The Kevin Sheehan Show - Pro Bowlers + Kliff's Next Move

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Kevin and Thom today with a deep menu of conversation topics which includes but isn't limited to: 1) Jayden Daniels is cool. 2) JD5 and Terry make the Pro Bowl but Kevin thinks one other Commanders' player should've been named to the NFC team too. 3) Should Saquon Barkley play and try to pass Eric Dickerson's rushing record? 4) News broke during the show that Kliff Kingsbury said today he wants another shot at being a head coach. The guys reacted. 5) Kevin recapped the Texas-Arizona State classic yesterday. 6) Thom gave his Washington-Cowboys pick.   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 Cheehan Show. He is Kevin. I'm here. Tommy is with me, of course, now that we're into the month of January, he's no longer local anymore. He is now at his winter home down in Florida.

The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com if you need. new windows. Happy New Year, Tommy. You're down in Miramar Beach. How long did it take you to drive down there? You were texting me on your way down there to tell me the various spots in which you were stopping. But how long did it take you and Liz to get down there? Well, it's a nine-hour drive the first day, and then we stay in, and that includes stops and stuff like that. Nine to ten hours, include stopping for lunch and stuff like that. And we get some. Chattanooga. And then the next day, it's a six-hour drive to Miramar Beach. And we pulled in around

2 o'clock, and like we always do, went straight to Pompano Joe's, one of the bars on the beach, and had some lunch and a couple beers, and then checked into our condo. Nine hours. Are you sure it was Chattanooga that you were staying in? Yeah. You could see the signs, okay, to make sure that that's where you were? So why? You know something different? Well, I'm just, you know, we had discussed in the days leading up to the holidays, your vision issues, and I'm just curious as to whether or not it was a safe drive down and that you

actually knew where you were going. I knew where I was going. I can drive fine. You can? How is your vision? In all seriousness? How's everything? Well, I mean, it's about the same.

You know, it takes me a little bit longer to write. I have to make it a little bit larger type. But it doesn't seem to be impair me in any other way. Okay. As far as you know. Yes. What do you mean? It may be impair me, but I can't see it.

Yeah. Well, so you did, I'm looking at your social media right now, your ex account, your Twitter account, and you tweeted out a picture. yesterday, happy new year, I win. And you've got a beer in hand. You've got your Rudy's Tavern, which is not a panhandle Florida bar, as we know. But you're looking out at the beach, and it looks lovely. Is it nice weather down there? It certainly looks like it. It was in the mid-60s, beautiful, sunny, and it's the same thing again today.

Oh, my God. Absolutely. fabulous. Now, you know, just like the rest of the country, a week from now, we're heading for this polar vortex, you know, that's coming. Now, which means it'll be in the 40s here when it's in the 20s and lower up there, you know. Yeah. But right now, today, yesterday, everything you pay for, right here, maybe. It looks like you got a nice spot at the bar there, nice view. The sun is reflecting off the ocean. There's some people on the beach.

You got a nice cold beer in front of you. Looks like... I'm a good-looking guy, ain't I? This isn't the worst picture of you? Yeah, you're... You're not unattractive. But you look very relaxed and happy to be there. And, you know, you just mentioned the polar vortex.

text is coming. So, you know, when it comes to weather, I have a lot of people that listen to this show and are waiting for me to talk about the big storm Sunday night and Monday, because I get it on social media all the time. And I don't know, I feel like whenever I talk about these big storms, I know about the storm. Trust me, for those of you who have reached out looking for, you know, what's going to happen Sunday night and Monday, I am paying attention. But sometimes I feel like when I talk about it on these shows, it just jinxes it. And it just goes away. Because forecasting more than three or four days in advance is really iffy, really iffy.

But the social media, you know, that's been out there over the last several days about how cold the country is going to get, especially the Midwest, you know, through the east coast, into the south, It does look like that is kind of a given. The storm Sunday night and Monday, you know, the latest here is we're, as we are recording the podcast here on Thursday morning, is that it should be a substantial snow for the DC Metro. You know, we're talking about four plus inches and maybe as much as eight or more inches. Now, there are mixing issues. If the storm track is too far to the north, there is less. pre-sip if the storm tracks a little bit further to the south.

But right now, a few days in advance, the DC metro is in the bullseye of this upcoming storm. And then behind it, it gets brutally cold for not just a few days, but maybe a few weeks with more chances of snow. And yes, Florida is going to feel the brunt of the polar vortex that'll break. off the part of it and come on down into the lower 48. But as it were. Again, it's very relative. I know. I said, you could have a high of 45 down here.

Yeah, but that's not what you went down there to experience. No, but it's not 20 degrees either. I was looking at the extended for our area early this morning, and there is a day next week where the temperature high will be in the mid to upper teens late next week. And then it kind of gets, it warms up into the upper 20s and low 30s, and then there's probably another shot of really cold air after that. It's possible that after today here in D.C.

That we don't get above freezing, or if we do, it's barely above freezing for the next two weeks. I'll be on. I'm looking at next week here, and it's all in the high 40s. Yeah. I'll be honest with you. Sunday it'll be 70 degrees. I love, as you know, I love snowstorms and winter storms, but I've gotten to the point in my life where if that's not what I'm tracking and having fun with, I don't want it to be cold.

If it's not going to snow, I'll take mid-50s in wintertime and be thrilled. Because last week, last week, got it feels like last week. It's still this week. But earlier this week, I mean, it was lovely on Monday and Tuesday. I mean, it was in the 50s up to 10 or 60 degrees. Look, I think most people, if there's a way that you can talk about this storm and jinxed from coming, I think most people would be happy. Right, if I had those kinds of powers. Yeah.

Yes. I don't, but I feel like in the last few years, I have. talked about some of these things like way out in advance. You know, Sue Palka, as you know, has always been a friend. And when she was, you know, working, she's retired now. She would come on the show all the time. And I would say, well, what about, you know, the long range on the GFS or the euro for two weeks?

Did you see that storm? She didn't want to talk about that stuff. But my new weather friend, Doug Camer, from Channel 4, who comes on the show with me on radio. and he's come on the podcast before, he loves the long-range stuff and looking at like the storms that some of these models put together. But he being experienced understands that it really doesn't mean much. Long-range, true long-range forecasting when it comes to storms is really low percentage. Now, when it comes to warm weather versus cold weather, it's a higher percentage hit.

That's why I think a lot of the weather people are much more confident about the cold wave that's coming rather than pinpointing where the storms will end up with the cold. But it does look like, and we'll move on to some football here in sports, it does look like that Sunday night into Monday will be the first substantial snowstorm we've had in DC Metro in a couple of years, actually. I think it's been two years maybe since we had... Well, I'll be thinking about you that Monday morning when even though it's cold down here, our pool is heated and warm, and I'll be swimming that Monday morning while you guys are in shovel and snow. Very happy for you. All right, a couple of emails to read to open up the show. Tommy has not weighed in on Sunday night's thrilling win.

over Atlanta. I've got more on that game as well. We'll talk definitely about yesterday's crazy day. Not only the incredible Arizona State, Texas game, but obviously the events in New Orleans, which postponed the Sugar Bowl until today. This comes from Evan. I had Doc on this show. We actually recorded at New Year's Eve, and I ran it yesterday. And Tommy, let me just tell you that Doc, 49 years ago yesterday, New Year's Day, 1976, Doc was a part of a UCLA team. Doc was the starting tight end on that UCLA team in 1976 that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Rose Bowl history. They were 15-point underdogs, and they beat number one undefeated Woody Hayes coached Ohio State.

And the Rose Bowl, Ohio State was going to be the national champion had they won the game. And, you know, Doc hates talking about, for whatever reason. He doesn't like talking about his former, his, you know, multi-sport star athletic career as a young person, because he really was. But that's, he played in that game. But anyway, Evan writes, hey, Kevin, just listened to yesterday's show with Doc. Towards the end of the segment, Doc felt like they should be playing to prevent a sweep by Dallas, even if they had locked up their current seating, and that he would be extremely disappointed with the current staff if they didn't feel the same way.

I think you were working to wrap up the segment because I wasn't able to read if you agreed or anything, so just curious as to your thoughts. It's not something I considered, but in hindsight now, I do wish the staff would take this into consideration because I felt like they'd sit everybody if there was nothing to play for, but at the same time, we'd all be made.

miserable if someone critical got hurt in a meaningless game. So I think what you were hearing with me was more or less not trying to end the segment or move on, but just understanding my very good friend Doc Walker in these moments, which is what he is focused on is not getting swept by the Cowboys. and that matters to him more than, you know, seating or any of the other stuff, because Doc would play anybody anywhere, any time. It doesn't matter to him. And, in fact, I think at one point he said during this show, just, you know, I want Philly.

I want to go to Philly and beat the Eagles. But as far as, you know, what I want Sunday from them, Keep in mind, they play at the same time the Packers play. And so Washington wins they're the sixth seed. If they lose that game and the Packers win, they're the 7 seed. So they should be trying to win this game to be the 6th seed to avoid Philadelphia. That's my belief. The three potential playoff opponents are Philly, Tampa,

and the Rams. Now the Rams aren't playing their starters. So it looks like the Rams now six and a half point underdogs to Seattle. It looks like the Rams are content with being the four seed. I tweeted out earlier, Tommy, Rams are trying to avoid Washington in the first round. And they prefer to play Detroit or Minnesota. I think it's actually kind of crazy that the Rams aren't playing to win this game

because they're going to get the Detroit-Mnesota loser in a four or five game if they lose on Sunday. But anyway, I think Washington should be trying to win the game for seeding purposes. Quinn said the other day that they're playing to win this game because a six-seed is better than a seven-seed. And a six-seat gives you a chance if things went haywire in the postseason to host the NFC championship game against the seventh seed who would be Green Bay. I don't see that happening, but I'll tell you what, the six and seven seeds in the NFC playoffs, Washington and Green Bay, are really strong six and seven seeds, dangerous six and seven seeds in this postseason.

And you don't want Jane Daniels going to play his first play off game in a polar vortex in Philadelphia. Tommy, imagine either the fast track in L.A. or in Tampa won't be mild, but like you're living, you know, and we'll live, temperatures in the mid-40s. Yeah, because for Philadelphia next weekend, I mean, you're talking about frigid temperatures, maybe, you know, chances of snow, ice, et cetera. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm totally with you. Yeah.

By the way, Evan. If he goes, if Jane goes to L.A., he'll be playing before his home. hometown fans. Yeah, look, but he's an LA guy. It's even more than that. The Rams don't have a real home field advantage. You know, they just don't.

Washington fans would really be a big part of the mix at so far. So now, again, it looks like the Rams... Especially if they were getting away from the polar vortex. Yeah. But it looks like the Rams are not going to play their starters. Matt Stafford's going to sit and they're going to basically concede the three seed to Tampa if they win the division by beating the Saints on Sunday. Now, if Tampa lost and Atlanta won, Atlanta would win the division and be the four seed. Tampa is the only one of those two that can still be the three seed.

But the point is, is that I'm actually kind of surprised the Rams are doing this because they would get this matchup at home in a four-firm. five game against the Minnesota Detroit loser versus playing Washington? I don't know. I mean, I tweeted out that they're trying to avoid Washington, which was total tongue-in-cheek. Trust me, some of you didn't get it, which is fine. Most of you did. But I actually don't know that anybody would want to face Washington or Minnesota or Detroit. At home, we're on the road.

But anyway, Evan, appreciate the email. and yes, I caught your PS where you asked me, the next time I have Jay on, Jay Gruden, ask him about Ha Ha, Ha, Clinton Dicks. Yes, I do remember when they traded, I think, a fourth round pick for Ha, ha, Clinton Dix.

I'm sure he was thrilled with that one. I had another email to read here. Where is it? Oh, this from John R. John R. writes, Kevin, thinking more about the Rahim Morris time management debacle and your discussion of it. Would be interesting to look back and see if this is more prevalent with defensive-oriented coaches. I remember how bad Ron was at this. I know we see it across the league, but some analysis of the bigger clock screw-ups might show that it's more common among coaches with a defensive background.

Or maybe not. Also, I don't remember this ever being such an issue 20 to 30 years ago. What do you think? I think it was an issue 20 to 30 years ago, but you're probably right. It wasn't as much of an issue with most people 30 years ago. And I think it's because it was kind of pre-everybody playing Madden and being, you know, in all of those clock management situations in a virtual setting. You know, I always, Tommy, I always say that, you know, what Rahim Morris didn't know a lot of 12-year-old kids know, maybe even younger from the other night. But yeah, he single-handedly reduced his team's chances of qualifying for the playoffs

because he didn't really understand the value of more plays versus less plays. You know, we've talked about this before, and it sort of boggles the mind. I know I'm feeding the beast here by playing right into your hand. but you would think every team on the sideline as a clock management guy. Okay? And the head coach, under any circumstances, makes a vow to himself before the game starts, whatever his guy tells me I'm doing.

Wouldn't you think they'd be at that stage now? We've been talking about it for years. I know. I know. I know. I don't know. And the head coach, you know, know, while his initial reaction made me know, no, he's got to say to himself, no, this is

the only job I gave this guy. I have to trust this guy and listen to him when he tells me to call time out. Yeah. I mean, as far as, as far as John R's thought about defensive head coaches, look, for many, many years, Andy Reid was one of the worst in the league at clock management. I mean, really awful at it. And has he gotten better at it? Yeah, he has. And I don't know why. I mean, obviously the results of his teams have been much better because of Patrick Mahomes. But in terms of his improvement as a clock management head coach, I would say honestly half the coaches in the league, and the breakdown of offensive to defensive head coaches, you might be right. It may be more

defensive head coaches, but there have been plenty of offensive. of coaches who have been, you know, not very good at this. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I did read Rahim Morris's day after explanation. And it was an interesting explanation. It still isn't the right explanation as far as I'm concerned. And I think probably the media and plenty in Atlanta were concerned. But he basically said that the reason he didn't call a time out at the end of regulation

he had a very completely nonsensical explanation as to the end of the first half. It made no sense at all. But he came up with an explanation a day after the fact at the end that is somewhat plausible, but still, I think, not the right decision. And that is after they threw the pass to Mooney for 25 yards, and there were 33 seconds left on the clock, they wanted to keep Washington's defensive personnel that they had on the field on the field

because he called it a regulated front. His young quarterback in his second game wasn't going to have to face an exotic blitz with substitutions into the game. And they had the front they wanted. They had the players in coverage that they wanted. And it is true, the next play, which they snapped with, you know,

they'd blown 20-some seconds. you know, 17 seconds. Mooney was wide open and he just, and Pennix missed him. Boy, you know, you go back and watch that game, the young quarterback missed so much. I mean, there were so many wide open receivers in big spots. And that's fine. The problem is that that play didn't get you into field goal range.

And you had 12 seconds when that play ended. And so you only had basically two more snaps before a field goal attempt. And he said, you know, we got what we wanted. We got the look. And he said something to the effect that I don't want to throw my young quarterback under the bus because we thought he did so many good things, including the touchdown pass to pits at the end. But he said, we had everything we wanted and the connection was right there.

Yeah, thank you. But I'll take the four extra plays and have. have to go against a more exotic, perhaps pass rush, but knowing that I have another four offensive snaps rather than let all that clock tick down. Anyway, yeah. So, okay. What did you think of the game Sunday night?

And I wrote a column about this, because I think over the last three weeks, including the Philly and New Orleans game, I mean, what I keep thinking about is how tough this team is. I mean, they're this commander team, they're tough. You know? They're not going down.

Dan Quinn keeps saying this, but it's a cliche with it too. They don't go down without a fight. You know, they have a lot of fight in them. And the guy who seems to have the most fight is the guy who's most laid back of all the quarterback. I mean, his runs on that overtime drive were just so tough and so impressive. Yeah.

You know? And I mean, how can you, if you're playing with a guy like that, how can you not feel inspired? I say, look at this guy, laying himself out there, doing everything he has to do to win. you know, a lot of people talk that, but he does it. And then, like I wrote my column, you know, when they showed him on the bench at different points during the game, he's sitting there looking like he's sitting at the metro waiting for the red line to arrive.

You know, there's just no expression, no pacing the sideline. You don't see him doing that, you know? he's just, he is, again, you know, writing about this team the last this season has been easy because all you've got to do is fawn over the quarterback, okay? And it's not fawning if it's true. And so, I mean, I basically write different versions of the same column almost every week. different ways of trying to, you know, bow down before this rookie who's doing things we've never seen a rookie quarterback do before. So, again, I think, like, I think that they have adopted the culture that the coaching staff wants, but I don't think that happens if their main guy hasn't bought in, and that's the young quarterback.

Yeah. I was thinking about something as you were talking that I didn't think I mentioned in my recap of the game Sunday night. But on the play in the first half where it looked like a really ugly kind of, you know, knee, leg, whatever, bent back and contorted in such a way. One of the things that I loved about it was his reaction to it. You know, there wasn't a lot of theatrical kind of, you know, dramatic, like, look at me. I'm up. I'm a badass. I'm going to continue to play.

No. I mean, it was over to the bench and you see him looking, you know, at the Microsoft tablet. He's getting ready and somebody walks by and he's like, I'm fine. You know, there's, there's, this guy is, that part of him, he's not interested in being in showbiz. as great. Not yet. Not yet. But that, you know how many players would have hammed that up?

Would have, you know, been so sort of melodramatic, you know, when they came back out onto the field. Not him. And he didn't, it didn't seem to phase him at all. But, you know, what you said, this is one of the reasons I loved him. This isn't for me to break my arm patting myself on the back when it comes to Jaden. You said you were all in on him when there were a lot of different choices. But what? At the quarterback position in this draft.

One of the things that absolutely was mesmerizing in watching him as a college quarterback was what you just described. I mean, games on the line and it looks like, well, I don't think he would actually be a mass transit guy, but it looks like he is just, you know, on a Sunday stroll. There's a poise there, but at the same time, there is a will to not lose. And how many times during the offseason did I talk about the Bama game last year? The game in which he got hurt on a cheap shot, that game was single-handedly him doing what you saw him do on Sunday night. The Florida game was him, the Missouri game, maybe.

more than any other because they were down in that game and he actually got injured and missed a few plays in that game. But it was like I have the ability, I'm the best player on the field and I get to touch the ball on every play, which means I can impact the game more than anybody else and I'm going to. And I'm going to do it with a smile on my face and it's going to look effortless. And that's the game Sunday night is what you saw over and over again at LSU. And remember, one of the reasons he needed to do it by himself a lot of the time at LSU. They had great offensive talent, but their defense was the worst in the country of Power 5 conferences last year. And they had to score on every single drive, basically.

And it was fun to watch the other night. I don't even know where to rank the performances this year. That's up there. I think the Philly game last week is up there. Yeah, I mean, I thought he was great in the giant game on the road, the Steeler game towards the end. I think the Baltimore loss was one of his best games. I thought he was tough in the Saints game.

Yeah. You know? The Cincinnati game was, the giant. game, you know, he let him down the field. They didn't punt in the game. It was incredibly impressive, but it was seven field goals. Remember, you know, the seven Austin Cybert franchise record field goals in a game with no punts. Talk about a blast from the past, Austin Cyber. Yeah. And so that was great. The Cincinnati game, though, was the first moment. The touchdown pass to Terry to give them the two-score lead late in the fourth quarter.

order was really versus the all-out blitz where he got absolutely hammered was the first moment. But man, there have been so many of them. I mean, how great he. I think the Baltimore game was such a great game. They had no ability to run the football. Like they haven't with anybody but him in recent games. And he was incredible from the pocket in that game. And of course the Chicago, you know, Hail Mary. Yeah. We still could have a couple more of these left.

I think it's great that they're getting off. It looks like they're getting Austin. This is the player they've missed the most on offense in recent weeks. No doubt. Absolutely. Yes. You know, I mean,

because Brian Robinson has been struggling. You know, and I mean, Chris Rodriguez has stepped up. when he's been in the game. But they don't have that many offensive weapons that they can afford to lose such a value contributor. But they did lose them, and they kept winning because of the quarterback. They are winning number one, number two, number three because of the quarterback.

I mean, look, they've got some good players, and I think they're well-coached, and all of those things are true. this team, and I've said it now for many weeks, but certainly the last two, they're 11 and 5, they would be 5 and 11 without him. And a lot of you have written to me saying, doesn't that really, you know, sort of define what an MVP is? Why is it he more in the MVP conversation? I don't think there's any question that in terms of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Sequin Barclay and Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow and Jaden Daniels,

that Daniels has meant more wins for his team than the others. I think I can safely say that, although I don't, Baltimore actually, they've never been as good without Lamar, but when they've been without Lamar and Tyler Huntley was their starting quarterback as an example, they were pretty competitive. Look, they won a game without him. They beat the Carolina Panthers with Marcus Moriota. But that was the Carolina Panthers.

Right. I don't know. I think he probably means more than any other of the true MVP. He's not going to win the MVP, just so everybody understands that. He's probably not going to finish in the top four. I think the order will be, it'll be Alan Jackson in whichever order you want to put him in, followed by probably, well, let me look at the My Booky odds right now. I think...

See, there are so many well-qualified candidates. He is... To give it to the rookie quarterback, even if he is qualified, means you're not giving it to some veteran quarterbacks who have been in the same conversation for years. And I think that comes into play. My bookie has Allen as a pretty hefty favorite right now, minus 350.

Lamar's plus 230, Barclays plus 1850, Burroughs plus 2000. Then after that, you basically have in order Darnold, Gough, Baker Mayfield, and then Jaden Daniels. You know, you could make the case, though, that he has been worth more games, more wins to his team, than anybody else. I think you can make that case. It's very hard to win rookie of the year and MVP in any sport in the same season.

Jim Brown. It's a hard thing to do. Jim Brown was the last one to do it. Wes Unsle did. In any sport. Yeah. Wes Unsel did it in the NBA. It's just a hard thing to do.

He made the Pro Bowl. People will think, well, we're already honoring him by giving him the rookie of the year. You know? Yeah. He made the Pro Bowl. We'll talk about that in the next segment.

We got a lot more to get to. I did have one quick note because I had mentioned that I would go back and look at this. And we kind of talked about it with that Rahim Morris discussion. Darnel Mooney on that catch at the end of regulation that got him up to midfield where Morris then butchered the timeout situation. He didn't, it appears on the All-22. It's really hard to see, but there's a ref right on it, like watching him the entire way.

And I'm going to guess that it was close, but that he did not step out of bounds before making the catch. There is a referee on it, and he's pretty close to, you know, Mooney's route. And he's watching it, you know, that's his job is to watch that. and he didn't throw his hat down to indicate that he'd gone out of bounds and came back in and was the first to touch it. So I'm going to assume that he didn't step out of bounds, even though there were a few players and even coaches on Washington sideline that pointed to Mooney potentially stepping out on that play. But there was also a ref right on it as well. So I think Washington may have been just trying to sell it.

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Prescription products require an online consultation with a health care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and my bookie will give you a 50% cash bonus on your initial sign-up. The Sugar Bowl game rescheduled for this afternoon at 4 p.m. Maybe by the time you guys are listening to this, this game's already underway. Notre Dame's now a one-point favorite.

They were a one-point dog yesterday. The total is at 45 and a half. I do have the under 46 as a smell test selection for the Sugar Bowl. I lost on Ohio State, Oregon. I had the under in that game as well. So that's the only play for anything going on today. I'll have all of the weekend football on tomorrow's show. Washington currently a four and a half point favorite over the Cowboys Sunday.

You might think that's a bit short. And yeah, the public's kind of playing Washington again, like they did Sunday night as well. It's possible Dallas could be in my smell test tomorrow. At this point, maybe you guys are hoping for it. But four, I'm seeing four and a half now, actually. I just refreshed it. And my bookie's got Washington laying four and a half against the Cowboys on Sunday. The last week of the regular seasons, Tommy, it's so hard to best.

because you just aren't sure which teams are really into it versus those that aren't, which teams are going to maybe start a lot of their starters, but then pull them at some point. It's really hard to bet Week 18 unless you've got a game in which both teams have to win. You know, like the Sunday night finale between Minnesota and Detroit. Detroit's a three-point favorite in that game. But for all of your sports betting needs, I recommend my book. Go to my bookie.ag and use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. By the way, something I want to mention about Detroit,

and there's nothing earth-shattering here, is that if they make it to the Super Bowl, the star of the Super Bowl will be Dan Campbell. Yeah. People will not be able to get enough of Dan Campbell. He will be the biggest thing of Super Bowl week. I get it. I totally get it, and I get why it works with him.

He's, he just, I don't know, man. There are things that, like, look, the other night they went in and they played their starters, and they beat the 49ers in a game that was totally meaningless to them, totally meaningless to them. It didn't matter if they lost the game Sunday night was going to mean the exact same thing, for the division, for the number one seed. And playing Monday night, we know in the NFL, you know, short rest versus longer rest is usually a disadvantage. Now, I also know that, you know, with 53-man rosters, it's not like you can sit everybody because you won't have anybody to actually put out there.

You know, that's one of the things that gets kind of forgotten by fans who say, no, no, don't play any of your starters. Well, then who are you going to play? You know, you're not a college team that has 100 guys dressed for a game. But, you know, he does things on impulse so often. And they haven't always worked out. You know, I think he cost his team the NFC championship game last year by going for fourth downs and spots where he could have kicked field goals that would have made more sense based on the game situation and the score.

But, you know, he's a tremendous leader, clearly. And that's a big part of being a head coach. Let me ask you a question. Yeah. Do you think part of his charisma is that he's so physical, that he's such a physical specimen himself? Yeah, definitely. Yes.

Yes, I think so, too. Yeah. I mean, what was the line? He looks like he could tear your head off if he wanted to. What was the line I'm looking for right now when he got hired? I don't remember that. Yeah, it wasn't. Greg Minnusky, you know, breaking iron or whatever.

What was, he's got a... But I think that's part of the allure of him is he looks so, I mean, so physically imposing. Yeah, this was, here's the quote. You could see the veins bursting out of his neck all the time. This is his quote. We're going to kick on his introductory press conference back in 21. We're going to kick you in the teeth. And when you punch his back, we're going to smile at you.

And when you knock us down, we're going to get up, and on the way, we're going to bite a kneecap off. We're going to stand up, and it's going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we're going to take your other kneecap, and we're going to get up, and it's going to take three shots to get us back down. And when we do, we're going to take another hunk out of you. That was his quote. That guy is going to be very quotable during Super Bowl week. He already does a commercial for Applebee.

I've seen Applebee's commercial form. So he's going to be the star if they make it there. And, you know, if they make it there, he deserves to be because that's a Detroit team that lost its best pass rusher and it's best running back, right? Oh, well, yeah, but they lost Aidan Hutchinson earlier in the season. They've lost 12, 13 players on defense. It's been an amazing.

They're vulnerable defensively right now. I mean, I don't know if they were, win the game Sunday night. It's at home. Minnesota is the more complete team right now than Detroit. Detroit's kind of unstoppable offensively. They have the best offensive line in football, Tommy, but they've been so ravaged by injuries on defense in particular. They haven't been able to stop anybody recently. So what they do is they stop by scoring. Yeah, they keep the ball and they score and they make you, you know, come back. I think, yeah. I think anyone Washington, in place in a playoff is going to have to

go by the same formula. Here's the Greg Minusky line. I found that one. We're going to strike iron downhill and we're going to crack some skulls. Whatever. But yes,

the physical part of his whole presentation is a big part of the attraction. I mean, he is a true alpha, you know, and he wants It's everybody to know it. So here's something for you before we get to the Pro Bowl voting, which just came out.

The Pro Bowl list just came out. And I'm looking for the tweet, and I can't find it. So whomever sent this to me, sorry, I can't find it. But basically somebody sent me a tweet to say, because you had mentioned Echler and the possibility of Echler being back. Well, who do you get rid of? do you get rid of Chris Rodriguez again when Eckler comes back? My answer would be probably not. And from my standpoint, but I think from a coach's standpoint, like I said on Monday or Tuesday show,

we miss things on, you know, that we don't have enough information about. Like there's a reason they kept moving on from Chris Rodriguez. And there's a reason that they kept coming back to him because they had injuries. and they needed a guy that knew the system and they felt good about talent-wise, because he is a talented runner. But we're missing something. It's, you know, maybe it's past protection. Maybe it's, you know, reliability in past protection, reliability in other ways.

Doc actually said the other day, he said, you know, if I didn't know better, I would, you know, think that Chris Rodriguez shows up to meetings late. But he goes, I know that's not true. But I got Doc's point, which is there's something there. about Rodriguez, we don't know. Yes. And so... Yes, because coaches, even bad coaches, generally,

do not play the guys that, you know, do not sit down the guys that are going to help them the most. Yeah. And he's played well when given the opportunity, obviously the other night when it was on the line. You know, those four runs from 14 yards out to give them the lead, that was spectacular. and it was all him.

And, you know, people walked away from that thing thinking, well, he should be our number one back. It shouldn't be Brian Robinson, Jr. I think that Brian Robinson Jr. may be a guy they trust more, clearly. So my guess would be that when Echler comes back, they either keep all four running backs because McNichols right now is their best pass blocking running back by far. He's also an excellent special teams player. So you're not, McNichols is not getting put down. They're going to, they either find a player somewhere else, you know, I don't know who that would be.

It would probably be opponent dependent, but the bottom line is you're not going to use four running backs ever in a game. And Rodriguez is not this special team. that McNichols is. And Robinson Jr.'s not being, you know, cut. I know that. So I think it would be Rodriguez. So I think it would be all keep-off four.

Yeah. Since offense is so important to them scoring and they need all the offensive weapons they can get. And they may trust Brian Robinson. But remember, a couple weeks ago, Brian Robinson caught up the ball twice. Twice. You know?

Yeah. I mean, I don't think he's playing at the same level he was. for whatever reason. I don't think the offensive lines playing at the same level that it was, to be honest. That's a good point. But part of that's injuries, too. It didn't seem to bother Chris Rodriguez, no. No.

And let me just make the point. A lot of that is clearly because of injuries. I mean, Trent Scott was in there the other night. We lost Tyler Biotish again. Yeah, a big loss again. Yeah. I mean, you know, and you would sign Rodriguez right back to the practice squad if he didn't get, you know, picked up. But he's shown enough where I would think would be a bit of a risk,

or maybe there's something that we don't know that the team has dealt with and that other teams would know about too. I don't know. It's... On the other hand, I agree with what you're saying. But if a guy's on your roster and you're not afraid and you're afraid to put him out there, then he shouldn't be on your roster. Well, it's sometimes you have no choice because of injuries.

You know, it's like then you get into, well, is this solution better than the other solution? You know, on their practice squad, they've had that guy all season long that was really impressive in preseason. The guy, Michael Wiley, who was really an impressive player in preseason games, but they signed him to the practice squad and nobody's, you know, signed him since. And there have been a couple of instances this year where there was a possibility of calling up Wiley. He was also, you know, a potential returner. But they haven't done that. You know what? These are, this would be a good problem to have because they have missed Austin Echler, in my opinion, more than they've missed Noah Brown or anybody else that they've lost in games recently.

Echler, by the way, finished as the third alternate for kickoff returner. That's how good of a kickoff returner he was before, for the Pro Bowl I'm talking about, before he got hurt. Right. All right. So let's talk about the Pro Bowl. Washington had two Pro Bowlers. Obviously, the two that we would all say, if they weren't on the team, investigation, please. Jaden Daniels is a Pro Bowl quarterback, and Terry McClorn is a,

a Pro Bowl wide receiver. The starters are going to be Jefferson and Amman Ross St. Brown. Remember, there's no game, but if there was an actual game. Yeah, I mean, what I play now? Like checkers or something like that?

Yeah, I don't even know what it is. I mean, but Jefferson... Nope. Yeah, Jefferson and Amonrae St. Brown would be the top two. The reason I bring that up is because What's I think more important than, you know, third fan, third player, you know, players vote, coaches vote, third, whatever media on the Pro Bowl is the all pro teams tend to be, there's no popularity contest in there. And the wide receivers in the AFC are Jamar Chase and Jerry Judy as the starters.

Well, Chase is definitely going to be a first team all. Pro. And Jefferson is certainly going to be a first team all pro. And then you get into, there's three of them on the all pro first team, and we've been saying Terry's got a shot at that third spot. Jefferson and Chase are in a category by themselves right now in terms of receivers in the league. And Amman Ross St. Brown, from a pro bowl standpoint, is a starter ahead of Terry. So it's possible that Terry will end up being an all-pro second team. I definitely think he makes the second team. I thought the first team would be a bit of a stretch, but there was a chance for it, but he'll definitely make the second team. But the first team may go Chase, Jefferson,

and maybe Amonra St. Brown, maybe C.D. Lamb, we'll see. Now, they had 11 alternates. Yeah, go ahead. My philosophy on all pro is just my philosophy is, If your first team, if your second team, you're an all pro. It still means more than being named to a Pro Bowl. I agree with that. I 100% agree with that. So they were the only two starters. The team had, however, 11 alternates.

And those players, and I'll give you the exact alternate level in which they finished. Where is it? Ben had it. Bobby Wagner was a first alternate. Tyler Ott, their long snapper, was a first alternate. And their special teamer, Nick Ballore, who's been outstanding all season long, was a first alternate. All right? So they would have been next up, you know, after the pro bowlers that were picked. Biotish, their center, Louvoo, who's been incredible all season. Tressway were second. alternates. Third alternates were Austin Echler as a kickoff returner, Dante Fowler, Jeremy Reeves, and then Chin and Ertz were fifth alternates. I have one gripe, and let me just say this, I don't really care that much about this, and Pro Bowl stuff. The All-Pro stuff is more interesting to me, and there's no game where you can kind of celebrate it a little bit as a fan. I think the only gripe I have is I think Frankie Louvo could have easily been one of the starting outside linebackers in the Pro Bowl. And worst case should have been a first alternate.

The outside linebackers in the NFC were Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkle in Minnesota, and then the rookie Jared Verse in L.A., the Florida State. rookie in L.A. with the Rams. I think Lou Vu should have been ahead of verse and been right there with Greenard or Van Ginkle to be a starter in the Pro Bowl. That's the only. Tyler Ott, I mean, the long snapper was the guy from Minnesota. You know, I don't, Belor Cadaral Hodge, who was outstanding for the Falcons all year long on special teams. teams. I thought Ballora was great. I'm not going to sit here in debate whether or not Hodge or Belor was a better special team. I didn't watch Hodge enough. I know how good he was,

but that would be my only complaint is that I think Louvue deserved to be a pro bowler. Worst case, a first alternate, but I think he should have been ahead of either greener or I can't argue with that, you know, but sometimes it depends on what the other choices are. I mean, I think Frankie Louvo is deserving of it. But let's not just diminish the long snapper here. Remember when long snapper

was an issue with this franchise? They've had some issues with Tyraud this year, though. They've had some issues. They've had some bad snaps. That's true. You know? How does he become a first team alternate?

I don't know. I mean, it's not like, I don't get that then. I'm not, qualified. I'm going to tell you right now, to break down long snappers in terms of Pro Bowl positioning. I know this. The missed extra point in the Cowboy game wasn't that one? That was a low snap. We've talked about Tressway's ability to handle a couple of bad snaps and some big spots of at least twice this year, if not more than that.

Well, this requires some investigation. Well, remember when Jeremy Reeves was like the frontrunner for the special team. He was the special teams picked two years ago. I mean, we had that emotional video with he and Ron Rivera. Was that last year or the year before? It was the year before. It was 22. And I think everybody was floored by it.

I mean, he was a good special teams player during that year. But we didn't realize that he was the front runner for it. You know, the investigation would be, How does this come about? The fan vote is there. You know what the fan vote is, and the other two thirds are media, or is it players coaches or media players coaches? I forget, actually, what the other two thirds are. But, you know, the fan voting, Washington had a ton of players, you know, high up on ballots in the fan voting, which really is a nice testament, nice compliment to our. fan base getting after it for the first time in a long time. That would be one indication that the fans are back. I know things like TV ratings haven't been through the roof. Although the game the other night was the highest rated Sunday night game in five years on NBC. That's crazy. But it was.

Jaden Daniels having some effect. But remember, for two-thirds of this season, we had John Orand on the radio show. I think it may have been on the podcast. And, you know, Washington was still like bottom third in terms of local TV ratings. I haven't seen them recently, but good job on getting the Pro Bowl votes up, right? By the fans. Absolutely. Yeah. All right.

I just, Louvue to me was their best defensive player. Wagner was really good all year. I thought Chin had some really good moments. Sandra still had good moments. But I thought consistently week in and week out, Louvue was their best defensive player and was very much at times kind of that havoc wreaking difficult to, you know, account for a player. Not Micah Parsons, trying to play that Micah Parsons role, but I think we've got future Pro Bowls in store for Frankie Louvo.

All right, anything else I've got a few things to finish up with. I want to talk about yesterday. I want to talk about the decision to sit Saquan Barkley in the Eagles. season finale instead of going for the Dickerson record. We'll do that and more 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 to win up to

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All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, the one drawback about heading south of Florida for January or February is there's no place like Shelly's back room down here. But there are a few places on earth that are like Shelley's backroom. Okay. It's tough to find a place with that kind of, that kind of ambiance, that kind of, the quality of cigars, the top shelf liquor, the great food, all in one place. You know, I've looked down here, you know, for places like that. And, you know, I've never found anything.

He even comes close. So I'll miss Shelly's back. room more than anything, but even more than you, I'll miss Shelley's backroom. That's impossible. While I'm down here. And instead of me just telling you about how good it is, you know, I thought I would try to find, like, local reviews. Here's a review five days ago that was posted about Shelly's, and this, I just describes

it to a tea. Cool, old school place, crazy good cigar and drink lists, plenty of food options. Cigar Place, but air filtration system is awesome. Comfy lounge chairs and tables for groups. I couldn't have said it better myself, but I just did. Shelly's Backroom. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. Make a visit down there while you're in town at 1331 F Street Northwest.

So if you were an Eagle fan, would you want Sequeville? Barclay to play Sunday against the Giants in a totally meaningless game for Philadelphia. Their seed is set. They're going to be the number two seed in the NFC playoffs. They're going to host a game next week. They can't be the one. They can't be any worse than the two. He has a shot to catch Eric Dickerson after that big time performance last week against the Eagles. He had 167 yards last week against the Eagles. That left him within 100 yards of tying, 101 yards of breaking the Eric Dickerson all-time mark.

They're not going to play Saquine Barclay. They've decided to rest as many starters as they can in their season finale and gear up for the postseason. So if you were a fan of the Eagles, or let's just say Saquan Berkeley was in a situation or Washington had a running back in a situation like this. Would you want them to go for him to go for that record or not? You know, if I was a dumb Eagles fan, which people would say, you know,

there aren't many other kinds, I would say, sure, I want my guy to go for the record. That would be exciting to watch. If I was a smart Eagles fan, I'd say no. I don't want to risk my guy playing in a meaningless game. For what, you know, I mean, we have made it out to be some kind of import. But, you know, people will say, well, you know, he got it in 17 games as opposed to Dickerson get it in 16 games, which I would say, yeah, but OJ got it in 14 games. So Dickerson's record doesn't have the same value as it did.

And I'm thinking, Jim Brown, in a 12-game season, before that, had the record. So it doesn't have the same meaning. I wouldn't want to see him play. What about you? I totally get what they're doing. I think I would love as a fan to see this record set. I personally think it's a significant record in sports, certainly in football. Now, let me just say, I don't think the number is, a number that most people know, 2105. But I think people know that Eric Dickerson's held on to this record for 40 years and that it would be a hell of a record to break. Tommy, when O.J. Simpson became the first running back to rush for over 2,000 yards.

That was a massive. I mean, you know you were a jet fan. That was a massive deal. And I can still remember that number, 2003. There you go. When Dickerson broke OJ's record, that was a massive deal. Eric Dickerson was a great running back. And breaking O.J. Simpson's all-time record really was not something that most people thought could happen. So here we are 40 years later, the games changed a lot. One of the reasons we haven't seen the record threatened or more 2,000-yard seasons has been, it's become more of a passing game, more of a passing league.

We've seen the return of the running back here in the last couple of years, especially this year. The game really does change every few years as defenses adjust to something. And then, you know, I'm not going to do the Mel Kiper. It's too safety high. You know, now everybody's running the ball or you can't throw it against that. Of course you can. But it's one of the reasons that we see, you know, more teams running the ball as a higher percentage of plays than maybe in recent years. is because they are trying to, you know, defend against the explosive pass plays.

But with all of that said, I think it would be really cool to see the record threatened if I were a fan of the back. And I'd probably be on pins and needles watching it, but I would want to see it, but I totally get what they're doing. First of all, there's a couple things here. Philadelphia had their buy week much earlier in the season. It was week five. They have played, this will be, to finish up the year, this will be 12 consecutive games without a break. That's number one.

Number two is that if you're going to play him, you've got to play all of your starters. You can't have him behind, you know, a mix and match offensive line. You know, and by the way, if Jalen Hertz isn't going to play and it doesn't, and he's not going to, you know, a big part of why he's been successful has been the dual threat quarterback. You know, he had a great game last week without Hertz. But I'm not putting him out there behind a backup or a makeshift offensive line as I'm resting some of my starters on offense. I'm either putting him out there and keeping him in the same environment he's been in all year long, which, by the way, is probably the safest environment for him as well.

I was thinking about one thing, though. You know, if they had not lost the game here two weeks ago, this would be a game for them to potentially get the number one seed. So they would have had a shot at the number one seed, and they would have been playing. playing for something still. So their loss to Washington made this game irrelevant for them. But anyway, in last year's season finale, remember their team was tanking at the end of last year. And in that game, they played, they had the division wrapped up. But they played A.J. Brown. And A.J. Brown got hurt in that game. He got hurt in that game. He got hurt in that game. game and they went into that Tampa playoff game compromised without their best player.

So, or without their best player 100%. So I totally get it from an organization standpoint. The goal is to win a Super Bowl. The goal is not an individual goal. And 12 straight games and now you're going to put everybody out there because it's the only way to do it. And you've got this recent experience with A.J. Brown getting hurt. in a season finale last year that for the most part was not very important.

I think I would sit them. And here's the other thing, too, Tommy. If they had a first round buy and this was a meaningless game, I'd actually think about playing them because I don't want, you know, 18 days or whatever, 19 days or whatever it would be to pass in between games. You know, like Kansas City is going to sit starters. So they'll have this week off, they'll have next week off, and then they'll play the following week. So essentially three weeks since their last game.

And actually for them, because that last game was on Christmas Day, it's actually like three and a half weeks. That would concern me that much time off in between games. So if Philly was the one seed and they were going to have next week off, I'd say we're playing our starters at least a half. And then if he's within striking range. But here's one last point. If they, and this is kind of against the Philadelphia decision, if they were thinking this way, then shouldn't they have pulled them last week in the second half when they were blowing out the Cowboys rather than have him play the whole game?

Some of his big runs were late in the game, we're in the fourth quarter. he had like a 25-yard run in the fourth quarter. So they should have maybe thought about that in the second half of last week's game. But long way of getting to, if he were my favorite player or if he were on my favorite team, I'd love for him to try to break this record, but I would not be upset with the team making the decision that it's making. Well, I think they were right to sit in them. I got a question for you. Yeah.

You know, you've got to bear with me here because I'm kind of out of it being, just getting here. But is today the day that Cliff Kingsbury speaks? Yes. We are recording this before he is speaking. Okay. Well, apparently he's speaking now, I think. Okay. And he basically told people that he wants to be a head coach again.

Oh, he did? Yes. Okay. He wants to be a head coach. and I think ESPN is reporting that he will be, he will interview for a Chicago job. Okay. So, as we're, yeah, okay. I mean, I think, I think most of us kind of expected this.

I mean, I did. And we've talked about this how the one thing that Dan Quinn, I think, has learned from, in Atlanta. When Kyle Shanahan left, Dan Quinn had no plan B. and it all fell apart. Okay, that was the big thing down in Atlanta. I think with the staff that he's put together here in Washington, I think he's anticipated that he may have to replace Cliff Kingsbury with either an Anthony Lynn or maybe a David Blow,

but he has options now that are available to him. I think that's one of the things he learned from his Atlanta experience is to stack his coaching staff. with potential replacement. Look, he had a replacement in Atlanta after Kyle left. It just didn't work out. But Steve Sarkesian is a hell of an offensive mind and football mind. But it didn't work out, and they were not the same without Kyle there.

Yeah, I mean, you know, they hired a really deep staff. and I know that David Blow has been a guy that has been thought to be a future, you know, offensive coordinator, future head coach from the moment they hired him. I think there was a lot of competition to hire him. You know, they've got, you know, a guy that was an offensive coordinator and Bobby Johnson on the staff. They've got a guy who was head coach and Anthony Lynn, who is their running backs coach. They have Tevita Pritchard, who they brought back, who's worked very closely with the quarterbacks as well. Yeah, I mean, you know, to be honest with you, we're going to have plenty of time to deal with that.

I get that it's kind of news, and I'm seeing it right now, that he said that, you know, he likes it in Washington, but, you know, wants to be a head coach again, you know, at some point. You know, I read yesterday or the day before that if Ben Johnson gets an opportunity, which he will, he wants Lance Newmark to come with him. So, you know, they'll lose somebody in the front office, potentially wherever Ben Johnson goes. I do think that the Kingsbury situation, remember this, Kingsbury's being paid through 27. I've mentioned this throughout the year, for those of you who haven't heard me say it. Kingsbury's getting paid by the Cardinals through the 2027 season. So he's getting paid like a head coach right now as an offensive coordinator. You know, they have the offset.

You know, Arizona is paying whatever Washington, you know, they're paying whatever they were committed to pay less what Washington is paying them. but he's making a head coach salary right now through the 2027 season. So he has some options and he's got some flexibility and, you know, not that it would be all money driven anyway, but it just, he can be choosy, you know. Yeah, he can, but the Chicago job would be awfully good looking if you think you could work with that general manager there. Well, I think that the interesting. part of that job would be, what if he didn't want it? What would that say about Caleb Williams,

considering he was with him for a year at USC? Yes, that's a good point. Well, you're on top of things today, buddy. I don't know. What do you mean? Starting off the new year pretty sharp. I don't know about that. I do want to talk about yesterday, though, to finish up this show. You know, what are you going to say? I mean, the New Orleans situation. I mean, if you've got something, it's tragic. It's awful. It's, you know,

you know, I feel like we deal with these things between these and school shootings and all of these tragedies. I mean, it seems like it's, you know, a five to one shot every morning you wake up. There's going to be a breaking news story that's going to be tragic, horrific, and everybody's going to say the same thing, which is what's this world coming to? But beyond that, because this is what we focus on, which is the things that are interesting to us, and, you know, sports. The, the two games that were played yesterday, and by the way, I'm fine with the Sugar Bowl. Of course, football doesn't mean anything compared to the safety of that city. We both love that city.

And who knows, we might be there in just over a month. Who knows? Did you have anything to say about, you know? Not really. Not really. I know that it was supposed to be played yesterday, right? Yeah, last night. and they delayed it until 4 o'clock today?

Four o'clock today, yeah. Is this the first you're hearing of it? Yeah. No, I know that. I'm just going over the details with you. Okay. You know? Yeah.

Just to make sure that we're all correct on the details. Right. I thought I read a quote from the local district attorney said he wasn't pleased that maybe they were going ahead with the game. But. You mean today? Yeah, but I mean, I've got nothing to say except what you said. You know, there's no answers.

There doesn't seem to be any answers to what's going on. And, you know, when you're out in public, I guess there's part of you should always be a little bit worried. Do you think the game should be played today? I don't have enough information to say that. I mean, the district attorney, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, wouldn't you be more interested in what local law enforcement and the FBI think than the district attorney? Well, he's law enforcement.

Yeah. He's the chief law enforcement officer in the city if that's what he did. Wouldn't that be the attorney general? I think it would be easier if it was a stand-alone game, but it's part of a process, you know, and picking a national champion. I don't know what the easy answer is, but they're going to play. I mean, I would bet you that the Superdome today, this afternoon, and then, you know, after the game, is probably one of the, is going to be one of the safest places in New Orleans. I would hope so.

I have no opinion as to whether or not the game should be played. This is one of those where it's like, you know, we don't have enough information. I mean, it's one thing to debate whether or not, you know, the NFL should have played the Sunday after Kennedy was assassinated or the NFL should have played after 9-11, although the 9-11 thing was pretty easy, I think. All of those decisions. I mean, Roselle always regretted the decision, right? Didn't he always regret the decision to play? Yes, he did. Yeah.

All right. Anyway, you know, to the football yesterday, I know you didn't watch. you were enjoying your mugs of very cold beer looking out at the ocean. And I think a lot of us envy you for that. So the Arizona State Texas game was an all-timer Tommy. I mean, but it wasn't for the first 45 to 50 minutes of the game. That's the kind of irony of it is the game's going to go down as an all-time classic. for those of you that missed it.

The first quarter final game yesterday was in the Peach Bowl. It was Arizona State and Texas. Texas was a massive favorite in the game, and they were pretty much dominating the game. And when I say dominating the game, score-wise, they had a 24-8 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Game looked pretty much over. They weren't impressive in building their fourth quarter.

lead, not even a little bit. But Arizona State, who would move the ball all day long but just couldn't score points, started to, you know, turn the game around. And they turned the game around because of Cam Scataboo. The running back that we spent some time talking about here because of his performance in the Big 12 championship game. Look, even for the hardcore college football fans, Arizona State wasn't like a go-to until late in this season. But this guy put on one of the great individual performances down the stretch in this game in college football, you know, kind of late season history. It was that incredible.

Johnny Rogers, Tommy, is the guy that... I remember Johnny Rogers. A long time... Yeah, longtime college football fans and... pundits will say that the Johnny Rogers game against Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Day 1971 was one of the all-time great performances in football history. You can go look it up. You know, Anthony Davis. Six touchdowns. USC. Yeah. Yes. That was Thanksgiving weekend, too. Yeah, against Notre Dame. I remember that

game. I don't remember the Johnny Rogers game, but I've read a lot about it over the years. But anyway, I'm not going to say that it was that, but it was certainly a memorable performance. The guy threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and that play, along with the two-point conversion that was executed after his touchdown pass. This is a running back, Cam Scataboo, who had a touchdown pass 42 yards out on a half-back option. They made the two-pointer, and with six and a half minutes to go now, it's 24-6. They get the ball back. He catches a bomb down the left sideline. I mean, it was a double move. He's a running back. And they're in position to score, and he runs it in from the two, basically carrying four or five guys on his back into the end zone. And then he runs it in for the two-point conversion to tie it. He ends up with a touchdown in overtime to give him a 31-24 lead. All the while,

This dude is physically spent. This was Kellyn Winslow in the famous, you know, playoff game between the Chargers and the Dolphins in 82, or 81 or 82. When Winslow was, you know, carried off the field multiple times, given, you know, shots on the sideline intravenous fluids, and then he's back out catching touchdown passes and blocking field goals, which is what he did.

This was that kind of a performance. The dude was getting sick, you know, vomiting on the sideline. Every time he came back into the game and he got tackled, there was a bit of theatrics because he would lie on the ground for a while and then they'd pick him up and he might go out for a play and then he'd come back in. He ended up in the game with 143 rushing yards, 99 pass reception yards, and he threw a 42-yard touchdown pass. Almost all of it came in the last half of the fourth quarter,

especially on the pass reception yards and the passing yards. They lost the game, though, on a very, they lost the game in two overtimes, 39, 31. But there was a very controversial call at the end of regulation. Texas had the ball towards midfield. I'm sorry, Arizona State had the ball in a tie game. after they had tied the game, they got the ball back. They're at midfield. They've got a third down in 15,

and there is a clear targeting hit. Helmet to helmet. Their safety taff, who's a great one at Texas, hits the receiver Stovall. It's clearly helmet to helmet on a defenseless receiver. Wasn't crown of his helmet, but it was defenseless receiver by definition, should have been targeting.

There's an anybody that's watched college football all year long that would have said, that's not targeting. That's, of course, targeting. You know, 12 noon game between two Big Ten teams, Northwestern and Maryland in October, that's targeting. But they didn't call targeting on review. I thought that that was incredibly cowardly and very suspicious. And it was like they don't want Arizona State to advance here.

Let me just make sure everybody's clear on one thing. While Arizona State would have maintained possession of the ball in Texas territory, with about a minute to go, the ability to drive it closer, kick a game winning field goal in a game that was tied 24-24. Their field goal kicking situation this year had been a mess. They were on their third string kicker. They were like four for 13. They had already missed in this game a field goal. and they were not a guarantee to make a field goal to win the game. But the opportunity for them not to get one, I thought, was disgusting.

That was clearly one of those where you question the validity of the result and how much contribution to the result, you know, the powers that be in college football, how much influence they had on it. Because that is targeting 100 times out of 100 times in every single college game except for this one with a call that perhaps would have put Texas on the brink of being knocked out. Hated that.

Yeah. You didn't want. I saw that. That got a lot of replay on social media. And it sounds like you're right. But what a performance by the, this dude. What a finish to the game. It was not a great game up until that point. And the last half of the fourth quarter and the overtimes will be remembered forever in terms of

this playoff. And it was the first competitive game we've had in the playoff. We were five blowouts for five, you know, for five games. I will just mention this. As much money as they are, you know, going to receive. from the networks for this expanded playoff for many years to come. How do you start the Rose Bowl while the other game is still going on? This is something you probably didn't know about, but they moved the Rose Bowl to ESPN 2 and started the game while this one was still in overtime.

How do you do that? You got three games. Well, you knew you only had two games at that point because the Sugar Bowl had been postponed. How do you not tell the Ohio State Norfolk? Oregon teams. I know this might disrupt your pregame routine just a bit, but we're not kicking this game off until this one's over. Because this one could have gone for another, you know, we've seen seven and eight overtime games with this two-point conversion play after the second overtime, which I think is ridiculous. Thank God we didn't get to that. But can you

imagine if this had gone another 45 minutes with two-point conversions? And, you know, people had missed much of the first half of Ohio State Oregon, which was the most anticipated game of the day. Just hold the game up until the other one's over. I agree. They're not competing networks. You know, it's not CBS and Fox in the NFL playoffs. It's ESPN's got the whole thing. Sorry, we're not starting the Rose Bowl until this Peach Bowl quarterfinal game is over.

Anyway, Ohio State was awesome. I mean, what else can you say? I mean, they do look like, and they have at various points this year, looked like the best team in the country. And, you know, and then you say, well, how in the hell did they lose to Michigan? Well, Michigan's really good defensively, and they choked in that game against Michigan. I could see it happening against Texas. Ohio State's a six, six and a half point favorite over Texas.

I actually thought it was going to be higher than that after how impressive they were. But I think Texas defensively is good enough and similar to Michigan. So I have a feeling that game will be more competitive than most. Thank you. But, God, Jeremiah Smith, for those of you wishing that he was not a true freshman and could be available in the draft, I mean, nobody would, we wouldn't be high enough to pick him. He's a top three pick in any draft. he does look like just a star. But Ohio State looks great.

I'm interested to watch Notre Dame today. I kind of like Notre Dame to win this game. And I think Notre Dame would give Ohio State one hell of a final if they were to get there. The winner of today's game, Tommy, meets Penn State in a semi-final. All right. You got anything else? Oh, I need your pick. I need your pick.

Oh, my pick? Oh, yeah. Okay. Let me make a prediction for the game. I've got the commanders win in 30 to 20. And as a footnote, Chris Rodriguez, 100 yards rushing and receiving. All right. I like it. 30 to 20, Washington. That would wrap up the six-seat and send them, I think, at this point to Tampa Bay, given that the Rams aren't trying to win on Sunday. and the bucks, by the way, have to win.

You were way off on that 10-win season, weren't you? Yeah, I was. But remember, our recalibration, midway through the season, I had us at 12 and 5, you had us at 11 and 6, so one of us will be right on our recalibrated picks. But yeah, I was way off on that 10 and 7.

I mean, the nerve to be that far off. All right, enjoy your time down there. We'll talk on Tuesday, where we will certainly be talking about their playoff game a week from either Saturday, Sunday, probably not Monday night. I don't think the 3-6 game will be a Monday night game, but we'll see. All right. Enjoy. Bye. Goodbye.