch of pals that he's got there. So you don't expect to pushback? Well, I mean, Moologeta, the agent, remember, tweeted out on Sunday night about Rappaport's thing. You know, basically throwing Dwayne's weapons under the bus, everybody else. You know, really, he's got limited weapons on offense, and it's his, and he's got to play well, I think was the tweet.

And I wonder whether or not, you know, Riverboat was asked about that. You saw that answer, right? Yeah. Riverboat was asked in the press conference yesterday. Ron was asked about, you know, the agent, you know, and whether or not he, what he thought of what the agent said. And he said, I'm looking for the exact quote. Here it is. I can't find the exact quote.

He basically said, well, Kyle's going to have the same opportunity to work with that same limited supporting cast, which was a good line. You know, I'm looking for, oh yeah, here it is, you know, on the Moologeta, the agent for Dwayne Haskins, who basically questioned everything surrounding Dwayne. This was on Sunday. Ron said, quote, well, it'll be the same thing for Kyle. Kyle will have the same guys out there. He'll have the same unfair shake. We'll see how it goes. That's the thing everybody has to understand.

We are who we are. The players we have are the players we have. Those are the guys we're going to play. The thing we've got to understand is there's one primary position that touches the ball in every play. What we're hoping to do is develop a young quarterback. We get to a certain point where you say, wow, he's not getting it right now. We can continue to put him out there or, wow, look at the situation we have in our next four games. So, yeah.

You know, he also said, he also indicated that he's heard some of the criticism about Dwayne, and then, you know, was thrown off yesterday about, well, was four games enough? And he said, you know, I'm looking at what's happened. It's funny because everything I've seen and been told is that everybody talks about him not doing this not doing that. And now I decided to do this. And wow, you know, hey, Ron, don't worry about what anybody else says. You know, don't worry about, you know, what the fans say or what the media is saying about Dwayne or whatever.

We're trusting in your evaluation here. He really did acknowledge that he, you know, he was getting questions about, was it enough time to evaluate Dwayne? And he's saying, well, you know, I was hearing from people that were saying you got to make the move. he hasn't been very good. That press conference, God bless him, because he's fighting, man. He's fighting. I know he is. And I just want, you know, the best for him because I know based on everything that's been

said out there and people, you know, in that business, they all like him. He is a decent person that is well liked and well respected. You just hope it works out for him. But man, was that press conference a bit of a train wreck? Well, I think there will be pushback from Haskins and Haskins. That will cause anything from a ripple to a tidal wave of damage. How? Within the organization.

I don't know how, but there always is. Ron's already- In this organization, there always is. Ron has already dug his heels in when there's been some criticism, like the timeouts. I know that. The opposite would be the long shot, that there'll be no pushback from outside or from the owner. The opposite would be the long shot. So there will be, okay.

Are we going to go? The whole scenario that you accurately pointed out of every time the owner has handcuffed the football people with a quarterback that they really didn't want or couldn't. work with for one reason or another. Are we looking at that again next year in a draft? Oh, God. If we do, there's another opportunity for Ron and Kyle Smith and anybody else to say, if you force us to do this, we quit. Period.

You can't continue to do that. Now, like, I'm sure there are people out there saying to themselves, really, Shan, for $8 million a year? No, really is that? Oh, you like him? Oh, yeah, no, I like him too. I mean, so people have been in that situation before, and I understand that to a certain degree. But again, we're doomed if that's the case.

We're doomed if he comes in on draft night and says, this guy from North Dakota State, you know, Trey Lance, you guys like him, right? I like him a lot. I mean, we can't have that anymore. I mean, look, there's a possibility by the time we get there, he won't even be the owner. Yes. You know, so there's that hope. and really, as I mentioned before, that's sort of the only hope. Yeah.

I do wish... I hope you're wrong about a public Haskins and Haskins pushback. You know, I've noticed, and I've actually checked a couple of times since yesterday, he has not tweeted once. You know, not once, his Simba 7 tweeted. Maybe, by the way, we're going to have a different jersey number. Will Joe's jersey number go back? to being protected.

He hasn't tweeted once. I think his interviews this year have been reflective of a kid that's grown a little bit. I'm actually rooting. I'm not talking about the kids. I'm talking about the people around the kid. Yeah, but the people around the kid have gotten to the kid before. And we've seen that manifest itself in social media and in Jersey numbers. All it's going to take is Kyle Allen to have.

a mediocre outing for those voices to be in his head again. That's true. That's all it's going to take. Kyle Allen, Sunday against the Rams, three interceptions, two fumbles, 37 to 10. And here comes H&H. Oh, boy. And Moologeta and the whole crew. And by the way, Dan's in the locker room walking right by Kyle Allen to seek out Dwayne,

who's in civvies because he didn't even dress for the game to tell him, don't worry about it. You're going to get back in there soon. Oh, imagine that one. My buddy, Dan. Hi, how you doing? Come over here and sit by me, Dan. The only person so far in the organization that's allowed to call him Dan is the quarterback. If you guys don't think that that is a red flag, you know, when he's last year talking about

Dan told me not to go back into the game, I mean, and the head coach, that he hires is Mr. Snyder, Mr. Snyder, sir, sir, sir. I mean, come on, people. I mean, we're all, you know, we've got enough life experience to know that something's wrong there. But I'm hopeful that Dwayne listens to Sean, continues to mature, and I think I've heard that in these press conferences, and takes the high road. I think the team should absolutely try to trade him now and not wait until the offseason.

I think that they should try to trade him before the trade deadline. What are you going to get for them? It's a really good question. I'll answer that right after this word from one of our sponsors. I was just thinking, can you imagine if Kyle Allen goes out Sunday and just is horrible? I mean, you know, the four picks, the couple of fumbles, they get blown out, and Alex Smith comes in and he can barely move around. You know, and so they just start calling handoffs because Ron's in protection mode at the end. I mean, can you imagine what it'll be like on Monday?

And by the way, they're playing the Rams. The Rams have beaten three NFC East opponents. So, you know, I'm not sure that they're as good as their record indicates, but still, it could happen. And this defense. Oh, listen, Kevin, not that it could happen. It will happen. This will happen. Kevin, he, Carl Allen could be sacked six times in this game.

He was sacked seven times against Washington last year in Riverboats' last game as Carolina's coach. Well, this could be a repeat of that. I mean, the Rams are going to come with everything they've got on their pass rush. I mean, there's not three players on the Washington football team's offensive line together who can stop Aaron Donald. So, I mean, of all games, I mean, I know people expect them to lose this game. Yeah.

But, I mean, I think, look, I think it's almost a guarantee that Kyle Allen has the worst, has the worst performance of any Washington quarterback this year. I mean. Remember where you heard it. This game. Yeah. I think that they should be really active in trying to deal, Duane. before the trade deadline.

And there's one team in particular to me that really stands out as a possibility. I think Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh and behind Ben Rathesberger would be a great place for Dwayne. And an organization that is solid, I mean, I know they've got Mason Rudolph there, you know, and maybe, you know, I mean, I'm not a Mason Rudolph fan. I would love to see a guy like Tomlin and, you know, Rathusberger, and let him sit behind Ben the last two years and get an opportunity. That would be a perfect spot for him to be in, I think. He needs somebody that will really be there to push him and to develop him and to encourage him. He hasn't had that here, obviously. That would be the spot.

What could they get for him? I don't know, man. You know, this is the thing. You know, that 2019 draft, a lot of teams did not have him as a first round pick on their board. You know, this was the thing we sort of learned after the fact. Now, a lot of teams did have a first round grade on him. Hell, Carolina, according to Ron had a first round grade on him. I think in that draft, if you go back to that draft, you know, remember, why did Washington have a chance at Dwayne

at 15. Well, they had a chance at him at 15 because the Giants took Daniel Jones, you know, after Kyler Murray went one overall. And then the teams that were thought to be teams that might draft a developmental quarterback, Pittsburgh at 10 didn't take them. Green Bay at 12, and it would have been developmental, didn't take them. Miami, who had a quarterback need, didn't take them at 13. and so what was clear is that, you know, and by the way, Pittsburgh, if I recall, was in that spot because of Denver.

Denver needed a quarterback. Denver ended up taking, you know, Drew Locke in the next round. But Denver didn't like him enough to take him that high. And then what was to come afterwards would have been, I'm trying to think, and I'm just pulling it up here, would have been, where were the chargers? because the chargers were thought to potentially be in the market. They were at 28. So they were a little bit further down the list. Oh, Denver ended up at 20. So maybe Denver would have taken him at 20.

That would have been a real red flag. Had Washington not taken him? Had they taken somebody else, whether it was Brian Burns or Montes sweat there. And then if Denver had passed on a quarterback there, because they desperately needed a quarterback. Anyway, the point is that you're not going to get a first for him. You're not going to get a second rounder for him either because it's a distress sale. You know, you benched him to third.

If you'd benched him to backup, you may have not hurt, you know, you may not have sent this signal that obviously got sent, which is he's not our guy. Could you get a third for him, a conditional third? Absolutely. That's what I think. Yeah. Okay. I think a conditional third, there have to be several teams out there, more than one anyway, that looks at his talent and says,

I think we can sit him behind this guy for a while, you know, maybe Detroit. You know, we can sit him behind Matt Stafford for the next, you know, two or three years. Stafford's still too young. That wouldn't be that necessarily the spot. Anyway, that's what I would think. Could be wrong. You don't think he, I am absolutely 100% convinced he will not be here in 2021, unless Ron's not here in 2021. So if it goes terribly with Alan and Alex Smith and the owner says, you don't know what you're talking about. You know, this is sorry, Ron. I really liked the coach-centric idea a year ago, but we're going to

move on. I don't think that'll happen. I'm not predicting that at all. All I'm saying is to me, the only reason he would be here next year is if Ron isn't. Yeah, I don't think he'll be here next year. Uh, I mean, I just, I don't say, one thing, Snyder does not have a history of firing coaches or, or, I mean, or basically, I mean, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, he is, he's not, he has not have a record of being meddlesome enough to walking in to a respected coach's office after one year and saying, we're not going to do it your way anymore. We're going to do it my way. Well, he did that with Marty Schottenheimer. Well, he just fired Schottenheimer. Yeah. He just fired him. Well, he gave Marty, no, he gave Marty the option of not being the, the GM. Right. And staying on his coach,

but with him and Vinny taking over the personnel and bringing Vinny back. He gave him that option. and Marty said no. Okay, well, that's true. Which was the right call by Marty, obviously. Yeah, it was, obviously. I just don't see anything. I just don't see Snyder. Snyder's too devious and gutless to make to have that kind of confrontation.

He will exert his influence in small, devious, deceitful ways. And he'll take his talk. I'm doing it. He wouldn't have the guts to confront Ron Rivera over anything like this. Not in this, not in this environment. Look, like you said, didn't you say to me a week or so ago, he's probably not even, I mean, he's got so many issues right now.

So many that how can he be, you know, really super intimately involved in this? And he did, you know, less than a year ago. You know, say happy Thanksgiving, everybody, and announce all the research he had done on a coach-centric system and how Ron was the right guy to take over the organization and change the culture. Because that terrible guy, Bruce Allen, who's fucked everything up for us the last 10 years, he's gone now. He was the problem. He's gone. And now we've got Ron here. But he may be busy and he may have a thousand things he's dealing with to try to survive his owner. Yeah. But come Sunday, he'll be in the owner's box at Ghost Townfield.

And he'll notice that there's a new quarterback behind center. You think he'll notice? He'll notice that. And after the seventh sack and the second exception, he'll notice, wait a minute. What is this? So while he may be consumed with all the issues off the field, They're playing football now, and he's not going to lose sight of that. I came up with two other teams.

Vegas for John Gruden, although probably not. In Indianapolis behind Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissette's behind him. But veteran guys with good coaches, like Frank Reich would be, if he were interested in them, would be really interesting. Hell, the Rams would be interesting with a guy like Sean McVeigh. They don't really have a backup to Jared Gough. Now, is Urban Meyer advising Dan Snyder? Remember, we heard that he was. Yes.

Wonder what that conversation's like. Urban Meyer has publicly talked about how to handle Dwayne. And I think he said that you got to challenge him. What are the odds? And a caller suggested that this was a test of Dwayne. And I said, oh, what, like Lewis Gossett Jr. and Mayo, you know, Richard Gere, an officer and a gentleman. Like, he's just beating him down to build him back up.

And he said, yeah, that's what I think's going on right here. You know, Ron's a military guy. And I think there's zero chance that that's happening right now. I don't think there's zero chance. Really? I don't think. I think that they're waiting. They want to see how he'll respond to all this?

I think there's a slim chance. Okay. I think there's a slim chance. I would wager a lot of money that he, is not on this roster for the 2021 season, and I would wager some money with some good odds that he's gone by the trade deadline. And I think, by the way, and I asked Sean Springs this. I said, all right, you know, I said, let's cut to the chase here. Do you think he's on the roster in 2021? And he basically said, the fact that he was benched to the third string and inactive, yeah,

I think that the chances are pretty good that he's not going to be on the roster. So, I would think that Dwayne and his people, I would think that H&H has gone to Ron and Dan and said, look, obviously they don't want me. Trade me. You know, let me get to a place where I have somebody that wants me. And you know what? Oh, they're a long way from that. They've got a lot of hell to raise before they get to that point.

I'm going to tell you right now. I don't know anything. I would bet that that conversation, if it hasn't taken place already, is very close to taking place. I'm sure that the marketing plan for H&H included being the hometown hero. Not the hero in Detroit. Tommy, he's not going to be the hometown hero here. So. I know that, but you have to let the anger play out first.

Why? Okay. For entertainment purposes? Well, I'm just telling you, human nature. The anger is going to play out before they say, okay, all right, how can we, what can we do to move on? There's a lot of anger that needs to play out. And if Kyle Allen plays poorly, that anger will continue to play out. Well, what you're going to see, okay, let me, okay, so let's take that a step further.

What you're going to see, and there have already been several columns and several pundits, you know, popping up the statistics of Daniel Jones versus Dwayne Haskins, you know, of other quarterbacks that were Hall of Fame quarterbacks in their first, you know, 11 starts versus Dwaynes. That's what they're going to start doing. They're going to give you the whole, well, statistically he's better than this guy, and statistically his first 11 games. So they're wrong.

That's not what we're talking about here, people. We're not talking about his performance on the field, which was up and down. We're talking about a new group here that does not believe that it's worth their time to invest in finding out whether or not he can do this. They've come to a conclusion that it's not worth to continue wasting time and investing time in the Dwayne Haskins business. No numbers are going to convince them. They've dealt with him every single day and in every single meeting, and right now they're in charge as much as anybody can be in charge you. Here's a question that I thought of even before the benching, before the burial, I should call it. That's your, that's your column, right?

No, no. The burial? And we got a long way between now and Sunday. Who knows what my column could be? But, I mean, the question that publicly hasn't been raised, but it has to be considered is, did they look at the situation? and just simply say, and this is logical, we can do better. Well, yeah. We can do better than this guy.

This guy may be okay, but we can do better. I mean, aren't we sort of saying the same thing? I mean... That's a different thing. That's not as much as an indictment of Dwayne as it is to say that, you know, why should we settle for a guy who's, you know, middle of the pack? we can do better. Okay, well, I think that they definitely feel that way.

But in terms of the indictment of Dwayne, it came when they said we got 52 other guys that deserve better. You know, we've got guys standing on the sideline. Oh, the tortured Washington football players carrying the burden of all those losing seasons. Oh, my God. How can they lift? How can they pass their checks? Such a terrible thing.

But if it was just a matter of we can do better, I don't think they'd be talking about, I got 52 guys here that deserve better. I got sidelines. I'm coming back and they're frustrated about the quarterback. You know, it's more than that. I mean, it's all of it because they obviously think they can do better. I mean, that's a given in this conversation.

You don't, this guy doesn't go from. starter to inactive with a guy that's got drop foot that will play in front of him, who had a leg that we all saw looked like it was ravaged by jaws. And if it's just about, we might be able to do better than him. No, they don't think they can do anything with him. He's not a guy that they want to spend one more minute investing any practice time or reps in. The only way you'll get to that is if they're unable to deal them or if Dan says no, we're not dealing him in season.

And you get a bunch of injuries and he's forced back in there. It really is amazing that the owner blew a 15th round draft, a 15th pick of a first round. It's not that amazing. It really is. It's not. Jerry's been involved in drafts and, you know, other owners have been, you know, have had an influence.

It's just that this guy has a 21-year track record of Luserville, and he just hasn't learned anything because, as we've said many times, when you are that clueless and you are that, you know, stubborn and self-absorbed to a certain degree, it can't be your fault. And it's never been his fault. We've talked about this for years now. It's always somebody else's fault. It was Zorn's fault. It was Mike's fault.

It was now recently Bruce's fault. It's never been his fault. He doesn't understand why anybody would think it's his fault. He just wants to win, Tommy. That's right. He just wants it. It'll do anything. Well, no.

And one of my favorite lines of coolies of the last several years is that Bruce was Dan's attempt at being a good owner, bringing in a guy with an NFL resume, a guy that was a team executive for a real organization, not Vinnie Serato, and that, you know, Bruce would be able to run it. And Dan did, you know, for the most part, have a different role over the last 10 years than he did during the first 10 years. But he was involved enough to screw things up enough like the RG3 relationship and picking RG3 over. you know, a borderline Hall of Fame coach. And oh, by the way, three other future coaches in the NFL, who all basically left town because he picked RG3 over that coaching staff.

And, you know, walking in on draft night and saying, I know you guys worked all year to put this draft board together, but I don't like your draft board. I like this guy. My son knows him, and he went to his school and he's local, and he's really good. I watched a lot of Ohio State games this year. He threw 50 touchdown passes.

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you look at your watch or you look at your phone and it's been three and a half hours that you've been doing it. And it's a lot of fun and they have a totally up and up online casino. Not all of them out there do. This one is totally fair. They use the best software, back-end software in the business. But just, you know, carve out like 30 minutes to do it

and maybe put like a little timer that reminds you a little, use your alarm on your iPhone and set it for 30 minutes ahead. So the alarm goes off and you're like, okay, it's time to go do something else now. That's the advice I would give. I like the

bears tonight. Not smell test enough like, but they're catching three and a half in the Thursday night game against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. That is actually a good Thursday night game tonight. The Bears at Soldier Field catching three and a half tonight against the Bucks. I'd lean bears in the game. That would be not a smell test pick. Smelt test won last week for the first time this year. Seven and five. It's not a smell test pick, but it would be a strong lean. I think I'm going to personally play the Bears. And I like the Buccaneers as a team. Love the the Bucks as a team. By the way, this Titans

Bill's game, Tommy, Sunday is in big trouble with the additional COVID tests for Tennessee. Tennessee's season is in big trouble right now. Great to start to a season, but they're going to be one of these teams that probably plays 12, 13 games

when all of a sudden done. Yes. Kevin, I don't want this thing to last for two days, but the post, Les Carpenter, just came out with a story that says, basically, inside the team's practice facility, momentum for the move had been growing, a person with knowledge of the situation said, in part because Haskins had fallen into poor study and practice habits. The person said, Haskins' lack of preparation was hurting him in games,

leading to overthrowing passes and missed opportunities to hit open receivers. The concerns represented the departure from the effort Haskins had shown in winning the starting job during training camp for which he had drawn praise from Rivera. Something seemed to happen to Haskins after winning the job the person familiar with the situation said

and his work habits deteriorated. Okay. Well, I mean, obviously, I think it was clear that this was not about the four games and the snaps, that there was something there that they didn't like that was happening during the week. It's what Mike told me on the radio show yesterday, Shanahan. He said, if he gets benched, and it was before we learned that he was benched, it's not because of the stuff you're seeing in the games

on Sunday. It's because of stuff that's happening during the week. It's the things that are important to the coaches during the week that they're not seeing. And, you know, he was right, sounds like, based on Carpenter's reporting. Yes. I'll read this. Is there anything about they're going to move on from him? That's the next story I'm waiting for. I haven't read that far into the story. Okay. Look, remember last year when he was the backup, they said that he wasn't committed

enough. And then when he became starter, he became much more committed. This year, once he got the starting job, he became less committed. So, you know, according to the reporting. Look, that's a problem. You know, the guy has talent. He's got flaws, but he's got talent. but it's so much more than, you know, ripping off your shirt and shooting yourself in a YouTube video, throwing, you know, toss arounds with Terry McLaren and Antonio Brown down in Florida, you know, and showing what great shape you're in.

How many times have we heard from football people, you know, Shannon, Mike said this many years. It is about being able to process. The guys that end up having long careers in the league, You know, it's great to have the athleticism and the arm talent and all of that and the throwing with accuracy and throwing with anticipation. But the guys that can't process pre-snap and post-snap quickly will never, ever be, you know, long-term starting quarterbacks in the league. You know, it's just not, that's the deal. And by the way, that's not an indication of whether or not he's smart enough to do it. but you've got to be committed to studying and learning how to do it. And that's, you know, that's why certain guys are in the league that people look at and say,

they're just okay. Cousins is a perfect example. What do people love about cousins? He's able to process very quickly pre-snap and post-snap and know exactly where to go with it and get it out quickly. Oh, God, I probably shouldn't have been. injective cousins into this conversation. There you go.

You were doing so good. I was doing so well. I was doing so well. Here's a prediction. Yeah. We're going to see Alex Smith sooner than you think. I think you might be right. I can't believe that.

I'm saying that. I just can't believe it. I think you'll see him on Sunday. Why? Because they're going to bench Allen? I think circumstances may bench Allen. What? Like he doesn't play?

well? Or he's not physically able to continue for some reason. What are you, what are you talking about? Do you know something? Did somebody just? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Somebody just told you that he's not healthy. No, no, no, no. That's not, not at all. Not at all, Kevin. I tell you the truth. Okay. Well, if that was the case. I mean, let me ask. I just think that he's, he's going to, he's going to be damaged goods. So can, uh, playing against the Rams defense? So, So consider this for a moment. Just consider this for a moment. Let's just say that some of what people think about this situation is that they want to get to Alex Smith.

And for right now, you know, they're hesitant to put them in right now, maybe against the Rams for Aaron Donald reasons. And that Kyle Allen's nothing more than a bridge to Alex Smith. I mean, well, then let's just start Alex Smith Sunday. What are we doing here? What are we doing here? I don't know. Can I just mention one thing about Kyle Allen? Because when they traded for him, and a couple of people remembered this, and they tweeted

it to me. And it's true. I said, I think Kyle Allen can play. Now, I think he's a backup in the NFL, but I think he can play. And there were games last year when he started some of those games last year that when I watched, and the one game that sticks out more than any other was this game. against the Packers in November at Lambo, where it started snowing in the first quarter. It was one of those beautiful snow games at Lambo.

And by the time we got to the second half, the field's covered and the snow's coming down hard. And I'm watching this team. And they had won. Kyle Allen took over from Newton after Newton was injured and done in week three. And they won four games in a row under Allen. And then they went and faced San Francisco, the best defensive team that they had face during that stretch, and he was terrible. San Francisco, like they did, do a lot of people, beat them up, beat him up. He threw three interceptions. I think he fumbled once in the game,

and they got beat 51 to 14, I think it was. Then they beat Tennessee. He started five and one, and then they had this big game at Green Bay. Carolina's got a good record. Green Bay's got a good record. It starts snowing, and I remember this game, in part because I had the Panthers in this game. And, you know, he's got Christian McCaffrey. He's got Greg Olson. He's got D.J. Moore. He's got Curtis Samuel. He's got more weapons than probably he has right now. He was really, at times, really good and tough. Like, he created a lot. He made a lot of plays. Like, he is different than Dwayne. He is an extend the play guy. By the way, he's not tiny, even though he runs around and he looks smaller. He's 6-3-215, 220. And for those that don't know anything about Kyle

Allen. He was a five-star guy coming out of high school. He was one of these, you know, top high school quarterbacks, rivals.com, ESPN.com, one of the top, what they refer to as pro-style quarterbacks, not athletes. You know, if you follow recruiting, when it comes to the quarterback category, there's like, in the quarterback category, there's like, you know, dropback or pro-style and then athlete, you know, and it distinguishes between the guys. that's going to be more of a zone read guy and more of a dropback guy. Kyle Allen was a dropback pro-style guy. He committed to Texas A&M, you know, and then they brought in Kenny Hill, the guy from TCU, Kenny the Thrill Hill, that they brought in. And then you had a coaching change.

He transferred to Houston. Anyway, he didn't get drafted. And he signed with Carolina because he met Scott Turner and Scott Turner liked him and he thought there was an opportunity there to back up and learn from Cam. Well, you know, he played a game at the end of his rookie year in 2018, end of the year, beat New Orleans when New Orleans had benched everybody because they had already clinched a playoff berth. And then last year, got his real opportunity. And that Green Bay game, Tommy, it was a really good football game. They went for a fourth, they went for a last second, you know, touchdown at the end of the half instead of kicking a field goal at, like the two-yard line, Riverboat Ron went for it, and they didn't get it. And then

at the end of the game, they were still in it down eight and had a chance, and he's running around trying to make plays. I was impressed by him. But then, you know, the season went south for him, and he became a turnover machine. And he became a guy that when you watched him, panicked a lot. Like in the Washington game, if you recall, he got sacked like seven times against us last year. And they got blown out a bunch down the stretch, and they replaced him with Will Greer, the guy from West Virginia.

Anyway, I think he can do some things. I think he can play. And I think Scott Allen, Scott Turner thinks he can play. But maybe this is just the bridge to Alex Smith. Maybe you're right. Who knows? Maybe this is Scott Turner's Colt McCoy. Maybe it's Scott Turner's Colt McCoy.

Oh, boy. Won't that be fun? Why don't you go introduce yourself to old Kyle Allen and tell him how much you like him? And tell him that you're going to be his media advocate. Now, these relationships have to happen organically, Kevin. I know. All right, you got anything else?

Actually, I got to go because there's a fly in the room and it's really bothered. Well, maybe it'll land on your head. All right, see you. Thanks, everybody. Back tomorrow. Football Friday, Cooley will be with me.