The Kevin Sheehan Show - Play-Action No-Fakes

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Kevin today with plenty of Commanders' talk to start including thoughts on Washington's play-action passing game. Is Jayden Daniels selling play-action effectively or not? Kevin weighed in on the Kirk Cousins' benching in Atlanta. He responded to Dan Quinn talking about needing to beat good teams if you want to be considered a good team. Kevin played a brief part of his radio interview with Mayor Bowser this morning on the RFK Site plan passing. Is the pressure now on her to get a deal done that the last Mayor (Sharon Pratt Kelly) who had a shot to keep the team in DC couldn't get done? The rest of Kevin's conversation with Clinton Portis finished up the show. Lots of Terry McLaurin talk between the guys. 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. Window Nation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast. Call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com if you need new windows. On the show today, the second part of my Monday conversation with Clinton Portis, Clinton talks about Washington's season to date and then projects what will come next.

We also talked a lot about Terry McClure, and it sort of evolved into one of those off-season conversations about where Terry ranks among the receivers today. Clinton also discussed his preferred playoff opponent of the teams that Washington might face if they actually make it there. Before you hear from Clinton, we'll tell you what Dan Quinn said today about talking to. to the league about the clock stopping with nine seconds to go in the game Sunday against the Saints. Also on the show today, I'm going to play a brief part of my interview with Mayor Bowser. I had the mayor on the radio show today. I asked her if she's feeling the pressure to get a deal done, to bring the team home now that the RFK site plan is on the verge of passing in the Senate. That news broke yesterday after Tommy and I had recorded the podcast that the RFK legislation will be attached to a must-pass spending bill.

So the path has been cleared for D.C. to be able to do with that site at RFK what they choose. And the next step, the next hurdle, is coming to an agreement, city and team. So I asked the mayor if she felt pressure to get it done because remember, the last time the city had a chance to build a new stadium for the team, the mayor at the time, Sharon Pratt Kelly, made that famous comment about Jack Kent Cook during their negotiations. Cook was also being wooed by Virginia at the time, and she said, quote, I will not allow our good community to be steamrolled by a billionaire bully. closed quote. She basically said we've offered what we've offered, take it or leave it, and Cook

left it. He wasn't particularly happy with her and the city and ended up in, of course, as we know, Landover. Flash forward 30 years or so later, the city gets a chance to bring the team back home

and Mayor Bowser is on the spot for that. So you'll hear what she said about dealing with the pressure to get it done. This from Rick L to start the show. Rick writes, I'm a Maryland guy like you, Kev. I'm a huge fan of the Terps, Redskins, and your show.

I also coach D3 football in Massachusetts, and you made an excellent point. I did. About Jaden's play action fakes. But I think I have an answer for why they haven't been great, especially on Sunday. The pass rush from the Saints was a problem everywhere, and Jaden felt it, you could tell. You mentioned Chase Young and Cam Jordan.

How about Davis and Granderson, they may have been better? Whether it was the center, which I don't think it was, meaning Deeter replacing Beiotish, he said, whether it was the center, which I don't think he was the worst part of it, or the tackles and backs, Jaden went to the process of quick setup versus a drawn-out playfake. They would have been better off with less play action and more short quick stuff even from empty. The observation you made was spot on, and I thought the explanation of why would help. Well, thank you, coach. I appreciate that.

I made the observation from Sunday's game that. Jaden seemed to not be in play action really selling the play action fake. You know, even from shotgun pistol, we know what it looks like. You know, it's, when you're under center, you actually turn your back to the defense and you go with a hard handoff play fake and then pull it and drop back, right? Well, from shotgun, you kind of put it in the gut with two hands and a longer drawn. out play fake does suck the defense up a little bit and they're thinking potential run. And what he did on Sunday, and I don't even know if Sunday is the only time that it's happened, it was really, for me, somewhat pronounced. And actually, I think I did suggest that maybe

one of the reasons is he wanted his eyes quickly downfield because of the pass rush, but whatever. the ball wasn't even making it to the gut of the running back, whether that was Brian Robinson, Jr. or McNichols. It was quick and then pull it, and he was ready to fire. He was ready to begin the process of, you know, read one, read two, read three, etc. And I thought that because of that, the play action may not have been as effective, not to mention the fact that it didn't slow down the pass rush at all. So I do think that Rick L. Coach saying that he went to the process of quick setup versus drawn-out playfake when, you know, in describing it that way, that makes a lot of sense to me. And yes, DeMario Davis and Granderson were excellent as well. The Saints really got after

Daniels. That leads me to this. This came from Casey. Casey writes, Kevin, I am panicking after the Saints game. Eight sacks from the Saints? What will the Eagles do to us? Also wanted to say that the eighth sack that you said you couldn't find was the third goal at the one-yard line. That one counts as a sack because he never made it out of the pocket on the bootleg call. Yeah, you know what?

Somebody else mentioned that to me too, but I appreciate that, Casey. I mentioned in my recap that he was listed for eight sacks, and I could only find seven of them, and that was the one I was missing. So you were 100% right. And yeah, obviously that one would not have been on Jaden. I mean, Cam Jordan blew that play up. McCaffrey was supposed to get a chip, never really got a chip. I didn't love the call there because it was actually their most cohesive in-rhythm drive.

I thought of the game. And the two plays prior to that were Brian Robinson runs from like the eight yard line, something like that down to the one yard line. And, you know, look, Jaden on a bootleg, a naked bootleg, any kind of bootleg, is usually money. I mean, you're just not going to, you know, nail them like Cam Jordan did there. But they had had issues clearly blocking Jordan and Chase Young and Granderson and DeMario Davis, et cetera. So, you know, they had to feel much better about getting Cam Jordan out of that play to call that play. But yes, I appreciate you mentioning that and several other people did as well.

And thanks to all of you who wrote in and mentioned the eighth sack. You know, we talked about this on Monday show, the recap. Of the eight sacks, I put three of them, four of them on Jaden. The thing that bothered me the most about Sunday was the drifting backwards on a couple of dropbacks when there was, I thought, anyway, some room to step up into the pocket. He's, you know, he had three of, if you count the bootleg too, you're talking about some of those sacks in which you're not losing yardage. I talked a lot, and I think I mentioned this the other day, during the off season, and I thought it was one of the real, kind of things out there, negative things out there about Jaden that people weren't giving proper context to. You know, that pressure to sack percentage was a number that actually had come down a lot last

year, but was still too high. And a lot of the analytics people got really hung up on that. And I said over and over again, I'm not sure a lot of these people really watched a lot of these games because. it occurred to me that in watching a lot of the games, he didn't have that problem. And then what you really found when you went back and really looked at it closely is a lot of those sacks were the kinds of sacks he's taken this year and three of the plays on Sunday where basically there's zero yard or very minimal lost yardage sacks.

And that's what he did. Some of the plays that we've seen where he actually gets sacked, he's trying to to do what he did a lot in college, which is third and long, he's just not a big checkdown guy. He wants to make it happen, whether it's with his arm or whether it's with his legs. And he typically will take, you know, by scrambling, you know, a bigger loss in sack yardage and turn it into a much smaller. He had the fewest yards lost on sacks of the quarterbacks that we were looking at, heading into the draft. Sunday's a good example. He was sacked eight times, you know, technically,

37 yards lost. That's nothing, you know. That is, you know, four and a half yards, just over four and a half yards per sack. And he had one big one in there, too. It was that, it was the drifting back upwards. You know, it was minus nine, minus ten, something like that. So the other seven were much less than that. He's, he tries to erase. pressure or coverage. And on third and long, especially, unless they are in field goal range and he doesn't want to lose it and he'll take the checkdown, he's not big into checkdowns. He had a couple of opportunities to avoid sacks on checkdown throws and didn't necessarily make them. I don't trust me, I don't think we have a sack problem.

I do think the pressure was really good by New Orleans on Sunday. very successful scrambles were off of plays in which there was pressure and immediate pressure. And I would even point to one or two of them on the scrambles where, you know, it was possible for him maybe to hang in there longer or to make a throw as he approached the line of scrimmage because there did seem to be a little bit on some of those runs, not as much keeping eyes downfield. Also, real quickly, you know, other than the third and short, Read Option Keeper, which went for like five or six yards. And of course, the quarterback counter, which I hate.

Read Option wasn't that successful on Sunday. I mean, there weren't any big chunk plays off it. In either case, either Brian Robinson Jr. carrying the ball or Jaden pulling it. Anyway, I've got one more to read to you. Oh, here it is. This is from Ty. Ty writes, totally disagree with you on the Eagles game. It's not a game which will raise or lower expectations. Phillies in a different class than us.

Nobody's expecting us to win. This is a freebie. I'd even consider playing Marioita in this game to save Daniels for the Falcons game, which is much more important. And then Ty writes, I'm not being that serious, but still, if the game gets out of hand, live to fight. another week. Whoa. Tie, brother. Not sure I'd want you on my side in certain situations. First of all, you know, they're not in a different class. They are better. You know, I can see that.

Philadelphia is a better team right now. But I'm not anywhere near on board with that kind of thinking. Philly's only a three-point favorite Sunday. Three. That's it. I think Sunday's big for a lot of reasons. We talked about them on yesterday's show a little bit. Let me play something for you quickly because Dan Quinn said something earlier today. He was asked a question, and you'll hear the question. I'll play the question. It's from Mitch Tishler from Monumental Sports.

And he talks about the fact that they haven't, you know, Mitch asks a question about not beating a team with a winning record yet. and, you know, and Dan, you'll hear the response. Let me play it for you right now. You guys have been very competitive against a bunch of playoff caliber teams that have yet to beat any of them. How important is it in the development of a team as you go through this recalibration first year here to kind of get over that hump and beat some of those upper echelon NFL teams? It's a big deal. And if you want to be seen as a heavy hitter, you got to beat him.

Shorten to the point was Dan Quinn there. But he's right. You know, if you want to be seen as a heavy hitter, you've got to beat him. and the Eagles right now in the league might be the heaviest of hitters. It's just hard for me at this point, especially given that it's been so long since we've had it, to do the thing before the season ends where, you know, you say they've exceeded expectations, the rest is icing on the cake. I will be able to look back at some point for sure and say really good first season.

But not now. comes later, you know, when they lose in the first round or maybe they go beyond the first run and they lose in the divisional round, who knows, where you can look back and say, wow, they got the quarterback right for sure. You know, they got the general manager and the head coach right and they did a nice job in the draft. They did a nice job with trades. They did a nice job in free agency. They know what they're doing. They had a good season. But for me, that's later. it's make a statement this Sunday against Philadelphia. That's where I am right now, you know, especially against Philadelphia,

a team that you'll likely be battling with for the foreseeable future, for sort of division supremacy. You know, you can't really predict that for sure because we know how quickly things change and injuries change things. And the Giants with the number one overall pick could nail the quarterback and nail the head coach. and be right back into it with Washington and Philadelphia next year. But until we beat the Eagles and we've already lost the first game to them and got swept last year in two very competitive games,

I don't even want to really count what's happened prior to this new iteration of our team. But we don't have anything resembling a real rivalry with them until you start to beat them. You know, I'd like something like that again. It makes being good even more fun when there's a real rival in your division and twice a year and sometimes more. There is kind of this heavyweight fight championship fight anticipation. Not the fake stuff of the last 15 or 20 years with Dallas. Dallas hasn't viewed us as a rival in a long time. The Giants and the Eagles have felt the same way about us.

But now, you know, if this franchise is really on the verge of being a sustained year-in, year-out playoff contender, man, it would be fun to have something like Washington and Philadelphia become a relevant rivalry. But that requires beating them. Why not start now? Maybe they'll have a better chance next year after they've, you know, added more to the roster and taken their salary cap space and their draft choices. added more talent. But, you know, why not this year? The Panthers already nearly beat the Eagles. The Browns nearly beat the Eagles. The Jags nearly beat the Eagles. They're not invincible.

You know, our team had a fourth quarter lead at the link, and we weren't playing well. Sunday is absolutely winnable. Got to protect up front against that front four, have to stay in really good down and distances against Philly on offense. Can't take early down TFL's tackles for loss like they did Sunday against New Orleans. Can't take eight sacks. Have to be excellent in the red zone on defense in particular. You know, our defense in the red zone, 29th in the league. Philadelphia, I think, is 10th or 11th offensively.

I'm expecting both teams to get to the red zone. That may actually determine the game. You know, you can't give up the big chunk play. the explosives like they did in the fourth quarter in the first game. Look at what I'm doing right now. I'm doing keys to the game on a Wednesday. Sorry, Ty. I really want this one.

This is a statement chance. You know, the statement being, we're here now, and you might see us again in a few weeks in the first round of the playoffs. Beat Philadelphia on Sunday. By the way, temp's expected to be in the upper 20s. to low 30s. It is supposed to be a frigid weekend. And sunny, no wind Sunday, so that's fine.

But, you know, we've talked in the past about Jaden Daniels, cold weather games. The Tennessee game was chilly. And this game will be by far and away, the coldest game he's ever played in. Real quickly, today at practice, because it just ended. Both kickers, Greg Joseph and Zane Gonzalez, missed practice because their wives were due to deliver babies today. Same day, both kickers. That's nuts. I have no idea who will be the kicker Sunday against Philadelphia. My bet is that it's Gonzalez if he's healthy. John Allen was back at practice limited. They started the 21-day

injured reserve return timetable on him. Jeremy Chin was limited but did practice some today. So he was in concussion protocol coming off the New Orleans game. Ertz was not out there today, but maybe Chin is looking up for Sunday against the Eagles. I was thinking about something. I really hope the crowd Sunday isn't one-sided. I hope it doesn't feel like a road game. I'm a bit concerned about that because remember, a lot of these tickets were sold after the schedule came out. in Philly, and, you know, because the game is so close.

And they also had a game in Baltimore as well. So they had two really close games. Also, a game in Pittsburgh. No, the game against Pittsburgh Sunday was at home, was in Philly. But I just, I'm a little bit, you know, concerned about the prospect of a Philly takeover. I hope it doesn't happen. And by the way, back to Ty and his email. This game will absolutely impact expectations.

If Washington wins, come on. I mean, it's reactionary with fan bases in the NFL. If they beat a team that's won 10 in a row, yeah, there will be a change in expectations for what's to come the last two regular season games and beyond. Now, a one-sided loss could also change expectations, you know, especially after, you know, you know, hanging on for dear life in New Orleans. I'm ready for a really solid close to this season and a playoff game or two. Why not?

All right. I am going to weigh in on Kirk Cousins being benched. I promise that with all of you wondering whether or not I would. Like, he's never said anything bad about Kirk Cousins. What's he going to say now? course I have, but I will get to that. And you'll hear what Mayor Bowser said when I asked her about if she's feeling some pressure to get a deal done. Also, Dan Quinn on the nine second clock stoppage and whether or not he reached out to the league or heard anything from the league. So we'll

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And by the way, we'll have a huge game next Sunday night. Yeah, that game got flexed. We didn't know it yesterday when we were doing the show. I think we guessed Saturday night is a possibility. Sunday night is a possibility. That's a huge game. Assuming they beat the Giants, even with a rookie starting his first game Sunday, and they're still an eight-point favorite.

They went from being a 10-point favorite to an 8-point favorite. That's what happens when you start a rookie quarterback, no matter how bad the starter was. But if they beat the Giants, that game is a massive game, because Washington, remember right now, only loses a tiebreaker to Tampa in the NFC, you don't want Atlanta added to that list. So I'm a big fan of Michael Pennix Jr.

And I think he'll end up being a decent quarterback. I mean, you know, flip a coin when it comes to these drafted quarterbacks and how, you know, not even flip a coin. You know, the pros get it right one out of three or four times. So on my guy, Kirk, and most of you know, I'm a big fan of Kirk. I have been since he was here. New him a little bit. Still communicate with him every once in a while.

just a first-rate person that was never cut out to stay in an organization like the one he was in here. If you really question that, and I've seen some of your notifications, some of your tweets, I mean, anybody that says this guy isn't, you know, first-rate or, you know, intimates that he's somehow just a money-grubbing fraud. You just haven't. Go watch the reaction the Vikings had to him. him at the end of the game last week, his former teammates, Kevin O'Connell included. But whatever, I don't need to convince you on that. I knew that I really had a strong sense this was going to happen watching that game Monday night. He was bad. It was rough, much rougher than it was even in the games where he was throwing picks before. I mean, he actually played pretty well last week

against Minnesota. He was far from the reason they lost that game. That game was 21, 21 in the fourth quarter. He had over 300 yards passing heading into the fourth quarter. Ended up with 344. They were right there. The Chargers game, he threw four picks. That was really, you know, the alarming game. Even though there were a couple of them that were, you know, whatever. There was one forced at the end because it was fourth and 16, fourth and 14, whatever it was. But it's amazing, you know, how things turn in football because this was a team offensively when they were, you know, when they came back to beat Philadelphia, but really it started almost, they had a chance to beat Kansas City on Sunday night football. Then they beat New Orleans, beat Tampa when he threw for over 500 yards in that

game back in October on Thursday night football. They beat the snot out of, you know, Carolina and Tampa again in Dallas. And they were rolling. They were six and three. And he was playing at a pretty high level. I mean, it just happens in the NFL. Things change, and boy, did they change for him. He was really, really off, not just mentally, which you've seen him pressing in recent weeks. I thought he looked completely off physically. Now, Rahim Morris said that this has nothing to do with injury. He was straining to make handoffs in that game on stretch zone plays. And he clearly was feeling, you know, the sort of mounting, you know, inner questioning of why am I throwing all these picks? And he threw a terrible pick to start the second half. And they held on to beat Vegas

the other night when they should have won that game by three touchdowns. So I totally saw where this, I mean, I don't disagree with the decision. I've criticized Kirk plenty over the years for certain games. But the bottom line is he has been an excellent NFL quarterback for his career. Not elite. I feel like whenever we get into these conversations, I have to emphasize that I've never, nor do I know anybody that's ever said he's an elite quarterback. He's just been a really good quarterback.

But he was not on Monday night. He looked not right. He looked old. He looked slow. He looked slow processing. and they lost trust in him. He did not have one first down throw in the game Monday night. That's not typically conducive to big time offensive football.

They clearly didn't trust him. So this was headed in this direction. And they've got a guy that they clearly know better than we do in terms of how he's been practicing in Panix Jr. I don't know. Maybe Washington will have a tougher time beating Atlanta. with Pennix Jr. It wouldn't surprise me because if they had faced the Kirk we saw on Monday night, that would have been an easy game.

Very easy. As far as his future, I have no idea. I think this fit in Atlanta has really been a strange one in that Kirk Cousins was essentially one of the top play-action quarterbacks in football. You guys know this. Even those of you that aren't fans or don't watch him closely, you know that he is thrived on play action. And Atlanta's the lowest play action team in the league.

Zach Robinson has had him in pistol much of the year, not under center. And they don't run play action, which was his go-to. And why haven't they? I don't know. It might be because they don't think he's physically capable of really selling it and getting to that spot in play action or to that spot on the edge on bootlegs. I don't know. But the way they were calling plays a lot of the year wasn't necessarily conducive to his strength,

but he was still having a big year up until about a month ago when it declined. It declined in a hurry. And he looked like a shell of himself Monday night. And Rahim Morseman, that's a big move for a first year head coach, right? you know, to go from the amount of money they spent on Kirk in the offseason, knowing that perhaps it was a bridge, a one year or a two-year bridge to Pennix Jr. As Kirk's career was, you know, obviously on the other side of, you know, prime at 36 years old. Next year he'd be a 37-year-old quarterback.

And but it didn't last more than 14 games. Now, he's the number two, and I bet you that he will, whenever we'll, whenever we're, We get, you know, because I don't think only starting quarterbacks talk during the week. So whenever somebody interviews him about this, it'll be maybe, you know, end of the week or a couple weeks or whatever, you'll hear, I promise you, a first class, I'm here, I'm ready to go. I'm going to support Michael Pennix and do whatever, you know, needs to be done. It's just who he is, but he's also hurting. There is no doubt about that. That was one of the worst games.

Well, it probably was one of the worst game in terms of the trust that they had in him and his execution that I have seen in a long time. I mean, going back to when he was just a periodic starter in his first two or three years in Washington. But we'll see. If it is physical, and I did hear something about potentially an ankle being a factor, but put that aside. He has said all year the Achilles was not the issue. But if it is kind of physical, I think he'll get a shot next year to start somewhere. And I think Atlanta would move on from him.

If they don't think he can be what he was from, you know, he hasn't forgotten obviously how to process or read defenses or any of that. But the physical process of getting to it has been really painful to watch. It certainly was Monday night. Not so much last week against Minnesota. That's the strange part of it. Is that even during this rough stretch, there have been moments where he's looked like the guy that he has been. But, you know, maybe it's just father time and a serious injury from last year. And, you know, because of his lack of mobility to begin with, you know, a slower physical guy is a big problem as a starter in the NFL. But I, you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. But it looks like

we'll face Michael Pennix Jr. Quick release guy, man, big arm and can really throw the football. Will it start that way in his first game or his first two games? We'll see. They must have really felt like this was a no doubter in terms of getting better quarterback play from Pennix Jr. Because you just don't do that when you're in the final stretch of the season playing for a division title and maybe even a playoff berth as a wildcard team. So they really lost confidence in you know who. All right. Dan Quinn was asked today about the,

the nine seconds where the clock got stopped. And I think it's J.P. Finley that asks the question. I'll include the question and play it right now and you'll hear his answer. Any update from the league about the clock stoppage? Zero. Did you guys request anything? No. Short and to the point Dan Quinn was today.

I kind of like that. I don't think I'm that surprised by the team not requesting information from the league about what happened Sunday with the clock stopping at nine seconds. I don't think I'm that surprised that the league didn't provide the team with an update. Because what else are you going to learn about what happened that exceeds what you got from Sean Hoculey, the head referee in that Q&A with the pool reporter after the game? He admitted that it was the side judge who made an error in stopping the clock and that it wasn't reviewable.

I mean, what else is there to learn about it? Maybe I'm missing something here, and obviously it's easier to move on when you're Washington because you won the game. And, you know, on Monday's show, I talked about how I went back and maybe some of you did the same thing and timed it from snap to actually the ball getting clocked. It was about 16 and a half seconds. So that means that it was probable that the clock would have gone to zeros, but you also have to consider. the possibility that New Orleans and Spencer Rattler would have looked up, seen the clock a little bit ahead of where it was because it was stopped, and he may have sped up the process of clocking the ball. I mean, most teams can get a completion with no timeouts in the middle

of the field and the ball clocked in 17 seconds, or in less than 17 seconds, especially when you're not throwing the ball deep downfield. They weren't. So I still think that in most cases, teams are able to do that. But anyway, okay, it's on to Philly. And they won the game. And that makes it easier to sort of ignore it and move on. But if anybody out there thinks that I'm missing something about why they should have requested more information from the league,

if there's something to gain from that, let me know at Kevin Shee in D.C. All right, I wanted to play a just brief portion of my interview on radio this morning with Mayor Bowser. You can hear the whole interview in its entirety at the Team 980.com, or you can download the Odyssey app and listen to it as well.

I had her on the show because, of course, yesterday the RFK site plan was, it was announced that it will be a part of an existence, bill that will pass before the end of the year. It needed to be, you know, a rider to an existing bill. And Maryland senators, Van Hollen and Cardin apparently got what they wanted. They got the fighter jets from D.C. They also got $1.7 to $1.9 billion from the federal government to help rebuild the Francis

Scott Key collapsed bridge. So, you know, if you're a Maryland resident and I'm not anymore, your senators did a pretty good job of leveraging this situation into some good things, I think. Anyway, Mayor Bowser was great, but at the very end, I asked her, now that this has sort of passed, is she feeling the pressure? So you'll hear my question, you'll hear her answer, and then I'll follow up on it afterwards. Sharon Pratt Dixon famously got into it with the owner Jack Kent Cook at the time, and the ultimate result was Landover and all of these years of a bad team and a bad stadium. Do you feel any pressure to get this done for a fan base that despite all of the losing over the last quarter century is on the verge of jumping back in and really,

wants this badly? I do feel a lot of pressure to keep my promises. And I was just recently looking at my very first inaugural speech in 2015. And there I hinted at, you know, our focus on RMK. And I said one of our big, you know, dreams or goals would be to host the Super Bowl one day. and we've taken a giant step to getting there. So the pressure for me is to deliver for the people who have put their trust in me all these years. And it's very important for us.

Mayor Bowser from my radio show earlier today, I think that this getting done, and it was not a guarantee. And it really came down kind of to the 11th hour here. but to me, especially given how hard Van Hollen and Cardin in Maryland tried to leverage the situation into getting something for something. You know, they wanted something back for their yes votes. To me, that's an indication that they really feel like ownership desperately wants D.C. By the way, most of the fans, most of the market, Virginia, D.C. and Maryland want D.C. and that they felt like, you know, this was going to be an opportunity to get something rather than not getting anything and then losing the team to D.C. as well.

So they got fighter jets. They got the Francis Scott Key 1.7 to $1.9 billion worth of rebuild funding from the federal government. They got, you know, the laid out plan by the team on what they'll do with that site. once they move from it, if they do move from it. I think the chances now of D.C. are like 75, 80%. It just feels that way. Feels like the Maryland senators felt that way. Now, Maryland's still going to bid for this thing. They still want it in Landover.

And, you know, D.C. is, it's not a lock that the D.C. council will approve this thing. The mayor reminded me that the baseball stadium passed by a vote of 7 to 6 on the council. you know, so it will perhaps be close again. And, you know, will the city council and their constituents want and approve of the way they will finance their contribution to this deal? I would think, and this is obviously from afar, but the desire of Josh Harris and Mitchell Rails and Mark Gein, especially the local part of the ownership, to be back on the RFK site, I would imagine that D.C. doesn't have to best Maryland's offer or maybe not even match Maryland's offer. But if it comes close enough, you know, it's just barely less than a tie goes to the runner, which in this case would be D.C.

I see it as a pretty strong possibility that a stadium deal will be hammered out. I did ask the mayor about, you know, if they've had negotiations, and she says, said yes, they've certainly talked about, you know, a potential deal. It's not like now that it's past that they're going to start talking about a potential deal now. We'll see. I mean, we're still talking about 20, 29, 2030 before it would open, maybe 2031, I don't know. I think 2030 would be the target date. And also, as it relates to kind of the name, you know, I've been saying to you guys for a while now until the path to a new. stadium in D.C. is cleared that we're probably not going to hear anything from ownership on

any, you know, name change or brand change or anything like that. Well, one of those, you know, paths have been cleared, but the second path is to get a deal done. You know, once a deal is done, then maybe, and certainly as long as it happens in the off season, I'm not going to bring this up during a playoff run. But I think that's when we'll hear something. Or I certainly would hope that we would hear something at that point. All right. The rest of my conversation with Clinton Portis from Monday after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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And they are giving out a cash bonus on your initial deposit of 50%. So go to my bookie.org.org, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. So Clinton and I, on Monday, I had him on to talk about the game, and we ended up talking about his son who signed with Miami. rising senior he will be next year and is one of the top corners in the country. He was recruited by everybody. Played a lot of that, played a lot of what he thought of the game against the Saints. But there was more that he had on the team and how they're doing so far and what he projects

to happen moving forward. So here's the rest of my conversation with Clinton from Monday. So what have you thought watching them this year, watching Jaden, watching, I know what you want to say about Terry, and you can go ahead and say it. But what do you think about this 9-and-5 football team that's got a really good chance to end up in the postseason? Well, I think if you can, if I'm not sure how long Eckler is out, I think if maybe the rest of the year.

So he don't get to come back? I mean, it was his second, it was his second concussion, and it doesn't seem promising for at least the regular season. Hmm. Go ahead. Okay. Yeah, if you can get Echler back, it's two different teams with and without Echler.

So if you get Echler back and continue, I think it's a smoother path. If you don't get Echler back and, you know, remove, if we go out and perform the way that we perform, because your face is some good deeds to finish off the same. season. You got to average more than 2.5 yards of care, 2.2 yards of carry. Yeah.

So this is the time of year that you want to see your run game get dirt. You know, like, hey, we got to rely on you. We're coming downhill. It's going to be some weather games. There's going to be some rain and cold. You know, like you're about to get to the massive part of the year. So you have to rely on your running game. throwing the ball around in December, up for grabs.

You know, we've seen that on Thursday night where they couldn't complete a pass, you know. Everything was selling and over the head when you see that, and that's the type of weather you're going to be in. So I think it's just the time of year where you're going to have to lean heavy on your front. Your O line, your D line, they got to get nasty. Your lineback has got to come down here, which I'm like, this is probably one of the, the better lineback crews we've had on a long time. And then with Lattermore, your secondary has really improved. So we gave up points.

You know, you gave up 12 points in the fourth quarter yesterday in a game that you should have put away. You can't do that. You can't do it against the Eagles. You can't do it against the Cowboys. Like, you can't do that. So defensively, we have to tighten up. Offensively, we have to.

get our, we got to get to the grind of, because even if you look at the catch that Terry made in the end zone, that should have been picked. Terry made a hell of a play, but that's a, that's a pass. You shouldn't even thrown. It's a scramble drill, but that could have easily been picked and went against us. So you just got to be careful at this time of year. Limited turnovers, ball control. I know we have spurts where we can put up points.

and you got to export that. I think KJ. Osborne was a good pickup. I know he wasn't ready. There was a middle of the week trade. But I think if KJ. Osborne can get on the field and help, it gives you another weapon. And I think that gives you an opportunity because he could play.

He definitely was balling at Minnesota. He'd get to New England. He really didn't have a quarterback. but if he could gel in the system, I see that as a guy who fits, he could stick around. Why do you think it's such a big loss, Echler being out the rest of the year, if he is? Just because you had that one, too. Like, you got Robson and Echle in the back fill together, and that put pressure on your linebackers. You don't know where this ball going.

You don't know who coming down here, who's running the route. Like, you got to be on your toes. And then because of the plays that he makes, you know, it looked like he down, and all of a sudden he put his hand on the ground and he run for 10, 15 more yards, you know, or coming up out of it. He's just a big play waiting to happen. And you're always better as a threat with one of those guys. Without him, we don't have that anymore.

You know, you got Robson and you got Terry. But just to have that guy who can pop it and make a big play at any time, We don't really have that, you know, on somebody who can do it, like, all the constant. Like, every time you got to be checking for him. You know, you never really had a number two when you were here. I mean, the Lidell Betts was not like, you know, a change of pace guy. You know, he was a nice backup, but there was never really, unless I'm forgetting somebody, I don't think there was ever really a guy.

that when you either were hurt or you came out to get a breather was a good change of pace back. Am I right? Oh, Liddell had a thousand yards when I went down. So I think the chemistry that we had, myself Liddell, Rock Cartwright, Big Mike, like I think the chemistry that we had was outstanding. I hated to see Liddle leave and go to New Orleans, you know. I hate to see Rock leave. I think our chemistry is what blended us.

But when you talk about those guys were moving, I had Sean Alexander, I had Larry Johnson, Willie Parker, all those guys have made plays in the league. T.J. Duckett. Yeah, but those guys didn't play here. They were older, and then Duckett got traded for and didn't really see a carry. By the way, I swear to God,

I had no idea or had just, no, I had no idea that Liddell Betts rushed for 1,154 yards in 2006 when you got injured. I mean, I remember the year where he got a lot of carries. I did not remember that he rushed for 1154 yards. That's crazy. Yeah, Lidel went crazy that year. I mean, it was not a good season. Yeah, it wasn't, but he still, he got his paycheck, which was good for him. But I think the chemistry that we had, even with EB, I think what EB pushed for us to start learning how to play golf and, you know, us having our dinner and just the unity that we had as a respect that we had for each other was great, you know.

It was a great understanding. Ernest Piner you're talking about just for those of them. Yeah, Ernest Piner. Yeah. So it was just a great chemistry amongst us. Yeah. All right. Back to this team.

I know because when I talked to you the other night, you wanted to scream how you said if Terry ever got himself a quarterback, he would be an elite receiver. So just describe the kind of season he's having. Well, I think I've been, telling you this since Perry Cain that I saw him as a one. And you used to say, I never said he wasn't a one. I never said he wasn't a one.

No, I did not. I said he wasn't elite. Exactly. You say he wasn't elite. You say he's not a one. He's not elite like Jefferson and Chase. And he's not. He don't have a quarterback like Jefferson and Chase. It ain't, it's no other receivers as elite as Jefferson and Chase either in the NFL. Okay. So they're the two that are elite. Terry is a really good number one.

Lamb is elite. Nico Collins is working to be elite if he's not already there. Tyreek elite. So you have those guys. But what I was saying was Terry can be that if he got the targets that they got. Until this year, you didn't see Terri with these targets. Even at the beginning of the year, it was games. that Terry didn't have targets going into the third, fourth quarter,

he don't have any targets. Now these last few weeks that you're forced feeding him to ball, you're starting to say, oh, this kid is they're playing plays and everybody going crazy. You should have been doing that from the start. The same way, I guarantee you, C.D. Lamb or A.J. Brown, not about to come out. He goes three quarters without a target and not say anything.

Terry do it all the time. he's been doing his entire career here. Now that he's elevating his game, or now that we're staying an elevated game, because he's getting his opportunity, just feed him, feed him. And you still need to go out and get, I just had this conversation with some.

If you can go out and get T. Higgins, I think that elevates Terry even more. You just need another, you need another reliable receiver on the field. A big-time receiver that's going to make plays. Go get Cig. Higgins. I mean, I think we're just, you know, not on the same page in terms of elite versus, you know, really a strong number one. I've never said that Terry wasn't a number one receiver.

I just said that he was somewhere between 14 and 18 on the list of receivers, not, you know, top five to top 10. And I think if we went through the list, he didn't have a quarterback. I recognize that, and I conceded that. but, you know, there were others that didn't necessarily. I mean, Devante Adams didn't have a quarterback in Oakland, in Vegas the last couple of years, and it didn't matter. He put up big numbers. He didn't really go crazy in Oakland.

He put up crazy numbers in Green Bay. He put up really good numbers in Vegas, too, with, you know, nobody at quarterback. All I've said all along, and I'm thrilled, by the way, because, Not only is he having a great year, but he is almost the antithesis of what, you know, a lot of receivers have, you know, are when it comes to divas. And he never bitches, never complains. And he is a great receiver. But Devante Adams, in his first two years in Vegas, caught 100 balls for 1,516 yards, and 14

touchdowns, and then went for 103 for 1144 and 8 touchdowns. So he was very productive. I still think if I went through the list, not that we need to do that today. We can do that at another time. You would pick eight or nine guys before you got to Terry. That's possible. Okay. You know why?

Because there are a lot of great receivers in the league. He's really, really good. Everybody is going to the ball 40 or 50 times a game. You should have a lot of great receivers in the league. You're getting 40 opportunities to make a kick. If you can't get open 10 out of 40 times, that's bad. That's why you see CD-LAM numbers go crazy. That's why you see Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase go crazy.

We're dropping back 40 times. You're supposed to be wide open. I don't care what coverage they're in. The coverage is still based. They could be in man-to-man, which means I'm one-on-one with him. They definitely got to have a spy. If they're in zone, you're dropping to a zone. You've got to drop to where this coverage did.

Take you drop it to so you can't do your own thing. You've got to be open unless you're playing man to man. And nobody is going to guard either one of those guys 40 times in man to man. You'll be crazy to do it. You've got a safety over the top. And they still get wider. Who's a guy, not Chase, not Jefferson, not Hill, not CD, not A.J., not a Monra, St. Brown, not Terry.

give me a guy that you really love that's not that most fans wouldn't put in the top 10 or top 5 or 6 or 7 give me a guy a little bit further down the list that you love um the guy that I look oh man Duvante Smith I love you know who I realized I really love I love green Bay receivers they are good We don't even know who they are. I love Green Bay receivers. Yeah. I mean, go ahead. You have guys just on their way, but it's the same.

The opportunity is there. The opportunity is there. And then when you look at Smith and Jigba up in Seattle, he's on the way. He's coming. Yeah. I this year have fallen in love with, and he's missed some games. But I love Nakua. He catches everything.

Oh, yeah. Everything. And he's so strong. Oh, he's a dog. Here, animal. I love him, too. I just forgot about him. He weighed on the West Coast.

I wasn't thinking about him. But, yeah, he would be number one before any of the guys I just said. Matter of fact, I put Pooka Nekua. in my top team. Yeah, me too. But I think he's a guy that most fans wouldn't put in their top six, seven, eight, maybe not in the top ten. I think a lot of fans wouldn't do that.

You already mentioned this guy. Nico Collins is a star in the making. And you know who still is a star? Mike Evans. I don't care how old he is. Mike Evans is definitely a dog. He don't get the credit he deserved. I think when you look at Mike Evans and what he brings to the game within the quarterback.

It don't matter who the quarterback is, this man just make plays. So that was another kid I forgot about it. Just because they don't say anything. Like you'll never hear him complain. You'll never hear him say anything. He just go out there and get the work done and, hey, off the field. I even like the other kid that played with Tampa Bay. They got hurt.

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, the slot receiver. Why, I'm blanking. Yeah. Yeah. Godwin, Chris Godwin. He got hurt early in the year. Oh, yeah, Chris Godwin. Yeah. Chris Godwin. Those two, that's a really good tandem they have down there. Yeah, and we're not even thinking about young guys like Harrison Jr. and, I mean, Garrett Wilson shows it at times.

I thought he would be even better this year. But whatever. I mean, we can do this. This is a conversation for the off season. As far as this team as constructed, and let's consider Echler out for the year, what would be the best matchup for them in a playoff game? Detroit or Philadelphia? Well, I would rather you play Philly because that would be the third time that you played Philly and this is a division robbery. Because going to Detroit, hey, you don't want none of that smoke Detroit got. Detroit coming.

And we forgot about Amman St. Ro. I said, Amman. St. Brown, yeah. That boy Jameson, he's a dog. Where's Terry right now? No, I'm not thinking. I know. It's just that it's really hard because there are 15 to 20 absolute number one studs. To me, though, Chase and Jefferson are in their own category for me. Yeah, I would agree.

I would agree. But I think you'd rather play Philly. And the reason I say you'd rather play Philly. You're familiar with them. It's a divisional game. It's outside and anything can happen compared to going to Detroit where they're playing in the Dome. And you're used to that Eagles. You're not used to that Detroit fan base or playing in that dome.

I would rather it be the Eagles. All right. Last one for you. Who do you like, period? Who ends up in the Super Bowl? Out of the AFC, Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Who do you have? I don't see Kansas City.

Like, it's hard to count them out because you know they're going to, you know, adjust and get it right, but not having, the run game, like not having Mahomes play at the level that he's been playing. They just find a way to win games. Buffalo kind of got, you know, exposed in the shootout with the rounds. So I like Baltimore to come. I just like that Henry and Lamar, you know, I think they're going to get it right in the playoffs. Like they have enough talent on both sides of the ball that is.

it's going to be really hard to beat down. So I like Baltimore and Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, because they have Jefferson. Like, either of those teams can really get hot in Doggew. But I would say Detroit, I would say Baltimore and Detroit. Like maybe that's not the idea of Super Bowl that they want to see, but I just think those two got enough weapons and going to eventually get rolling where that defense kick in, where you can't, you know, just throw the ball around because Detroit got the dome, so they're going to be in good weather all throughout the playoffs.

And then Baltimore is going to be – you've got to come through them, so it's going to be nasty, and that's how their team. is built, especially, man, Derek Henry in the playoffs, when you already, your body are already aching and now you've got to get in front of this, man. Oh, Lord. I don't think anybody would have a problem. You don't start making business decisions.

Yeah, business decisions. Like, let me see if I could just move out of the way and stick a leg out. I don't think anybody would have a problem with that Super Bowl. That would be a great Super Bowl. I mean, I actually don't discount anybody right now in the NFC.

I think it's a little bit more wide open. than we think. It sounds like you and I are on the same page. I think Green Bay might be the most complete team after Philadelphia, and in some ways more complete than Detroit. But we'll see. Real quickly, before I let you go, because I know how much you love college football as well.

We get the first round of the playoff games this weekend. First question, did you have a problem with SMU over Alabama? I didn't. I think SMU deserved it. especially once they made the move to come back. You know, like the way they fought to finish that ACC championship game, I think they deserve it. And then it's kind of like refreshing.

You know, if college football make that move and put Alabama in Miami in and they didn't play in their championship games, you know, it's kind of like, what's the point? You know, like we don't need to play in the championship game. So I think they kind of made it the right. decision. I don't really think nobody got screwed this year because both of those teams had a chance to kind of control their own destination and lay down. I agree with you on that. These first round games, I can't wait Friday night and then a triple header on Saturday. Notre Dame, Indiana kicks

it off. Then it's SMU Penn State, Clemson versus Texas, Tennessee, Ohio State Saturday night. is there a game that you really like? Is there an underdog that you think has a chance to win out right? I think it's going to be tough just because Oregon, Oregon is the favorite. But I think Ohio State should surprise somebody. I'm kind of chair for Arizona State. I like the way Arizona State played in their championship game.

I like the way Indiana. You don't always like the little underdog just to make it excited. But I think once you get down to those core teams, the Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, it's going to be some good games. I just hope it's upset or something early, you know, just to keep it going, you know. What did you think of that running back, Scataboo from Arizona State? That's why I'm pulling for him because of Scataboo. I actually, you know, he said he was the best running back in college football, and that's the way you're supposed to. to feel. Gentry

went and put on the show, but they're in a different situation. You know, Gentry going to get the ball. He's going to get 30 touches a game. No matter what the school is, no matter what they're doing, he going to get his opportunity. So he can kind of run it up. But that boy,

Skattaboo, I think he can play. I think he's going to be a problem on the next level. He already got the size. And I think he's going to be an issue on the next level. This was fun, as always. I'm glad you're welcome. Congrats on your son, and we'll be following his career, but we'll talk before then. Appreciate it.

I appreciate it, man. Have a good. All right, that was the rest of my Clinton Portis conversation from Monday. That will do it for today. Back tomorrow with Tommy.