The Kevin Sheehan Show - Play Him Or Not?

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

Kevin and Thom discussed how they'd like to the see the team handle the Jayden Daniels' injury this week leading up to the game Sunday against the Bears. They talked Lamar Jackson's performance last night in the Ravens win over the Bucs. Kevin went off on the reporter who grilled Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowels during his post-game press conference. The boys yakked some about the ugly fan scene Saturday night at the Texas-Georgia game and how it seemed to influence the referees to overturn a call. Kevin recapped Maryland's win Saturday against USC and the guys also got to Juan Soto's 10th inning 3-run homer for the Yankees as they finished off Cleveland over the weekend.  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. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Window Nation.

Give them a call, 86690 Nation. We're head to Windonation.com if you need new windows. A Skins fan, 379, amazing podcast, five stars on Apple reviews. Kevin always keeps me interested, gets me through my work. and I can't wait to hear the next show. Always want more. Tom is the best exclamation point. Thank you, Skins fan, 379.

This from Sick Locks. I don't know what that means. Kevin, I've been a listener since I was a kid driving to school, and my dad would turn Cooley and Kevin on the radio. I'm a recent TCU grad and live in Dallas. Oh. But I love that this podcast. keeps me connected to the Redskins also love the Shelley's ads.

Being as young as I am, I did not witness the glory days of the 80s in the early 90s, but only know about them as a distant memory of my dad's youth. That being said, I've come to the conclusion that everything that has happened to this organization throughout my life has led to this season. If Ron didn't stink it up as badly as he did the last two years, we wouldn't have had the chance to take Jaden. Furthermore, Dan's ability to functionally run an organization but his obsession with making off-season inability, excuse me, to functionally run an organization,

but his obsession with making off-season splashes kept the team just good enough to go seven and nine and not draft in the top five for all of those years, when even if we had taken a quarterback, we would never have won because he was the owner. However, the new ownership realized something this time last year that the only way to win sustainably in this league is to have the guy at quarterback. so they traded away Chase and Montez, who possibly would have caused us to win another game or two last season. This is a hell of a review. I believe Jaden will lead us to sustain success

and that we only have Ron to thank for whiffing on taking Jahan over Kyle Hamilton, Forbes over Gonzalez, and others, et cetera, because we likely would be starting Drake May or J.J. McCarthy right now if he had chosen correctly during those years. It's a much more clear headspace that I hope you're, listeners might find freeing. Hail.

Thank you for that. Very nice. You know, it's never healthy to come to a conclusion that your failures led to your successes. It presumes you would not have successes instead of the failures in different situations. When it comes to how they got Jaden Daniels, actually, The key moment was on Christmas Eve when Greg Zerline made a 50-plus-yard field goal for the Jets to beat Washington after Jacoby Percette led them to a near-comeback miraculous win. That would have caused a top, you know, I think they would have picked fifth or sixth or something like that instead of second.

It's funny how those things work out. Yeah. And look, it could have been the reason that they took. the wrong quarterback too. And also I would say it's still way too early to presume that anything they've done is right, except for this, Tommy, except for this. I mean, of course I think they got the right quarterback and we'll talk about the injury and we'll talk about your time out at Northwest Stadium on Sunday. I think that they are an organization right now from the top down that is of course healthier than they've ever been.

But I love how Peters and Quinn seem to be completely on the same page. And I think Quinn was without question here seven games into the season. The best selection as a head coach for this particular young general manager, for this ownership group, for this team and this franchise right now. Is he going to be the best, was he the best X's and O's coach? Was he the best overall coaching prospect? I don't know. I think he was pretty damn good.

But I think the fit is a real good one. They have this, what they talked about, this aligned vision. They have this idea of what the secret sauce is. And I say that half kiddingly, but really half serious, that they are in alignment. I remember Jay Gruden saying, of course, this is. a dysfunctional organization saying that there's just not a connection between the personnel and front office and the coaching staff. And that's always a problem. There's a big connection between Peters and the staff. And I think it's one of the reasons Marcus Marietta was selected and that

Marcus Mariotta was on the field playing at a very high level on Sunday, albeit against a bad opponent. But that's the one thing that I feel good about and feel sure about. Everything else it's still too early. You know, Jaden's injury could be a harbinger of things to come. I mean, that was my number one concern is that the frame, will it hold up? Will he be able to protect himself? I love what he is and what he can be, what he's already been. But, yeah, anyway, love the connection between Peters and Quinn.

I think it's the right pairing for this organization. You know, I'd have to agree with you. He seems to be, he seems to have been the right guy for this moment and this franchise. And there is, you know, it's funny because I talked to Terry McClure and after the game on Sunday, and he spoke about how this organization, how the team has, you know, has set a standard for itself and has expectations for itself. and this is not some abstract thing that, you know, they just talk about. Dan Quinn said after the game that they actually laid out a standard,

written it, wrote it down, like in the strength of what they expect from these players in this organization. And Terry McClure and said they're all on the same page when it comes to that. Yeah. I mean, they, there is this. idea that they are completely in agreement on on what they want the organization to be culturally. And that's important because if you don't have top-down sort of agreement with the head coach and everybody in that locker room,

I think, look, time will tell. I mean, you know, I'm not saying that this draft class is the home run draft class that everybody's convinced it was already. I mean, again, seven games in. If chronic injuries ended up being a part of Jaden's going forward narrative, you know, you might look back and say, well, you should have been able to predict that. I don't know that it would have prevented me from rolling the dice on the player anyway,

because I, even with that concern, I think I would have said, yeah, But the other guys, I mean, they may end up being healthy but may not be any good. Right. Yeah, we got a long way to go. So I want to get to the injury and how they should handle it. But tell me about Sunday and being there and being in the locker room afterwards. Well, Sunday was as good a day as I've seen at that stadium in quite a year. It's one thing.

The weather was absolutely through the roof, gorgeous. The crowd, like the previous home game, was really into it. It was almost primarily a commander's crowd, and there were a little bit more of them this time, about four or five thousand more in terms of attendance, 63,000 and change. Well, then it was a sellout, right? Didn't we see that? They didn't announce it was a shellout. Okay.

You know, if it wasn't, it was just barely not a sellout. Good. sell out. I don't know if it was. Right. But they didn't announce it that way. The previous home game, they had $59,000. So, and the whole Darrell Green, you know, Jersey retirement ceremony, had everybody

in such a good mood, seeing all the alumni, and then the best thing was, they didn't, they didn't misspell his name, they didn't mess anything up, you know? I mean, they, They didn't give it just like a half. I mean, everybody at halftime, when they had the official ceremony, everybody in the stands stayed in their seats.

The stadium was still filled with people to watch the ceremony. I know last year, when they did it with Sunny, you know, it was at the end of the season. Nobody really cared. You know, the stands were half full at halftime when they did it. Everybody was all in for Darrell Green. Sunday and that whole thing. And, you know, that was a feel-good atmosphere. You know, they had a little thing with him at the Legends Plaza

before the game where he spoke, and there was a large crowd there for that. And, you know, it was just, and, you know, all that disappeared. All that disappeared when Jane Daniels went into the locker. Right, right. It just all got wiped away, but slowly built up again, thanks to Marcus Marieto and that coaching staff, you know, sticking with a game plan that took apart a weak opponent, which is about what you're supposed to do with a weak opponent. You're supposed to beat them 40 to 7. That's right. That's what you do when you play bad team.

Yep. You know, they're not supposed to be 23, 21 Slug Fest. So it was one of the best days I've seen at the stadium. And the locker room was really pumped up. You could tell these players are so, the ones who have been here for the pain and suffering, like Terry McCorn and others, are just so elated to talk about what they're doing right now. One thing on the Daryl Green, because I had several people send this to me on social media. I mean, let me just tell you, I'm not worked up over it.

I'll just preface that because at this point, we're in the season, whatever. I do have a question about it, and that is the shirts that they were selling, Daryl Green, with him in his Redskins number 28 jersey, but they scrubbed the logo off the helmet for this particular shirt. I don't know why they would do that. I'll say this for like the millionth time. There's never been anything negative about the logo. There's been no accusation of insensitivity when it's come to the logo.

The name, of course, is something completely different, but I don't know why they would scrub the logo off the helmet that Daryl Green wore when he played. Well, that's a sensitive issue that I can't really speak to. That's a personal fan-based issue. I know but I didn't notice it and I didn't notice there was any fear over it

Yeah there was a bit of a fear on social media over it Which is fine whatever And by the way readily admit that that could be In my sphere of social media People But again like to me

They haven't scrubbed redskins or the logo From any of the NFL film stuff Remember that was one of the concerns back in 2020 So are we going to start just referring to the Super Bowl champion years as Washington? And when we watch NFL films of Super Bowls and NFC championship games and big games, are they going to scrub Redskins from the end zone? Are they going to, you know, no, they haven't done any of that because that's the history. And I'm glad that they haven't touched any of that.

I just, if I were sitting in the room, I would have said, don't do that. Leave the logo there. You're just going to, you know, it's another thing that will be. be brought up and will be criticized from a large group of people that still have a major problem with this. And the logo's never been controversial. There's never been a shred of controversy related to the logo. And so I don't know why they would scrub that. But other than that, let's move on. We had an injury to Jaden Daniels and talked a lot about it, obviously. on the recap show that I did on Sunday.

I talked more about it yesterday. We heard Quinn. The first question I have for you is when they said week to week, and then there was a follow-up question yesterday, and I played that on yesterday's show. But basically, you know, he talked about it's week to week, but it's not a long-term thing, and he hopes that Jaden will be able to play against Chicago.

All of the years, you've been covered, I have as well. When you hear that kind of an answer, what do you assume about the next game in Jaden Daniel's availability? He's playing. You think he's playing against Chicago? Yes. Why? Because when they say they hope to have him for the game, I don't think they open that door unless they think he's playing. Let's face it, we got the diagnosis.

from mom who said he's fine on social media. Right. You know? Yeah. How do you think that went over? With whom? With the medical staff, with the coaching staff, who didn't come out and say he's fine, you know, like mom did. I'm sorry, but that reeks a little bit.

Oh, stop. Stop. Don't do that. Oh, it does. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Come on. It does.

No. I don't agree. It was two words. He's fine. If anything was controversial about the tweet. The most controversial, the thing that piss people off the most was hashtag HTTC. That's the part of her tweet that got the most attention. I'm kidding, of course, but it did get the attention from many.

They're not paying attention, then. Tommy, everybody's parents, friends weigh in on social media now. She didn't give like a long diagnosis with a prognosis. He's fine. Okay. Okay, he's fine. That's not what the coaches said after the game. The coaches actually didn't really have an answer after the game. No, they didn't.

they didn't say well like mom said he's fine well she probably heard it from him I'm sure she did yeah see I would not bet one way or the other today tomorrow I think we'll know more obviously if he practices then there's a pretty good chance he's going to play but I I'm curious as to why you didn't say you know when they very, I think, intentionally used the week-to-week description, there's no doubt that was very intentional. Like this was what they wanted to say week-to-week. Rather than day-to-day, that's to me a bit of a clue, maybe,

that they're not optimistic about this Sunday. I mentioned on the podcast yesterday, too. the line currently is Chicago minus three. So the boys in the desert, the odds makers, believe that there's a pretty good chance he's not going to play. That line went from Washington minus one and a half to now Chicago minus three. But I also think there's an element to this where they're a bit unsure. I did talk to somebody, and I mentioned this yesterday,

that said really it's about, you know, Quinn was 100% straight up. They're not going to know until we get deeper into the week to see how he feels. You know, he's not an excruciating pain. You know, he talked about it not being an impact injury. It's more of a torque or a rotational injury to his rib. But I guess I was a bit surprised that you didn't say he's not playing this week because they said week to week versus day to day. No, I think they would have been more cautious if he wasn't playing.

Look, I think it's a comfort level thing. I mean, I don't think it's the kind of thing. I guess he could do more damage. You know, you could always do more damage. But, like, it's not a structural thing, you know? It's not like below the waist where it would have been the major concern. The best thing I can say for the fans, Quinn said yesterday, this is not something that's a long-term issue, and that's why we listed him as week-to-week, and like I said, we're hopeful he'll play this weekend, closed quote.

I think, you know, because of the history around here, you know, 2012, January 2013, a playoff game against Seattle, I think that there is this inclination or this immediate reaction, which is very protected. from a lot of fans. Like, don't play them. There's no reason to play him. You're already five and two. Mario, by the way, played excellent football on Sunday. He was an A in that game.

And so don't risk anything. He needs to be 100% healthy. This is not, you know, this isn't the playoffs. And by the way, people didn't want RG3 to play back in, you know, the 2012 season at the end because, and it was the playoffs, and they were playing for the postseason. You don't seem to feel that way. You said, as long as he's comfortable, send him out there because there's not a big risk. Yeah.

That's my view. But you know what? I'm not a doctor or I'm not his mother. So I'm not an expert. Stop! Stop doing that. Why are you doing that? All right, just because you had a little bit of a dust up, you know, last spring.

Yeah. No, this has nothing to do with that. Uh-huh. All right. This was a fit of the right flag, not crimson red. She wasn't in the locker room tweeting it out, waiting for the team to come in. That's what happened with the last guy. I know it did.

Yes, it did. They were in the locker room all the time. I don't know about all the time, but certainly, you know, at inappropriate times. Actually, the last time was when the owner said, when the owner was with Dwayne in the, Dwayne Haskins in the locker room. Yeah. You know, there are a couple of things about Sunday. One, it is kind of a big NFC showdown game in late October. You know, we're not, this is.

week eight coming up. We are basically, you know, approaching the halfway mark of the season. And Washington is in the running to not only win a division, but they may also ultimately, depending on how Philly plays, and Dallas, I guess,

but probably the bigger threat is Philadelphia. They may be battling for a wild card spot towards the end of the year. And one of the teams they may end up battling it out for, say, the six or seven spot, could be Chicago. And so the game that they play Sunday could have playoff ramifications down the road.

I would play him if he's 100% healthy. If he's not 100% healthy, then I don't think I would play him because I don't want him playing differently on Sunday. I don't want him playing protectively. You know, I don't want him concerned about getting hit. I don't want him to have any discomfort when he throws the football. You know, even if your plan was to say, all right, we're not going to run zone reads, which, by the way, you have to present that. It's one of the reasons this offense is thriving right now.

But we're not going to have him pull on any zone reads. We're going to, you know, have him, you know, we're going to throw a lot of quick game. We're not going to drop him back as much as we did, say, against Baltimore. You can't go into a game that way. You've got to go into a game with the best game plan that gives you a chance to win. I would not play him. I would not approach this game like it's must have, must win, even though it could be very significant when we get towards the end of the year.

I wouldn't. I would be super protective of him Sunday. I did not feel that way back in 2012, as you know, we were doing a show together about a playoff game. That's completely different. Not to mention the fact that during that playoff game, the head coach was going to put Kirk Cousins into the game in the second half, but the doctor came out with Griffin and said,

it has nothing to do with the knee. It was the brace that was making him look hobbled. The brace was falling off his knee and it wasn't on correctly. We just fixed it. So I like it. I like emphasizing that, as you know, because I still can't stand the people that create, you know, what happened that day into something that didn't happen. You tend to twist it. I don't twist it.

I just told you what the head coach told us. There was a point on the field where he was crippled and he was still in the game. Not at halftime. Yeah, but the doctor kept saying he's fine. It's the brace. I know that. But all you needed to see, all you needed to do was see with your eyes. Okay.

Well, look, he saw it with his eyes and he went to put the backup quarterback into the game to start the second half. And the doctor and the player, you know, the player lied to him. The player got caught lying to him when he was picked up on the mic talking to Trent Williams on the sideline. It's funny. A clip that has disappeared from existence. Has it? Yeah. You can't find that anywhere.

Why is that? How could somebody make it disappear? It was an NFL films thing. I don't know. It's never surfaced. It's never surfaced, except for that one time. I would be cautious. If he's 100% healthy, he's playing.

If he's 100% healthy and he's Jaden, he's playing. If it's going to be uncomfortable for him to play, even slightly, I'm sitting him. And I'm not playing him. I'll play him against when he's 100% ready to go. And I'll just say this, while Marcus Mariotta is nowhere near the caliber of quarterback that Jaden Daniels is, I wouldn't discount their possibility significantly to win the game Sunday if he is the starting quarterback. I would still give him a chance to win that game with Marioada at quarterback. I think the offensive coordinator's doing a hell of a job.

I think the offensive line's doing a hell of a job. I think they've got other players that have really stepped up. I'd certainly give them a fighting chance as a three-point underdog if Mariota's got to start the game. Not the same level of chance I'd give him with Jane Daniels, but I'd give him a chance to win a game. No would I. Yeah.

I would too. With Marioada, absolutely. Okay. Anything else on the team? So you're playing him even if you're playing him, even if he's not 100% I'm, if he's not 100% I am definitely sitting him.

And you've got a problem with the mother's two-word tweet. What does 100% mean? 100%. He feels totally normal, totally healthy. There's no twinge. There's no, when he goes to throw the ball,

there's not, you know, it's fine, but it's not, you know, 100%. I mean, obviously they've got doctors involved too. They've got x-rays. they'll be able to say, you know, but I think a lot of this will come down to, you know, what he's able to do if they put him on the field this week.

Well, I'm with mom. He's fine. All right. I want to talk about a couple of things, including the game last night between Baltimore and Tampa Bay. There was a lot to that game, starting with just how incredible Lamar Jackson is. We'll get to that and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey everybody, this episode is brought to you by Manscaped,

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You know, YouTube TV, Sunday ticket, I have that. You had to be an ESPN plus customer to get that game. Man, they have gouged the NFL public. That to me is actually... They have nickel and dined, everybody to the point where they look at their bill and see all the... I mean, in order to watch any NFL game this year, every NFL game, the cost would be enormous. I think it's, I forget what somebody had put out like, you know,

I don't know if it was John Orand Puck or one of those outlets, but I think basically it approached like $1,000 for the entire season if you wanted to watch every game. Now let me just say, I am an ESPN Plus customer already. I pay for that content. I just didn't know that, so it took me a while to figure it out. And then when I did, I had the game, but I thought, wow. man, I mean, they're trying to get, you know, another $9.95 a month, $99 a year or whatever it is.

I don't even know what I'm paying. It's like a lot of these things that just show up on the credit card. It's like, really, I'm paying for that. But that seems to be a bit much. I think there's another game this year that's an ESPN plus game. But let's talk about the first game last night. Lamar Jackson is so obviously right now the best quarterback in the NFL. Would I take him over Patrick Mahomes? I would not. But in terms of the way he is playing right now,

he is the best quarterback in the NFL. He's also playing at a level that he's never played at before. You know, I said this last week after we saw him play our team, how incredible he was as a passer from the pocket. as a processor, as, you know, the accuracy, although the worst passing through that day was the one that got picked off. It was just barely off the tight end's hands, you know, popped up into the air and it was picked off by Sanristol. But Lamar Jackson last night, I mean, he threw five touchdown passes. He rushed for six yards of carry, 52 yards. He was a lead blocker on Derek, on a long run by Derek Henry. Derek Henry had like no yards, you know, entering late third quarter.

He ended up with 169 yards rushing. This team is scary good. He still has to clear the hurdle of postseason wins, Super Bowl. He's got to get there. Quarterbacks, whether it's fair or not. You know, Dan Marino has always been measured on not having won a Super Bowl, and I think he's the greatest passer and one of the first. top four or five quarterbacks I have ever watched, period.

But people ding him constantly because he only got to one and he didn't win any. Lamar's got to get to one. He's probably got to win one. But he is clearly headed for the most resounding MVP award that he's gotten. I mean, I know that they've got another 10 games to play. This is the highest level of Lamar we have ever seen. He is special to watch. He's so much fun to watch.

There's something about him in general that I've just always liked. He's beloved, Tommy, as you know, by people in that organization. And has been since the moment he came into that organization. But this dude has the highest, right now, the highest yards per pass attempt of his career, and it's not even close. He's the most accurate. he's ever been. His completion percentage is 68.2%. That's the highest it's ever been. He's on his way to his biggest yardage season by far. He's at 15 touchdowns, two picks. So he's headed towards

potentially the best touchdown season he's ever had. He's been sacked the least amount, you know, on pace in his career. He's just amazing. And the running threat, that he is will always be there. And you want to talk about a guy that doesn't play with, with like protective mindset. He got smacked around last night. He always gets smacked around, but he just keeps getting up. And I know he's been hurt and he's missed games during his career.

And that would be devastating this year to the Ravens. I can't tell you how much of a pleasure it is to sit down as a football fan and watch Lamar Jackson play right now. It's such a high level, and the Ravens, you know, they're not great on defense. It's not a great defensive team like it was last year. But, man, the addition of Henry, the emergence of Bateman to go with, you know, Zay Flowers, and Andrews now is back and healthy and catching touchdowns again, he's amazing, amazing. And they were down 10-0-0.

right off the bat last night. He got sacked twice. And after that, it was like, yeah, no worries. They scored the next 34 points in the game. And 1-41 to 31 if you didn't know that about last night. And let's remember that he didn't come into the league that way. Oh, no. I mean, he was a rough proler when he came into the league. He had all kinds of issues throwing the ball.

And, I mean, he was not nearly the polished quarterback that Jane Daniels is. A hundred percent right. You know? Yeah. Not nearly close. It's taken a while for him to get to this point. But you got, again, not like, I mean, not like the Ravens need more credit. But, you know, they picked him 29th.

He was like a sandwich pick, I think, or something like that in the draft. Some kind of. No, he was the last pick in the first round. There are 32 teams. He was picked 32nd in the draft. Yes. That was the Baker Mayfield draft, the Sam Darnold draft, the Josh Allen draft. And then what's his face from UCLA?

Josh Rosen. Those were all the quarterbacks. I might be forgetting one that were taken before him in that draft. Cooley called him in that draft. And it wasn't inaccurate at the time. He said, Lamar Jackson's easily the best running back in this draft. He's better than Barclay. He's the best running.

back in the draft. But that's really what he was coming out of Louisville. To your point, nowhere near as polished as Jaden Daniels is as a passer in his rookie year. Nowhere near. Look, he wasn't that polished two years ago as a passer. He is now. Well, do you think that, and you kind of mentioned it with the additions, but do you think having a guy like Derek Henry back there gives him a level of comfort. Well, I mean, he's got a Hall of Fame running back who's clearly not done by any stretch of the imagination to go with a Hall of Fame dual threat quarterback who can also, by the way, shred you now from the pocket. Look, their running backs have always feasted because of Lamar,

Gus Edwards, you know, all of them. And they've all gotten hurt, you know, over the years. All of them have always benefited from having. Lamar be this incredible run threat. And now Derek Henry is benefiting from that as well. The difference is Derek Henry actually doesn't require benefit from anybody. He's that good. I mean, to watch, he had an 81-yard run last night. That's the second 80-plus-yard run he's had this season.

Think about that. Do you know how rare it is for running backs to have 80-yard runs? And he had one last night, and he got caught in. inside the five, there was an angle from the safety. But to watch a man that large run that fast is just amazing. From afar, I've been a Lamar Jackson fan, and I've rooted for him to progress as a passer. Because I think people like that who are clearly great teammates,

great for an organization, and there has been, I think Tommy, justified criticism of the Ravens and Lamar for their life. lack of postseason success. They have not been able to come from behind, you know, on the strength of his arm from the pocket in the postseason. That hasn't happened yet. I think they're ready to do that now if they get behind. But he's going to win the MVP. I actually want to see if my bookie's got updated odds because he's got to be a heavy favorite now over Mahomes. But what were you going to say? You were going to say,

say something else, I think. No, I was going to say something about Derek Henry. I don't know if you read this or not, and it was kind of a, they've made a big deal about it. There have been stories about how much this guy spends on himself. Yes. In terms of preparing to play, in terms of nutrition and physical development. And it's like a quarter of a million dollars a year that he spends on himself. Yeah.

with trainers and nutritionists and stuff. And so that's why, I mean, the idea that he was done at this age was really a miscalculation. Yes. The Cowboys really effed up big time. Yes, they did. Big time. But that's where he wanted to play. That's where he wanted to play.

Yeah. So I wanted to talk about something else that happened in this. game at the end of the game, which led to an exchange between Todd Bowles during his post-game press conference and a reporter. And it got some attention late last night and today. And I'm going to play that exchange for you here in a moment. But before I do, let me give you this setup to the back and forth between Bowles and this reporter. So the setup is this. Tampa Bay last night, if you didn't watch the game, they took a quick 10-to-nothing lead. And then Baltimore went on a run.

A lot of it was self-inflicted by Tampa. They threw two interceptions, but they went from up 10 to down 34 to 10, entering the fourth quarter. They made it 34 to 18, and then Baltimore scored again with six and a half minutes to go to go up 41 to 18 with six and a half minutes to go. pretty much game over 99 times out of 100, probably even more than that. Except for, in this case, Tampa Bay on their next drive, went down the field, scored in about two and a half minutes. They went for two, they missed it, so it was 41 to 24. But they recovered the ensuing onside kick.

It was actually a very effective onside kick by their kicker, Chase McGlachlan. It was one of those where he kicked it hard on the ground. It bounced up, but it was going forward. I mean, they recovered it in air. Tampa did 10 yards down the field, but it wasn't one of those where the Baltimore hands team botched the fielding of it or fumbled the fielding of it. It was well executed, and they went down and they scored another touchdown.

They kicked the extra point, but with two minutes to go in the game, game now, it's 41 to 31. Now, you know, we've seen enough football. We've seen crazier things happen. And so Tampa still had three timeouts, but they, of course, were going to kick the onside kick again because they need two possessions. And they did not get the onside kick. But they had three timeouts left and they used them on defense and they got the ball back

with a minute and a half left in the game down 41. to 31. So, you know, you're looking for a couple of big throws, a quick field goal attempt to cut it to 4134, and then you take your shot on another on-side kick. And if you recover it, you might have a chance to throw Hail Mary or something, maybe even closer to try to tie the game. So down 4131, after they forced a punt, they took over with a minute and a half left. And on third and long Baker Mayfield threw a pass to Chris Godwin for 21 yards into out to the Tampa Bay 40-yard line. There's still, by the way, a minute left in the game. And Chris Godwin on the play got hurt. In fact, he dislocated his ankle. And he was carted off the field and it was a somber moment.

He's a great player. They had lost Mike Evans to a hamstring injury earlier in the game. So their two best wide receivers are now out of the game. And so they ended up not getting into field goal range. Actually, they got close to field goal range. I'll talk about that in a moment. But they lost the game 41 to 31. And so after the game, this was the exchange between the reporter and Todd Bowles. Coach, you're down to 10.

You don't have any timeouts. It's under a minute. You would need a score, an onside kick, another score. Why is Chris God winning the game without him? Well, he's a player. We're trying to win the ball game. I mean, we were still down 10. We were trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick.

It just happened. Mike going down, we didn't have that many receivers left as it was, so we play what we got. Isn't that even more perhaps important to preserve Chris for the Falcons, Mike's possibly not going to play? Well, you can say that because he got hurt. We don't second guess. We got our guys.

We're playing everybody we got. So unfortunately he got hurt. We feel bad about that. But he's a football player. He wanted to be in the game, just like Baker and everybody else wanted to be in the game. Don't you have an obligation to protect your players from themselves? I do protect my players all the time. It has nothing to do with why we left him in the ball game.

We still have a shot to score some points and win the ball game. It happened. It happens in football. So Tommy, I'll start with this and just give me a little bit of, time here. I would have not handled the reporter with the same temperament that Todd Bowles did. I would have lost it. I would have absolutely lost it. Maybe not on the initial question, but certainly by the time he got to questioning my responsibilities and protecting my own players, I would have had a major issue with it because it's coming from a place, in my opinion.

Sorry about this. But it's coming. from a place where, you know, two things are likely. One, this guy just is clueless about kind of football. Two, this person has never competed in anything, you know, in their life. There's no competitive spirit. I'm not even talking about sports. Sports, life, business, whatever. Because when you're down 10 and there's a minute and a half left in the game,

you are doing exactly what Todd Bulls. described. You're trying to win the game. You have gotten yourself back into a position where you have a chance. It's not a great chance. I understand that. Ten times last year, I went and looked this up. Ten times last year in 2023, teams down by 10 or more in the fourth quarter or 17 points or more in the third quarter, meaning three scores, came back to win games. It has to It happened 10 times last year. Maybe not exactly this setup like last night, but I remember one game, a Monday night game last year,

between the Dolphins and the Titans, Will Levis. The Titans were down 14 points with two minutes to go, came back and won the game in regulation, I'm pretty sure. I think they went for two and the wins. So, you know, 10 times last year it happened where teams were down a bunch and came back to win games. hardly the craziest scenario last night if they had come back to win the game or tie the game that we've ever seen. And for somebody to be that stuck on the injury that happened while Todd Bowles' team was competing to try to win the game,

it's just, it would have been too much for me. Now, I want to mention one thing. when they went down 41 to 18 with six and a half minutes to go, down 23 with six and a half minutes to go, if he had conceded or tapped out at that point and called it off and said, I'm pulling my starters. You know, I've already lost Mike Evans tonight. I'm going to pull Chris Godwin. I'm going to pull the running back that's been good for them here recently, Tucker. This game, you know, it's not worth trying to to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to,

come back from 18 points down, I'm sorry, 23 points down with six and a half to go. I mean, we'd have to recover two on side kicks. We'd have to get a couple of stops. That would have been fine to me. You know, if you're going to tap out, and I don't even like to use that description in that particular scenario that I just laid out, but that would have been, that would have been fine. You know, you don't see 23 down, six and a half minutes to go happen. that is super rare. Down 10 with two minutes to go, a minute and a half to go, much less rare. Still unlikely,

but we've seen that more often. So if he had decided, I'm pulling my starters with six and a half to go, down 23 points, that to me would have been an understandable position, especially considering they hadn't stopped the Ravens at all, you know, and they just couldn't get out of their own way. once they decided to just, you know, see how it went and they scored 13 straight points and it's a 10 point game, now you go for it. You absolutely go for it. And to go for it, you've got to keep your best players in the game. Because you're trying to win the game. So I just completely disagree with, you know, that reporter's line of questioning in anybody that. that would suggest that Todd Bowles was somehow irresponsible by keeping Chris Godwin in the game. Just don't buy into that at all.

Not down 10 with a minute and a half to go. Now, interestingly, I think he should have kicked the field goal. I think McLaughlin must not have the leg or the wind was an issue, but they were in range at the Baltimore 43-yard line with about 30 seconds to go, 25 seconds to go. and they could have kicked the field goal there. It would have been a 60-yarder, so maybe Bowles didn't feel like he could make that, and he wanted to try to get another completion.

They would have had to get a completion and out of bounds. And at some point, you've got to kick the field goal, or are you going to run out of time? They ended up running out of time. They didn't kick the field goal, and they ended up not getting additional yards with the clock stopped, and they lost 41 to 31. By the way, I'll also mention that Todd Bowles,

last year against the Lions in the playoffs, down by eight in the final 40 seconds of the game, when Dan Campbell botched the handling of the clock and took a knee on third down with still 30 seconds left on the play clock and about 30-something seconds left in the game, Bulls had an extra time out and didn't use it. And I crushed him for that. You know, it just, I think it completely caught him off guard that Detroit didn't handle the knee-out situation in the right way, and he didn't call a timeout. They had a chance to force a punt, get the ball back down eight. That was a playoff game. But last night, once you, you know, had the momentum of 13 straight points, cutting it to 10, having already executed perfectly an on-side kick, you got to go for it.

I mean, only, you know, someone who's never been in that mode of, we still have a chance, which is a very, you know, I think for certain people, you're always thinking about how you can win. You know, you can win the game. You can win the whatever transaction you're involved in, you know, until you can't do it anymore. But there is a point, you know, earlier where you could cut your losses, you know. And again, I think at 41 to 18, six and a half minutes to go, fine if he decides, nope, this one's over. But he didn't, and they got back into it. And they had a scant long shot chance, but they had a chance.

And once you had already used your timeouts, you're not taking Chris Godwin or Baker Mayfield out of the game. You're going for it. I mean, it's kind of obvious to me. I don't, it may not be obvious to a lot of you, a lot of you, and that's fine. We can agree to disagree, but I bless Todd Bowles's heart, man, because he does have a temperament that just in those situations, I'm sure, you know, below the surface, he's like, this guy's, is he kidding? Like, we're down 10. We just cut a 23 point lead to 10.

we got the ball back, we actually have a chance. You only get 17 of these. And again, 10 times last year, 10 times, teams came back from big deficits in the third or fourth quarter. Three scores in the third quarter, two scores or more in the fourth quarter to win games. We've seen much crazier shit happen than what Tampa Bay was trying to pull off last night. We would have never had the you like that moment from you know who if Shanahan had, I'm sorry, if Jay Gruden had tapped out. Anyway, that's it. What do you want to say?

This is, all this stuff, it's all football geekdom. The only thing that mattered in this conversation in this little soliloquy that you just gave us is that you pictured yourself in a lot of. a press conference. Yeah. That's the best part of all this. You know, by the way, not as the reporter, but as the subject. No, that's right. As a subject.

Yes. I mean, I can't imagine what you would be like running a press conference and having to deal with questions like that. You know, you would have so many times where you'd come away from the press conference, go into an office, and you'd say, why the hell did I do that? I just listening to that guy, this guy was convinced that Todd Bowles

had made this horrific, horrific mistake in not protecting his star player at the end of a game that they're still trying to win. That would have been, that would have set me off. But there are plenty of people that think that would. Have I? Have I ever done a press conference? Oh, yeah.

In any of your doing? Absolutely. I used to do them all the time for one of the businesses I was involved in was a business that generated a ton of publicity. It was the early days, I've told the story before, but I was involved in kind of the early days of internet grocery shopping. And it was a big, you know, there was a lot of buzz around that particular. Retail.com because the grocery industry is, you know, the biggest retail industry there is. Right. People were, you know, doing the math on if people start to shop this way, how big it would be.

And when we would open up a new market, you know, I would do not press conferences, but press avails. Like, we would get a lot of press. And I would do a ton of interviews. Not the same thing. not the same. No, it's not the same. It's standing up in front of a bunch of microphones. Yeah, I've done, I've done, I did.

Haven't, having to stop yourself from saying, that's a stupid question. You know, now that I think about it, did I, I probably did in front of a, you know, in front of a podium with reporters around, but it was small, Tommy. You know, it was like, you know, the local newspapers, you know, television station or two, and that was basically, you know, kind of it. You know, the supermarket chains that we were in business with, you know, they did have a lot of clout locally, and when we would open up with them, it would be kind of a joint press conference or a joint press avail.

But the reason I'm continuing to talk about this is there were, you know, a lot of critical questions. Like, you know, in the early days, it was like, well, why would, somebody let, you know, someone else pick out their produce for them? You know, are you going to discount this for seniors, you know, are you going to have delivery people that are reliable, that are going to be able to deliver safely, and how's the product going to be protected? Like, there was a lot of that stuff, you know, and we had all the answers to it. But, but, yeah, anyway, yes. Yeah, I pictured myself as Todd Bulls. Not as emotional as a football,

press connor. No, no, not really. No, no. But in some ways, more important. All right, we'll finish it up with a couple of other things, including I did want to mention the Maryland win on Saturday. I haven't had a chance to weigh in on that. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, prize picks is the place to go to for daily fantasy sports. I have the prize picks app. I'm one of the over 10 million members at prize picks where billions of dollars are awarded in winnings. Prize picks has made Daily Fantasy Sports accessible to everybody. You just pick more or less on at least two players and their projected stats for a shot

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Use Code Sheehan to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Again, download. the app today and use code Sheehan to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, run your game. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Okay, Shelly's backroom at 1331 S3 Northwest. I've told you many times it's a place to go before a game, before Commander's game. Last Sunday, it would have been a perfect place to hang out before you head it to the stadium.

The stadium is only, you know, maybe a 15-minute drive away from Shelly's. And it's a great place to go after the game, like similar to this Sunday, where you have a 425 start against the Bears after the game. You know, you stop the Shelly's, have a smoke, and you never know who you're going to run into sometimes when you're at Shelly's. It turns out that Shelly's has become a post-game sort of hangout. for some of the people who broadcast the commander's games, including London Fletcher and others. You know, that's the kind of place Shelley's is.

Shelly's can be sometimes a star-studded place. And where else would you want to be after a game, then with the stars in this town? That's where they'll be at Shelley's Backroom. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. hey, that's where I usually am after a commander's game at Shelly's backroom. Tommy's there holding court, not press conferences, but he's holding court at Shelly's. By the way, I just looked it up. Lamar Jackson at my bookie.ag, use my promo code, Kevin D.C., for a doubling of your initial deposit. Yeah, they'll double your initial deposit.

You'll have twice as much money to bet with if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C., at my bookie.ag. Lamar Jackson now a solid favorite. He has passed Patrick Mahomes. He's plus 240 to win the MVP. Mahomes is plus 410. I mean Mahomes has... What's Jason Daniels? So he has dropped after... Where is he? Okay, he's dropped from where he was last week. So he's plus 2,000. He's behind Darnold, Burrow, Jordan Love, Stroud, Gough,

Allen, Mahomes, and Lamar. Oh. Wow. Don't get a rib injury. Don't get a rib injury. There's the lesson. You know who's having a sensational year all around is Jared Gough. I mean, a big time year.

And Jordan Love looks great for Green Bay, too. I actually think those are the two best teams right now in the NFC, Detroit and Green Bay. Anyway, my bookie... Washington won't have to play either of them until they make the playoff. That's right. Until they get to the postseason. Don't have to play any of those players, any of those teams.

All right, I wanted to, two things from Saturday, college football-wise. Number one, I'm assuming you didn't really watch Texas, Georgia, right? Did you or not? You're assuming, right. Yeah. So there's a moment in the Texas Georgia game. Georgia, by the way, so dominant on defense. It was shocking to watch, you know, the number one team in the country, Texas,

who everybody bought into as being the best team in the country. And Georgia hadn't been super impressive, you know, to that point on Saturday night. They had, you know, lost to Bama, even though they came back in dramatic fashion to take the lead in that game. They beat Kentucky by a point. They gave up a bunch of points against Mississippi State. They went into Austin, Tommy, on Saturday night, and they kicked the crap out of Texas. Texas had at one point in the first half, seven total yards. But there was a play early in the second half with Georgia up 23 to nothing is what they were up. And they had an interception Texas did that was waved off for defensive pass interference.

The score actually at the time was 23 to 8. It was in the late third quarter. Carson Beck throws an interception. Now Texas has a chance to get right back into the game, but they called defensive pass interference. Well, the fans went ballistic, and they started throwing things out onto the field. It was a bad call.

You know, it wasn't the worst call I've ever seen, but the offensive player really initiated the contact, which is why it probably should not have been called. And if anything, it could have been called offensive pass interference. So the fans littered the field with stuff. So that causes a delay. And then, before you know it, the referees on the field have overturned the call. and ruled it in interception, first down Texas at the Georgia 9-yard line. Georgia scores, Texas scores, and it's 23 to 15, and it's ballgame back on. I was shocked.

The delay to clean up the field and the scene at that stadium because of that call, and the referees overturned it in favor of the home team. Now, there's discussion that they were discussing this even before, they were going to discuss it even before the field got littered with everything. But my God, that is a terrible precedent to set. If they saw the reaction and now fans know, hey, if we don't like a call, we can start chucking everything onto the field and they'll overturn it. That's a good point.

I mean, if they're watching in Columbus and Tuscaloosa and other places, yeah. Really amazing. Picked up the flag. And to be honest with you, I didn't think, I've seen much worse calls. I've seen much worse. Anyway, bottom line is Texas did score. It was 23 to 15, but Georgia then went right down the field and scored themselves to make it 30 to 15. It was a hell of an answer after all of that.

And they ended up winning the game 30 to 15. Really intense atmosphere. You know, I got to call a game in Austin. I got to call Maryland against Texas back in 20, what year was that? 2015, 2016, in the season opener because Johnny had like. a conflict and couldn't make it. And it was an 11 a.m. start. And it was just not a great atmosphere at all.

Maryland won. They won that game. They beat Texas two years in a row. They then beat them the next year in a rematch at FedEx Field. I did want to mention Maryland's win Saturday in College Park against USC. I didn't get a chance to mention it on Sunday show or yesterday. day's show, big win over there, you know, long-time Big Ten rival. But, you know, all seriousness, this was a must-win situation for the Terps from this

standpoint, not that they're in the race for a Big Ten title or a playoff berth or anything like that, no. But they have gone to bowl games three consecutive years under Michael Oxley. They've won all three of those bowl games. They've had two eight-win seasons, one-seven-win season, during. this stretch. He's got a great recruiting class coming in next year, and a losing season, a non-bowl season, would have kind of stopped the train a bit in its tracks. And they were coming off a terrible loss at home to Northwestern, 37 to 10. They were three and three, and they were

staring a potential losing season in the face if they had lost Saturday to the Trojans because they still play Oregon, they still play Iowa, they still play Penn State. You got to get to six, I think, for bowl eligibility. So they really needed to get this game. And USC, even though they were three and three coming in, they had lost, you know, they'd beaten LSU, they had lost an overtime game that was winnable against Penn State. They had lost a super close competitive game that went down to the wire against Michigan. They lost to Minnesota at the very end. And of the game on the road. So USC wasn't great coming in, but they were really close to being near perfect. And so Maryland was a seven point underdog in this game. They won the game,

29 to 28. They came from 28 to 14 down in the fourth quarter to win the game by a point and get a fourth win, go to four and three, and now with Rutgers still on the schedule, Minnesota this week, you know, they've got a home game against Iowa. They're probably not going to beat Oregon, probably not going to beat Penn State the number one and number three teams in the country. So they've got a chance to win two of those three and get to six and six to get to that sixth win and bowl eligibility. But anyway, long story short, because it's getting too long on a team that many of you don't care if I talk about or not, but many of you do. I don't know how they won this game. I mean, at no point did it appear.

as if they were going to win this game. They did the things they have done for a while now. They committed stupid penalties. They had a penalty on a missed field goal. God, they've done that a few times this year. And instead of it being, you know, their ball near midfield in a scoreless game, SC retains possession. They go in, they make it seven to nothing.

It was 14 to 7, and they've got a penalty on a punt, another special teams play. USC takes a 21 to 7 lead. There were so many different things along the way that, you know, certainly led me to believe in watching it that this is not going to go well. This is not going to be a win. They didn't manage the two-minute warning very well with timeouts. They left USC into a position where they could throw the football. You never call a timeout with the two-minute warning with 205-206 left. because it just gives the other team free license to throw the football. You know, colleges now have the two-minute warning, and you've seen it throughout college football this year. A lot of coaches haven't gotten the hang of how do you manage a two-minute warning with timeouts when you're trying to get the ball back, and Maryland did one of the worst things you can do, which is call a timeout giving USC free license to throw the football with no downside to throwing it because the clock's going to stop anyway at the end of the play.

Anyway, long story short, they went for two down eight. That's a two-point analytics thing. And I don't always agree with it. I think context has a lot to do with that. But Maryland's got talent, man. They've got skilled position talent, and they went for it. They got it to cut it to 2822. They got the ball back.

And, you know, after, by the way, a missed field goal by USC, USC had a fourth and one at the two-minute warning after they threw the ball and did not complete the pass. They gave kind of free license for them to throw it. They threw it incomplete, so the play ended with the two-minute warning, or they threw it complete, but it ended up being short of the first down. And instead of going for fourth and one, they tried a 41-yard field goal USC did, chip shot to get to 31 to 22 game over or almost game over. but Marilyn would have had to score kicking on side kick,

which they would have still had a chance, still would have gone for it. You wouldn't have pulled your starters down nine like apparently Todd Bowles was supposed to do last night. But anyway, they blocked the field goal. They blocked the field goal. They took over in USC territory. They went down the field.

Billy Edwards scored on a three-yard run with about 50 seconds to go. put Maryland up, they got the extra point, 29, 28, and then USC having a chance to get into field goal range, had a play over the middle for the tight end on a short pass that completed. They would have been in field goal range, would have had a first down, and the defender, and I'm forgetting who it was. I had it in my notes, and I can't find it, came up and made a huge play causing an incompletion. They've got players. They really do. I mean, you know, Ty Felton is an NFL receiver. I think Caden Prather is an NFL receiver. I love, I've loved Hemby forever. I like, I really like number five, Octavian Smith.

Love the freshman running back, Nolan Ray, have always loved Colby McDonald. Billy Edwards, you know, 39 a 50 for 373 on the day. They've got some big hitters and some playmakers defensively, love Glendon Miller. So good win for them. I don't know how they did it. I was shocked at the end of it, but thrilled that they got it done and they get to four and three.

And now as a three-point dog Saturday in Minneapolis against Minnesota, they got a chance to really now, you know, create some momentum. And then they'll have a shot, believe it or not, you know, at the number one team in America, assuming they will still be the number one team in America. They play Illinois this week, Oregon does. And then they play at Michigan,

who can't score, can't really move the football that well. And Maryland might, you know, play their first ever game against Oregon in Eugene, out in stadium against a number one team in the country with a, you know, hopefully a little bit of a winning streak going and a five and three record. That would be actually kind of fun to watch. So congrats to the Terps. Sorry for going so long on Maryland football. But I was excited for them and also shocked at the end of that, but thrilled. All right. Do you have anything else?

I wanted to mention, did you see the Soto home run when it happened? Oh, I did. I was watching it live when it happened. What a great bat. He was so great at that at bat. I mean, he was looking at the pitcher in between each pitch, you know, shaking his head. you know, the shuffle and all that. And he gets away with it, you know, because people don't sense it's self-absorbed.

You know, it's like the moment of competition. You talk about competition for him. It is that moment of competition when it's pitcher against batter. And he loves that, you know, and with that home run, that meant that he's New York now. No longer Washington. I thought the same thing. But didn't you think that before that home run? Well, not necessarily.

I mean, San Diego was like a way station. It's San Diego. You know, I think when people still thought of Juan Soto, they thought of the Nationals and the 2019 playoff. I think now the first thing you'll think of is Juan Soto is being a Yankee and the dramatic home run he hit. And now he's part of New York history. Washington history, you're going to have to Google and look down a little bit.

With that home run, he became New York history. And Washington is an afterthought. Well, he's not an afterthought for us, for Nats fans. I know that. I know that. I understand what you're saying. New York is the center of the baseball universe. And he loves being a Yankee, by the way,

who aren't the people who know him close, loves playing for the Yankees. So what you said about, you know, the theatrics of a Juan Soto at bat in that spot where, you know, there's a stare down of the pitcher. We've seen, we saw that certainly during 2019. We saw it always with Soto. Soto. There is definitely a recognition that that's not a, you know, a mocking of the opponent. It's not a showboating move. It is the way he gets himself. ready. So I think there's a recognition in baseball that that is not something that he's doing to be antagonistic at all. No, you're right, absolutely, which really speaks to what kind of guy he is. Clearly. And what kind of teammate he is, is that that is seen as, because people who know him, know he's not like that at all. Right. You know? So it was, it was, it was going to, you know,

It's a Yankee lure now. You know, it was such a great at bat. It wasn't just a home run. It was such a great at bat, where he was waiting for this guy to make the mistake, and he said, I'll keep fouling these pitches off until you give me what I want. It was one.

And then, when you do that, to be able to hit the home run when you get your pitch. I mean, Stanton's done the same thing in this series, judge had the one in the game that they lost to Cleveland, you know, in extras. This was, though, so intense. And I was watching it as it happened. And the intensity just builds as he fouls off, you know, multiple pitches in a row. I think the count was one and two.

And then to your point, you know, he's just waiting for the one slight mistake in the one pitch. And he delivers on it. It was really, really. incredible to see it. And you know the guy who went, the guy who went back on the wall to try to catch it? Was it Lane Thomas? Yeah. That was his teammate in Washington for a year.

I know. Yeah. Seeing a lot of these former Nats in the postseason. All right. We'll talk more about Dodger Yankees on Thursday show. And we'll certainly know more about the status of Jaden Daniels because I'm sure his mother will tweet out. Yeah. condition prior to our Thursday show. All right. See you back tomorrow.

See you, boss.