The Kevin Sheehan Show - NFC East Favorite?

Episode Date: November 30, 2020

Kevin and Thom today recap an NFL Sunday without a Washington game but consider whether or not the injury to Giants' QB Daniel Jones makes the Skins the favorite to win the division. Thom's feelings about Colt McCoy aside, he did his best to remain objective while Kevin spent time less time than you would think talking about Kirk Cousins' MVP possibilities. Kevin also talked some Terps' football and hoops.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Field goal to win it, start at midfield. Out in trouble. Ball is out as he sacked. Bounding around.

It's covered by the Giants. And the Giants are going to win this ball game and move into first place. And there you go. The Giants win the game, but it was costly for the Giants. yesterday in Cincinnati because Daniel Jones injured his hamstring and he's going to have an MRI today and we'll find out how serious it is. But there are reports that it could be very serious and he could be on the verge of missing some games. Now, in relief yesterday was Tom Levero's I guess adopted son? I don't think you and your wife actually came together to bear Colt McCoy

but boy, did you adopt him many years ago? You love him so much. Tommy's here on a Monday. Gully will be with us either tomorrow or Wednesday as he makes his trip back out to Wyoming. The Washington divisional playoff hopes may rest on how Colt McCoy performs in New York. I agree with you 100%. First of all, I was in Bethany, and let me just give a shout out to one of the fans of the podcast, FedEx Frank. We were about to leave on Saturday afternoon to drive back, and we're putting stuff in the car,

and all of a sudden this FedEx trust pulls over, and this guy jumps out, and he says, I can't believe it. It's you. It's you. I was hoping to run into you when I heard that you were going to be in Bethany. He's a big fan of the show of the podcast, and I just wanted to say hi. It was great meeting FedEx, Frank. Well, that's nice.

FedEx, Frank. Thanks so much for listening to the show. It's great to have you board. There's a FedEx guy in my neighborhood all the time that listens to the show, too. So to him from me, thank you for listening to this show. Anyway, let's get to some football because the Giants beat Cincinnati. Cincinnati had a chance there at the end of the game. They had the ball at the 50-yard line first and 10 with 50 seconds to go.

Brandon Allen being the quarterback and he got hit and he fumbled and that ended the game. And the Giants hold on to a 1917 win to get them to 4. and seven. The Giants have won three in a row. They've won four of their last five. Their two losses are by a grand total of three points. Their last three losses are by a grand total of six points. There's a lot that's similar between Washington and New York right now with the one exception, and that is that the Giants have beaten Washington twice over the last month and a half. But Washington's won three of their last six, and their three losses are by a total of seven points. They are the two teams in the division playing the best. My personal view, and I shared this last week,

is that the Giants are the best team in the division, not by a lot over Washington, but by a little bit. But the loss of Daniel Jones, or even having Daniel Jones be compromised physically, I think is a huge, huge loss for them. I know you love Colt McCoy. Colt McCoy for me, It's what I felt when we first started to talk about Colt McCoy six, seven years ago, whenever it was. Colt McCoy's a nice backup in the NFL. He's good to have in your quarterback room. He's good to have in a pinch coming off the bench or having to start one game. But if he has to start two or three, you're not going to be in anywhere near the shape you were with Daniel Jones,

who I've become a big fan of. I think he's actually turning into quite a good quarterback. But I asked this question, Tommy, of callers this morning. And it's sort of a finish the sentence. Washington will win the division because or Washington won't win the division because. What's your answer to that? Well, that answer changed when Daniel Jones went down. That's a game changer in the division.

Look, I would never say that's the Colts face. Not when he's home for the holidays. No. No. And do you know, his real dad sent me an email once thanking me for something. I remember you telling me that. Yeah. And look, Colt, I think the cult from four years ago maybe, five years ago, could handle what's ahead of him.

I don't think this cult just seems to compromise physically to avoid a pass rush. before when he was more mobile four or five years ago, he could handle something like this. I just think he's going to be too easy a target. They're playing Seattle next, right? They do, yeah. They've got a rough, if he has to start, let's just say, two games, it's at Seahawks and the Cardinals.

And then it's the Browns and the Ravens for the Giants. So they have a rough road ahead of them with Colt McCoy as the quarterback. I think that's good. That's going to be it. for the giants if they have to start Colt against that string. Oh, look, everything is coming up Washington right now.

I mean, they're hitting on every hand. I mean, not only does Daniel Jones go down, but the Steelers that Washington's next opponent are going to have to play two games in five days. Yeah, you know? No doubt. I mean, they're playing Tuesday night now. At least we think they're playing Tuesday night,

you know, against the Ravens, the game that's been, you know, postponed multiple times. And then they got to turn around on Sunday if they're healthy and play Washington. Now, Steelers are the best team in the NFL undefeated. I'm not suggesting that Washington will win, but their chances got a little bit easier with the short and schedule that the Steelers are facing. So everything seems to be coming up Washington right now. Yeah, my answer to, you know,

Washington will win the division because or Washington won't win the division because was Washington will win the division because of some of the things you mentioned. I mean, let's just start with this, though. They're playing well and playing well in a way that typically works in December. They're disciplined for the most part. They're tough on defense. They've got a veteran at quarterback who is playing very well. They entered December relatively healthy now in a division.

division where, as we just mentioned, the other good team, other good team, the other team in the division that I considered to be the main competition for Washington, New York, has a massive injury quarterback. Again, we'll find out more about that later today. There's an MRI scheduled this morning. Ron Rivera, let's not forget, is very good in the month of December. He has a terrific December record. But as you mentioned, they seem to be getting some breaks here. They catch Pittsburgh on a short week. They will catch San Francisco on a short week. They play on Monday night, and by the way, in a neutral site.

That game may be in Dallas. If you didn't see this from over the weekend, Santa Clara County is now prohibiting contact sports. So San Francisco's got to find a new home to play their next two home games against Buffalo on Monday night and then the following week against Washington. and the two venues, they need NFL venues for multiple reasons. One is COVID-related. I guess some of these stadiums are set up and they've got the protocol set up in place at these stadiums. But I would assume also for television purposes, whatever.

So the two venues that have been discussed are Glendale, where the Cardinals don't play at home for the next two weeks, and Dallas, where the Cowboys don't play for the next two weeks. So Washington may play San Francisco in Dallas, two weeks. Then they get Seattle, you know, on a West Coast one p.m., you know, West Coast team flying east for a 1 p.m. Sunday game where Seattle could be looking forward to the following week a game against the Rams that may determine the NFC West title. Every single game Washington has. Let's not kid ourselves. I mean, the 49. They'll be the underdog in all those

games. They're going to be the underdog, obviously, this week. They're 10.5 point underdog right now at Pittsburgh. They're going to, they're going. to be an underdog in a neutral site against the 49ers by the time we get there. That's my guess. They'll certainly be an underdog against Seattle. By the way, 49ers really good defensively. Big win yesterday for them. I would not count them out of anything. They're getting healthier as we speak. The Panthers are, you know, anybody that's saying, okay, like I said last week, you got to win one of the next three and that set you up with a chance against the Panthers and the Eagles at the end of the year. But the Panthers are at four and eight,

They're still a team that is in a lot of the games they play. We'll talk about Kirk Cousins and his performance yesterday in a little bit, but they shut out the Lions last week, which, by the way, was a week after Washington lost to Detroit. They're more than capable. They nearly beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead three weeks ago. So to look at any of these games and say, well, you know, that's the game. I've got the 49ers, Panthers, and Eagles circled,

wins. Don't do that. Any one of these games, I think the rest of the way, is a potential loss. And I also think that they will be competitive in these games, maybe even on Sunday in Pittsburgh, where the look-ahead weather, Tommy, is cold with snow showers and wind in the forecast for Sunday in Pittsburgh. Now, the forecast could change significantly between now and then. But anyway, I like what I saw on Thanksgiving Day. We talked about that on Friday. with Cooley. I thought it was really an impressive performance all the way around. I think

that they are... Tommy, I said on Friday, and you haven't had a chance to sort of weigh in other than what you just said about the game a little while ago. When they hired Ron Rivera, I told you, and said on the podcast here, I loved the hire, because to me, you're getting a guy that has always coached teams that are hard-nosed, tough, physical, and defense, and disciplined. And, you know, you may not contend for a Super Bowl every year or any year.

They did once. But you're always going to be in the thick of it with him because he's a good coach. Now, we had some issues and some concerns as this season started and developed. And I think there were reasonable concerns or the concerns were reasonable. But he was fighting cancer, still is. But you can see the toughness and the discipline, and you can see it coming around. And you can see this team.

Now, we haven't seen this team against a team like Pittsburgh since they lost to the Rams and they lost to the Ravens. You know, we've seen Alex Smith face Dallas and the Bengals and the Lions and the Giants and the Giants in Dallas, you know, over the last month and a half. And he didn't, well, he didn't play him the first time. We haven't seen them play the Steelers and the 49ers two excellent defensive teams. We may feel totally different in two weeks about Alex Smith, about the team, etc. But I like where they are right now.

I think they're going to be competitive the rest of the way. I'm not counting Philadelphia out, though tonight is really the game they have to get. I think if they lose tonight and they're 3-7-1, they go to Lambeau Sunday. They're not going to beat the Packers. that would drop them to 3-8-1, and then they get the Saints and the Cardinals. So tonight's huge for Philly. Like if Philly somehow were to steal tonight as a six-and-a-half-point underdog now at home, with Jalen Hertz getting ready to take some of the snaps at starter,

I think that that could really jumpstart them, not that they're going to go beat the Packers or the Saints, but it would keep them in contention the rest of the way because they finished with Dallas and Washington. So if they were to get tonight, they go into those final two, you know, worst case, four, nine and one with a chance to get to six, nine and one. So tonight's huge for the Eagles. I think if they lose tonight, it's a Washington, New York race, and six in ten has a really good chance of winning the division.

I think you also have to keep in mind a couple of things. Like, what will the Steelers come off this game against the Ravens? Like, they've had some COVID cases too. Yes, I know. That's what I mean. If they're healthy. game will take place on Sunday. What if that game gets pushed or what if that game is forfeited or, you know, we've heard the conversation about forfeit here over the last couple of days as it relates

to the Ravens. But I'm also real quickly, and I'll ask you this question, you know, this is the question of, well, why would you get excited about winning the division at six and ten? Like, wouldn't you rather have the really good draft choice? And you wrote about that a little bit in your column this morning about, you know, the debate between going to the playoffs as a six and ten team or getting a draft choice to try to, you know, land the quarterback. And just to mention this, I think I've mentioned this in the past. When you get to the draft, it's based on record, but if you're in the playoffs, you can't be one of the first 18 picks. You know, there are 14 teams that'll be in the playoffs, 18 that won't. If you're in the playoffs, no matter what your record is,

You can't pick until number 19. So Washington, if they were to make the playoffs, would have the 19th overall selection, whereas potentially if they were to finish 5 and 11 or 6 and 10 and not make the playoffs, they might have a top 10 pick. So there is a big difference. But I am all four going for this right now. I like the way they're playing. I like what I'm seeing in terms of growth.

I like the experience that they're getting. we're entering December with the wish that I always have every year that isn't always fulfilled, which is meaningful football in December. But it's different because they've got a young football team. So I think this is a good thing. I think winning in a division is pretty much irrelevant because it's one thing. It's always been devalued by this franchise over the last 20 years. And the second thing is, you know,

they're still so far away from having a franchise quarterback and winning the division just puts them farther away. I'm not sure how much this moves the football down the field in terms of this franchise getting better. So, I mean, I really discount winning the division at this point. I agree with you that they are playing. Well, look, Thursday was a beat down in every sense of the word. I mean, they beat the Cowboys in almost every facet of the game. You know, you talk about their defense is tough. I mean, what really stood out to me is the tackling on defense.

Loved the tackling. The yards after catch by the Cowboys in that game were almost negligent. I mean, you know, so, I mean, the really impressive tackling, you know, which was contrary to what we've seen here in the past. You know, now, you can only beat the team you have in front of you, but they had a very willing participant in the Cowboys. Am I right? You are right.

And you specifically pointed out something that I mentioned as one of my top two or three things from the game on Thursday was I just thought their tackling was exceptional. I thought they were the physical team. But this is what Ron Rivera's teams are. And this is what I always saw from afar about the Panthers. And with respect to you saying it's sort of irrelevant, I'll just remind you that the year that Carolina was 3-8-1 and rallied to win the division at 7-8-1, and then won a playoff game at home and then nearly upset Seattle on the road in the divisional round,

the following year was the year that they went 15 and 1 and went to the Super Bowl. Now? I'm sorry? Nah, but. But they had Cam Newton in Washington. Okay, I understand that. But Tommy, it's a young team and to me playing these games and getting the experience of playing, by the way, almost every game down the stretch for them is going to feel like a

playoff game the way it's setting up now and then to actually play a playoff game. And by the way, Tom, you know, if they were to get in, like let's just say that they win somehow three of their final five games. And they're seven and nine division champs. And they continue to play the way they've been playing. You know, they're not, you know, if the playoff format stays the same without an expansion if COVID really wrecks things. They're going to be the four seed and you're going to end up playing, you know, a team

like the bucket, you know, the buccaneers, the Cardinals, the Vikings. Can you imagine if Kirk Cousins comes into? Fed of the Rams. I mean, these are the types of teams that are going to be in the mix of the three, because you've got three wild cards right now. And look, Tampa looks vulnerable in a lot of different ways. There's something wrong there with the Arians Brady thing. The Rams are really struggling offensively. And I'm telling you right now, there is something not right with Jared Gough and Sean McVade. They're very good defensively, but Gough is just a turnover machine. And the Cardinals, people are starting to figure them out, too. The hottest team right now,

actually, that may end up being in the postseason as a wildcard team and would be very dangerous if they were to get there would be the Vikings. Although I wouldn't count the 49ers out either. Like, to me, the 49ers are good enough defensively, and they're getting healthier. They got a lot of those running backs back. They got Debo Samuel back. My point is, if somehow they won the division and where the four seed and played one of these teams at home, they certainly could win a game in the postseason. I don't know. To me, I'm not even thinking about the draft. The draft is a crap shoot anyway. I don't know about Zach Wilson or Justin Fields or Trey Lance. It's all these things. How are you going to get your quarterback of the future? How is that going to happen?

Well, let me just say right now, the quarterback of the immediate future, I think, is going to be Alex Smith or Kyle Allen. Like right now, if you told me who are the absolute locks to be on the roster in 2021 as quarterbacks, I would tell you I'd be shocked now. Look, this is subject to change, clearly. A month ago, I was calling for him to be waived. But I recognize that if he continues to play well and maybe against really good defensive teams, we're going to see the real, you know, Alex Smith here with all of his physical

ailments. By the way, he may not want to play next year. But if he wants to play and he plays the way he's been playing, Kyle Allen and Alex Smith, and maybe they draft somebody, or maybe Ron Rivera says, I got to get my metal linebacker in this draft, or I got to get another weapon on offense in this draft. I mean, they have holes beyond just quarterback. So, you know, by the way, Tommy, you might get your quarterback in free agency. Now that Detroit has moved on from Matt Patricia and their, you know, and their general manager, they may decide to move on from a guy like Matt Stafford. Stafford would be, if you told me Matt Stafford was going to be our starting quarterback

next year, I'd be excited about that with some of the weapons they have. I know that, but the formula for success in this league is having the quarterback. It's not just having the quarterback, having the cheap young quarterback. Yes, although, I don't know, are you familiar with Mahomes? Are you familiar with the Mahomes contract that he signed in the offseason or the Russell Wilson contract? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, but they started out with their success as cheap young quarterbacks.

Yes, they did. They did. The, you know, Russell Wilson makes 31 million a year. Brady makes 25 million. I mean, you got, you know, I don't know what. the cap numbers from a homes right now, whatever it is, because that was an extension right off the rookie thing, so it may start next year. But anyway, the point is, well, it is taken that that's the big wild card. If you don't have the answer at that position, then you're not

going to contend for a Super Bowl more likely than not. But anyway, the bottom line is Tommy, I do not want to, I'd like to see them really make a run at this thing. And it, it, it, looks as good as it's looked. Now, if Cincinnati somehow didn't fumble away that final possession, they got in field goal range and won the game 20 to 19, I would be declaring Washington is a significant favorite. I'd like to see what the updated odds are, because before yesterday, Philadelphia was still a slight favorite, which actually surprises me.

I think the Eagles are a train wreck. They might be. I think the Eagles are going to crash and burn. Yeah. And look, I agree with you. I think Washington? right now because you point out the Giants have a tough schedule as well ahead of them. Oh, yeah. Everybody does. So I think Washington is probably in the best position right now.

Yes. Well, with Daniel Jones either being compromised or out, I don't think there's any doubt about it. I think they are too. Now, with that said, there are 10.5 point underdog already at Pittsburgh next weekend. and that would drop them to four and eight, and then you'd have to go play the 49ers who are getting healthier as we speak. Now, let me just say something about Thursday's game. I mean, you have every reason. If you're a Washington football fan,

I mean, Thursday was pretty much as good as it gets. I mean, it was such a good performance. But do we think, that the game changed on Terry McClaren's play on the interception, where he ran down the linebacker and tackled him. It was a massive play in the game because it was Alex Smith's worst play since that second half of the Giants game. It was a phenomenal play. It was.

It was unbelievable. But did that change the outcome of the game? I don't know that it changed the outcome because I sort of felt, you know, all along, even in the first half of that game, I'm like, Washington's better. And look at, they're hitting, they're physical. You know, Darby gave up a couple, you know, to Cooper, which by the way happens in the NFL. But they were moving the football. And I thought they were, like, there was a point in that game somewhere midway through the first half.

I'm like, we're going to win. Like, we're just the better team. That was a monster play in the game. It was 20 to 13, you know, at the time that would have. of, you know, that would have potentially tied the score. And they end up, you know, C.D. Lamb, by the way, dropped the pass in the end zone. Oh, he, hey, in the first game, he played against the Cowboys. He dropped, oh, that's right on the slant.

Yeah. You would have thought he had money on Washington. He dropped so many. But that game was never in doubt, you know, ultimately. And this game in many ways was never in doubt. I think it's like, I think it was one of those things where I just think ultimately the team that was playing, better, which was Washington was going to prevail. But obviously, it was a massive play in the game. But by the way, these are the kinds of players they've been adding. These are the kinds of players

that are important to Ron Rivera. These are the kinds of players and team players that are important to winning coaches. These are the kinds of things that Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden, like even old man Bill would get upset with the practice habits and the different and Gruden would get upset with the way players are being picked. This is where at least if we can just take the football operation and separate it from Beth Wilkinson and Dan Snyder and all the other shit that's going on, the football operation has an adult quality to it that it hasn't had in a watch. I'll grant you that, absolutely.

So let's... It certainly does. And that was so apparent in the coaching between the two teams in that game. I mean, I tweeted out, well, right after the fake punt debacle, that the Cowboys coaching is Zornlight. Yes. Yeah. It really was. I mean, I mean, if you're a Cowboys fan, you're thinking, are we stuck with this guy?

I don't know what his contract is, but that was, I mean, the Cowboys were lifeless. They were poorly, they were, as I like to say, a willing participant in the beat down. It's certainly turned out that way. You know, once, you know, a couple of those plays, you know, the McLauran play, the lamb drop, the fake punt that went wrong, the fourth down throw that they botched. But, you know, it's interesting. and this is what makes the NFL, you know, always interesting. And it's something that, you know, I've beat to death over the years about it being a week-to-week league.

You know, Dallas had just come off its most impressive, you know, outing of the year. Maybe it's best two performances of the year, the loss to the Steelers. I mean, they had a chance to beat the 9-0 Steelers, you know, and we're actually in that game, for most of it, the better team. You know, which is crazy to think that, you know, two weeks previous to that, the Cowboys were on the verge of beating the Steelers with Garrett Gilbert. And then they went to Minnesota and they were balanced and they ran the football and it made it easier for Dalton. And they upset the Vikings as seven-point underdogs. And then they came into this one.

And for whatever reason, McCarthy, like one of the big things Kuhli and I talked about on Friday is, I just don't understand when you've got Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard, both of whom are really good. In a first half in which you're going back and forth, it's not like Dallas fell behind by a bunch. They were up, you know, 10 to 7. And then the game was a 10 to 10 to 10 game. And then it was a 17, 13 game.

And there they are at halftime with 19 throws and nine rushes. Like, you know, it got out of whack in the second half even more because they were trying to come back. But yet McCarthy's never wanted to run the football. I did not, when, if you recall, and you probably won't, I said that, I said that, I have no idea about Joe Judge. I don't know anything about Joe Judge. But if you gave me the choice, if I'm a Washington fan of Rivera or McCarthy,

I take Rivera every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I've never been a massive McCarthy fan. Now, I haven't bashed him the way some have because he's had some success. A lot of that probably attributable to Aaron Rogers. But, man, you see his sort of predisposition to throwing the football too much and getting carried away with some of his past plays. And he doesn't have Aaron Rogers. He has Andy Dalton.

Look, their season was over when Dak Prescott got hurt against the Giants. Dak Prescott, their defense was terrible early in the year, and they got lucky winning that Atlanta game. But they certainly should have beaten the Rams. There was a missed PI call in that game that was horrendous. They had a chance to beat Seattle. The Browns got ugly. They beat the Giants.

and then he got hurt, and then it took him a while to figure it out. But like I said, week-to-week league, they had a chance to beat the Steelers. They did beat the Vikings, and then it looks like at 3 and 8, they're done. But keep this in mind, Tommy. Washington gets Pittsburgh on a short week, super short week. Dallas was scheduled to play the Ravens on Thursday. That game's been moved to next Monday. But who the hell knows who's going to be eligible for Baltimore at that point on Monday night?

Adam Schaefter tweeted an hour ago, NFL canceled Ravens practice scheduled for this morning. The Ravens have not practiced since the Saturday before the Titans game. Tuesday, the Ravens are supposed to travel Tuesday morning on planes to Pittsburgh. There's snow forecast for Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning. I know. They're supposed to be snow showers throughout the day with a couple of inches in Pittsburgh tomorrow. Yeah. So, I mean, there's a lot of speculation about whether Tuesday's even going to happen.

Well, if it doesn't, you're now looking at one of two things. If it doesn't happen on Tuesday, there's nowhere to reschedule that game unless they're going to play it on Wednesday. You know, that would be the latest. You can't play on Thursday and then Sunday. Maybe the NFL would play a Wednesday and then Sunday game. But you're now talking about that game does not end up getting rescheduled, unless there's a week 18, which could happen. You know, this is where I wanted to go next, which is just the whole COVID thing.

And let's just talk about it briefly because I really thought the league was super harsh on Denver and not super harsh on Baltimore. And I don't really know why Denver wasn't able to get their game moved to Monday or Tuesday as well. You know, they had a – their – their – quarterback's Jeff Driscoll, who tested positive for COVID-19, and he's in that meeting room with the other quarterbacks. And because of contact tracing, et cetera, now they've got no quarterbacks. They petition the league, they asked the league to move the game to Monday or Tuesday, which would have given them the possibility of having one of those quarterbacks be okay testing positive for multiple times

before Tuesday night. The league wouldn't do it. Then they petition the league, Tommy, to have one of their coaches or, you know, quality assistance, you know, suit up at quarterback because he's played quarterback. He's a young guy on their staff, and he knows their offense. The league wouldn't let them do that. So there's Denver with basically all four quarterbacks ineligible. They got a practice squad wide receiver who played quarterback in college at Wake Forest briefly, this guy, Kendall Hinton. But they're basically running the wildcat. The league really treated Denver exceptionally harsh, you know, very harshly. And Baltimore, who had somebody basically a team employee test positive and be in the facility without a mask.

And they gave them until Tuesday to play this game. I know. But the investigation and the penalties for both teams, you know, haven't come down yet. And the Ravens state may still be penalized a lot when they're done with an investigation. Whether the Saints got hit with a 500,000 fine and a loss of a draft point choice. And loss of a draft pick. The Ravens could face something like that. And look it.

It may have, I don't even know who the owner of the Broncos is. It's in a state of flux right now, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. I don't know if it is or not. But, you know, the Ravens' ownership is not a state of flux. And that may be the difference between how you get treated by this league, how powerful your owner is. I'm just looking it up because you asked me that question, and I knew that there was something.

There's a big family feud over the Pat Boland. It's a trust case on who is going to get left the team. So whenever the owners have a meeting right now, I mean, you know, Denver is sitting at the kids table. Plus, I think Denver also, but Baltimore, too, has faced previous issues this year. I don't know, they could have easily given Denver a chance to play a competitive football game by moving it to Monday night, and they didn't. And so there was no chance. By the way, for those of you, I hope you all understand, Denver was in the smell test plus six on Friday. That one gets voided.

They went off as a 17-and-a-half-point underdog, and even that wouldn't have covered, and I would have not played Denver even at 17-and-a-half. Anyway, the Baltimore situation, you're right. I mean, the game could, I mean, I'm anxious to see the game because it'll be RG3 a quarterback. I'd like to see what he looks like for Baltimore, but, you know, Baltimore's got 23 players they may not be able to field a team of 53. They may be able to have 46 active, but they may not be able to bring 53 with them. It's crazy.

You're right. It really is. It is crazy. And while, I mean, I may have been wrong about teams, about leagues not being able to finish, I was right about the tsunami that was coming in November and December with this thing. You didn't have to be a scientist to figure out if people normally get sick in November and December, there was going to be a huge uptick in the biggest, the most feared sickness in the country right now for those months. Yeah, but Tommy, again,

And this is something that I mentioned. Number one, this was not going to be a season of competitive fairness, so get over it. To all of you, somebody's going to probably, somebody is going to end up playing 15 games, not 16. Secondly, they're going to push forward until somebody's on a ventilator and nobody's gotten sick yet. I don't think I've read about, correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't read about one NFL player being truly sick or coach. being truly sick from this. And this is, you know, it's funny because you were the first in March. I was thinking about this when college basketball season started last week,

that, you know, that's the week everything shut down. You know, it wasn't just about college basketball and sports. It was like the whole world, the whole country took notice that sports were shutting down because of this. And it was, it almost made it more legitimately serious because of it. And you said, I'll never forget, you know, it was. two days before the Big Ten tournament was to start. And I said, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if we get a couple teams that may have to bow out of the NCAA tournament. And you just laughed and you said, tournament, it's over.

They're not playing the tournament. And I said, no, no, no, they're going to play the tournament. But I'm just saying some teams might get forfeited. You're like, no, it's over. It's over. With that said, if we knew what we knew now, about infections and protocols. The tournament would have gone on as planned.

We just didn't know enough. Right. You know, they would have played the NCAA tournament. They would have played all these things, and there would have been quarantines, there would have been protocols, and there would have also been a recognition of, you know, the risk to young healthy athletes,

which is so minimal with respect to this infection. But anyway, I don't know what's coming. I don't know what's coming. They seemed at this point, they have not had, they've not missed one game. But it looks like what's in jeopardy more than anything else is this game tomorrow night. Yes. Yes, I would say so at this point in tremendous jeopardy. So, and you're right, the NFL is going to push forward until, you know, they're visiting players in the ICU.

here's the thing and I just found this this is the part that it's I don't know why Denver was treated more poorly than Baltimore in this case and maybe ownership's the reason although that doesn't make much sense to me other than just not having a trusted advocate you know on behalf of the team and and John Elway you would think would be somebody the league would listen to he is still the team president but Baltimore on Thursday November 19th a strength in conditioning coach tested positive. He didn't report symptoms and didn't always wear a mask inside the team facility. To make matters worse, the coach didn't wear this particular strength and conditioning coach didn't wear his tracing device at all times, which made it more difficult to determine the high risk close contacts. You know, all of these, every single one of these players and coaches and everybody in the facility, they're wearing these tracing devices for the purposes of contact tracing. So they've got like this, I think it's an ankle bracelet thing that they have to wear at all times when they're in the facility and outside of the facility.

But, I mean, that is a major violation. Like, I don't even know what, I can't even begin to tell you specifically what all of the rules and what the protocols are. But I guarantee you that it is somewhere in the book where you're not allowed to test positive and not report symptoms, you know, and then not wear a mask inside the facility and then not where you're tracing device. Like Baltimore had a strength and conditioning coach totally screw up an entire game and for them and for their opponent here. Yes.

And somehow they're playing their game on Tuesday and Denver had a quarterback's room. And, you know, this, Jeff Driscoll tested positive. And apparently, you know, Drew Locke and others were a little. little bit loose with their mask rules when they came in on their day off to study film together, which is, you know, interesting. No good ego is unpunished. And you know, Tommy, it brings up this whole thing. Like, you know, if you're a team in contention right now, you're in any of these, you know,

even in the NFC East, like Washington has Stephen Montez on the practice squad. Given what you just saw in Denver yesterday, which was really, it was actually very intriguing to watch the beginning of that game to see how they would handle it. a game without a quarterback. You've got to have a quarterback that is not in quarterback meeting rooms, is not in the facility, but he's zooming and he knows exactly what's going on, but he is steering clear of any possibility of being lumped in to a quarterback outbreak. You can't be an NFL team in contention right now and not have a plan for what Denny's

just went through. You can't walk out on a Sunday in a game that you have to have, you know, snapping directly. Well, I guess they do have Logan Thomas if we're thinking about Washington. But you've got to have a quarterback that's outside the room that can play for you, that you can bring up. I would agree. Basically, Ron Rivera said this morning, he told reporters, it is a Monday morning session that specific people have to stay away from certain people and he mentioned Stephen Montez. He did, okay.

Yes, he did. So he's very, I mean, look, whether it's a lot of it, some of it may be luck and good fortune, but Washington apparently seems to have been very successfully diligent in their COVID protections. Yeah, Galdi was talking about that this morning on the radio show that Washington deserves a lot of credit

for, you know, right now it's Javan Leak, the guy that I wanted them to sign, and Matt Ionitis are the two, you know, positive tests. You know, Tommy, I mean, I don't know. It's a lot of luck. It may be luck. It's a lot. That's why I prefaced it. Okay.

Some of it is luck. In Baltimore, it's not luck. You had one renegade lunatic. Yeah, no doubt. That's not luck. No, but, you know, it's funny because this organization, Galdi was pointing this out on his show this morning, and I totally agree with him. It's like Baltimore had this renegade lunatic who really, you know, screwed the pooch all weekend, for the last week and a half

for them. And by the way, Baltimore is very much in desperate need of some wins to get to the postseason. Yes. But, you know, because of Baltimore's reputation in the league as, you know, well-owned Steve Bishadie and Ozzie Newsom, and Newsom's gone, obviously, but having the reputation they have. Galdi pointed out, can you imagine if this had been Washington and just the absolute crushing they would have taken from everybody? Because everybody would have said, of course a strength and conditioning coach came in, tested positive and didn't tell anybody, and he was symptomatic and didn't wear his tracing thing. Of course. Well, again, like we said, they earned that reputation.

Yes, they have. I mean, that conclusion would not be an unreasonable conclusion, even if it was wrong. No, it's true. It's true. All right. Speaking of reputation. Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead.

What were you going to say? I was going to mention if you asked you if you read my column today. I did, and we're going to get to that right after this word from one of our sponsors. Efty backfield second and goal. Cousins to the end zone. Touchdown. Redemption for Jeff. Yep, there he goes again.

Can't win at the end of the game. Oh, wait a minute. Was that Cousins? Who threw that winning touchdown pass? No. Can't be. Can't be. Tommy, he never, ever has gotten it done at the end of a game in the fourth quarter.

Ever. He's the worst fourth quarterback in the entire league in the history of the NFL. You know that. You strut your stuff for Kirk Cousins. That's so funny. I just think it's hysterical the way he's discussed. It's so ridiculously wrong, like 95% of the time. He's got one of the highest passer ratings in the fourth quarter of any quarterback in the NFL this year.

And very well, could be. I don't think he will be, but he will be in the running for the NFC conference offensive player of the month for November. That's how good he's been over the last month. We're going to get to Tommy's column here momentarily. I promise you we will get that done here shortly because Tommy had a couple of things to talk about with respect to the Beth Wilkinson investigation in particular. But let's talk about some of the NFL games from yesterday. And I'll start with that.

I mean, you know, most of you know, I would never ever, ever, ever. Root for the Vikings against Washington ever. But I like some of you, and I hear from some of you every time we have this conversation, I do follow the Vikings because I, just like I followed the Eagles when Art Monk was there and the Cardinals when Gary Clark was there and the Browns or the Colts, when Mark Rippin was there. Okay, so wait a minute. Yeah. So you're comparing Art Monk and Gary Clark to Kirk Cousins.

Well, Kirk Cousins owns more franchise records. But no, I'm not comparing the two. I'm not doing that. But he does, I think, own more passing records and maybe more franchise records than any of those players. Do maybe not art monk. But it's funny because you know this. I mean, for whatever reason, it's always a thing with him. And I don't – last week, Tommy, last week he is lights out throughout –

There are two drop passes on the final drive, so it's his fault. Yesterday, if Joey Sly makes a 54-yard field goal and Carolina wins that game, even though he had just driven the team 75 yards and a minute 50 with no timeouts to take the lead, it would have been his fault too. So you just have that with him. There is this incredible Kirk Cousins thing, and it's not just with former Washington football fans, Tommy. It's a lot of people around the league, you know, football fans that just, for whatever reason, he has become an incredibly polarizing player. A lot of that is the contract. A lot of that is the

franchise tag stuff. Yesterday in the fourth quarter, he was 12 of 15 for 13-136 yards, two touchdowns had a passer rating of 144. For this season, okay, I was wrong with what I said earlier, my fault. He is 62 of 85 for 792 yards, 11 touchdowns. one interception in the fourth quarter, a passer rating of 136.4. That's not top three or whatever I said. It's actually number one. He's actually the number one fourth quarter quarterback in the league statistically. Now, some of you will say, well, that's a lot of garbage. Well, it is and it isn't. Some of the games it was, and in several of the games, it wasn't. He actually was without his number one wide receiver yesterday in Adam Thielen, his number one tight end target in Irv Smith, Jr.

or his young offensive lineman in Cleveland. He was underdress. He's been, I think, the third most pressured quarterback in the NFL this year, to the point where his coach, Mike Zimmer after the game, said, we got to stop with Kirk. He was under duress the whole day and made every single throw that he had to make. And it was nice to see him for him, see him finish a drive where, you know, like last week they blamed it on.

him, even though Justin Jefferson dropped a pass, it would have been a 25-yard gain there at the end when they needed field goal range just to tie. The Vikings, in all seriousness, Tommy, they're very young on defense. They're not very good on defense. When they're healthy offensively, they are very dangerous. He leads the league, I think, in yards per pass attempt. They have a great rush attack with Dalvin Cook, who got hurt in the game yesterday, but I think he's going to be all right. If they make the playoffs and they have a chance, They'll play a couple of big games, including in two weeks. They'll play the Buccaneers, and that'll be a major wild card implication game in the NFC.

If they make the playoffs, they're one of those teams that is a wild card are going to be dangerous and nobody's going to want to face because they're very capable offensively. But I don't think they're good enough to make a really strong run here because they're just not good enough defensively. And they haven't been all year, in part because they're so young. but he was fabulous yesterday, as he's been during their resurgence after their one and five start. They're now four and one in their last five. They're five and six, and they play Jacksonville this week to try to get to 500 and be very much in the thick of the NFC playoff picture.

But there were other games yesterday, including the Bucks and the and the and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, um, in the, in the, in the, um, in the late game. Man, Tommy, I was, I was watching, so watched the chiefs and then I watched the beginning of the Packer. game and I didn't see the rest of it. I was thinking about this as I watched the NFL, and this isn't like a new thing, but every year they're like a couple of teams and a couple of players where when you're watching them, you feel like the chances that they're going to get stopped on a drive and the punter's going to come out is really slim. And when you watch Kansas City and you watch Green Bay, it's almost flukeish when they have to punt. It really is. It really is. It's like usually a penalty that sets up first in 20 or second in 22 or whatever.

That's about the only way you can get them off the field. Green Bay scored touchdowns on five of its first six drives, and the only drive they didn't score on was a penalty drive. Kansas City was up 17, nothing before you could blink against a good defensive team. It's unfair to watch Kansas City and Green Bay offensively with, what they have at quarterback, and then you throw in Tyree Kill and Devante Adams. I think I just don't know who beats them, and you certainly don't beat them without an offense that has the ball the entire game, because you're not going to stop them defensively.

I agree with you. The game I watched partly yesterday, I felt that way about this team and particularly this player, Derek Henry. That's... Derek, Derek Henry, he wound up with 178 yards rushing. He must have gotten 150 of them, I think 140 of them in the first half. They must, I turned them, I changed to the Giants game after I found out that Colt was playing. But Derek Henry was doing a Jim Brown imitation yesterday.

He just can't be stopped when he's like that. I mean, I think they were beating the Colts 35 to 14 at the end of the first half. I was watching a little of that one, too. I was flipping around between that and the giant game and Red Zone. And that's what I was saying is it's going to take a team that can basically hold onto the ball for 36 minutes to your 20, to Mahomes is 24 or to Rogers 24 or maybe to Wilson's 24. were. And you'll have to do that by running the football. And Tennessee is one of those teams that would be a team that would be scary, I think, in the postseason because they could do what they did to Baltimore last year. And by the way, what they did early to Kansas City in the AFC title game.

Yes. You know, which is dominate the ball. Because no defense is going to stop Rogers or stop Mahomes for 60 minutes. They're going to, I mean, even last week when the Colts got them and the Colts are pretty good defensively, and then you saw what happened to them yesterday against Tennessee. But I just feel like Mahomes and Rogers, if they get the same number of chances that you get and there's nothing flukish about it, they're going to score 30 points. And it's going to be almost impossible to beat them.

I feel that much more about Kansas. City than I do about Green Bay because I think Green Bay is, neither teams great defensively. Neither team is great defensively at all. You can run the ball against both of those teams, which makes them a little bit vulnerable in the postseason. But God, when they have the ball, it just seems flukish when they get stopped. Tyree Kill is, I mean, is he the most dangerous receiver in the league? Probably.

I mean, in terms of just you can't stay with him. No. And the quarterback can back up 15 yards and then throw it on a rope 40 yards down field to him. It's really, Mahomes is spectacular to watch, so is Rogers. He's playing

at such a high level. And, you know, I mean, I'm a little bit surprised at how good a head coach Matt Lefleur is. I didn't know much about him, but I thought he'd be over his head. Yeah, well. has not proven to be the case.

We'll see. I mean, when you have Aaron Rogers, Mike McCarthy had Aaron Rogers, you know, and got to a Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl. And, you know, they were a threat every year. And, you know, Andy Reid, to me, is a really good coach. He's won everywhere. And, you know, before he had Mahomes, they were winning 10 games a year. You know, McCarthy's not a guy or LaFleur, I don't think.

maybe LaFleur will be that it's going to win 10 games a year without Aaron Rogers. Andy Reid won 10 games a year plus with Alex Smith and others before that. And we know what he did in Philadelphia for all of those years. So I don't know. I look at the NFL. We're into the home stretch here, and there's going to be some big games coming up. And in watching Kansas City and Green Bay for a brief period last night, I'm just like, wow.

I mean, if you've got to face either one of those teams, You're going to have to, on every offensive possession, do the 12-play, 77-yard drive that ends in a touchdown and eats up six minutes in 27 seconds. That's going to be, that's the model to beating those teams. Because when they have the ball, it's pretty much a given that they're going to go down and score. Yeah. Anyway, there's something wrong with Brady and Ariens. I mean, Romo's conversation about some of the Brady stuff during that game, I don't know if anybody was paying close attention to it,

but clearly Brady indicated to Romo that, you know, it'd be better if the offense were tailored to what he has done well rather than him having to adjust to the Aryan's offense. It's a bit of, I mean, I think there's. I don't know if it's something that will undo them, but they've lost three of four games, you know, the last two of the Rams and the Chiefs, and the three losses are the Saints, the Rams, and the Chiefs.

They have the latest buy week. I forget, I think Carolina might be the other team that's got a buy week coming up, and they're the last two teams with a buy week. And then they'll come back, and they'll face the Vikings, who more likely than not, will be six and six after playing Jacksonville, and that game's going to determine more likely than not

wild card spot in the NFC. And they seem to be in trouble a little bit. I'm surprised. I picked them to go to the Super Bowl. I thought that they would figure it out. And I thought there were moments this year where we saw them, you know, when they smashed the Raiders that night, when they, it's completely annihilated the Packers. Now, that was, you know, the defense was great in that game.

I thought it's going to come together for him. And the funny thing is Brady's throwing interceptions. Tommy, but I think he also throws a lot of good balls. Like, I don't think he's terrible. Not even close to it. No, I don't think he is either. Let's blame it on Antonio Brown. Let's blame it on Antonio Brown.

A couple other quick notes from the games yesterday. The Patriots, man, they are good on defense. And Kyler Murray really, in some of these games, he really does look short. He really does. And then in other games, he looks like the cheat code. And they've got weapons. but their kicker missed one and Nick Folk made one. And Cam Newton won, the Patriots won a game to keep themselves in playoff contention.

They're not out of it yet with Cam Newton going nine of 18 for 84 yards and two interceptions. It's crazy to win a game like that. I also wanted to mention real quickly, I mean, you already mentioned the Titans who were so impressive. But the 49ers are far from dead, man. The 49ers are getting healthier. They got Mostert back. They got Debo Samuel back. They are very good defensively.

They just completed a sweep of the Rams who have an issue, I think, with Jared Gough a little bit. And they have, you know, they're looking at their schedule going, we're getting healthier. We got Buffalo at home on Monday night, but then we get Washington and the Cowboys. So they're all of a sudden getting back to where they have a chance to make a run here at the end to be in the wild card race. You know, it's going to be hard for them to get back into the division race. They're three games behind Seattle or two and a half games behind Seattle right now. But look out for the 49ers. Man, they are still exceptionally fast on defense.

And wow, is Kyle Shanahan a good coach? Yes, he is. I still just, I still laugh at all of the conversations. Some of those people being on our station that complained, Zabe was one of them. Doc, you know, complained about the nepotism. and the only reason Kyle's got a job as his dad. I'm like, are you watching what he puts together offensively with Rex Grossman?

Like, come on. Like, this guy did it with Matt Schaub in Houston. That would still have been the best combination. Kyle and Kirk together for several years. I bet that this would have been a team that would have won a lot more than they lost and probably would have been in the playoffs a few times minimum. But whatever, that's the past. Tonight's game's an interesting game.

It's going to be really interesting for Philadelphia if Jalen Hertz gets a lot of snaps at starter. I mean, wow, you know, to be in first place right now, you know, with their 3-6 and 1 record and a chance to snag first place in the division if they sort of bail, if P.S. And sort of bails on Carson Wentz. That would be something else when you think about it. The other part of this is don't forget Doug Peterson in December and the Eagles the last few years. That's when people have counted them out and they've played their best football. They finished 4-0 in December over their final four games last year to get to the postseason.

The year before that, they won five of their final six to make the postseason. And the year they won the Super Bowl, don't forget, you know, they lost wince, and then they had Foles, and they won three of their final four. and then with Foles, obviously won the Super Bowl. Tonight's game is very interesting. I like Philadelphia. I gave him out in the smell test on Friday plus five and a half. I should have waited until today because it's six and a half right now.

By the way, I should probably just take six and a half. I should have that ability. But if somebody played it at five and a half on Friday, I feel badly for that. Anyway, your column this morning focused on when this Wilkinson report comes, out and what it will mean it's more important than the playoff race that Washington's in. Right. I refer to it as depending on the outcome, this generation's Lombardi trophy. If the outcome is somehow it helps Stan Snyder out the door, then it's certainly more valuable

than a playoff spot or number one draft pick if you're a Washington football fan. I mean, that's the ultimate goal right now. Are you hearing anything? No. In terms of what is in it and when it's going to be out, no. The only thing I've heard is that, and there wasn't much movement to begin with, but all stadium movement has pretty much stopped until everybody sees who winds up owning this team. That's, see, that's the interesting thing.

And, you know, I read your column and people are waiting to see who's going to own this team. I think that's one of the reasons, and I've mentioned this a couple of times, why they haven't been aggressive in coming up with a new name. Because I think it's, you know, if the team were to go up for sale, it's much more attractive to a new owner to be able to name the team when they get in. I think I really believe that may be part of it. And, you know, I think I mentioned this last week or the week before. I think there's a chance that Dan Snyder doesn't own this team over the next couple of years.

I do. And whether it's the league that takes it from them or whether it's him that just gets to the point where it's just not worth it to him and his family to be the owner of this team. And by the way, they can get so much money for it. If he sells, if the majority, look, this franchise is worth $4 to $5 billion without a minute. And it's probably worth less than $4 billion if you've got a minority share or even less than that, much less than that in terms of the value. Nobody really wants to buy in at a high value if he's still in the organization as the majority owner. You wrote something, and I'm looking for the line here. Well, one of the things I wrote was that, you know, I mean, in terms of his efforts to gain favor politically in the state of Maryland for a stadium, he's really shooting himself in the foot in this bizarre web of this.

different lawsuits he's got the one where he's trying to, you know, where he's suing this Indian, this website from India for, you know, publishing allegations that somehow connected him to Jeffrey Epstein, you know, which, you know, without any evidence whatsoever. And in his search for discovery for that, he somehow has, it's almost like the usual suspect. There's so many bizarre names that come up, including Scott McClellan. Ellen, Scott McLuhan's wife's name. Yeah. You know, as somebody, he's trying to subpoena for information, he supposedly is going

after John Moog. John Moog runs a sports financing advisory corporation in Maryland who is somehow maybe connected to the minority owner's efforts to try to sell their shares. which the NFL has stepped in, apparently, according to the New York Times. The NFL has stepped in into that lawsuit by the minority owners because they don't like this kind of stuff being aired in public. But, I mean, John Moog, for those of you who are not familiar with it, John Moog helped get football back to Baltimore.

John Moog was the chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority and very influential in the Brown's move from Cleveland, to Baltimore and getting that stadium built. He's one of the, there was a time where he was very politically influential in the state of Maryland, help build, help get the convention center in Ocean City built. This is not a guy who you want to make your enemy if you're trying to make political hay in Maryland for a new stadium. You don't want John Moog against you.

And apparently John Moog, uh, you know, basically issued a response to some of the legal documents that Dan Snyder's lawyers had filed seeking some kind of, you know, subpoena or something from him, seeking some information from him. And let me see if I can find. Do you have it in front of you? I don't. Okay. Well, here's what I wrote about that. Well, you said in response to a demand from Snyder's lawyer from Moog's electronic records, this is what you're talking about, right? Yeah.

Well, here's what I'm talking about. Snyder has contended those articles were part of a smear campaign by Snyder's minority partners, Dwight Schar, and his lawyers have somehow made some connections seeking testimony of the wife of former Washington Football General Manager, Scott McLuhan. and Maryland investment banker John Moog. Moog is the former chairman, you know, like I pointed out and all that, in response to a demand from Snyder's lawyers for Moog's electronic records, Moog's lawyers responded,

the court can take judicial notice of the huge array of negative publicity, hundreds, if not thousands, of publications related to the plaintiff, including many of the best-known newspapers, publicity that has nothing to do with the very specific allegations set forth in the Indian lawsuit. Let me point out this was first reported by the Athletic. And I point that out in my column. So basically what Moog's lawyers are saying here that Snyder is so damaged publicly that he may be immune to defamation. That was my favorite line of your column.

Because I don't think you can be immune to defamation actually. But it's a funny line. because it fits, right? Like, it's, it wasn't just the smear campaign prior to the first post story in July that was the first, you know, smear campaign or negative publicity that Snyder's gotten. Snyder's been the focus of negative publicity in virtually every major newspaper in the country for years. Like, he's been defamed so much that he's become a mutant to defamation. That's pretty funny.

even though I don't think it's legally something that would be grounds to stand on. But I think the bigger point here is just this is, you know, when this comes out, this is going to be a big deal. I doubt that the Beth Wilkinson report is going to come out and it's going to reflect something like, actually, after a lot of investigation, we found a couple of instances, but we didn't find any that had real substantive, you know, substance behind them. And this was an organization that was set up with minimal HR resources, which is our number one recommendation to improve and enhance their human resources department. But we did not find some sort of systemic, you know, misogynistic treatment of females in the

workplace. That's not what's coming out. What's going to come out is something that I think at a very very very important. very minimum is going to lead to some level of fine from the league at a bit more than a minimum, a fine plus lost draft choices from the league. Which would be a crime, which would be a crime for Washington football fans because they're the ones who will suffer from that kind of penalty. And then much worse than that, if it's, if it really finds some sort of, you know, consistent,

which, you know, essentially was described in all three of. of the Washington Post stories, this constant environment of poor treatment and misogynistic treatment and harassing treatment of female employees in the workplace, then you could get potentially, especially if there's something worse

than what we've seen, a legitimate smoking gun, you could get Snyder in trouble. I think that that is the long shot, but I think the odds favor some sort of fine, and or loss of draft choices when all is said and done. Which is really horribly wrong because you're really hurting the fan base when you do that.

I mean, just like the salary cap penalty. And that ultimately hurt you. When you hurt the team like that, you're hurting the fan base. Here's what the bottom line in my column was at the end. A new stadium is often seen by NFL owners as the most important accomplishment they can achieve. one that secures a franchise for the next 20 to 30 years. If the league concludes Snyder's presence as owner is the roadblock to that security, they may deliver to Washington football fans their newest Lombardi trophy.

I mean, the stadium, I think, is going to be tied to this. Look, let's let's let's make one thing clear. When we talk about a stadium, whether it's Washington, Maryland, or Virginia, no one's paying Dan Snyder. No one's going to pay for a stadium for Dan Snyder. What we're talking about here is land and infrastructure costs. None of these municipalities or jurisdictions are going to help Dan Snyder build a state. He's going to have to pay for himself no matter where.

It's where he can get the best location and the best help on infrastructure. That will be the limit of government help no matter where this would happen. And like I pointed out before, if the report is at the minimum as damaging as you think, who's going to want to stand up there with Dan Snyder and say, yeah, we're going to give them this land to build a stadium. Who's going to want to do that? They won't be standing up with Dan Snyder. This is, you know, what we've seen here over the last couple of months with Jason Wright emerging as, you know, along with Ron Rivera, emerging as the two faces. voices of the organization.

And the minimis, I mean, we haven't heard from Dan Snyder. There was the one quote in the Wall Street Journal story from a couple of weeks ago. That's essentially it. But I guess, I think people aren't going to be dealing with him as much as they're going to be dealing with Jason Wright

in terms of this stadium. It may, Tommy, it may not matter. As long as Dan owns the team, maybe people won't want anything to do with it. That's possible. But I don't know. It's not going to sign off on the biggest project of his career, of his career as owner of this team to somebody he hired.

Whether right or wrong, he's going to be involved in any effort to get a stadium built. Right. All right. We'll finish up with a few things here after I tell you about Window Nation. Window Nation is combining the two of their best offers of the year here at the end of the year. You're going to be able to get 0% financing for 60 months, five years on all window styles, and you'll also get two windows free for every two you buy with no limit. So if you need 10 windows, you'll only pay for five without paying a cent of interest for five whole years.

That's up to $5,000 in additional savings on the interest alone. I've told everybody about Window Nation over the years. You probably get sick of me talking about Harley, Aaron, Eric, the whole group. I talk to Harley all the time. They really do it right. They take care of the customer. If you call them at 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and mention my name. They will get you a free estimate either online virtually or following all CDC requirements.

They can come into your home and give you an estimate. If you've been thinking about new windows, there's no place I would recommend. recommend you calling more than Window Nation. The deals aren't going to be nearly what they're offering right now. Again, no interest for 60 months, five years, and you get two windows free for every two you buy. But more importantly, you're going to be working with a group that I recommend that will take good care of you because of your relationship with this podcast and with the radio show, etc. with this station. 86690 Nation, Window Nation.com. Mention my name. They'll take good care view at Window Nation. So I wanted to finish up with just a few things here. First of all, did you know

that Len Bias is going into the College Basketball Hall of Fame that was announced yesterday? I read that, yeah. I had no idea that he, I guess my son goes, yes, you knew that. We had a conversation about it a year ago about him not being in the college basketball Hall of Fame. I'm like, oh, I mean, I can't remember anything anymore. But honestly, Len Bias isn't in the college Hoops Hall of Fame already? I mean, I know one of the reasons that it took a while for him to get on the Wall of Fame out at Maryland was, you know, the circumstances surrounding his death, which was always a bad reason. Len Bias is one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. Like, if you're putting together a list, is he in the top 10? Probably not.

Is he in the top 20? Stretch. Is he in the top 30? Yes. Is he in the top of 10 of all-time ACC basketball players? 100%. Is he in the top five? Debatable, for sure.

Where does he rank all-time on the Maryland list? Well, there are two players. Okay, I'm an expert on this. There are two players. I agree with you. I know you know your stuff on this. There are two players that start and end the discussion about the best player in Maryland basketball history.

It's Len Bias and Juan Dixon. anybody after that is a conversation about who's the third best of all time, whether it's John Lucas or Tom McMillan or Buck Williams or Walt Williams or Gravis Vasquez or, you know, we could go through the list, Joe Smith, but the top two players of all time in Maryland basketball history are Len Bias and Juan Dixon. I have always had Bias one in Dixon, too. Dixon won the national championship. Bias was the greatest player, in my opinion, in Maryland basketball.

basketball history. I would put him in the conversation of the top five players of all time in the ACC, a conversation that would include guys like David Thompson and Christian Leitner and Tim Duncan and a few others, okay, Phil Ford, Ralph Samson. He's in that conversation of the top five ACC players of all time. If you have a top 10 ACC player list of all time, Bias is definitely in that second five. He's no worse than that second five. Bias was just spectacular. He should be in the college basketball Hall of Fame,

regardless of the circumstances surrounding his death. So I just wanted to mention that. By the way, he's going in with Hersey Hawkins, David Greenwood, Antoine Jameson, Jimmy Jackson, and Paul Pierce. And then the two coaches that are going in are Rick Bird, who's recently coached to Belmont and turned. Belmont in Nashville into a really good basketball school that's, you know, not only been in the tournament, but played well in the tournament recently. And then Tom Penders is going into the

College Basketball Hall of Fame. So I wanted to mention that. Number two, so Evan Silva, I think, you know, has been covering the NFL for various outlets for a while. He tweeted something out on Friday when Matt Patricia got fired in Detroit. And he said, here's the early list of the coaches that will be considered for the openings in the offseason. And I'm reading down the list, Tommy, and it's Eric B. Enemy, you know, the offensive coordinator for Andy Reed in Kansas City. He was a big-time candidate last year. Joe Brady, who I mentioned early on, is, you know, going to get a head coaching job in the NFL.

He's the Panthers offensive coordinator. He was Joe Burroughs offensive coordinator at LSU last year when Burrow put up the most prolific season in college football history. He's got Matt Everflus on the list, who is an excellent defensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, Fred Smith's son, who's been doing a great job in Tennessee as their offensive coordinator. And then on the list, WFTOC Scott Turner. And I just thought, what?

My God. But then I thought about it. You know, I have been impressed with Scott Turner. Like I think he's doing a really good job. I go back to when they had Dwayne and they played Baltimore and a lot of the balls were coming out sideways and they had a game plan that made sense to me. And I'm like, you know, I thought Scott Turner gave Dwayne a chance

and the offense a chance to succeed in that game. By the way, that was the game I think where Dwayne basically was talking about his fantasy numbers after the game, after they got their ass kick, 31 to 17. But he threw for over 300 yards. It was the best game he had during the course of the year. And I remember saying, you know, I think, you know, Scott Turner really put together a decent game playing. Gave me a chance to move the football a little bit. Is it possible that Scott Turner could be a head coaching candidate when this season ends?

I don't think so, but I'm impressed. Like, I mean, we didn't know what we were getting in Scott Turner. And through 11 games, I would tell you that I think he's done a pretty decent job. I just thought that was I would agree with you I think he's been creative I think his trick plays have been better than most

that you see around the league let me throw another candidate into that mix and I'm sure Evan Silver knows better than me but the defensive coordinator for 49ers

Robert Sala Yeah he'll be on the list too definitely Yeah he'll be on that list since you talk about how good the 49ers are playing defensively Well and they were so good defensively

last year. Look, they're playing great this year and they've had all the injuries, plus they lost players. And they're without Nick Bosa, who was really the game changer last year. So I thought that was interesting. I wanted to mention two performances from over the weekend. I don't know how many people read about or saw any of the highlights of Jared Patterson, the Buffalo running back. They beat Kent State on Saturday, 70 to 41. And he had the second most prolific Day rushing the football in NCAA history. 36 carries 409 yards, eight touchdowns in the game. He tied the NCAA mark for touchdowns in a game. He is second to Samajai Pryne. Second, Samajie Pryan set the NCAA record for rushing yards in a game at Oklahoma with 427

yards in 2014. Jared Patterson, if you watched him, I mean, he is tiny. I mean, he is super small, but really quick. 36 carries 409 and eight touchdowns and a 70 to 41 win over Kent State. And then I also wanted to mention the performance put on by, by the way, he's a local kid. Jared Patterson went to Pilate. I think he went to Pilate. Am I thinking of somebody else? I think Jared Patterson went to Pilate. I got to look that up real quickly. Yeah, he went to Pilate. Pilate and here in Laurel. So, you know, he's from here, grew up in Glendale, Maryland, and went to Pilate. But then there was another performance over the weekend by a player, if you're a college basketball fan,

you know the name Luca Garza. Luca Garza is the center for Iowa. He went to Moray in D.C. And he is one of the candidates, national player of the year candidates. He came back for a year. I was I saw him play in person when Maryland played. I was impressed with him. Oh, yeah. He's been impressive for, you know, two and a half years running now. I've compared him in the

past to like a Tyler Hansbrough, but I think he shoots the ball better than Hansborough, but he's got that kind of motor. Like he's super intense, super high motor, high energy. He came back for a senior year. He's a 611 center, played at Moray. By the way, for all the Maryland people that wonder why Turgeon let him go, because apparently he

sincere interest in Maryland. You know, Turgents told me before, it was like, look, I had Bruno Fernando. You know, it was either Luca or Bruno Fernando. I went with Bruno, who, you know, was really looked like a massive NBA talent and would be a really good college player. He was. Bruno obviously went after a sophomore year. Garza has stayed for all four years.

Well, on Friday, Luca Garza against Southern University, in one half of basketball had 36 points, 7 rebounds, and three block shots on 12 of 12 from the floor. Sounds like a Kevin Sheen YMCA game. Oh, my, no, he's, he shoots threes as a big 6-11 guy. He's got such great feet and great hands and great moves in the post. I love his game and have loved it for a while. but Garza outscored the entire Southern University team by himself in the first half. He didn't play much in the second half.

This was a blowout game. He finished with 41 points, nine rebounds and three block shots. But he was 12 for 12 from the floor. Didn't miss a free throw, had 36 points, seven rebounds, and three block shots in the first half. I was really good. By the way, real quickly, Maryland beat Mount St. Mary's yesterday. they're 3 and O off to a good start. And James Graham, the third, who was the highlight of Maryland's 2021 recruiting class,

which was a top 15 class nationally, is enrolling early. He's graduating high school. They announced this on Friday, and he's enrolling, and he will be eligible for Maryland here in the second semester. And if you're wondering, and a few of you like me to talk more about Maryland basketball, and just understand, sit here and do the whole show about Maryland basketball if I thought the audience was interested in it. But for those that are as into it as I am, I think they look good early on. I think they're

very, Tommy, they've been picked to finish anywhere from eighth to to 11th in the Big Ten coming off their conference championship because they lost Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith. You know, Jalen Smith, the number 10 pick in the NBA draft, Anthony Cowan, you know, a first team all big 10 player and a four-year senior. But they're good. I mean, they're deep. They've got, you know, I think I. Al is going to have a big year. Obviously, Wiggins, a lot of people think has NBA potential.

Darrell Morsell just keeps adding to his game. I mean, Morsell's, believe it or not, he's now a senior. He's when he graduates this year, he's going to be one of my all-time favorite players. And I compared him to Darrell Strawberry the moment he got in and said that he would keep getting better. Turgent's done a phenomenal job with him. Marilyn Dante Scott, the kid from Philadelphia, can play. Hekeem Hart from Philly looks, they're deep. The kid they added from BC, Jarius Hamilton.

Maryland's, I mean, eighth to tenth in the Big Ten, okay, but eighth to tenth in the Big Ten is still going to be good enough, Tommy, for the NCAA tournament. I think they're a pretty good team. I think they're going to prove it during the year. And I don't know what the kid Graham from Wisconsin is going to give them in the second semester, but I know I've talked to people who say that he is a future NBA player. He was the highlight of that class that would be coming in.

Anyway, oh, and then I wanted to finish with this. I didn't see Tyson Roy Jones Jr. I didn't buy it. And I certainly didn't see Nate Robinson get knocked out by Jake Paul. But that became quite the social media stir on Saturday night. but I did hear that Snoop Dog was fabulous as the analyst all night long. Did you buy this and watch this or not? Here's what I did.

I didn't buy it. Oh, I thought you were going to. No, I was never going to buy it. No, in fact, I said you had to be a dope to buy it. Okay, well, you are. But on Facebook, there must have been a hundred different feeds of the fight for free. Oh, really? Oh, my God, at least.

At least, you know, I knew this was a haphazard promoter. and that they would not lock down people stealing the feed, unlike other promotions, which have become very diligent about it. This was some too-bit promoter somewhere who no one ever heard of. So I figured there would be free feeds, not that I would buy it anyway. So I watched it on Facebook. It wasn't as big a debacle as I expected, but it wasn't a $50 event. I thought it was $90-something. No, it was $50, I think.

Let's make that clear. For those of you who were talking about what a great night it was, that was not a $50 event. I mean, you know, Tyson didn't hurt anybody. I mean, they finished the fight. Tyson certainly looked better than Roy Jones. They called it a draw among the celebrity judges. But Tyson clearly had beaten Jones, who was huffing and puffing after the second round and went eight rounds. So, how do he look?

What kind of shape was he in? They looked like he was in good shape for a 54-year-old man. I mean, he never really hurt Roy Jones, and that wasn't the object. But, and they were using bigger gloves than normal to soften the blows. But they'll be more of this, you know, there'll be more of this. This is going to lead to Tyson-Hollafield parade. That's what this is going to lead to. Oh, my God.

In an actual, in an actual fight or. exhibition? I don't know what they'll call it, but it'll be a fight. This is what this is going to lead to, sadly. I have zero interest in this. And Snoop Dogg was very entertaining. I did see the knockout of Nate Robinson, who I always loved watching as a player. Man, I mean, that was out cold.

Yeah, that reminded me of the Juan Marquez knockout of Manny Pan. Mackeo in their fourth fight. Yeah. Just went face first down and didn't move. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I've got one thing here just to finish up with because Ron Rivera, as you mentioned,

did hold a presser this morning. He admitted and said that, you know, the NFL being unable to finish the season has crossed his mind, but he expects his team and the league to push through and get everything done following the protocols. He also understands that, you know, this game Sunday with Pittsburgh and their situation, in their situation in the Baltimore game, you know, we could be seeing some sort of delay to that game on Sunday.

Yes. So, you know, it's going to be interesting to see this, whether or not they get this Baltimore game done tomorrow. We'll know a lot more, obviously, on the podcast. Oh, you know what? I did forget one thing. I did want to mention real quickly. So, again, it's a Maryland thing.

And I'll sum it up in 30 seconds. Maryland lost Indiana Saturday, Tommy. They basically had 23 players out. And I don't know who had COVID and who didn't. Rakeem Jarrett and Jake Funk who had been so good and their last two wins weren't there. Talia really had a tough day, but he also had some really good moments. That game is one of those games where if you just watched the first half

and you didn't know what the score was, you would have thought Maryland would have been up three touchdowns. They were clearly the better team. But they had Taliah missed a couple of throws that would have been touchdowns, and he threw a couple of picks in the red zone, and Indiana was up seven, three, and then the game got out of hand. By the way, their left-handed quarterback Michael Pennix, who's been so good, was hurt, maybe lost for the year. But here's the one thing.

That was going to be a tough spot. They hadn't practiced. They hadn't played, you know, the two cancellations. one of the things that's become a consistent thing with Maryland football under Loxley here two years is they get penalized a hell of a lot. And I'm talking about the penalties you can control, like a legal shift, a legal formation. They got to get that stuff corrected because I can't tell you how many times the last two years. First and 10 becomes first and 15.

I mean, enough of that. We got to get that stuff together. But then again, they're not practicing. They're barely practicing. So it's a weird year. But weird game on Saturday. They got blown out 27 to 11. I just thought that first half, Maryland looked so much like the better team.

Would not surprise me at all if Maryland goes to Michigan this Saturday and wins. They're only a four and a half point underdog to Michigan. Michigan stinks, though. But a lot of Big Ten games are canceling right now. I was reading that. I think Minnesota Northwesterns off. So who knows how we're going to get through the rest of this season. Hope everyone's healthy.

Tommy, I'm glad you had a good holiday weekend, and you will be back with me, I think, on Thursday. You'll be back to your normal schedule. Okay, boss. All right. Have a great day, everybody. Back tomorrow. Maybe with Cooley.

We'll see how it all works out. He's driving right now to Wyoming. He might just call in on his drive. All right, take care.