The Kevin Sheehan Show - Marty's One Year in DC

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

Kevin and Thom opened the show discussing Marty Schottenheimer's brief professional visit to Washington in 2001 but the lasting impact he had here. Is Brady the GOAT in sports history? That was a topic as was the mood of the WFT fan base and the chances Kyle Allen is back as the team's starting quarterback in 2021.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. There's a gleam, man. There's a gleam. Let's get the gleam.

All right, Tommy's with me today. And as, you know, occasionally happens between the radio show and the podcast, there's news. And the news this morning is sad news. But expected news based on what we learned late last week, that Marty Schottenheimer, passed away this morning after dealing with Alzheimer's disease for several years. He was 77 years old, and he had moved into a hospice facility near his home in Charlotte late last week. And we talked a little bit about Marty. I think you and I did on the podcast on Thursday. And you said that you talked to some people in anticipation of this that played on that 2001 team, which I regard and have said many,

many times over the years to you and to those that have listened to us many times over the years. I think that that was Dan Snyder's single biggest football mistake was moving on from Marty Schottenheimer after the 2001 season, a season that started 0 and 5 and then turned around with them winning eight of their final 11 games with Tony Banks and Kent Graham at quarterback. Yeah, I mean, I don't recall a season that affects. fan base, an eight-nate season that a fan base reveres more than that eight-nate season. I mean, it really was like in a 20-year storm, that brief moment where this sun's shown,

and people remember it. And they'll never, if you live through it, I don't think, the only thing that will, you'll, that will forget it is eventually some kind of legitimate. success for this franchise. But until that happens, 2001 will live on as the missed opportunity for everyone. I think your column, which you're going to write, the way you just described it, the missed opportunity is accurate. I think, and this is not meant to be self-serving at all, at all. But I think your influence and have been influenced by my feelings.

about Marty Schottenheimer in that one season. I don't think that most, you know, Washington football fans would tell you that's just the most incredible eight and eight season of all time because Joe Gibbs's first year was probably as incredible in eight and eight season as all time, as Marty's eight and eight season. But it was the lost opportunity. It was the feeling that not everybody had, Tommy. This is where I think you might be a little bit off. I don't think every fan thought that Marty Schottenheimer was on the verge of turning it around.

There were a lot of people that thought... The one fan who counted was the owner. Well, yes, he didn't, and he didn't want it to continue. I'm just saying, I think the way you described it is with your columnist hat on looking, I think the better angle is the lost opportunity. I'm not here to try to tell you how to do your job, but I don't think an overwhelming percentage of the fan base, thinks about 2001 in the same way that I and others do.

I think many of us feel that way, but I recall very vividly 2001. I had friends that were like, fuck him. This season, this was a disaster. It was fake. You know, Daryl Green couldn't stand him. Bruce Smith couldn't stand him. You know, these were, this was the early days of Snyder. Nobody knew how bad he really was.

I mean, 2000 was a disaster, but we hadn't really. really gotten the full Snyder impact, you know, in feeling yet. I'll be the first to admit I was still in that, he wants to spend money. He just has to learn how to spend it wisely. But you're talking about the mood of a fan base in 2001. I'm talking about any fans who live through 2001 and look back on it now. Okay. They look back on that season as the missed opportunity.

There is hardly a ripple among fans who think that Marty was not the key to changing this team around. Not in 2001, but now. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. And you know what? Fans weren't the only ones.

The two of the players I talked to were defensive backs, David Terrell and Sam Shade. And both of them were convinced that they had turned things around and were on the road to success. And we're so disappointed when Marty left, just crushed when Marty left. Because they felt the same way the fan base did. They saw after that 0-and-5 start, you know, after about two or three wins, the whole team was buying in, they said. And remember, Joe Gibbs, oh and five, start and wound up eight, it was with Joe Thaisman, a quarterback,

not Tony Banks. Yeah, I understand that. I understand that. But I... So, I mean, what Marty accomplished, I think, was more significant. And, you know what? I think what we're also forgetting

is the Steve Spurrier factor. But the players haven't. David Terrell said, even before the season started, they had heard that what the owner was infatuated with Spurrier and wanted him to coach his team. And they felt it wasn't so much what Marty did or didn't do.

It was the owner's obsession with Spurrier. And they said that kind of hung over the team that year. That was the only inkling they had because they both told me, well, David Trill told me, Marty did not let on at all to the locker room that there was any problem with the owner of him. He coached, they said he coached the same

way every day. And they had, they really didn't have any inkling about the tension between the owner and Marty, but they did have an inkling about the owner wanting to hire Seaf Burier. It's just, it's nuts when you think about it, right? I mean, he had committed to Marty as his head coach, coach-centric, you know, long before the Ron Rivera thing was coach-centric. Marty had all the control. Marty got rid of Vinny, told Fred Drasner, one of the minority owners

that he didn't have a parking spot in the Ashburn parking lot anymore. Those were for coaches and players. And he kept Dan completely out of it. I think, you know, just out of curiosity, why Sam Shade and David Terrell? Well, those were the guys I could get.

Who did you try to get? I don't have a roller decks with every phone number. from 2001, those were guys I managed to get in contact with. Did you try to get in touch with LeVar Arrington? No, I didn't. I think his perspective... I mean, I don't want to talk to Lovar Arrington. Why?

Come on. Why? No, because he's a blowhard. Oh, I think his perspective on... I mean, I talked to some players, real players. What do you mean? Levar Arrington was a burgeoning star, and I think he would have ended up... I know that, but he would still...

a blow heart, and he still is a blowheart. Okay, well, I don't know him very well. What do he mean still is? What does that mean? He's not on radio anymore. He's not? I thought he was on the NFL network. I haven't seen him on the...

He's not on the Weather Channel? I haven't been on the Weather Channel? I have... I honestly... I actually didn't think he did that bad of a job on the NFL network, but I haven't seen him on the NFL network. Maybe he is on the NFL network. I don't know.

I don't know. He might be on C-SPAN. I'm not sure. But I think, you know, first of all, Arrington's play against the Panthers totally turned that season around. Yes, it did. And I do think that Arrington was one of the young players that bought in before, you know, anybody else did, you know, at the objection of the older players.

And I think that that was probably an interesting dynamic, you know, Daryl Green and Bruce Smith, you know, versus guys like Arrington and Champ Bailey and Antonio O'Pierce who were buying in. But it sounds like, you know, David Terrell was a young player. Sam Shade was a younger player. But it was just, it was an interesting mix. Like it was really the year of, here comes the new guy. And oh, by the way, the new guy is a dictator.

And the new guy doesn't think any of the old guys, no matter how much success they had like three coaches ago. And in Daryl Green's case, it would have been two coaches ago. He doesn't care. because they've sucked for several years now and he's going to turn it around. And he doesn't need, you know, affirmation from, you know, future Hall of Famers, which he didn't. He told Daryl Green, get back and return punts in practice and was, you know, critiquing him on his form, told Bruce Smith to get in in the Oklahoma drill. You know, the older guys couldn't stand them.

They had, you know, with Norv, let's face it, Norv had a little bit of Jay Gruden and Steve Spurier in them. It was easy. Absolutely. You know, it was a country club with North. Here's what David Terrell said about that. Marty was old

school coaching. He didn't care if you were a paid superstar or whatever. If you went out and practiced the techniques they taught you and played the way you wanted to put that they wanted you to play, you would be out there. Whether you were a no-name guy like me or

one of the superstars. He wanted guys who were going to go out there and play for him. And by way, David Trell says, I would have run through a wall for Marty. I think that that's how... And Sam Shade says the things that Marty taught him, he's been a coach on and off in various jobs over the years. The things that Marty taught him, he brings to every coaching job. He said the same thing. He swears by Marty. It changed. his life, Marty coaching him. I think that's the way Lavaar Erington felt, is that he would have run through a wall for the guy. You know, I don't know that for sure, but I remember hearing him a few years after.

I think I had him on my show, you know, this was before he got into radio on the other station, and then started to make fun of all of us on the other station. Whatever, I don't care about that. But I remember him saying that, you know, he had totally bought in. And, you know, that's what you're looking for. You know, when you're a new coach somewhere, you're looking for your best players to buy in. And I thought LeVar had one of his best seasons. I know that under Marvin Lewis in Spurrier's first year, LeVar had his best year sack-wise.

You know, that was that 2002 season was LeVar's best sack year. But the 2001 year, he was in coverage a bunch. and I remember he was just an unbelievable cover guy in addition to being a guy that could get after the passer. But that interception against Carolina ended the 0-and-5 start. They were down 14-0-0 at the time. It kept them from falling to 0-6, and it turned the season around.

They went on a five-game winning streak. They won games on the road in Denver and Philadelphia against good football teams. Their defense became. nasty. And they were back in the playoff chase amazingly, losing their first five, winning their next five. And then I'll never forget, they played the Cowboys at Home as a five and five team looking to go six and five. And they'd gone from like an 0-and-5 team to now like a 10-point favorite against the Cowboys at home. And the Cowboys had at quarterback that day Quincy Carter. Remember

Quincy Carter got into a lot of that drug trouble and ended up out of the league? And they lost the game. Somehow they lost that game. And it was a devastating loss because the expectation was they were going to roll through the Cowboys. They were going to roll through, you know, I think they played the Cardinals the following week. And they were

going to be in the hunt to be a wildcard team, if not a division winner. And then they had a huge game against the Eagles that they lost, and then I'll never forget the game that really was the final chance for them to, you know, get back into the playoff chase. They played the Bears at home. The Bears

were good, really good that year. And Brian Erlocker caught a pass from the field goal holder on a fake field goal for a touchdown to give Chicago the lead in the fourth quarter. Washington was up in the game. Chicago was an excellent team that year. They had, I forget, to be honest with you, I think they were just an excellent defense more than anything else. But with Erlocker and some of those guys, but they had a fake field goal that gave them the lead in the fourth quarter, and that ended up winning the game for the Bears. And that knocked the skins out of contention. But hell of a year.

And, you know, it's interesting because we talked about this last week. Tom Flores did get into the Hall of Fame, which, you know, as I mentioned to you last week, if Tom Flores gets into the Hall of Fame, I think Mike Shanahan will get into the Hall of Fame. And I think Marty Schottenheimer deserves to be. in the Hall of Fame. I think the big difference, obviously, is that Flores won two Super Bowls, Mike won two Super Bowls. Mike was considered an innovator with the zone run scheme, but Marty's regular season record is much better than either one of those two dudes. And, you know, and even though he did not have the playoff success, man, he was always in the playoffs in three

different locations. We compared him to George Allen in a lot of ways. Yeah. You know, tremendous regular seat. Now, I know George Allen is considered more of an innovator, obviously with special teams and stuff and some of the defenses. But Marty's coaching tree is remarkable. Bill Cowher, Tony Dungee, Bruce Ariens. They all coach for Marty at one point. Oh, yeah.

I mean, his direct, you know, from his staff, The guy that had the most success was Bill Cower. You know, Bill Cowher left Marty in Cleveland, went on and obviously won a Super Bowl. But I want to say on that stuff, I had the coaching tree up the other day. I've got to get it back up. But I think Dungee was on that tree. You said Ariens. What about Mike McCarthy?

Was he off? Hold on. I don't know if he was or not. Hold on. I got to pull that up. I don't know. Here it is. Here it is.

Marty Schottenheimer, first layer of the tree guys that actually coached directly for Marty. Lindy Infante, Bill Cower, Tony Dungey, Gunther Cunningham, Herm Edwards, Mike McCarthy, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Hugh Jackson, Bruce Ariens, Rob Chigensky, Mark Trussman. I mean, and then off of those trees you get down. But, yeah, the Super Bowl winning coach was a Marty Schottenheimer, you know, coaching tree guy in Bruce Now, let me just go back to LeVar Arrington for seconds, just so everyone is clear. I think LeVar Arrington is one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen on a football field, okay? And he had a good NFL career, and I think, I mean, I thought he was, actually, part of the, I, he had a disappointing NFL career,

because I think he could have done a lot better. Given his talent, now I know he was injured, I think I had greater expectations for him, because He was as talented as anyone ever saw coming out of college, you know. But, you know, I think he got, look, I think he gets too much attention for an average career. You know? I wouldn't even, I totally agree with you. No, I mean, I have no particular interest in one of the law. That doesn't mean that I don't think he wouldn't be a great quote.

That doesn't mean that I don't think he would be a great quote for Marty. Well, I think he was a big, I think that Marty leaving, impacted his career. I think if he had been with Marty, you know, he, I think that he would have had a phenomenal career, phenomenal career. He may, yeah, he may have because Marty, I mean, these two guys I talk to, they talked about how Marty coached them off the field. I mean, he could have been Marty's Derek Thomas.

Made them both a better man. I mean, they just raved about the influence Marty had on their lives, not just. just, you know, their football careers. So maybe he would have had that kind of impact on LeVar Arrington to keep him focus on what was important. Look at this, Tommy. Somebody just sent this to me. I think it's real.

Yeah, because more than one person has sent it to me. Obituaries, Washington Post, written by Matt Schottel. Here's the headline, and I know that he doesn't necessarily write the headline. Marty Schottenheimer, NFL coach, whose teams wilted in the postseason, dies at 77. How classless a headline that is. Let me tell you about the post, if you remember, right? How classless a headline is that? No, that's a terrible headline.

The writer didn't write it, though. I know. I mean, we both know that. Look, I don't know if you remember this, but nobody in this town led the parade for Steve furrier more than the Washington Post. I don't remember that. Share that with me. Oh, they did everything they could to drum Marty out. They were on the furrier bandwagon.

They didn't like Marty at all. Nobody did. Nobody in the media liked Marty. No. No, they, but the Post led the parade. They led the Spurrier parade. I mean, they thought it was the greatest idea of the world that the owner and urged the owner and pressured the owner, not that he needed any pressure. He loved him, too. to hire Spurrier. And you know what? You can put that one right in the same category

as Freddie Adieu and Tamir Goodman among the Post's campaigns for sports figures. It was a joke. And let me tell you something else. Back then, and this is the honest, the honest-to-God truth, the Post was almost a house organ for Snyder, the sports section.

It was not the antagonistic relationship there is now. No, no, no. Look, he sent a birthday cake to the press box for Mike Wilbon. Tony went with the owner backstage to see the Rolling Stones. No, no, no, no, no. No, I know some of those guys definitely spent time with Snyder, Wilbon and Tony in particular. They've told me about it. And the coverage, the coverage of the team was what Snyder wanted it to be. Yeah, that didn't last long, though. No, it didn't. Well, because Snyder's such a self-destructive fool.

Right. But that is really, I know he doesn't write the headline, but whoever did, that's about as classless a headline or as clueless a headline. Look, his teams did Wilton the postseason. It's accurate. But clueless as to what Marty Schottenheimer really was. and his impact on the game and how much he won. It really, I know I've gone through this before, and I won't spend a lot of time going through it now. You know, he led his teams to the postseason 13 times,

coached in three AFC championship games, two with the Browns, one with the Chiefs. But my God, did he have bad luck in the postseason? I mean, I do think in remembering those games, I absolutely do think that Marty Schottenheimer coached at times way too conservatively, which is what they said, Tommy, about George Allen as well, that when he got to the biggest games that he coached too conservatively.

And I think Marty had, in many of those cases, the superior team to the team that he lost to in the postseason. But you had John Elway with a 99-yard drive to force overtime, and then Mosley, you know, missed one. I think he missed one in overtime or missed one in regulation. Remember, Mosley was kicking for those 86 Cleveland Browns that advanced to the AFC championship game in Cleveland against Denver, the game that was the drive.

You remember that, right? Mark Mosley was the kicker on that team. I had not remembered that, no. And Mosley had kicked the week before a field goal in double overtime. to beat the Jets, but he had missed a bunch of kicks in that game too. I'm pulling up the box score from both of these games. Mosley missed three field goals in the Jets game the week before, but kicked the game winner in overtime, in the second overtime to beat the Jets

2320 to advance to the AFC title game. And that was where they played Denver. Mosley, hold on for one second. Did he miss a kick in that game? No, he was two for two in that game. He did not miss a kick in that game. But, you know, in a game in which defensively, Cleveland was great. Elway had Tommy, Elway in that game was like at 180 yards passing tops.

And then on the final drive drove him 99 yards to 4.4. overtime. They lose that game. The next year is the earnest Biner Fumble as he's getting ready to go in to give Cleve on the AFC championship game in Denver. It was really one bad, you know, luck after another. He had a kicker twice missed short field goals, once to win it, wants to force overtime, and then in his final playoff game in 2006 against the Patriots when they were a 14 and 2 team.

They were the number one seed. And late in that game, they've got the lead. And there's an interception. And I'm pulling up the box score just so I remember specifically who it was who had the interception. Marlon McCree had an interception. And on his run back, no, I'm sorry. Yeah.

Marlon McCree had an interception on his runback. He fumbled the ball away, and New England got it back, and Brady drove him down the field, and they ended up winning the game 24-21. Awful. Just awful. Yeah. You know, the one thing that surprised me in talking to these guys who played on that 2001 team was that the possibility exists that if Spurrier was not available, do you think that Snyder would have lived with Marty? No, I don't. I think the Spurrier thing obviously made it very easy for Snyder.

But the stories I've heard over the years from people who would know, and I think you've heard some of the same things, is it was a miserable year for Snyder. You know, there he was the year before in 2000, buying every free agent that he could buy, totally immersed in the operations of the football team, getting all the attention for signing all of these big names, them being actually one of the preseason favorites in 2000 to win the Super Bowl. And then the season fell flat on its ass. He fires Norve at the end of the year. and, you know, he decides to go basically the opposite of North.

But that was not fun for him. He did not, Marty would not let Dan participate. I know all that. I know all that. But if you're home without a date and no girl will have you, you go by yourself. You go by yourself. Between home, being home without a date and the girl you want out there wants to go out with you.

He would have found somebody else. He would have found somebody else. I mean, he was paying big money, you know. He would have found somebody else. The minority owners hated him, especially Drasner. Snyder, from what I've heard, Snyder didn't hate him as much as Drasner did. Snyder actually respected Marty and they got along, but he was very up front and said, I want to be back involved.

And Marty said, if you do, I'm not going to coach for you anymore. And so it ended up being, you know, a borderline mutual thing. But obviously Snyder had his, you know, his eyes on the next, you know, best-looking blonde in the bar, which was spurrier and made his move. It was, I mean, seriously, I'll be honest with you, I was devastated. I was pissed. At the same time, I'd be disingenuous and be lying if I didn't tell you that the Sprier thing wasn't intriguing to me. But I was definitely in the Marty camp. And I wasn't working in the media.

And so I didn't have the relationship that some in the media had. I remember listening to Sports Talk Radio, our station, 980. And nobody liked Marty. And I remember thinking to myself, are you guys nuts? Look what he's doing with what he has. But nobody in the media like Georgetown either. Same thing. Nobody.

They hated him. It's too bad. It would have been really interesting to see how it would have played out. I would have been, look, when you look at his career, it'd be almost impossible not to say that they wouldn't have gone to the playoffs a bunch. Why? Because he did it everywhere he went. Every single place he went, he won double-ditchie. games, won divisions, and went to the playoffs.

You know, in Cleveland, three straight division titles, you know, 12 and 4, 10 and 5, 10 and 6 his last three years. Remember 87 was the scab year, so they played one less game. Two AFC title games, both lost. In Kansas City, he went every single year except for two years in Kansas City, he went to the playoffs. 8, 7, and 1 the first year, no playoffs. Then, playoffs, playoffs, playoffs, playoffs, with one AFC title game when they lost to Jim Kelly and the Bills in 93. And then they went 9 and 7 and then went 13 and 3 and lost to Denver. God, that was a painful loss. They lost to

Denver in the 97 playoffs at home to Mike. That was the 97 that was one of the years the Broncos ended up going. I think they beat Pittsburgh that year, went

back to the Super Bowl. Right? I think so. And then his final year was seven and nine fired. They had one losing season in Kansas City. None in Cleveland, not one losing season in Cleveland. And in San Diego, he went 8 and 8, 4 and 12, 12 and 4 playoffs, 9 and 7, no

playoffs, 14 and 2 lost in the playoffs, and A.J. Smith fired him after going 14 and 2. There was a shelf life to Marty. There's no doubt about that, right? He did eventually get to the point where he was a bit much to deal with. But not one year. Snyder could have Snyder could have gone at least five with them. They would have gone to the playoffs. They would have won divisions. Did Snyder have a yacht then? Maybe if he had a yacht, he wanted to care so much.

Yeah. Crazy. The whole thing was crazy. You know, it's ironic, right? When Marty got fired in San Diego, he was replaced with Norv Turner. You know, Norv took over his team. and ended up, you know, I forget it was the next year or the year after that, but I think it might have been the next year.

Norve's first year in San Diego after taking over for Marty, went to the AFC championship game with Philip Rivers playing on that torn ACL in that game that they lost. Norve actually took, you know, those Marty teams to the playoffs three times in a row as well. Anyway, rest in peace, Marty Schottenheimer. terrible, terrible headline in the post. Really, really incredibly off base. And, you know, I'm not going to go overboard.

It's a headline writer. I know it's not the writer of the story, but that's something an editor should have picked up on, right, Tommy, or not? Does an editor look at the headlines? Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know the editing process anymore at the post. They have a lot of money. So I'm sure there's still multiple editing things.

that an article would go through. And that's, I mean, it's not an inaccurate headline. No, I said it's not inaccurate. It's just... So I don't know if an editor would change it. It's classless and it's borderline mean. Yeah. It is.

It is. It's not appropriate. Well, when you're writing an obituary, you really should take into account, this is probably going to be, at least for the average person. and maybe not a famous person, the last thing somebody's probably going to write about you. So usually you take more care when you write an obituary with that in mind. You know, you're not necessarily as mean or as harsh.

But with a public figure, I'm not sure the same rules apply. Well, I would just say that when somebody dies and you've got to somehow in media, you know, let people inform people, the information that comes about that person shouldn't also be a simultaneous cheap shot. That's fair. And that's what this is. And whether this guy even understands what it was, it comes off as classless and a cheap shot. You know?

I always thought it'd make a good radio experience that we should have done. Each of us write the other's obituary. Oh my God Why would you Wouldn't that be great? No, it wouldn't be Why not? Because it's

It's grim And read them on the air It's morbid I don't want to write your open jury I don't want to write I don't want anybody to write mine No I mean

Why would you even think in those Because they would give you an idea Of how the other person Really perceives you I don't want to know how you perceive me, and I'll take it one step further. I really don't care how you perceive me. You should know that by now. I think everybody should try to write their own obituaries for the heck of it.

Actually, you know what? I do care what you think about me. There are a few people in my life that I care what they think about me, and I care about what you think about me. I actually think that you would write something very flattering. I probably would. But I mean, but I think he would mean it. I think I would too.

I know I would write something very, very flattering and very honest about you. And I, and there would be a lot of people that would read it and say, well, that's not the guy I've been listening to for all these years. And I'd say, yeah, but you didn't sit across from them. You didn't actually know them. All right. I want to get your thoughts on the Super Bowl and we'll do that right after this. word from one of our sponsors. If you missed the show yesterday, Kuhlin and I did a lot of nonsensical topics at the beginning.

But when we got around to breaking down the Super Bowl, a lot of you enjoyed it. If you missed it, there was a lot in there. You did not get your Super Bowl pick correct, which is fine. A little bit. Just a little bit outside. It was just a little bit outside. You had Kansas City in the over and you had this weird 38 to 25 score. see how I remembered it.

And for me, it was an absolute festival on Sunday, even though most of you were watching a game that was just dreadful to watch. By the way, the ratings did come in. 96.4 million viewers definitely down overall. Now, the game was streamed. The streaming numbers were up. but the New England's Seattle game, most viewers ever in 2015, 114.4 million, 96.4 million viewers for this one. I did find it interesting. I don't know if you saw this, Tommy. Kansas City, in terms of the local overnight ratings, did a 59.9. Second was Boston, which did a 57 overnight rating. And then Tampa came in.

and third at a 52.3 rating. Now, we know that the Florida cities are not good sports towns necessarily. It's still the Super Bowl, and it was the hometown team. But the Boston number being the second highest number, and actually being almost close to Kansas City's number, was, you know, obviously still Brady resonates in a big way. I had on Friday Scott Zolak on the radio show, you know, he's part of the radio broadcast team for the Patriots, former TURP quarterback.

And he was devastated. He was missing Brady so much and was rooting for Brady in a big way and really felt that most people were rooting for Brady in Boston. But anyway, your thoughts on the Super Bowl? Well, obviously it wasn't what I expected. I didn't expect to see such a coaching disparity. I mean, I knew that Bruce Ariens was a good coach, and Todd Bowles was a great defensive coordinator, and Byron Lefich is probably a very good offensive coordinator as well. I mean, I don't know how much input he really has in the offense between him and Ariens,

but I thought whatever they could throw at them, I thought Andy Reed and his staff could handle. But they looked out of sorts. they look like they were totally unprepared for what happened. They could never make any kind of adjustment to deal with it. I mean, as cool and calm as Brady was, and he was brilliant. And maybe you have to give Brady some of the credit for the coaching. I mean, he was the one who kept tech, according to the stories, kept texting his players, his teammates every day.

We can win this, and here's why. He was the one who saw how soft the Kansas City defense was. They were like second to last in yards per catch, you know, defensively. So I just didn't expect to see Kansas City meltdown. I said to Cooley yesterday, and I think, and he agreed with this. First of all, I totally agree with you, and it was a big thing. I thought that Andy Reed and his staff was completely, they were completely out. coach. Todd Bowles, you know what I think of him, and I thought he was brilliant. And I thought

offensively they carved up Kansas City's defense, Steve Spagnolo's defense as well. How much do you think what was going on with Britt Reed, Andy Reed's son, and the, you know, the tragic situation from Friday. How much was that weighing on Reed? I bet a lot. It's hard not to think that that had an impact. I mean, I know CBS wanted to ignore it, but I mean, that's all I was thinking. I was thinking that, you know, coaches are so particular about any little thing before a game that throws off the focus of the game itself. And then you have something like this. Wasn't it, Fred Reed and an assistant coach as well? Britsch? No, I think it was just Reed in the car. Was there an assistant coach? As well? Frid Chiefs? No, I think it was just Reed in the car.

Was there an assistant coach in the car? I thought it was just reading. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I thought there were others in the car. And as of now, God willing, you know, the five-year-old is still in critical condition, but, you know, alive. And you just have to pray that this young girl survives. I mean, it's just an awful situation that had to weigh on Reed.

It just had to. You would think it did. But you'd also think by the time, when that accident happened, that they, they, they, They were, I guess, you know, they were prepared for the Super Bowl by the time the accident happened. You have to figure. But it does speak to your mentality during the game in terms of in-game judgments. I don't know. I mean, nobody knows, and we'll never know.

But that's given Andy Reid's personal family history, it's hard not to believe that that didn't weigh heavily on him the whole weekend. Yeah, I mean, you know, the out-coached narrative was the in-game adjustments, you know, not going to more max protection schemes for Mahomes, not getting Mahomes a little bit more out of the pocket. I mean, this was, he was pressured 29 times most in Super Bowl history. I mean, and they just never seemed, I think they just figured, well, Paddle figured it out. You know, he'll end up figuring it out and he'll make a couple plays, and he nearly did, you know, two or three times. Yeah, he had some teammates who let him down when it came to catching the ball.

No doubt. No doubt. Where did you weigh in on the officiating? Well, you know, it's interesting. I was waiting for people to say, well, the league wants Brady to win. You know, the same league that hung him out to dry on the plate gate. Suspended him for four games. Yeah, you know? So I didn't see that too much. But Rick Goslin, one of the best NFL writers there is, somebody who actually Belichick respects,

one of a few writers he respects, pleaded this before the game. Tom Brady should be a scary sight for the AFC champion chiefs in the Super Bowl. So should referee Carl Sheffers. Yeah. He worked two Kansas City games this season and assessed 10 plus penalties

against the Chiefs in both. Kansas City only had four double-digit penalty games all year. I saw that. Yeah, I didn't realize it was Rick Gossel that, but I did see that. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it was tightly called. Kansas City got the short end of the whistle, as they say, in basketball.

But my position was they got their ass kick, too. and it wouldn't have made that much of a difference had they, you know, had everything been evened out a little bit from a flag standpoint? It was a beat down in every sense of the word. Yeah. It was not an enjoyable game to watch. But it was, I guess in your position, it was an enjoyable game to watch. It was, no doubt.

It really, it was. It's hard because, you know, you're rooting, you know, as a fan, you'd like to see it to be a really good game. And, you know, look, I remember. there was a stretch, you know, in the 70s, 80s, even in the 90s probably. I mean, the narrative about the Super Bowl was how boring the Super Bowl was, it always was. It was a one-sided game. I mean, just thinking back through, you know, like the Cowboy Steelers games of the 70s were the best games. But for the most part, they were duds.

They were blowouts, you know. The Raiders blown. out the Vikings, the Cowboys blowing out Denver, the Raiders, you know, blowing out the Eagles. And then in the 80s with the dominant NFC teams, you know, there weren't a lot of close Super Bowls, right? The Bears blew out, the 85 Bears blew out the Patriots. The Raiders blew out the Redskins. Washington blew out Denver. San Francisco, every one of their Super Bowl wins, except for their first one against Cincinnati and Ken Anderson, they were all major blowouts. They've been. They've be Denver 55 to 10 in one of those games. It was just one blowout after another. And then,

you know, I think it was, I mean, the one that I remember pretty much turned it around and all a sudden we started getting great games was Tom Brady's first Super Bowl in the Superdome. You know, 2001 season over the Rams, over the greatest show on turf, the walk-off field goal. And then you had you had another walk-off field goal against the Panthers. You had a three-point win over the Eagles. You had the phenomenal giant games against the Patriots, you know, the two close ones against the Patriots. You had the thriller between the Steelers and the Cardinals. You had a great Super Bowl between the Ravens and the 49ers. You had the Patriots Seahawks. You had the first overtime game and the biggest comeback of all time with the Patriots

and the Falcons. We've had some great Super Bowls over the the last couple of decades. It had definitely trended in the more competitive direction after, like you said, years of blowout. You remember that, right? That was always the thing with the Super Bowl. Can we get a good game and we never did? Yeah, no, you're right. And, you know, this one was not a good game, but it was good if you had Tampa in the under. That's for sure, because you never really even sweated it. I was telling a really good friend of mine who was listening to the

podcast and the radio show yesterday and he's like, did you ever feel worried that Mahomes was going to do on Mahomes again? And I'm like, of course I did. Of course I did. It was the Chiefs. Even when they were up 28 to 9, I'm like,

you know, they could still come back. You know, even 319,9 when it's 22, I'm like, God, can you imagine if he pulled the, you know, 22 straight points, touchdowns with a two-point conversion and they won by six in overtime and the game went over. Like there were a lot of things that could have happened there. But I thought what was, I think I said this yesterday, but I'll mention it to you to see what your reaction was.

I thought it was a very average to less than average broadcast altogether. But I thought Tony Romo was on it early. And he said, this is different in watching the chief's labor, in watching. watching them labor offensively. You don't think about the chiefs being behind and worrying about it, but this one's different. You can see it. The pressure is just too much, and they can't handle it. And they never figured it out.

You know, it would have been interesting to hear him get into a little bit more of the detail on what they could have done, like gone to more max protection or rolled them out a little bit or gone back to just trying to run the football against a four-man front in a six-to-seven-man box. But yeah, it wasn't a great game, but it was a great result for me. No, and I mean, you also have to include how much of an impact we don't know, the turf toe that Mahomes had to deal with. I think he's being operated on like today or tomorrow or something like that. Although he seemed pretty mobile when he took off, we really don't know what he was going through there as well. But I mean, that's what the coaches have to prepare for.

I mean, the coaches have to have to, if his turf tell was debilitating, they had to have known that and prepared a game plan with that in mind. Do you find this interesting for any reason, yes or no? Brady texted an apology to Taron Matthew. Honey Badger for the confrontations during the course of that Super Bowl. I really thought Brady should have been flagged when Matthew was flagged. I thought it looked like offsetting unsportsman-like conducts. Matthew said, I've never really seen that side of him. Brady in his apology text to Matthew called Matthew the ultimate competitor.

Matthew said, you know, Brady said he told Mattie. Matthew, he'd watched him since his days at LSU, and he praised Matthew for his heart, calling him an incredible leader, champion, and class act. Brady also expressed his desire to apologize in person in the future. He said his outbursts in an emotional moment were in no way a reflection on his feelings towards Matthew, whom he spoke of highly throughout the week leading up to the game. Matthew explained his side of the altercation, saying in a since-deleted tweet, that Brady started the verbal spat when he called Matthew, quote,

something I won't repeat, closed quote. What do you think Brady called Matthew? Is that interesting to you or not? I don't think it's a racial epitaph. That's what you're saying. I actually did. That was not my first thought, but my first thought was that it could be in the category of something that was offensive,

you know. a Justin Thomas situation from a few weeks ago. It could be. You know? Yeah. It could be. But, yeah, you're right. A lot of that stuff gets set on the field on football games.

A lot of it. I know. And it's sort of a place in which these players, they don't, you know, they don't turn each other in more times than not in these situations. You know, it's the heat of the battle. Yeah, I know. Doesn't excuse it, but it is. The heat is a battle. It doesn't interest me that much.

Okay. What else did I hear? Is Tom Brady the greatest NFL player to ever play the game? He's the most accomplished NFL player of all time. It's not even close. Well, wouldn't you say that would make him the greatest? Well, you would have to tell me, because every single time I've ever had this conversation with any elderly people, they say, well, it's Jim Brown.

and then you can count a couple of spots before you get to number two. Is he a better all-time football player than Jim Brown? And I've always said that until now. Yeah. You can't ignore the resume. And what's the separator for everything about Tom Brady now is he did it someplace else? He did it right away someplace else. Right.

He didn't go to play for the New York Yankees, a team that had won 10 World Series. series. No, but he went to a stack team. He went to a good football team. Yeah. That hadn't been playing well. Right. The year before. Well, they went seven and nine the year before and had like five overtime losses or five months or loss. I know I think seven and nine is it's really good here. But in a lot of town, it's not a great record. Understood. So, yeah, doing it, taking his act on the road and doing this, accomplishing what he did, It's the separator to me.

It's what separates them from everybody else. And I'm going to you, I mean, I've always been, it's Jim Brown, and then you can stop counting after that. You know, but, I mean, seven Super Bowls, seven out of ten Super Bowl. That's crazy. And he's won more Super Bowls than any other franchise in the NFL. More than San Francisco and Pittsburgh in New England.

So, no, it's no longer a debate. The, I think that there's, first of all, I just went up and I looked at the New England, New England, the Tampa season from last year in 2019 with James Winston. They were seven and nine. Seven of their nine losses were by one score or less. And two of them were in overtime. They really were, and I remember watching them last year saying, good God, this team can score. They're on the cusp.

If Winston could just throw like one less interception a game, they'd probably be in the postseason and be dangerous. Remember, I really thought that Tampa was a possibility, you know, if he wanted to win and win it all. And he ended up picking it. Not a lot of people had Tampa early on, but whatever. He's the most accomplished team sports athlete, team sport athlete of all time. want to say Russell, and I'm willing to listen to you, talk about Russell, and talk about how only the greatest players played, and how he had to overcome Wilt and all of that, and it was 11 titles. And maybe you want to throw in DiMaggio, who won 9, or Yogi Berra, who won 10, or Mantle, who won 7. I don't know. That's the list, by the way. That's the short list of players,

team sport players, to have won seven or more world championships. Brady, Mantle, Damagio, Barra, and Russell. I just think in football, it's just so much harder to win a Super Bowl when you're in a one-and-done environment in the postseason versus the sports where more times than not the best team wins, certainly in the NBA. But I think he's the most accomplished team sport athlete of all time. Well, I know. I still think it's Russell. you have to include the fact that Russell, before he got to 11 out of 13 championships for the Celtics,

won two national championships in a row at the University of San Francisco and an Olympic gold medal. So I think we can safely say that Russell is the factor there. You know, so I still think he's the best. And I'll tell you why, you mentioned Yogi Bear, very underrated. I think Yogi is maybe number two or number three with Brady. I mean, he went to 10 World Series, and if you think he was just a passenger on those teams, he won three MVP. Yeah, he went three MVP's.

Yogi Barrett did. I mean, he is an underrated player who was Casey Stangle's favorite player on those Yankees teams. So I think Yogi does not get the attention he deserved. Those Yankee teams were great, obviously. But look, I'm willing to put Brady number two behind Russell and Yogi number three. But I still think it's Russell. I'm not going to say you're nuts either, though, okay? Yeah, I know.

It's the conversation that we had a few weeks ago about, you know, if you didn't know how many championships Brady had and you were able to watch every single game he ever played up until, you know, the AFC championship games and beyond. So you knew he got to AFC championship games and a lot of them, but you didn't know what the results were after that. I think a lot of people would say, just based on watching, you know, Elway, Marino, Rogers, you know, on the quarterback conversation, you know, Peyton or Unitas or, you know, whatever,

there'd be a lot of people in the conversation with them. And I think ultimately what, you know, a lot of sports fans just don't take into consideration. consideration in these team sports as much as the people that played them and coached them is just how important the intangibles are. And Brady has intangibles off the charts. He's got an ability from a leadership standpoint, from a figuring it out standpoint, from a, you know, a competitive standpoint, all of those things to win and figure out, you know, how to win and more than any winner in the history of the game. And so I just, that's part of it.

You know, it's not just arm strength or athleticism or, you know, ability to move or extend or whatever, you know, or clutch, you know, clutch gene versus no, it's all of the other things that contribute to winning, character, you know, leadership. And, you know, listening to those players on that team, I mean, they are all worshipping at the Brady altar, just like all of his former teammates did after the game Sunday. We've heard the stories, and I know people get tired of it, but it's part of the Tom Brady success story. He'd be the first guy in the building working out. Yeah.

The biggest star on the team, when we heard the story about Taylor Heineke, when he was with the Patriots for a couple of weeks, got there at 5.30 and morning to watch game films and Brady was already there. Watching him. So, I mean, yeah. I mean, he is driven.

He is driven like maybe few athletes we've ever seen. You know, I mean, and when you're good like that, people want to be around you. People want to be part of that success. Yeah, and I think, you know, and I get into these conversations with my boys. Like, I think, you know, it's too easy to say, well, if you put Peyton with Belichick in those teams, or if you put Rogers with those teams, or if you put Mahomes with those, or whatever, that the results would have been the same, you know, taking all of these other great quarterbacks that, you know, sometimes when you watch,

you think, oh, they're better than Brady. But it's so much more than just what you're watching. It's a lot of what you don't know and what you're not watching. And I think the reaction to him is pretty amazing year and year out from his teammates, the people that are closest to him. And by the way, his competitors. You know, by the way, Cooley brought this up, something that you don't hear all the time about Aaron Rogers.

You know, you've heard, you know, some criticism of Aaron Rogers' leadership, you know, at various times and how difficult he can be, you know. And I don't know. I mean, there's clearly a side of this. And this is where I think the best coaches and the best general managers, it's more than just watching a shuttle run at Indianapolis. You know, you've got to find those people that are driven. You've got to find those people that love it and that are going to be, you know,

Ron Rivera said something during the regular season that I pointed to a couple of times. Your best players have to be your best workers, which is why he should have known right from the jump. And I think he did. And he should have said to Mr. Snyder, first of all, he's nowhere near my best player. Secondly, he's one of my worst

workers. That's not how you change a culture. I need my best players to be my best workers. And that position is crucial to have workers. And anyway, I'm reading a book, a collection of columns,

by a great sports writer named Jimmy Cannon from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. And he had this line, which I posted on Twitter and Facebook. Quote, football was a stand with Alvinz Lombardi, who was all over to Super Bowl on Sunday with the, I don't know, superimposed holograms or whatever they were doing. It's the thing they did for the Al Davis 30 for 30. They had Pete Roselle and Al Davis. By the way, I watched that last night.

I'll tell you about it maybe on Thursday. We can do something like that if you've got time to watch. Well, you don't, can you watch a 30 for 30? Or do you still have? No. Oh, Jesus God. Okay. Continue with the Jimmy.

Well, I'm not home. If I was home, I could watch it. Well, you could probably watch it online. Okay, I'll give it a try. Watch, I think you'll really enjoy it. Just tell me real quickly about Jimmy Cannon. Jimmy Cannon said, quote, football was a simple game as Lombardi divides his formations.

It was based on character. Yeah. That speaks to what you're talking about. And speaking of character, the one thing that one thing that we haven't even talked about with Brady, he's 43 years old. I know. I mean, nobody has done this before. And he wants to play until he's at least 45. Yeah, I mean...

Of course he's coming back next year. Isn't Tampa the prohibited favorite to repeat already? No, they're not. Wouldn't you have to make them? They're not. The chiefs are the favorites. The Packers are the second favorite. I think the Bucks and the bill is...

The Packers? Yeah. Did you see who they hired as their defensive coordinator? I did, Joe Barry. It's hard to believe that him and Todd Bulls have the same job. Yeah. But because he's 43, I wanted to point out, can we do this or do you have to take a break? No, I know what you want to say.

Go ahead. It's your column. Okay. I called Monday morning the authority on senior citizen success, George Foreman. And what did he say? Who turns out is a big Tom Brady fan. He told, he said, I told everyone that I believed he was going to win. and he talks about the power that Brady had

was the power of knowledge and experience. And he compared it to his own when he was 45, beating Michael Moore, a guy who was 19 years younger than him to win back to heavyweight championship. This is what George said. When I was young and had all that enthusiasm, I was either guided or misguided by trainers and managers.

but when I made my comeback, I was equally experienced and knowledgeable about boxing as my trainers were. They had to come to me. The coaches needed me to ask, the coaches needed to ask me questions. I needed enthusiasm, but that and physical strength were last on the list. It was all about being a thinking man's game, like a chess game, and I was able to play it well. I mean, that's Brady. He's like a coach. I mean, we talked about Peyton for years like a coach, but, you know, we never recognize that in New England,

but playing for Bill Belichick for 20 years, some of that's going to rub off. Yeah. Look, the other part of it, too, and you see this sometimes with the greatest achievers, right? You see almost a narrowness to them. You know, I used to feel that way, and I think we've talked about. this in the past about Joe Gibbs. Joe Gibbs was so focused and so committed to his job and to winning and doing whatever it took to do it. He was oblivious to things that were going on in the world around him. And they weren't even interesting to him. I remember in the 80s, you know, he was asked who Oliver

North was during one of his press conferences. He had no idea who Oliver North was during, you know, a Ron Contra. I remember another time when Michael Jackson or Madonna or somebody was just, you know, the name came up and he goes, I don't know who that is. And Brady, like, what else is he going to do? I'm sure he's got interests and hobbies, okay? But this is what drives him. This is what makes him happy. And he just played great and won the MVP of the Super Bowl.

I know. I know. It's not like he's like this guy that they're, dragging along with them. He's the driving force. Right. Yeah. Anyway, we'll take a break and be right back after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, this final segment brought to you by MyBooky. MyBooky.orgie.orgie. Right now, if you go to it, you can find Tommy. You can find those Super Bowl odds for next year.

Yes, the Chiefs are the favorites. They are five to one. Then it's Green Bay at 7 to 1, Tampa Bay at 8 to 1, Buffalo at 11 to 1. Those are the current odds at my bookie.ag. If you want to get a wager down on the Washington football team, 50 to 1 to win next year's Super Bowl. There are, let's see, one, two, three, four NFC teams with worse odds. Okay, four NFC teams. So I mentioned this yesterday, I think, with Cooley. Washington not getting a lot of love right now from the handicappers and odds. makers out in Vegas, primarily because they don't have a quarterback solution, which we will get to here momentarily. But anyway, go to MyBooky. They will match your deposit halfway up to $1,000.

MyBooky.ag, it's a reputable place. I would urge you even if you have another place to sign up for MyBooky to get that deposit matched halfway up to $2,000. You have to use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. All right. My promo code is Kevin D.C. If you end up signing up, please use my promo code, all right? That gets us an ongoing advertiser here, which helps us deliver this podcast for free. But anyway, MyBooky.orgie.ag is a reputable spot. You get fair lines, fair pricing, and you get paid if you win. They've got a lot of contests.

You can bet some college hoops. You can bet some NBA, NHL. They've got a live casino, online casino. MyBooky.ag, use myprosysm. promo code Kevin D.C. So I've put out this poll. We're required to put out a poll every day on Twitter. I know that you would prefer to be on Facebook.

Put out this poll today. Describe the mood of the Washington football fan base after their seven and nine playoff season losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions. I'm sure you saw some of this on Twitter. People really excited. One of the choices, euphoria? you? I know you saw some of the reaction about how excited people were about losing to the eventual

Super Bowl champions. Didn't really move me one way or the other. But anyway, it's the choices I put out there, all right, describe the mood of the Washington football fan base after a seven and nine playoff season. Apathy still checked out was an option. skeptical but attentive, meaning you're paying attention. Just couldn't fit that in to 25 characters or less. Leaning optimistic. And then the final option was all in again. You know, like I'm all in now.

Number one was leaning optimistic. 57.1% of the people, the respondents, said that. Second was skeptical but attentive, 22.6%. Third was all in again, 14%. 14.5%. And coming in dead last by a lot, apathetic, I'm still checked out at 5.8%. And I wanted to bring this up because I know it's not, you know, it's anecdotal, it's Twitter, the whole thing. But 5.8% for apathetic still checked out. That number would have either been the highest or the second highest a year ago. Oh, yeah. Look, I don't understand. You had a coach?

a new coach who was fighting cancer and a quarterback who nearly lost his leg making a comeback. You're going to pay attention. It was a hell of a story. I don't know if it was a hell of a season, but it was a hell of a story. That got national attention. Today's show attention. Yes, you're going to be engaged. But that's, but it's really describing the mood,

after the season as in what's your mood right now about what the team is? Not about what you just experienced. I know that what you just experienced was influential on how you feel now, and I get that. So let me just tell you that I am definitely leaning optimistic where last year at this time, I was borderline apathetic. You know, we've always talked about like, what if they turn it around? What if they actually become a contender? Will everybody be back in?

I think a lot of people will be back in. That's not where they are right now. But to me, the reason that people are leaning optimistic is twofold. I'm going to speak for myself on this. Number one is the owner's more vulnerable than he's ever been. And it could potentially lead to him not being the owner anymore, which is what everybody hopes. You know, like this is the best chance, and I don't even know if it's a good chance, it's probably not a good chance, but it's the best chance of him losing the team or being forced to sell the team in 21 years of his ownership.

And so, you know, on one hand, you're like, man, wouldn't this be great if this really, like this Beth Wilkinson report forced, you know, the league to step in? I don't want, you know, I don't want to lose draft choices for my favorite team, but I would love to see him be forced out. And by the way, you know, for those of you that are like, oh, that sounds kind of mean and personal. it's how most of the fan base feels. Come on. I mean, what are we talking about here? The number one wish of every longtime Washington football fan would be for Dan Snyder not to be the owner anymore. It's their Lombardi trophy.

It would be the fourth Lombardi trophy that they could put in the lobby. That he's gone. The other reason is it's Ron Rivera. have a good coach, they have a good person, they have a good leader. They have a likable coach. They also have a guy that seems to be able to, it seems to understand that there was a culture problem and that it needed to change. And the people that he is focused on bringing into the organization are people of higher

character. And by the way, better football people to begin with. So, I mean, look, at the end of last year, once Bruce Allen got fired, remember what a big deal that was. If I'd done the poll the day after Bruce Allen was fired, I think people would have been more leaning optimistic. But I think for the most part, people were, you know, like, okay, whatever, but it's still Snyder and they're going to stank. And remember, I would say more people than not weren't overly thrilled with the Rivera hire. I mean, I thought it was, you know, an outkick the coverage kind of higher personally.

But he's not a great coach. I took calls on this this morning, and people were saying, well, they've got a great coach. And I'm like, no, no, no. They've got a good coach. A good coach. You know what? That's better than anything they've had in 10 years.

But any fan who's been paying attention couldn't have diluted things themselves and thinking a great coach would come to coach here. No, that's why I think they actually got better than what they, I thought they would get. Yes. So, you know, next year, this leads into how do you keep this forward momentum going? Well, if you're Ron Rivera and you're in charge of all this,

you continue to do the things that you believe will change the culture, which is you've got to hire the right people, you've got to bring in the right people, that believe in your vision, believe in your culture, from a player's standpoint, You've got to find good players, but your best players have to be your best workers, you know, which is what he has said before. You know, and then really when it comes down to it, you know, that could all lead to more competitive teams and less embarrassing teams, but they've got to get a quarterback. They have to get a quarterback. And so you've got to keep moving forward. You can't, no matter how tough your schedule is going to be next year, you can't do the four and twelve step back again.

No, and it's not going to be easy next year. So that leads to this final conversation for the day. I had been standing on the radio show today, and I said to him in the midst of a conversation because he was talking about sort of what he thinks the most likely and what the most unlikely things are with respect to quarterback. And I just wrote this down, and it's sort of how I felt in the moment. I don't think I've changed my mind. I think right now the odds on the starting quarterback, quarterback for 2021, September 2021. I think there's a 50% chance it's Kyle Allen.

I think there's a 20% chance it's somebody that they trade for or sign in free agency. I think there's about a 20% chance that it's one of the other two quarterbacks that are on the roster, but that would be more of a heavy lean towards Taylor Heineckee. And I think there's like a 10% chance they draft

somebody and probably move up in the draft and pick somebody that they end up starting as a rookie. And the reason I say that is they didn't get Stafford. Stafford was the guy that would have automatically come in, been the franchise quarterback for the next three to five years, and there wouldn't have been a debate. They tried. They tried to get him. They're not going to get Watson. I don't think Houston's going to trade him. I don't think they should trade him. Wentz apparently is not, they're not interested in. By the way, he wouldn't be a great culture fit necessarily for Rivera, if you believe that story from the Philadelphia.

he inquired Tommy from about a month ago. Winston's probably going to stay in New Orleans. Cam is done. Come on. And then, you know, is Darnold even going to be traded? And then if he is going to be traded, would Washington have the most trade for him if they were interested? You know, so it's like I look at all the possibilities and I think, you know, before Stafford got dealt, I would have said, yeah, the chance that it's going to be somebody that they trade for or sign in free agency is probably like. like 40%. And maybe it's 40% that it's Kyle Allen and then, you know, it's 15% that it's

Taylor Heinecke or Alex Smith and 5% it's a rookie. But I think Kyle Allen has, you know, by the way, part of that too is that there was a report yesterday or maybe the day before that Kyle Allen really thinks he will be healthy and ready to go by training camp. They traded for him. They like him. Ron Rivera late in the season without any, without being asked about it, unsolicited, said that he thinks they would have had the same results with Kyle Allen that they had with Kyle with Alex Smith. Alex Smith, more likely than not, is not going to be an option. He's not going to be on this roster.

And I just think that the best percent chance, and it's a coin flip that Kyle Allen's the starter opening day next year. What do you think? Based on everything you just said, I mean, I think you're right. But based on everything you just said, if this team makes a deal and gives away a bunch of draft picks to move up in the draft to pick Justin Fields, would you consider that an alarming sign? An alarming sign? Yes. No.

Why would I consider that alarming? Because would you think that was what the owner wanted to do or what the coach wanted to do? Oh, oh, no. I would think that that's what the coach wanted to do. Why? Well, because I talked about this last week. I have heard that there are people in the organization, on the football side of the organization,

that like Justin Fields. And the reason that they like Justin Fields is, unlike the Ohio State quarterback that was just here, Justin Fields, by all accounts, is a tremendous high character leader. and getting rave reviews for his leadership ability. Now, personally, I thought Justin Fields at times this year looked like a guy that I would not want to be my starting quarterback.

I thought he was really inconsistent. He had some bad games. But then the Clemson semifinal game came, and he was brilliant in that game. And he played hurt, and he was phenomenal in that game, and he threw six touchdown passes in that game. And I would trust them. I told you.

I would trust them. You can't have it both ways. You can't think that he really likes Kyle Allen and that he would trade mortgage for future to get Justin Fields. You can't do both. Well, wait a minute. Hold on for a second. I know that they like Kyle Allen,

but I also know that they liked Matt Stafford, more and offered Detroit a first third and maybe a player. I'm not going to sit there and categorize the, or try to describe the choice. I mean, if they really like Justin Fields and there's a chance to trade up to get them, which, by the way, isn't within their control situation, because if they really like them, maybe somebody else really likes them that's drafting 15 spots in front of them. So they're not going to have any chance to get them. It doesn't mean that they don't like Kyle Allen.

Allen? Just like trying to trade for Stafford means that they, it's, you know. I'm saying they do that. I'm saying they accomplish what they want that with this scenario. Yeah, wouldn't be alarming at all. Well, why would you? I don't know if there's an answer for, for that. I mean, I really don't understand that. After all you've been through and to listen to what the, to tell what the coach says out of one side of his mouth. and then the thing he'd say, yeah, sure, let's trade two number ones and a number two for a chance to get Justin Sealed.

I don't think it would be two number ones and a number two. It depends on how high you're going up. I'm saying whatever you need, the coach, the owner says whatever you need to make it happen, I want it to happen. Tommy, I don't think that's happening in this offseason. If you told me that next offseason after a five-and-11 year and terrible quarterback play from Kyle Allen and or Taylor Heineke, that, you know, or let's just say they went six and ten,

and they ended up trading two ones to move up to number one overall to draft whomever the number one quarterback's going to be next year. That would be much more plausible. I don't think it is right now. I think Ron's going to- But I didn't ask you if you think it would happen. I asked you, who would you think be behind the move if it happened? Ron Rivera, Marty Herney, Martin Mayhew.

Well, okay. I do. This offseason, I do. Kevin, on line three. Next caller, please. Kevin from Betheson, line three. Okay, what else do we have for today? I'm done. You've got a list of things you want to get to. No, I don't. I was going to mention, I don't know when I talk about. Nobody gives a shit about the Washington Wizards or Maryland basketball right now.

That's what I watched last night. So, whatever. watch the Al Davis 30 for 30. Okay, it's a little bit weird, but God, what a story, his life story is. Will you try to watch that, and then we can talk about that on Thursday? I'll see what I can do. You know, I've got a busy schedule down here in Florida. I've got the pool.

I've got a happy hour. I got a lot of my agenda. You have, what, another week and a half before the booster shot? No, no, no. 16 days. Okay. So it's just over two weeks. It's a booster shot.

All right. And we've shifted gears. We're not going to Austin when we leave here. Where are you going? We're heading farther south to Sarasota. Oh, okay. Well, Sarasota's great. Go to Ormond Circle.

You can hang out, walk around. It's beautiful. Longboat Keys just over that, you know, three minutes from Ormond Circle, and it's beautiful there. Love that part of Florida. Love it. That's where we're heading.

All right. Oh, there was something I wanted to tell you about. And there's something I want to talk about, too, but go ahead. Mine won't take long. So last night, as I'm waiting for the Maryland-Ohio State game to come on FS1, number one ranked South Carolina was playing number two ranked Yukon in women's basketball. And I didn't know that it was on, but it was apparently a very big, big game, number one versus number two. And I flipped on FS1 at about 854, you know, just to see,

because whenever you play a late game, Tommy, you know, you college basketball watchers or maybe, you know, even football watchers. But when it's on a network like FS1, you got to make sure that the game before is going to end on time so you don't miss any of the start of your game. And so I flipped it on to see if there was a game on before and it was Yukon and South Carolina. And they were coming down the stretch of regulation, and I'm like, oh, God, no overtime, no overtime. Please, whatever you do, no overtime. And it goes to overtime. It goes to overtime because this freshman player for Yukon, her name is Paige Beckers.

Okay, it's spelled Bokers, but it's pronounced Beckers. It's spelled Buckers, like B-U-E-C-K-E-R-S, but it's pronounced Becker's. Would that be a German name? Becker would be a German name. I don't know if that the way it's spelled is German. Okay. Paige Becker's is a freshman. She apparently, I guess, was the number one female recruit in the country last year.

Went to Yukon, of course. Which is where Azee Fudd from St. John's here locally is going to go. Aze Fud, the player of the year a couple of times in high school basketball has been, you know, one of the, I've talked about her before. I don't know if I've done it with you. She plays at St. John's locally. She's the number one player in America, and basically has been Tommy since her freshman year. Anyway, Paige Becker's last night scores the final four for Yukon to force overtime. I'm like, good God. Oh, I'm going to miss the beginning of the Maryland game. But then they flashed up. Maryland, Ohio State isn't going to start until 9.07 p.m. So I kept it on and I'm watching Paige Becker's.

She scores all nine points in overtime for Yukon. She scored their final 13. points. And I'm watching her and I'm like, wow, she's good. But in a way that was really, like, very, she's very, like, crafty and impatient. And, like, the kind of player that sometimes just, for whatever reason, it just strikes me in watching her. She doesn't rush it. She's not overly athletic. She's not super quick. She's not super fast. She doesn't jump high. She's not super big, but she's not small either. But I'm watching her, and I'm like, man, she uses a screen well. Wow, she gets space.

And she just scored every single time on every possession. She scored all nine points in overtime, and they won the game. And I didn't know who she was. I found it afterwards. She was the number one senior player in the country last year. She was the best freshman in the country at Yukon. She became Gino Oriama's first player, in his history to score 30 plus points in three straight games.

She had 31 last night. And in his description this morning, and I was reading it, and I'm looking for it right now, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to find it here, in his description of Paige Beckers and her heroics over South Carolina last night, here's what he said. Okay, I just found it. Quote, she's very slow, and I say that with a high degree of appreciation.

She takes her time. She's like when Jim Brown used to run. When she gets the ball, she's like, should I go to the hole or that hole or that one? What's the best decision for me right now? She waits until the absolute last minute and nothing rushes her. So you can't make her play faster than she wants to play. It's exactly what drew me to watching her in overtime.

What drew me to watching the game was, can it end, please? Can we get the overtime to go quickly? But then as I was watching, I was like, wow, she's really good and unique in the way she goes about it. I'll give you the example in the NBA, and I've mentioned his name many times over the years. I love how patient Damar DeRosen is. I love the kind of scorer he is. He's incredibly patient. Nothing rushes him.

He gets to his spot, and if that spot isn't a good one, he finds another one. Kauai Leonard is very much the same way, but Kauai's bigger, longer, more athletic, the whole thing. DeRosen's sort of a better example for this page Beckers. But anyway, she's apparently spectacular, and she was fun to watch in the overtime. And I didn't miss the beginning of the Maryland game. So there. What was the thing you had? Well, I'll have to watch her.

Sounds a lot like the Tom Levero game on the court. Yeah, it does, although you weren't much of a score. No. No, I was not. But I want to remind everybody that they could read my column about George Foreman and Tom Brady on the Washington Times website, Washington Times.com. Click on sports. And also the column I'll have tomorrow about Marty Schottenheimer as well.

I will definitely read that, and we'll see what. Terrell and Sam Shade said about him. All right. Maybe we'll title this show, Lovar Arrington. Have a great day, everybody.