The Kevin Sheehan Show - Kingsbury Underwhelmed On "Under-Center"

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Kevin opened with his thoughts on the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal games before getting to Kliff Kingsbury's comments yesterday on the upward trend of "under-center" quarterbacking. Jay Gruden jumped on to talk about the final week of an NFL season. He previewed the big games this weekend and his "NFL Lock of the Week" that has hit 11 out of the last 13 weeks. Kevin had 4 "Smell Test" picks after starting the long weekend, 3-0 ATS. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match 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. To give them the lead and likely send them on to the semifinal, 47 yards. And it is good! Right down the middle! The great Sean McDonough on the call last night for each. ESPN. Lucas Carnero from 47 yards out sends Ole Miss onto the semifinals after a wild 3934 Sugar Bowl quarterfinal win over Georgia. The show's presenting sponsor is always

Window Nation 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com if you need new windows. Sean McDonough is great at everything and I actually think the pairing of McDonough with Greg McElroy on college football games is better than the number one team Fowler and Herb Street. I think Fowler and Herb Street are great. I prefer Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy. I prefer Sean McDonough doing almost anything to anybody else. He is outstanding, as was the game last night. You know, there were four quarter-final games, one on New Year's Eve, and three yesterday.

The first one and the last one were worth the watches. The two in between, not so much. The first one being Miami's 24 to 14 win over Ohio State on New Year's Eve. And then, of course, last night's nightcap, Ole Miss, Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, was just a thriller. really almost start to finish, but certainly when the game got to the fourth quarter. The two games in between, I mean, Oregon, Texas Tech was horrible. And Indiana demolishing Alabama was far from exciting, although it was impressive. Man, Indiana is good.

I want to see Indiana versus Miami in the championship game on January 19th. I think Miami is so good up front on both sides of the ball. I think they'd have a shot at Indiana, and I actually think that Miami right now is the only team left in the draw that can beat Indiana. I don't see Oregon doing it in the matchup that they have a week from tonight next Friday night in Atlanta. Miami's size and just brute muscle in the trenches would make for a great,

championship game, if we get it. I mean, the Keynes against Ohio State, that pass rush was incredible. Their ability to run the ball against Ohio State's defense. And I thought Carson Beck came up really big in that game. Miami was 7 of 14 on third down, and a lot of that was Beck, either making plays as a passer or even a few as a scrambler. You know, he's been very inconsistent this year in his first year as Miami's quarterback. But his experience in big games, you know, from previous years with Georgia, I thought really showed up for him against Ohio State. Last night, look, I think Ole Miss deserved it.

Both quarterbacks outstanding in the game. But I think Shambles' old miss's quarterback just made, you know, a play or two more than Gunner Stock. and did Georgia's quarterback. Georgia had a couple of questionable, you know, decisions. The fourth and two from their own 33-yard line with nine and a half minutes left in the game, they were down 27-24. That backfired big time.

Now, Kirby Smart said after the game, they actually did not plan on snapping the ball. They were just trying to draw Ole Miss off sides, but they did snap the ball. and it didn't go well, even though Georgia did come back from that mistake and tie the game. I thought the officiating in the game was terrible. It did not match the high level of play. There was one miss in particular that I thought was going to cost Ole Miss the game. There was a face mask that was so obvious and so egregious on a play with Ole Miss holding a three-point lead at the time, 27-24, I believe. Uh, maybe it was, I'm sorry, it was 3431, 31, about five minutes to go and it's out in the open and the head gets yanked and turned and there's no flag and they ended up punting and that was the next drive where Georgia came down ended up tying the game on a field goal, but up three, you get 15 yards there and you may be headed towards a knockout blow on that particular drive. But anyway, with,

Without Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss is into the final four. And how about this? I don't know if you've been following this story today. Our guy Mark Schlebeck, ESPN, wrote about it, that some of the Ole Miss coaches that were left behind, but have been hired by LSU, but were allowed to stay behind and coach, you know, the Tulane first round game,

and then last night the quarterfinal game, may have to bolt before the semi-final. game. The transfer portal in college football opens today. I mean, how screwed up is that sport with the timetable on transfer portals and having these coaches leave before the most important games of the year? It's just absurd the way it works. And yet, the sport is also so great to watch when it's as good as it was last night. Looking forward to the semi-final games. Again, I'd like to see Miami, Indiana, in the national championship game.

There was a time early in the season where, you know, I said, I think Miami's the best team in the country that I've watched so far, and that was through four or five weeks. But then it fell apart. I mean, they lost a game on a Friday night against Louisville, where Beck threw four interceptions. they blew a game in overtime were back through a pick against SMU

and it looked like they wouldn't even make the playoff and then it came down to Notre Dame, Miami. Miami's making the committee look good right now. I think Notre Dame would have had a shot to make a deep run as well. But I'd love to see Indiana, they're incredible. They bludgeoned Alabama to death in that game. I'd love to see Miami's O-line and D-Line take a run at the Hoosiers. Anyway, Jay Gruden's going to be on the show with me today.

He will have his lock of the week. It actually finally lost last week. He was like 11 of 12 weeks with winners, and then he lost last week, but he'll have his lock of the week for this final NFL regular season week of the season. up the show with smell test picks, one for tonight. And I'll give you that one right now. I'll save the others for the end of the show the picks for tomorrow and Sunday, but I'll give you tonight's pick right now. That pick is SMU minus one in the Holiday Bowl against Arizona. The game kicks at 8 on Fox 8 Eastern. Arizona won their last five games of the regular season. They're a big

public play tonight. Sharp money all on SMU, ever since this game got announced. The sharp money has been on SMU. I'll take SMU, lay the point. SMU, if you recall, lost their season finale at Cal. If they had won that game, they would have been in the ACC championship game, and that would have probably eliminated James Madison from being there, because the SMU Virginia winner would have been in the playoff.

As it turns out, Duke with five losses, beat Virginia, didn't make the playoff. So the ACC champion was excluded, even though Miami got in, and that left the opening for Madison to get in. But SMU had a chance by beating Cal in the season finale to be in that ACC championship game for a second straight. season. So it was a very disappointing end. They'll try to make that right tonight by beating Arizona, and the play is SMU minus one. I am three and oh already this week. Hopefully you caught Wednesday show or you've been following me on Twitter, but I gave out the under in the Ohio State Miami game, that won, and then I gave out last night, Ole Miss, plus the six and a points and I gave out the over in the game last night as well. I gave it out at 55 and a half.

That number actually came down to 54 and a half and 54. So I actually gave it out as a bad number, but it sailed over the total 3934 being the final score. I wanted to read this from Pete and Bethesda because it gets me into something that I was going to address anyway. But Pete writes, Kevin, did you hear Cliff Kingsbury say he doesn't believe in quarterbacks being under center? That's it for me. I'm done with him in this offense. If he doesn't understand the benefits of the quarterback being under center, we need a new OC. His offense stunk this year, and he's stuck on clueless and stubborn. So here's what Pete is referring to and what I was going to get to anyway today, even without Pete's email.

So yesterday was Coordinator Day, Cliff Kingsbury being the only coordinator now, that has his own press conference because Dan Quinn is the defensive coordinator. But John Kime asked Cliff during his presser about the trends of quarterbacks being more under center. Here's what Cliff said. Yeah, I have a different philosophy. I mean, we've been more with Josh, obviously, and Marcus, there's more of a comfort level, but I'm not of that where you have to be under a certain amount of times.

I just have never bought into that. Cliff Kingsbury yesterday answering a question from John Kime about the, you know, the trends of more quarterbacks being under center more often. Cliff saying that, you know, I'm not a believer necessarily, that it has to be done at a certain level. And he finished that answer with, quote, I just have never bought into that, closed quote. That last line, I just have never bought into that.

It's set off a bit of a mini firestorm, I would say, on social media among fans. A lot of people believing what my emailer, Pete, believes. I'll just read that again. Pete wrote to me, Kevin, did you hear Cliff Kingsbury say he doesn't believe in quarterbacks being under center. That's it for me. I'm done with him in this offense. If he doesn't understand the benefits of the quarterback being under center, we need a new OC. His offense stunk this year, and he's stuck on clueless and stubborn. Yeah, Pete's not the only one

that feels this way. Look, we've had this conversation now for a month and a half at least. Since those numbers started to come out that Washington was dead last in quarterback under center, in the league. And then you could see that a lot of the successful teams were at the top, the successful teams this year at the top. So look, I would say a few things. Number one is this. You know, just for Pete's sake, and maybe many of you don't believe what Pete wrote completely, when Pete says the offense stunk this year, it actually didn't stink this year. statistically a lot of the advanced numbers Washington's offense was smack dab in the middle of the league

but it obviously wasn't anywhere near what it was last year of course it wasn't but why is that why was the offense this year nowhere near what the offense was last year do you know the answer Pete it's not because of the team not being under center enough it's because Cliff didn't have the same players this year he had last year. And I'm not talking about Diami Brown and Olamidi Zakias and Brian Robinson

Jr. I'm talking about all the players who they intended on being the players that they played with this year. But those players barely played. Quarterback one, barely played. Running back one, barely played. Wide receiver one, barely played. Wide receiver two, wide receiver three, barely played.

Offensive guard number one barely played until what week seven or whatever it was. The lack of under center was not why the offense wasn't what it was in 2024. Come on, people. I mean, it was that his best offensive players barely played. I've said this a few weeks running minimum. Any evaluation of anything this year, if you're being serious, has to be made with the understanding with the caveat that, hey, they didn't have their best players playing together in a majority of the games this year.

That's number one on the list of why this season went wrong. It's clearly number one why the offense wasn't what it was in 2024. If you actually consider what Cliff did with what he had to work with, he actually didn't do a terrible job. So Pete and others like Pete. If you think the offense stunk this year, consider the many obvious reasons why before you get to not being under center enough. Also, I would say to Pete, he didn't say that he doesn't believe in being under center. That's not what he said.

He said he didn't believe that you needed to be under center at a certain level. He said he's never bought into needing to be under center at a, you know, at a certain level, a certain percentage. He didn't say he was against being under center. He talked about being under center more with Josh and Marcus. I actually think he was just under center more with Josh. Marcus, like Jaden, is much more comfortable in shotgun or pistol, which is why Cliff's offense last year and this year has the quarterback under center the least amount in the league.

It's because his quarterbacks are more comfortable not being there. we can debate the you know the benefits of being under versus not being under we've done that several times it's actually not what this part of the conversation uh is about he he designed an offense that was comfortable comfortable for jaden daniels happens to have been comfortable for marius mariotta as well but he's not against under center quarterbacking he just isn't in you know, just doesn't believe that it has to be done at a certain level. And look, he has last year to lean on. You know, last year, he was the offensive coordinator of one of the top five offensive football teams in the NFL. So if for those of you who believe Cliff just

blew it off or doesn't understand the connection, he is not five years or 10 years. or 15 years removed, he's not even a fully year removed from having coordinated and called a top five offense in almost every major offensive category in the NFL. I mean, I think top six worst case, like I think they were sixth and third down, you know, conversions last year, you know, number one and fourth down, top five yardage, top six, I think DVOA, EPA, top two or three. last year. Keep in mind, and I've mentioned this before, last year, all right, is not this year. It was a different year. And this year, we've seen the increase of under-centered teams having

more success. Last year, three of the final four teams, the skins, Eagles, and Chiefs, were among the least under-centered teams in the NFL. That wasn't five years ago or 10 years ago. That was last year. This year, the results are different. I know many of you actually think you know more than Cliff Kingsbury does about coordinating and calling an offense, and that's fine, but I don't. So his answer doesn't offend me as much as it does Pete and people who believe what Pete believes. Last year, Washington, in large part because of Jaden Daniels, no doubt, but not the entire part. Last year, Cliff schemed up and called a top five offense in the league that went on the road and destroyed two teams in the postseason. And I'll also remind you, move the football and scored more points against the eventual Super Bowl champions than anyone else did in the postseason last year, including the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

this year, with most of his best players out for the majority of the season, he wasn't able to accomplish the same thing. I am nowhere near the point in which I think this team has an offensive coordinator problem. Nowhere near that point. But let me also be very clear about this. I personally do prefer a Shanahan-style offense with a lot more under-centered quarterbacking than Cliff Kingsbury's offense provides. And I do think, and I've said this going back to before Jaden got drafted, I think Jaden would be great in any style of offense. And I think a Shanahan style offense with him under Centermore, he'd be great in that kind of offense. But you know what? I don't have to think about what Jaden would look like in an uptempo Cliff Kingsbury

offense. I know what he looks like in that offense. He looks great in it. You just have to go back to 20 games in 2024 as proof. There's not much proof of it this year. Why? Well, because he only started and played three games completely healthy out of 17. Three. So I'm not worked up over Cliff's answer. Not in the least. By the way, if you watched him answer that question. I think a part of them was like, not towards John necessarily kind, but I think towards people like Pete, you know, like he's thinking to himself, did you guys catch last year or not? That actually did happen. But again, you know, I've said this before. I like Shanahan style offenses a lot and I think Jaden would thrive in one. I do. But I am not

in the camp that says we need a new offensive coordinator. And I'm not in the camp that says Cliff better get with it and realize that his quarterback needs to be under center a lot more. There are a lot of different ways to skin the cat, as they say. And the way he did it last year made this team a very difficult team to check. Yes, the quarterback was sensational. There's no doubt about it. The scheme and the play calling supported that, and the design of the offense was around the greatness of what the quarterback was.

And in his rookie season, making him feel as comfortable and being able to play as freely as he played last year as a rookie quarterback. I wanted to play something that Dan Quinn said earlier today was another John Kime question. I'll let you listen to the question and listen to the answer. But the reason I'm playing it is just listen carefully to the first name that Quinn mentions because I think there's something interesting that has sort of developed around this player. Here's John's question and the coach's answer. You see some other young guys who have maybe ascended over the end of the last several weeks. And you say going forward 2026 next season that you see maybe taking that big leap.

Is they showing you enough to feel like they can make that leap? Yeah, I certainly feel that way. I know I keep lumping Trey into that and he's not, but he's still new to me. And so I feel him that way. I feel Bill Kroski-Mirrit into that space. On the defensive side, I think I've spoken about Jordan into that spot, Johnny into that spot. So those are a few that come to mind right off the bat. Trey Berks was the first name that came to Dan Quinn's mind.

And he even said that it wasn't necessarily the answer that best fit and answer to John's question, saying, you know, he's not new, but he's new to me. But that is the second or third time in the last two to three weeks that Dan Quinn has mentioned Traylon Burks, unprompted for all intents and purposes. This guy was a first round pick for a reason. You know, he's big, he's strong. We saw the catch he made against Denver with the hand that it. have been damaged the week before against Detroit. It's not like he's got 30 catches in six or seven games. He's got eight catches total.

He's only been targeted 18 times. He's only got one touchdown, but he's, you know, obviously suffered like everybody else has from revolving door quarterback, et cetera. But I don't think there's any doubt that Quinn's given us an inside, you know, kind of look at what their offseason thinking will be. at wide receiver and part of that off-season thinking is to sign Traylon Burks. He's an unrestricted free agent. He's certainly not going to be in a position to demand any kind of big deal. It'll be very short term and it won't be a lot, but I would bet you they would

work on that quickly. They gave him the opportunity. He seems to have found a place to kind of resurrect his career and they need receivers. So there's just been too much of Tray Berks's name being mentioned by the head coach over the last two to three weeks to think that he's not going to be a priority for them when the season ends. All right. Jay Gruden next after these words from a few of our sponsors. I'm over the whole new year, new me thing. Short-term fads don't deliver long-term results.

Science does, especially when it comes to skin care. That's why I recommend one skin. Their formulas are powered by the OS1 peptide, a patented peptide built on longevity science proven to target aging at the cellular level. It's not about adding extra steps to your skin care routine, it's about swapping in smarter ones. All of One Skin's products are designed to layer effortlessly and even replace multiple steps in your routine, making long-term skin health simpler and smarter at any age. customers consistently rave about how their skin is smoother, firmer, and healthier looking with results that get better over time, improving both the appearance and the overall health of their skin. No wonder One Skin's products have over 10,000 five-star reviews. Born from over 10 years

of longevity research, One Skin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the cells that cause the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now, and as you, you age. And for a limited time, OneSkin's making it even easier to stay consistent with up to 30% off your first three subscription orders when you use code Sheehan at OneSkin.co slash sheen. That's up to 30% off with code Sheehan. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support this show and tell them that I sent you. This segment of the show brought you by Window Nation. If you're tired of your house being uncomfortably cold

and you're paying high heating bills because you're keeping that heat running all the time and it's expensive, you'd probably do well by looking into some new windows. And you don't have to pay a fortune for them. January is a great time of the year to replace your older windows with newer ones thanks to Window Nation. Over the last 20 years,

donations installed over 3 million energy-efficient windows and helped tens of thousands of homeowners keep their homes comfy and cozy year-round while also saving them money on monthly utility bills thanks to new windows. And right now, they're more affordable during wind donations buy-for-get-for-free sale. So it's a great time to replace all the windows in your home. Plus, you can get them with zero money down, zero monthly payments, and zero interest for two years. If you're feeling cold drafts from your windows, if you've got trouble opening your windows or you're seeing fog or mold around the frame, or paying a lot more for heat than your neighbors are, it's time for new windows. Don't wait to put an end to your window problems. Save big with

Window Nation's buy-for, get-for free sale, which is going on right now. Sale ends soon, Visit windownation.com to get started. Joining me as he does every Friday, the former head coach of the Washington Redskins, Jay Gruden. We have reached the regular season finale coming up tomorrow and on Sunday, and then we've got three weeks' worth of playoffs

before a break and the Super Bowl. Jay's lock of the week finally, finally lost last week. You know, remember we had the conversation about the Colts and would they play rivers if Houston won they did play rivers you would have lost that game too just so you know because they actually went off at three and a half but on Friday it was five five and a half and they ended up losing by six but you ended up giving out Buffalo that did not get it done but we'll try to get back on the winning track today by the way as it relates to that game would you have gone for the two like McDermott did at the end you know

Josh Allen is the best Red Zone quarterback probably in history, and they have a lot of faith in them. I personally would have probably kicked it because the Eagles had like minus 10 yards of offense in a second half. Those clearly were out playing them, so I would have tried to extend the game. But nowadays, with the extra point, move back a little bit, it's probably windy. They probably thought Josh had a better chance.

Didn't want to miss the extra point and go down like that. So I don't fault them at all, but I probably would have kicked it gone at overtime. Best Red Zone quarterback of all time, Josh Allen. Pretty damn good, man. It's hard to get down. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think he's pretty damn good, yeah. When you have a quarterback with that side,

you know, a lot of things like either blitz covers zero or they'll drop eight, and then when you drop eight, you've got to have your guy by some time. He can run the ball in the end zone. He could throw it. He missed the guy wide open for the two-point play, which would want it. But, yeah, I think when you have those special attributes, the quarterback design runs, the ability to off-schedule play, and by time and still fill the ball

pretty accurately. I think, yeah, he's got to be up there. Who's the greatest quarterback ever, in your opinion? You know, probably Brady, just for his maintained success over years. I always grew up a huge Joe Montana fan. My dad worked there, so I kind of biased

to Joe Montana. But he did have a great skill group around him as well. So, yeah, I think Brady, Montana, but I think Josh Allen was also, my homes, I think they're going to make a run for their make a run for the money because these two guys are ultra-talent. Who's the greatest, just pure passer of all time?

A lot of people say Marino because of his quick release and his accuracy. So I would probably lean on the side of Marino, Elway, which was arm strength. Brett Farve could really rip it, obviously, as well. But I would definitely say Dan Marino, because I actually was on the Dolphins one year for about three days. as a quality or a scab type guy, a third string quarterback, practice squad guy. And I watched him in person, I was like, I'll never be like this. Jesus.

Do you remember what year was that? It was probably, I graduated in 88, so 89, probably 89, 90, right around there. And you were in Miami's camp? Yeah, yeah. After training camp, they called me to be the scout team. What's it called? The practice squad guy. Yeah.

And they cut Cliff Stout, so I was a third quarterback. I didn't he really got a playbook here. I was only there for two days. And after this, they played Buffalo week, went on a Friday, week one, Dan Marino, I think fake the elbow injury. So they would cut me and bring back his buddy, Cliff Stout, his golfing buddy. So that's what happened. So I was there for two days. It was awesome.

But I got to watch him throw in person as my point. And I said to myself, I will never throw like this or even be close. He had, I mean, he could throw it every arm angle. just effortless. Zip, pow, bang. Perfect spiral every time. On the money. I agree.

I think he's, for me and my lifetime of watching football in terms of being able to throw the ball, Marino. I mean... And it's a quick release, too. Oh, everything about it. Yeah, the quick release was amazing. It was like a flick of the wrist. You know, Aaron Rogers, I think, is in the conversation.

Do you agree? Oh, for sure. 100%. Yeah. He's an amazing. too with his ability to throw at different arm angles

and the ball never gets away from him he always throws where he wants to for the most part but yeah his arm talent is sick as well

Cliff Stout so he he didn't realize that you could really hit a golf ball you could have been golf buddies with Dan Marino

do you're I mean it's only two or three days but do you remember having an impression of Don Shula yeah no not a whole lot of interaction with Coach Shula

you know I got there met with the office the coordinator. I forgot his name. He always smoked cigarette. Golly, I can't believe I just forgot his name. Anyway, he was my main interaction. I was work with him and the quarterback coach, but like I said, I mean, I literally got there in the morning, went to practice.

I did the cards during scout team. Spent the night there, went to practice. That's when Marino got hurt and I was cut. So yeah, not a whole lot of interaction. It says that the offensive coordinator in 1989 of the Dolphins was Gary Stevens. Yeah, Gary Stevens. Yeah.

He was a chain smoking, son of a gun. Wow. I just pulled up his bio. He went to John Carroll in Ohio, which is where London Fletcher went. Did that D3 school? Was that it for you, professional NFL camps? Yeah.

You know, I played in the blue-gray game, the East West Shrine game. I thought I had a chance to get drafted. Somebody called me before the draft thought I was going to be the sleeper going to third and fourth round. I actually thought I was going to go to Cincinnati or Sam Wisch, but they draft. they passed on me, and then I went to Arizona Cardinals rookie camp, and I flunked their physical because I had blown my knee out my sophomore year, and I went to Louisville as a graduate assistant coach,

student assistant coach, and then Miami called me out of blue after training camp, and I was there for two days, and that was it. But I went and played arena ball. And the rest is history. And the rest is history. Yeah, Arena ball. That's nuts. You're pretty good as an arena ball, arena league quarterback. that's for sure.

And clearly you never came across when you were playing. Kurt Warner was later, right? No, I played. We beat Kurt Warner in 1996. Oh, you did? Yeah, yeah, it was in the barn in 1996. You know, you should put it on YouTube. It's a great one.

What's the barn? I don't even know what the barn is. That's where they played in Iowa. It was called the barn. Okay. It had like 10,000 people standing in a room. It was nuts in there. People dressed up as cows and pigs and stuff.

It was nuts. 42 to 38, the Arena Bowl, 1996. Jay Gruden, 12-yard touchdown pass to Lynn Rowland. But that was in the first quarter. This is a game summary. Sorry. You guys won the game, though. 42-38, Kurt Warner was the quarterback on the other side.

They don't have an actual box score for the game. I don't think they do. Let me see if I can find one deep down. Oh, yeah, they do. Here it is. Yeah, through a bad pick. Got hit a lot. I hit the hell out of me in that game.

I was sore a hell after that game. But we had a goal line stand at the end, stopped Kurt Warner, and we ran out the clock at one. That four hours, they'd get three yards. They couldn't do it. You were 18 to 31 for 264 and five touchdowns with one pick. And Kurt Warner was 27 of 42 for 316, four touchdowns, three picks in the game.

Do you remember what your impression was of Kurt Warner? Yeah, watching film on him. Very impressive. You know, he had, you know, I like to watch people's release and how quickly they get the ball from their hand to the receivers, and he was very excellent. And he always had great anticipation, which obviously carried over to him in the NFL.

I mean, he really could anticipate throws. And sometimes we have great anticipation like that, and your receivers don't do exactly. That's when you start to throw a couple interceptions, which clearly weren't probably his fault, but we're, I don't know if that makes sense. You know what I mean? He's expected to get it, you know, so he really could throw people open and had a great release and a great, great armed talent, not very mobile, but a hell of a

passer over football. Do you remember what you thought when he took over for Trent Green and ended up becoming the league MVP out of nowhere and a Super Bowl champion? I was jealous because we beat his ass, but I kind of figured he had the armed talent to go and do it. And he had to, you know, he's six foot two and a half, six foot three. And it's all about, you know, getting the opportunity to, but he's just, you know, he had to, right people too. You know, had he got a chance with a team without Isaac, Bruce, and Marshall

Falk, and Tori Holt, maybe he wouldn't have been Kurt Warner, but he had a great sporting cast, a very good offensive coordinator, head coach, Mike Martson. Yeah, as far as the line for him perfectly, Trent Green getting hurt. There was a great opportunity. He took it, and took a huge advantage of it, and obviously made the Hall of Fame, so very happy for Kurt. He's a good dude. All right. What's the final game of the season like when your team's out of it and you've got nothing to play for it's a little rougher you know i think when guys have you know certain guys will have contract incentives to play for certain guys will have you know they're trying to prove themselves to you know maybe be a backup get another contract so there's a lot to play for

and there's still a competitive edge you want to have when you walk on the field because football's you know it's very competitive man you can't just walk in there half ass and get your ass beat and have fun it's no fun you still want to win the game but a lot of cars are already running in a parking lot at halftime. They're ready to get the hell out of there, get home, get to their vacation, put an end of that season. So yeah, there's a little next to motions there, but once it's over, I think people are out the door quickly. You know, there's always a lot of discussion this time of year about incentives, contract incentives, and, you know, players wanting to be fed the ball if you're a receiver, wanting to get touches if you're a back. Do you remember any

specific examples of players that you coach that were like, coach, I need, you know, I need three catches to get a $250,000 bonus or whatever? There are a few, but the biggest one, I don't know if I talked about this, was Darrell Young, my first year. He needed one more touchdown, I think, to get five touchdowns. I believe it was a

$500,000 bonus, and he had four. And we're playing the Cowboys the last game of the year. We got the four-yard line going in, and Robert was a quarterback, and I called the legendary Spider-2-Libon-Net. Yeah. Where he bluffs the end, and

out in the flat, he's wide open for touchdown, and I told everybody this could be D.Y's $500,000, and Robert passed on it and scrambled in for a touchdown. Oh, my God. Yeah, it was unbelievable. Robert saw what he saw. I'm not blaming Robert. It was not that, but trying to get DY.

It was very disappointing. We all wanted D.Y to get that. And the game was pretty much over. Dallas was kicking our ass, so we really wanted to get DY that 500K. Didn't work out, though, but that's the one I clearly remember. How does management deal with those situations when you get to the final? game or two and their incentives that they're going to have to pay out for a losing team. I think they have enough money. I think they have enough money

where it's not a big deal. If it was a arena football league that maybe we're scraping for every dime that maybe wouldn't allow it. But NFL, I think they want the players to succeed and get their incentives. I would hope so anyway. Would you want Bobby Wagner back next year? Yeah. I mean, until I find somebody better. Yeah, at least have him come in there in training camp and see what kind of shape he's in. Maybe, you know, it's just another

five or six months from now. It's not like he's going to blow up and be 300 pounds. He's still going to be a decent shape. If he physically can do it and then he wants to do it and he's a good leader. He's still a very productive player. Obviously, I think you have to find another guy in there to compete him and spell him on third downs and some situations. But yeah, I mean, I don't

like getting rid of starters until I really know that I have somebody to come in here and be as good or better than him. You know what I'm saying? So right now I don't think they have that. Yeah, I mean, I think he's such an interesting situation. He basically did not sit out a play this year. He played every single defensive snap at 35 years old. He'll be 36, I think, in June. He's still in elite level tackler, but he can't really cover, so he's a liability there. But to your point, how are they going to find somebody that they trust more that hasn't been on the roster?

I mean, I don't know if they trust Jordan McGee to the level of giving Bobby Wagner's spot to him. I'm starting to feel like there's a better chance than not that they re-sign Wagner. Yeah, and I don't think it would be a bad move. If you draft a guy in a third or fourth or fourth or fifth round or sign a free agent, then sure then maybe you can part ways with him before the first game of the year. But until that time, I'm keeping him just because I know he's a strong leader. he's got great experience he anticipates plays very well still i mean 35 to 36 is not that big a deal we thought he probably 34 he's slowed down a little bit 33 is slowed down a little bit of

rams and all that stuff but still i mean it's a very good tackling middle linebacker and a very good communicator and a good leader so what the hell would you want debo samuel back i don't know what type of guy he is if he's a good guy in a locker room then uh probably i don't know what the contract obligations are. You know, so if it doesn't hurt, I would definitely look around, but like I said before, there's, the cover's pretty bare when it comes to star receivers, you know, it's two and three receivers in the NFL right now. If you look around the league, there's only a handful of teams that have two really, really good ones. The rest of them have one pretty good one and pretty average ones after that.

So I'd be careful and get rid of them. I just make sure I have a really strict diet for them and a workout resume for them. he comes in the camp in really, really good shape if I'm going to commit to him. When a season like this one is over, and you had one or two like this one, where for the most part, it was about the players you didn't have versus those that you had. I mean, it was impacted significantly all year long by injuries. Are you able to just chalk it up to, well, just had bad luck in terms of health? Or is there something to learn from it?

well I think a lot obviously is attributed to the injuries there's no question about it he can't lose Terry McCorn for the amount of time and obviously your quarterback some of other defensive players of the pass rushers and all the guys you've lost I mean there's obviously but there's a lot of things that have gone through it too you look at what Sam Franza I lost Purdy for five or six games they lost Bosa they lost Warner they lost Kittle for some time they lost IUC has never even played so some teams have overcome it but there's a lot of issues issues. I think that in year one with

Jayden Daniels, a lot of close games were won. And same thing with the Minnesota Vikings with Sam Darrell last year. They won a ton of close games at the last possession, and they didn't go their way this year. And the Vikings struggle with injuries of the quarterback as well, but they're still going to win eight games. I would say injuries, number one, obviously, and then just the lack of being able to finish the close games.

Of course, they didn't have any close games that got blown out. But winning the close ones. Yeah. But in terms of, like, actual, like, do you say, well, maybe we didn't train the right way? Maybe we didn't, you know, handle training camp the right way, specifically. Any of that stuff play into what you think about after a season like this one. Oh, you always think about everything when you have a season like this, how you, you know, what you fed the guys at lunch, you know, what time are your meetings, you know, everything,

your third down preparation, your red zone preparation, your training camp, who your strength coach is, who your trainers are. Everything becomes under the microscope. And you have to really go through everything again and make sure you're doing things the way that can help your team win football games. And that's Coach Quinn. That's the biggest time for Coach Quinn and Adam Peters is now. They really go through what they've done with who's scouting the players,

how they're doing the draft, three agency. Everything becomes on the microscope, like I said, So, yeah, it's got to be a major discussion moving forward. One more, and then we'll get to the big games this weekend in your lock of the week. You know, when seasons end, there's typically, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but typically there is, you know, that meeting between coach and general manager, front office, and owner to sort of summarize this season or for the owner to, you know, I know Dan was involved a little bit more than just at the end of the season,

but what do you recall from some of those meetings right when a season ended with ownership? Yeah, usually it was at Dan's house, and it was usually a pretty positive and productive meetings as far as where we wanted to go. And we were on the same page in the first two or three years, you know, obviously the first year with Robert. You know, the controversy with the quarterback position was, you know, a little bit more difficult, but they listened and it wasn't as bad as people thought it might be. and when we actually made the move to Kirk, it was actually everybody was on board. You know, towards the end, though, you know, the meeting stopped

that he actually had players to his house instead of coach. So that kind of bothered me. I think I'm in trouble. But yeah, early on, we'd go to his house, me, Bruce, and Dan, and talk to the staff and the players and the free agents and all that stuff, and it was actually pretty productive. Who were the players that he had to his house

when he didn't have you there? I just heard that, like, DJ and some of these other guys he'd have to his house and talk about, you know, what's going on and the locker room and the coaches and, like, the players would have a better understanding than a head coach, you know, whatever, I can understand it. It was out with the old, in with a new.

All right. And how to hold in with the new. Well, we are in with the new, the 2026 new, and we get one more regular season. Let's get to some of the games in your lock of the week right after these words from a few of our sponsors. We continue with Jay Bruton, Saturday night Seahawks Niners for the one seed in the NFC. Who do you like and why?

Well, Kittle and Trent Williams play a major part in my decision year. They're both questionable. Caffrey's going to play. And Trent Williams is a major part because they like to run left. And Kittle is as good a blocking titan as it is in pro football. If Kittle doesn't play, I'm taking Seattle. If Trent doesn't play, I'm taking Seattle. I think it's going to be a close game.

Sam Darnal's got a limit to turnovers, obviously, but I think those two players in the running game really, really open up holes for Christian McCaffrey. They're not in the game that I'd take Seattle in their defense. Smith and Jigbitt, but it makes a big player. It gets that secondary. The 49er offense, Jay, has looked just unstoppable here over the last few weeks,

but their defense is terrible. So how do you see them heading into the postseason? Do you think they can win the Super Bowl with that defense? Yeah, I think it's going to be an issue, obviously. I think Buffalo is kind of facing the same deal with James Cook and Josh Allen. Everybody's, oh, the offense is going to be great, but then they give up 300 yards rushing. So hard to win games when you can't stop anybody, but I do believe that the way San Fran has success with the Caffrey and ball control, then they can keep their defense fresh and win any game, especially if they get home field advantage.

The earlier game tomorrow is Carolina at Tampa. Tampa's really struggled over the last half of the season. Even if they win, they still need Atlanta to lose Sunday against the Saints to win the division. Who do you like in this one, Carolina or Tampa? I like Carolina. I think he mentioned it. The way that Tampa has played the last four weeks and Baker included has been disappointed. And Mike Evans doesn't look the same right now, far as get separation. And Carolina's got a pretty damn good secondary. So I think Carolina does enough on defense to force Baker and some, you know,

poor decisions. And I think Carolina wins. I'm not fooled on the offense for the Carolina Panthers and they're receiving core, but I think they have a good strong running game with Rico and Hubbard. And I think they'll get it done in a very close game. But I've been disappointed with the temp. I keep thinking with Bucky Irving coming back and Mike Evans and Apucca and all these guys and Godwin's back.

They're going to turn it out and Kate Otton. and they just haven't done it, so I can't bet on the thought of how good they should be. I've got to bet on what I've seen in the last four weeks, and I haven't seen a lot of good thing. What about from the Rams the last couple of weeks? Concerned? Because it was just a few weeks ago, and I felt the same way you did, that the Rams might be the best team in the league. Yeah, I'm concerned with the offensive line, really. I'm very concerned, and I think Sean's play calling has been affected a little bit by it.

He's been very conservative. Obviously, their strength is a running game and the play actions off of it and the bootlegs with Matthew Stafford's good, but I think they do need to drop back and throw a little bit more down the field, which I think Sean's not comfortable doing because of the offensive line. So for them to have success, they've got to run the ball and play good defense, which they can do, but I am a little concerned about the offensive line moving forward. We'll have a chance next weekend before the playoff games begin to kind of preview all of the teams. But this spot that's on the line in the actual regular season finale, the AFC North spot on the line.

God, we've been talking about this division all year long, and it comes down to one game, and it looks like Lamar Jackson's going to play in the game in Pittsburgh. So size this one up for me. Yeah, without D.K. Metcalfe, not the D.K. Metcalf is a world beater, but when you watch Pittsburgh playoff at the football, they really have nobody that scared. other than Gainwell and Warren out of the backfield, which are really good runners. And they can catch them all on the backfield.

The Farramuth is just a possession guy. Austin is a speed guy, but he doesn't really get separation on the intermediate routes. Aaron likes to throw. So I don't know who else they're going to throw to. And Baltimore's got some confidence going to get Lamar back, and Derek Henry's running the rock. You've got everything points to Baltimore for me.

But it is at Pittsburgh, so I'll give them that. But I think Baltimore and the clutchness of Lamar Jackson and then Derek Henry, I think they get it done. Yeah, I mean, it's not, you know, they were without Austin last week. They also lost their big tight end, the big, you know, Washington, the big 300-pound tight end. And so they are not the same team. They were just two weeks ago. All right, let's get to your lock of the week.

What do you got? I'm going to take the Dallas Cowboys traveling in New York Giants. I think back Prescott's a very competitive guy if he's playing. I have bread. Nothing says that he's not going to play. I'm assuming he's playing and C.D. Lamb and they're just a better football team than the Giants, man, right? I mean, come on.

Yeah. At one time, I thought the Cowboys were the best team in football when they beat Philadelphia in Kansas City back to back, and Pickens was going off, and C.D. Lamb and Ferguson, and his back is running hard, and back was like, damn! But, like most Cowboy teams, do they fizzle and crunch time situation, but this isn't a crunch time situation.

No. It's a normal game. Week 17 or 18 that doesn't mean anything and I think the Cowboys put up about 35, 38 points and covered easy. Do you remember that game was week two when Russell

Wilson threw for the most yards he's ever thrown for in a game? 40 to 37 in overtime week two and Russell Wilson threw for 450 in the game. You can probably go back and it might be the worst secondary performance

in the history of football. Watch what these safeties and corners were Oh, my God, is unbelievable. But, you know, hopefully, I'm banking on the Cowboys play a little bit better defense. I'm banking on them scoring 38 again, and holding the Giants about 20. Yeah, we've talked a lot during the course of the year about how many teams have great defenses, and many of those teams are going to be in the postseason and have a legitimate chance to go a long way.

But on the flip side of that is just how horrendous some of the teams defensively were this year. being one of them, Cincinnati another. Jay, I've said it for at least a month running. This is the worst skins defense of my lifetime of watching this team. I've never seen a team worse than this one

defensively. Yeah, it's pretty bad. You know, pretty bad. There really isn't anything you can hang your hat on hell. We can rush a pass, hell, we can stop to run hell, we can cover people. There's really nothing. They had weaknesses all over the field. In Cincinnati, the same way. You kind of knew that about Cincinnati going in. been their MO the last three or four years.

They just haven't addressed it. And same thing with Dallas. They haven't addressed their defense. They draft another offensive guard in round one. And then finally they trade for Kenyon Williams and pick up, you know, a backup linebacker from the Bengals. So, you know, yeah, at some point, I understand the franchise is your quarterback. You want to protect your asset and get him players around it, which I understand

that. But sometimes protecting your number one asset, your quarterback is getting a good defense out there. So he doesn't feel like he has a throw for 380 yards. and six touchdowns the game. They can hand the ball on third down in front every now and then, because you know the defense will get the ball back. So these teams have to address their defense,

and it starts in the draft. You love when teams take guards in the first round, don't you? I think it's the most ridiculous thing ever. I really do nothing against the guard position, but, I mean, unless it's, I don't even know what guard out of David, or Randall McDaniel, what was his name for the bike? Yeah, yeah. Somebody like that, maybe, but even that,

I just don't know because I've gone through a lot of guards and we can pull guards off the street and still function. You can't pull, you know, game-breaking wide receivers or backs or cores that stop the number one receiver pass rushers off the street. So you've got to find those guys early in drafts. So when, I mean, your sound drop, your sound bite from that has been a drop used many times by people like me over the years.

You know, we got, you know, a wide receiver and a guard. because he was Josh Doxon in 16, 15 was Sheriff. Now, Sheriff was a really good player, but how did you handle, you know, Scott taking with his very first pick, Brandon Sheriff? Now, remember, he was a tackle at Iowa, but it was pretty clear that he was going to be a guard, right? When you drafted him?

Well, I was a big fan of Brandon. He was a great guard for us. He really was, but we had picked four or five that year. And, you know, Scott was convinced that he was. going to beat out Morgan Moses at right tackle. He's never played right back. We play left tackle Iowa when he had shorter type arms. And Coach Callahan and myself, we're pretty damn damn, I'm 99% sure we're going to have to move in the guard. But we played right tackle in a rookie minicamp and we got him. And we signed three pass rushers from that rookie minicamp

because they ran around Brandon Sheriff at right tackle like he was a trial. Oh my God. So right after that, we said, you know what? Let's put him in a guard. And he had a hell of a career. It was a great player for us at guard, but he was not better than Morgan Moses, and he was not a right tackle. I mean, so that's one of those where in training camp, you got him in there at right tackle, and it's almost immediate, right, where you just say... Rookie mini

camp, Kevin, not training camp. Rookie mini camp. Yes. No, he can't do this. No, he can't do this. Not even close, but he was a hell of a guard, and I love a hell out of him, man. He helped us win a lot of games.

On screens, and he's, I think he's one of those pulling guards to play in a long time. You know, I mean, get out on screen passes to decapitate people. Yeah. Yeah, I loved him. But, you know, he was a guard at pick four or five. You know, that other draft, I remember the guy that Scott really liked was Matt Jones. What did you think of Matt Jones, the running back from Florida?

Yeah. He had some injuries coming out. Yeah. And he didn't have a good knee coming out. You can't draft running backs with injuries. You just can't. It makes no sense. And I think because, you know, he wore Marshawn Lynch's, you know,

Sean, or he's from Seattle, obviously, just because he had dreads and wore Marshawn Lynch's number. He reminded Scott of Marshawn Lynch. I said, this guy's not Marshaun Lynch now. But, you know, he had ball security issues and he had injury issues and he's never really panned out for us. You know, I try. He looked good in uniform, but he just wasn't quite good enough.

I've told you this before that Scott McLuhan's told me multiple times on the air that you were by far and away of the head coach's, ever had a chance to work with the best evaluator of talent. Did he lean on it? Yeah, I put the time in. I watched a lot of film, man. I watched them in training. I watched them

if they played an All-Star game. I watched them every practice they had. Every rep they took, 9-on-7-on-7-on-7. At the senior ball, I watched their pro-days, I watched their combines. I listened to people talk about their character makeup, even though I never interviewed them. I listened to the scouts. I listened to the position coaches and took everybody's opinions into account, and that's what you have to do

and evaluators. Sometimes guys get too set in their ways. I don't like them because of this. Well, sometimes you have to listen to other people in their evaluations. And that's why I feel like I was pretty good. And I wasn't, you know, there's no science. I wasn't great. I mean, I've made mistakes like everybody else has. But if you put the time in, then your opinions will mean a little bit more and you'll be a lot better if you put the work in. Do you remember that draft being all about Brandon Sheriff at number five before it started? Yeah, pretty much. We were locked in on him. Scott was convinced that he could, like I said, move over to her tackle. And we had to upgrade our line still. We're still trying to become a physical football team. I want to think about Brandon at the University of Iowa now. He's a physical son of gun now. I mean, he's a type of guy that you wanted in your locker, on your offensive line. So I wasn't that devastated that we took the guard. I love the fact that we got a hell of a physical guy at right guard, especially, you know, all the power plays, all the double teams usually are to your rights. You need that guy. And then, you know, You pull him outside on the screens and some of the gap blocking plays.

And, yeah, he's a dynamic player. But obviously, you know, the Josh Doxon draft, that was a terrible draft, by the way, from receivers. Yeah, horrible. Sometimes the draft, there just aren't a lot of players at the positions you need or a lot of players in general. So you're going to have to over draft somebody and somebody that fits what you're looking for. And sometimes it just doesn't work out. Well, that 2016 draft, the thing that I remember about it specifically was that Ryan Kelly, the center from Alabama, was the guy that you guys were in love with.

And he went to Indy. And then we actually traded one spot back and took Josh Doxon. Because Houston traded one spot ahead or took our spot and drafted the kid from Notre Dame. Fuller. Fuller. Yeah, Fuller. Yeah. And then Treadwell was in that draft.

Michael Thomas was the best one, but I'd be honest, I didn't really like Michael Thomas in the Ohio State. I didn't think he ran very good, and he was very lethargic in what he did. And that was a guy that I really missed on, because obviously he had a hell of a career for the Saints. But he was by far, I think, the best receiver in that draft, went from production-wise in the NFL, if I'm not mistaken. Treadwill didn't do anything. Josh really didn't do anything. I'm pulling it up right now because the kid from Baylor was the first one. Yeah, Corrie is.

Cory Coleman. Yeah. Coleman Fuller Doxon Treadwell were the four first round picks. The second round picks were Sterling Shepard, Michael Thomas, and Tyler Boyd. And then, yeah, I mean, I'm looking to Marcus. Oh, well, Tyree Kill went in the fifth round. I never even graded him. I never saw his name on any sheet. Yeah. You know, the one... I never even heard of Tyree Kill when he got drafted. I was like, who the hell is Tyree Kill? I was only the fastest player in football. Oh, thanks. Why didn't you've got character issues? Okay, great. And that's what it is, right?

When somebody has that level of character issues, they just get immediately eliminated from the board. Not even on the board, yeah. Yeah. The other thing about the 15 draft, Scott told me once, that the Giants wanted to potentially trade up for Eric Flowers. They ended up getting flowers where they picked him.

But he said if they had traded with the Giants, he would have taken Todd Gurr. Do you remember that? I remember him. I don't remember him. I don't remember us. I remember doing Todd Gurley. I love Todd Gurley, but I remember him being part of our plan as far as if he's available. I would love to have Todd Gurley. Yeah, of course. Yeah. By the way, on the 2016 draft, I had that right, correct, that Ryan Kelly was the guy that Scott wanted, that you guys wanted badly, the center from Alabama.

Oh, 100%. He was convinced that he was going to fall to us because, you know, Scott, and those GMs, they talk a lot. Yeah. And he felt like he talked to every GM, and he was going to be there for us, and sure enough to pick before our pick with the 15th or whatever pig it was, Indianapolis Golds. Like Ryan Kelly.

And Scott almost broke his hand on the desk in front of those. I was like, oh, my God. So I'm like, where are we going to go now? And we look at the receiver, and we looked at the two defensive alignment from Alabama over there, A Sean Robinson, and Chad and Reed, whatever's there. I didn't really want another run-stopping defense alive. I need some juice, receiver, something like that.

I look at the board, I go, what about this big sum of a gun from Alabama? It was Derek Henry. He goes, we can't move him up that high. And I was actually okay with it, not moving him up. But he was the, by far, you know, you look at the board. You're like, these guys are pretty average average. You look at the possibilities of this 6-foot, 3, 250-pound back. You're like, now this guy could bet, you know, maybe we should move him up.

But we didn't. And I'm not saying we should have. We took the best receiver available, which was Josh at the time. It didn't work out. He came in with a couple bad heels and Achilles. Oh, my God. Wait a minute. So you wanted Derek Henry?

I brought him up. It's not like I was jumping on the table. Okay. I wasn't going to put my fist up and say, I'm out of here. I just mentioned them because we were really struggling to pick the guy, you know, because it was either a detackle, a wider receiver, or a back. is really what we needed, or off of us, you know, always do offense linem, but the best receiver

available was Josh Dox at the time, and Derek Henry was projected up mid to the late round, second round pick, and to move him all the way, because all the work these guys do in the offseason these scouts, you know, they take a lot of time and put these guys in categories where they should go, and they don't like to move them. You know, they don't like to take a third round or move in the second round or put in the first round. They take a lot of pride that. You know, I was like, man, this is a big sum of a gun now, though. This is this, this a big, big man. But there was no obvious, you know, first-round pick other than Ryan Kelly because he was

so sure that he'd be there? Yeah, I mean, a couple of the guys that went ahead of Ryan Kelly were guys we wanted, but we figured they'd be gone as well. But it wasn't a very strong first-round draft. No. In fact, look at all the players in there. So, yeah, so it was Ryan, Ryan Kelly was by far the best offensive alignment available, and we needed a good center, and he was perfect.

He would have been a perfect fit, but, you know. I was a big fan of Josh Doxon at TCU, but you said Achilles and heel injuries. That's what you got. Yeah, he's one of the only guys I'd ever interviewed. I never talked to Josh. You know, usually at the Combine, we talked to, like, all of our first round prospects or, you know, second or third or some character issues. I interview 60 guys at the Combine, and we have our visits where we bring people in

and checked their injuries or meet him if we're interested and drafted them possibly. Never once that I talked to him on the phone or interview him. So that was unfortunate. I would have loved to have an opportunity to try to see where his line was at and all that. I mean, that's it. He could have been pretty good. He could have been a lot better than he was, you know, if we were to give him some more opportunities or some 50-50 balls.

That's a disaster start to the draft, to draft Doxon and then Sue a Cravens, because ultimately, not that Doxon was a character. issue, but clearly injuries and maybe didn't love football as much as, you know, you guys like to say you want to see him love football. And Sue of Cravens was a disaster, and had a bunch of red flags from SC. Sue was another one I never interviewed or talked to. I took him up. I didn't even hardly watched. I watched one game of Sue, and I took him off because I knew that we weren't

going to draft him because he was a little linebacker. He wasn't a safety. He was a linebacker. I was like, we're not going to draft a 210-pound linebacker. What the hell are we going to do with them? And, you know, some of the coaches say, we could put him a dime linebacker for third and long. We're not going to take a guy in a second round for third and ten. We don't get anybody in third ten anyway. Yeah,

back then you didn't. Yeah. We got to take it. I'm thinking he's going to be a safety. He's ever played safety. He's a linebacker. He's a three-three, a three-five outside linebacker, move around type like a nickel. It's more of a nickel. Then a linebacker. Right. Yeah, that didn't work out either.

So I never interviewed our first first second round pick. What about Ionitis? You loved Ionitis, right? Loved Ionitis, yeah. He was a captain at Temple, played his ass off, play the run, he had just enough wiggle in him to get pressure on the quarterback, but if you play four technique, three technique, noseguard, I thought he was very versatile. He played hard to your captain at Temple, so what the hell? Temple is a tough school. I like it. I like them. Yeah, tough Philly school. All right, Dallas minus three and a half is the pick. Thanks for doing this. We'll talk next week.

before the postseason begins. Yeah, thanks, Kevin. Jay Gruden, everybody, we'll finish up with the smell test after these words from a few of our sponsors. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test.

MyBooky, as always, is the sponsor of the smell test. If you want to bet on sports, I highly recommend MyBooky. Do it now, and you'll get a 50% cash bonus as a listener to this podcast, you just have to use my promo code, D.C. Reload, D-C-R-E-L-O-A-D. When you do that, whether you're a new customer or a returning customer, you'll get 50% of whatever you deposit added to your account. So if you deposit $200, they'll add another $100 into your account. Deposit

$500, they'll add another $250 into your account. com, my bookie.ag, either one, but don't forget my promo code. DC reload. All right, five, two, and one last week and three and oh so far this week. But just on a season-long heater that just never seems to end. This is a tough weekend, obviously, the final weekend of the NFL, because you just don't know what the motivations are with so many teams. and the odds makers, you'll see the lines fluctuating wildly. So I always tread very lightly in week 18, the final week of the NFL season. I gave out early in the show SMU tonight minus one in the Holiday Bowl against Arizona.

Let's go to tomorrow. Both of these games, meaningful games, and I've got both of them for you. Tampa is a major anti-public play. They're laying three against Carolina. If Carolina wins, they are automatically the NFC South champion. If Tampa wins the game, they would become NFC South champs if Atlanta loses to New Orleans on Sunday. If New Orleans beats Atlanta on Sunday, it doesn't matter what Carolina does tomorrow. But they're both playing the game to win the game.

If Tampa, you know, if Carolina loses, they're still alive. If Tampa loses, they're done. The Bucks have been in a major tailspin, and they're favored in this game. They lost to Carolina two weeks ago. I like Tampa laying the three against Carolina at home. That's play number one. Play number two is tomorrow night. I'm surprised Seattle is favored at San Francisco. even with the potential, you know, Kittle, Trent Williams' absences, San Francisco's offense has just looked like it's been unstoppable for a few weeks running. This is a real defense they're facing.

I'm going to give out Seattle. Now I'm looking at it. Man, this line's jumping up. It's gone from one and a half to two. I even see some two and a halves out there. I'll give it out now at minus two. damn I thought it was going to be one and a half Seattle minus two

tomorrow night in Santa Clara Tampa Bay minus three and then I do have a play on the only other game where it has meaning for both teams and this line wow I'm looking at it right now this line has jumped up to four

now across the board I'm assuming that the news perhaps just became official that Lamar Jackson is going to start. Pittsburgh plus four is the play. I mean, the world is on Baltimore in this game.

And people just look at Pittsburgh after what happened last week, and they see a team that is without D.K. Metcalfe, without Calvin Austin, without Big Washington, the tight end. And they're like, are they possibly going to do it? Pittsburgh plus four is the play.

I don't like the way the line's moving on that game. That would indicate maybe some sharp money here today in on Baltimore, but a lot of the sharp money was split, a little bit leaning towards Pittsburgh. Yes, I'm hesitating on that pick right now. SMU minus one tonight, Tampa Bay minus three tomorrow, Seattle minus two tomorrow, and I'll stick with the Steelers plus four Sunday night in the game that will determine the AFC North champ.

All right, that is it for today. I'm going to leave you with something. 20 years ago yesterday, New Year's Day, January 1st, 2006, the team known then, and forever for people like me, as the Washington Redskins were in the midst of a season-ending five-game win streak, but they needed that fifth against Philadelphia in Philly to clinch the final NFC playoff berth. Up 24 to 20, with about two and a half minutes left in the game, Sean Taylor scored his first career touchdown. It was a really good play, by the way, made by Philip Daniels, who had a really good season in 2005 towards the end of the season and into the postseason.

But this was a play that certainly was one of the highlight plays of Sean Taylor's career, and it happened January 1st, 2006, 20 years ago yesterday. I'll leave you with Joe Buck's call of that. play and I'll be back on Monday.