The Kevin Sheehan Show - "Quarterback"

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

Kevin and Thom opened the show talking Broadway musicals before getting to the headline-making Ron Rivera comments yesterday about Carson Wentz. They discussed the Monday Night game between the Chiefs and Raiders where the NFL's current state of quarterback protection was on full display. Some baseball playoffs to end the show.  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. Here's Kevin. The show today is presented by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com or MyBooky.ag. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. on your first deposit to secure a double deposit bonus.

That's promo code Kevin D.C. to get your first deposit match, dollar for dollar, all the way up to $1,000. Nobody's doing that these days. or very few are. My bookies got fair lines, fair pricing. And right now, Washington and the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, Tommy, a pick-em. And actually, I am seeing out there, my bookie, it's a pick-um. I've seen some bears minus one.

I think that's actually the right line. I mean, I don't know at this point. I haven't really looked to see. I'll send a quick text to somebody to find out where the action is. But if you want to bet football, my bookie is the place to do it. MyBooky.orgie.orgie, use my promo code Kevin D.C. And again, what they're offering you is free money. I mean, a lot of places will offer you these gimmicky kind of promotions where maybe you're getting like, you know, 50 bucks back or 25 bucks back on some big parlay bet.

No, with my bookie, you can get up to $1,000 in free money to bet with. So go to my bookie.orgie. and use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. I'll know by the end of the show where the public money is so far. Now, let me just say, it hasn't worked very well for me on Washington last week or the week before. Tommy, I think I said this yesterday during the podcast. We're going to get to the Rivera stuff, trust me. That's going to be a big part of today's show, the Rivera Presser from yesterday.

I would actually, if I were him, I would not do press conferences for a while, but he has to. You know, sometimes with the smell test, I'll do really poorly, and then I'll come in and say, damn, there were like six other games that were really close. And if I had just given those out, I would have had a winning weekend. Not last weekend. If I was 3 and 10 on the smell test, 3 and 10. Painful. But let me just tell you, it wasn't as painful for me in the smell test.

other than the reaction I get from some of you, which is fine, as it was for me personally. Because if I had given out all of the games I liked for the weekend, I think I would have been something like six in 23. Because I think that's pretty much what I was personally for the weekend. It was terrible. I couldn't pick my nose. Oh, my gosh. I got destroyed.

And yes. Do you have a place to sleep still? I got a place to stay. I have a place to stay. Okay. Fortunately, I'm... But you can stay with me if you're down on your luck. I'm not as carried away and don't get as carried away as I once did when I was much younger without all of the responsibilities that I have.

But no, my guy has already reached out to me. My guy already reached out to me after last night to say... And by the way, I did play the Raiders last night plus seven. Because when you're down, even though you don't have to bet the Monday night game, when you're down a bunch you're like fuck it I mean I got to play something tonight that's why it's there

I did play the Raiders last night but I did not get back all of which I'm down and I got you know I got the very nice text message saying hey you want to meet up this week and settle so I'm going to have to do that this week

anyway some of you know exactly what I'm talking about I would bet by the way that Chicago might be a public favorite again this week. That's just my bet. And, you know, Dallas was a big public darling two weeks ago, and the public one. Tennessee was the biggest public darling of the weekend, and they covered. And this one might be the same thing. I can't imagine giving Washington out three weeks in a row.

And I'm now 0 in three on Washington games. Tommy, I going into last year, I think I was like 69 or 70% all time on the smell test games involving Washington, whether it was betting on Washington or betting against Washington. But this year, last year and this year, I think that percentage is coming down quickly, as it usually does. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. I got a big night ahead of me. Tonight, I'm going into Baltimore to the hippodrome to see the play Hamilton. Oh, you told me that. You know, I saw it in New York a month or so ago, two months or so ago. And I told you, right, that I'm I thought it was very overrated.

So I'm interested to see what... I thought we had this conversation. I know we have... We probably did, but, Kevin, I don't remember what we talked about six weeks ago. It's unbelievable because you... This was like a big conversation because I was kind of in New York and ended up being in New York by myself, and I did a lot of fun things by myself in New York, which I love to be in New York. I've just always enjoyed being in New York, no matter what the occasion is.

But I actually... I was moving my youngest son up there, remember, in August, late July, whenever it was now. I think it was August. And I ended up getting, I was going to meet my older son who was in town from L.A. I was going to meet him for dinner, but his flight from Syracuse got canceled. So I went to Hamilton by myself. I had never seen it. Paid dearly for a ticket.

Great seat, though. Phenomenal seat. And I just found it to be just okay. Like I've seen a lot better shows. It was overrated. And in fact, it's so funny because Howard Gutman, who's become a very good friend of this show, radio show and podcast, he heard that day, and he wrote me this long thing saying, the most overrated show he's ever been to.

And I've heard from other people that have felt the same thing. But I am interested to hear your take. Where are you seeing it? Are you singing it at Kennedy Center? No, the hippodrome. The hippodrome. He's Baltimore. I'll go with some Baltimore friends.

Got it. So, you know what, I'm not a theater guy, although every time I go to the theater, I always enjoy it. So I don't know why I don't go more. It's just never on my radar for something to do. You know, there's always a Rocker Files rerun or something better that, you know, for me. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. And most plays I've seen in person, I like.

I wasn't crazy about rent when I saw it in person. Oh, stop. You know that that is my all-time favorite. Were you just saying that because of that? No, Kevin, look it, I don't pay attention to what your life is about, okay? My life is so full, I have a hard time keeping track of it. I think I would. I didn't think, maybe I just saw a poor production of it.

Where did you see Rent? I saw it at the Warner Theater. Okay. I saw it at the Warner Theater, too. I think I've seen Rent probably at least double-digit times. I would consider, I would not consider myself to, by the way, I feel the same way you do. I usually end up kind of going to shows where I'm saying to my wife, oh, God, is that what we're doing tonight? And then I end up enjoying them very much.

But for many years, especially when we were a little bit younger, and we took the kids, a lot, but usually it was just the two of us. We would try to do New York for at least a weekend, sometimes two weekends a year, because we have a lot of good friends that live up in that area, and we would end up, you know, meeting in the city for dinner and going to a show.

But we went to rent when it came out in the late 90s, you know, mid to late 90s, and it became, it's weird, it became very much kind of the soundtrack for my kids. We played that so often in the car when

the kids were there. They fell in love with the music. The movie was great. It was well done. But I think I've seen the live show in New York probably a half dozen times in other places, maybe, I don't know, four times. I would not consider myself to be a rent head, which is what people that have gone probably a hundred times would refer to them as. But I do love that. And, you know, whenever it makes the rounds, we usually end up trying to get tickets and going. I will tell you this. Like, I was told by many after going to see Hamilton. Well, going to see Hamilton, I was told by many, oh, my God, you're going to love it.

I didn't. What I haven't seen, and it's number one on my list, is the Book of Mormon, which no one has told me anything other than incredible. Have you seen that or not? I've not seen that. Okay. Have you heard the same thing? My favorite live show I've seen. Yeah, I've heard great things about it.

My favorite live show I've ever seen was Lay Miseries at the National Theater. And we had unbelievable seats. And, I mean, that's still the standard. I remember I had my, you know, our sons with us, and my youngest son was about nine, and his eyes were so wide open, you know, because we were like nine rows back from the stage as to what he was seeing. So that's probably the best show I've ever seen. I love that. I've seen that a couple times. Loved Phantom of the Opera.

I think I've seen that a couple of times. God, you know what? The National Theater is a good theater. It's a great theater to see a show in. And I'm going to tell you the show that I went and saw there. I think it was right before the pandemic started. Karen and I went down and saw Jersey Boys, which was the musical about the Four Seasons,

you know, about Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons. in the four seasons. Now, the funny thing about that show, I remember looking around and saying, we might be the youngest people in here by 20 years. Yes, I'm sure you want. Yeah. But it was really good. It was excellent. Okay. I mean, this show never really takes the path that is anticipated. I hope you have a good time tonight. I hope you enjoy it. But Broadway musicals, that part of the conversation's over. Should we get to the Ron Rivera story or not? I think that could be a musical someday.

I think the commanders could definitely be a musical someday. You know, you could probably do a play about the Snyder era. You know, reign of terror. All right. So for those of you that are, you know, haven't been paying attention. And my guess is if you're listening to this podcast, you know exactly what we're going to do. I'm going to play this back and forth between Matt Paris from Tommy's paper, The Washington Times, and Ron Rivera yesterday. It came in a conversation about sort of the NFC East.

You'll hear Matt's question. You'll hear Ron's answer. You'll hear the follow-up. Here it was. Hey, Ron. Following up on John's question about the Giants, you know, they're up to a fast question. start, the Eagles, the Cowboys, you know, they've kind of all been rebuilding, too, the last couple of years, and it seems like they're farther ahead. Why do you think the teams in the

division are farther ahead at this point? Quarterback. I mean, with quarterback, like the Cowboys, for instance, they don't have Dak Prescott this season and still have been able to win. Well, they started with, they started with Dak, and they built around DAC, and the offense is built around DAC. Their backup's a guy that is very solid inside of it, inside of what they do and the truth is that this is a quarterback driven league and if you look at the teams that have been able to sustain success they've been able to build it around a specific quarterback chose the quarterback here though so do you have any regrets about that or how do you know I got no regrets about that quarterback I think our quarterback has done

some good things there's been a couple games that he struggled but you look at his numbers from yesterday and he was okay look at his numbers he's had throughout the year there was a time he was you know, very solid. And then, you know, we had the unfortunate Philadelphia game and he struggled a little bit in the Dallas game, but the way he performed yesterday, and he just shows you what he's capable of.

And, you know, we chose him because we believe him. We chose him because we looked at what we felt were things that pointed towards him. So the first part of that answer when he says quarterback was the part that ended up becoming headline. material for, you know, everybody that covers pro football here locally and certainly on the national scene. I'm going to play for you shortly what Alex Smith said last night on the ESPN pregame show. He really went after the coach. RG3 went after the coach. Now, I didn't see this until this morning with a tweet. But I already kind of, I'm going to share with you my opinion on

this, but I spent, you know, probably 45 minutes. minutes to an hour this morning talking about this. So I'll let you go first, and I want to hear your reaction to that. Just so everybody knows, there was a lot of clarification. There was a lot of backtracking from Ron Rivera at the end of that press conference, you know, talking about, you know, it's the quarterback. We went for it last year with Fitzpatrick and, you know, Carson is new and we've got to get the pieces around him, et cetera, et cetera. But go ahead. Your response. Tommy. Well, two things, two things right off the bat.

If Joe Gibbs had been here and Pee Wee Herman had been his quarterback, and he just got to the building the day before, Joe Gibbs would have never answered quarterback. Never. The second thing is, once Ron Rivera did say quarterback, it really didn't matter what he said after that. everything else was irrelevant. You can explain it, rationalize it, you know,

context it until the cows come home. Given the baggage that this quarterback brought to this team from Indianapolis and Philadelphia, and how they've handled him with kid gloves, particularly when he first arrived, you know, to say the word, answer quarterback to the question like that, you have to be an idiot. You literally have to be an idiot to blurr out that. kind of answer for this particular quarterback. Right.

That's my short stuff right there. That's it. I got more to say. I mean, look at the damage that was done. Yeah. I mean, remember, this is a quarterback who obviously has some confidence issues, and rightly so, based on being ejected from two franchises in the past three years. Remember, this is the guy, Jason Wright, went after Scott Abraham,

you know, bluntly, but asking him legitimate questions about why he got, why he was driven out of Philly and Indianapolis. This is just as blunt and it's damaging, if not more so, than what anything, Scott Abraham asked, and Jason Wright going to take Ron Rivera to task. You know, he spent the whole day yesterday, the coach did. He did damage control. That's a good one. Is Jason Wright going to tweet out and defend Carson Wentz against his head coach? Yeah. That's funny. I mean, seriously, he defended. He went after Scott Abraham for a totally legitimate question.

And his head coach answered what he answered. Yeah, that's interesting. So let me start with this. Your last point of your two points, when you call them that somebody would have to be an idiot to answer that. I don't want to say that it was an idiotic response or it came from an idiot. But I do believe that, well, let me start with this, actually, because this will make it easier for me with you. It doesn't matter what he intended to do. And it doesn't matter whether or not it was stupidity that made him say it. The bottom line is Carson ended up under the bus.

Whether he meant to throw him under the bus or not, that's where Carson ended up. And a savvy communicator, a less, a more inclined to take accountability head coach, a more comfortable head coach perhaps right now, you know, doesn't put himself into that position. Here's what I really want to say. That's the most important thing. Okay, the result was your quarterback ended up publicly under a bus and it made it look like you made it look like you put him there. However, we, you, me, certainly the beat reporters who cover this team and are out there every single day. Many of you who are listening, we've got, we've got, we, we've got, we, we've got, we get to know these people. And we get to know these people through, you know, their interviews and

their press conferences, especially the head coaches, because nobody speaks more than the head coaches during the season. It's every day. And so, you know, when I see, you know, immediately it become a headline. And by the way, I did not hear this live. I actually, I actually fell asleep yesterday at about 2 o'clock and woke up at 7.30 last night. That's a different story altogether. But I got quickly caught up. And my initial reaction was, especially after I then watched the rest of the press conference unfold, he's just such a clunky, uncoordinated, slow on his feet, which I think is a nicer way of saying what you had said earlier, communicator and thinker. This isn't his thing. he has stumbled and bumbled and had to go back and cover or explain or forget what he said the day before and say something completely different.

We've been listening to this now for a couple of years. He's not good at this. I thought initially I didn't think that he meant and didn't understand the ramifications of what he said of answering why are the other teams further ahead quarterback. I actually thought initially what he came back and circled back and tried to explain, even though that wasn't done very well, that he was just trying to say it's the most important position and we've had a bunch of them so far. The problem, of course, with the answer, is that Cooper Rush has been the quarterback in Dallas. Now, I know he's been there for four or five years, and he's very familiar with the system. He's still the backup quarterback, okay, behind a star

highly paid quarterback who's been injured. And the star highly paid quarterback lost the game he played in, and Cooper Rush has been the starter for four straight games. Not to mention, by the way, they've got a dominant defense. Then you have Daniel Jones, who did not get his fifth year option picked up, and is basically on sort of a probationary period with the new coaching staff. Now, I will tell you, They're doing a phenomenal job with him, Dable is. And he played, and I mentioned this yesterday, the signature game of his career on Sunday morning, Sunday morning here, afternoon London time. He was fantastic in that win over Green Bay. A bum ankle, no receivers to throw to, your best player hobbled as well.

It was just a spectacular game. God, I wish Washington were playing at this level and in games like this. and a major step forward for Daniel Jones. Major step forward. I don't have any predictions on Daniel Jones. I'm just telling you, on Sunday, he was really, really good, and he was the reason they won the game. And then you have Jalen Hertz, who, you know, I'll pat myself on the back briefly.

I've liked Jalen Hertz since they drafted him. I liked him in college. And I thought Philadelphia was going to be a great team this year, and I thought Jalen Hertz was going to prove to be their long-term guy. Now, it's only five games in. They're five and oh. He's an MVP candidate right now. But let's face it, this was a prove-it year for Jalen Hertz coming in.

And only the second year is a full-time starter. So, again, I don't think he meant to throw Carson Wentz under the bus and then back it up over him again. I just don't think he's a quick on his feet thinker in these situations, which he's not. We've seen that before. I think he thinks he is, though, and therefore there's a stubbornness to him where he immediately, and look, once a week last year, you know this, once a week, I had him on my radio show. And once a week, I had to record that interview on Thursday afternoons. And once a week, probably out of this 18 shows we did, I would say on half of them, we ended up talking for another 20, 25 minutes. when we were done recording, you know, 15 minutes anyway.

And I do like Ron Rivera. And I understand why players like him. And I think he's probably a decent person to be around. I don't think he's brilliant. I don't think he's a good communicator. I think he's very sensitive to criticism. I think he's one of these people that does have this sense that, you know, his resume is much more grandiose than it actually is.

and I think he's just kind of an average coach, you know? But I think yesterday, I got to ask you, Kevin. Yes. Would he be a good neighbor? Yeah, I think he'd be a good neighbor. I do. I think he'd be a, but I'm not, but don't put him into the Jim Zorn class. But he would be a good neighbor.

I think he'd be a good neighbor. You know, I think he and Stephanie, like I think, you know, all I've heard from the people who work in that building is he, He's just a first-rate person around people. And they haven't always had that. They certainly don't have it at the top. But it really doesn't matter. Just like we had the conversation a few weeks back about them wanting credit for the two years of major improvements.

Well, nobody gives a shit about your HR department being quarterly reviewed by some auditing firm and now being emulated by, you know, sports franchises across the globe. You're 15 and 23 now in the regular season, and every big public-public relations event, you tend to butcher. So it doesn't matter about those things. And I think, you know, the group of PR people out there that they have for the football team are doing actually a better job than the previous administration. But the best advice, whether Ron would take it or not, is just talk a lot less. you and I both talked about so many times, my God, Jack Del Rio's transcripts are a half a page. Rivera's are multiple pages.

But the irony of this is it was a one-word answer. Yes, very ironic. It was not one of his lengthy diet drives. It was the shortest it could be. It was a one-word, yes. It was a one-word answer when it really needed to be much lengthier in terms of explanation. Now, here- You're right.

Go ahead. Go ahead. No, you're right about all that. But today on Twitter, Alex Smith is trending, okay? And it's because of his criticisms. And he's not in love with Ron Rivera.

They parted ways with bad feeling. Oh, yeah. When Alex Smith left here. So that's something to consider. But Alex Smith is the opposite of Carson-Went. Alex Smith was beloved and revered every place he played. I mean, you know, teammates love it. And he overcame maybe the greatest adversity we've ever seen a quarterback overcome in the NFL.

So he is the polar opposite of Carson Wentz. You know, and to have him criticize this situation like this, it's just, I mean, I mean, it just, you know, the coach has got to be smarter. than that. I don't care if he's limited in any way, shape, or form. The quarterback is radioactive. Yep. Okay? No, you're right. That's glowing. Yes. It's glowing over

in the corner, so you can't touch it. Peeway Herman Gibbs would have said great things about. Yes. So you just, he's a radio, it's a radioactive thing, and he picked it up and he threw it out there. Let me, since you brought up Alex Smith, let me play the Alex Smith audio from last night's

Monday night countdown, which it's funny. It's him and RG3 out there, you know, two former Washington quarterbacks. And Alex Smith went off on Ron Rivera. By the way, let me just warn you. The audio quality is not great. For whatever reason, ESPN did not put out great quality on this, but I think you'll be able to hear it and understand it. Here it is. I'm not going to lie. I have a really hard time watching that. And when I heard it, I couldn't believe it. I'm not here to defend Carson Wentz. He's had a tumultuous career and ups and downs. But this is a defensive head coach that is absolutely driving the bus over his quarterback. And I just want to, I just want to reach some stats out there for everybody just to realize. Carson Wentz is fourth in the NFL

in passing. The only guys ahead of him are Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and Tom Brady. This is a defense that is 26th in the NFL in scoring, giving up points. Oh, and they're also 28th in rushing offense. So the blame has got to be spread around. This is a team sport. It is the ultimate team sport and how a head coach can stand up there in front of the media and usher one word and it's quarterback. Let me just tell you that the only problem I have with the Alex Smith rant last night is that Alex Smith does know Ron Rivera. And he does know that he's not the smoothest of communicators. And I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot.

It's one thing for people who aren't following the day to day here to hear the one word. quarterback and go ballistic, you know, and go off on Rivera without much context or without, you know, sort of the day-to-day understanding. And by the way, I'm not taking Ron off the hook, because I've got some more on Ron here in a moment. But, you know, Alex Smith's departure, like everybody's departure, around here, never goes well. You know, nobody ever has a great opinion of this place when they've left. But his was truly, you know, acrimonious because he really felt like, you know, Ron wasn't up front with him and that the organization didn't give him a fair shot. And I, you and I've had this conversation before and I forget whether or not

you agreed with me. I think, you know, Alex Smith is in La La Land on a lot of that stuff. There's no organization on the planet that wouldn't have planned to move forward without him. The chances that he was going to be able to play again, especially after we saw that Project 11 documentary, were zero percent. It's one of the more miraculous comebacks in some of the more miraculous comebacks in sports history from an injury that looked like there's no chance. And then for this organization, more than any other, with its history of medical and trainers and distrust, to have them put him on the field and give him that chance, they were taking so much risk, so much risk.

Can you imagine if he had hurt himself again? And in that first appearance, remember, against the Rams in the second half when he came in for Kyle Allen, it was truly maybe the worst performance by a quarterback in NFL history. And Aaron Donald picked him up and piledrived him into the ground. And you're like, oh, my God. And you're already on pins and needles. Like, it was not, it was certainly not unfair that the organization moved on without him and was hesitant in putting him back out there. and then when they found out that he got cleared,

they were as shocked as anybody would have been. But anyway, Alex Smith like everybody else, and I'm not defending the organization specifically or in general. This is just a specific, excuse me, thing against Alex Smith. I think he kind of misses the boat on that. The organization really did not, and probably should not have put him back out there. Here's what we don't know, though.

And I think in Alex Smith's defense, we don't know the communication that went on behind the scene. Remember, the head doctor quit. I know. Because of this. I know. Because of the way the team handled the Alex Smith thing, not because of Alex Smith. Right. So I got to think that maybe in Alex Smith's mind, you know, commitments were made and they weren't kept.

The funny thing is, really the best chance that they've had competitively is really when Alex was in there during that stretch. And I know who they were playing. I understand that. But his leadership and his brain as a quarterback, like, you go back to those games. And I've said this before. Clearly, Alex Smith wasn't great for them. But there were games. You go back to that Pittsburgh game in that second half, he was outstanding.

He was great on Thanksgiving Day against the Cowboys. The comeback, the near comeback against Detroit was a phenomenal game from Alex Smith. He threw for, I think, 400 yards in that game. And the only reason they lost that game was Chase Young had the 15-yard penalty roughing the passer that gave Matt Prater the 59-yard field goal with no time left. And so they made that run and they went from, you know, what were they? Two and nine or two and eight to seven and nine. And, you know, by the time we got to the end, he got hurt again in that 49ers game, remember,

and then really wasn't even close to what he was during the Pittsburgh games and the Dallas games, etc. But anyway, whatever. Enough on Alex Smith. Let me just add to the Ron Rivera thing. I've said this a few times over the last few weeks, you know, starting with after the Philadelphia, game. I came in here and I said, it now is time for the buck stops here. He's got to have a Harry Truman moment here. I don't want to hear about maturity or people not adhering to the scheme or it's these players. No more calling out players. You are the leader in a coach-centric organization.

You've made all of the personnel decisions, even though he hasn't made all of them. I mean, really, he's, but he's signed off on all of them. And he coaches the team. And he coaches the team. team and I don't want to hear it anymore. And we really haven't gotten that from him. We've gotten little pieces of it, but he still can't take accountability. And what the answer really is, not that I'm suggesting he should have given this answer to the question as to why the other three teams are where they are and Washington is where they are, well, it starts with ownership.

That's the number one reason. That's the number one reason Washington's been the losingest organization in. in this division over the last 23 years. The owner. I don't want to make this about Snyder because we do so much. But it's not the quarterback. It's the owner one. Okay?

Number two, it can't be the quarterback right now because the teams in your division don't have great quarterback play. Hertz is playing great. Don't get me wrong. Jalen Hertz is. Okay. But so you got to, of course it's always about the quarterback on the field. But remember, owner, and then by the way, front office, roster construction, personnel

people to figure out how to land on the quarterback, whether it's through the draft. And I know there's a lot of luck involved in that. And then, by the way, coaching's important in the NFL. Brian Dable's doing a phenomenal job. Unbelievable. Dan Quinn is an outstanding defensive coordinator who's going to get another shot. I don't know what to make of Siriani at this point. I really don't. Other than that organization with Howie Roseman, et cetera, they do it right in Philadelphia. They do it right.

I mean, they've got, you know, depending on where New Orleans finishes, they're going to have a high pick again. They've got their loaded with picks. And they've got a quarterback on his rookie deal. They're going to have to pay them. You know, they're going to have to pay Hertz. And so I just,

there's got to be a point in which Ron understands that we're not stupid and that, you know, you're in year three, you set some expectation levels, then you change the goalposts, moved them a couple of weeks ago. And the answer to that question isn't, you know, well, they've got a good owner and I don't. Of course, I'm not expecting him to say that. But the answer to the, why are the other teams further ahead at this point? It's early in the season. They're playing very well.

And we're not. We've got to get better. But there are 11. And throw in a little bit. We've got to throw it a little bit. Throw in a little bit of we got to coach them better. Yes, sure. We got a little bit of that.

They're playing well. We're not. We've got to play better. I've got to coach this team better. We've got 12 games left in the season. And they're going to let us play them despite being one and four. And we're working towards improving starting on Thursday night in Chicago. Here's what you'll never hear from Ron Revere.

I feel like the worst coach in America. One of your favorites. You're never going to hear that come out of his mouth. You know what else you won't hear? Old, what was the safety's name who had a sesamoid? Chris Horton. Oh, Chris Horton. By the way, he's an excellent special teams coach up in Baltimore.

Oh, Chris Horton's got a sesamoid. By the way, I was late getting back to the building. I went and watched Chris Cooley's surgery. I mean, really truly. Why did it see more fun? Why did those days seem more fun than they do now? I don't know. Those days were not fun.

Those days were not fun. Oh, I don't know. Oh, he was a total boob. And Tommy, that really coincided with what I referred to as the first rock bottom. You know, we've had four or five of them since. But really, the first true rock bottom where fans started to exit and started to say no more was that 2009 season. And, you know, and by the way, it's when Dan, you know, Cooley always said that this was Dan's first attempt at becoming a better owner by hiring Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan. Of course, that didn't work out either.

So, whatever. It's always something with this group. You know, by the way, break out the chalkboard, erase four, and write zero and put a line through it. That's how many days it's been since the last accident. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. You're right.

You know, the funny thing is Carson Wentz played well Sunday. I mean, the last sequence, obviously, and I gave him a B for the game. If he had punched that in somehow, and they didn't, that would have been a really good performance. I had Nick Ackridge, who I've had on the podcast before, and he's from PFF, and Nick is a data analyst for them. But his obsession is Washington sports team. So he ends up doing a lot of the breakdown of the Washington games with PFF. And he said that only Gino Smith, I mean, Gino Smith, on Sunday had more of what they call big-time throws in a game. And you're talking about big throws, chunk throws, well-contested throws.

I'm still, like, I went back and watched some of the game again yesterday. I'm still so surprised that they got the downfield plays that they got in that game because I just didn't think they could protect. And in some cases, they didn't protect well again. I mean, Andrew Norwell was horrible in this game. Yeah. I don't. Yeah, and, you know, Ron, in part of the press conference, too, Tommy,

God, I didn't cut this piece of sound, so I will read it to you. He said, he was talking about we need the pieces. It was, you know, moving the goalposts again. You know, blaming it on injuries, different things. He was asked why Sunday was so frustrating to him. And he said, it was a missed opportunity. We played well enough to win. We just didn't play consistent.

You know, you have a couple of lows. you give up a couple of big plays and then you miss a couple of opportunities. I know I've said that before, but that's the truth. When you watch the tape, you go back, you watch the game, you see those things and sit there and say, wow, that was a missed opportunity. How can you know we gave up on the big play there? That's crazy, but that's part of the game. Actually, that's not the quote I meant to read.

But let me just real quickly on that quote tell you, that's fine. And it's true. This was a game that was very winnable, obviously. first and goal at the two-yard line with 19 seconds to go down four. So it was clearly a winnable game. But you know what? I went back and just looked at all of the Rivera games because I had mentioned, you know, a couple weeks ago about all the times that they had been blown out in the first half,

you know, the 20 plus point differential games. Well, he's coached here 18 games that have been decided by seven points or less. And he's eight and 10 in those games. You know, there's been a lot of missed opportunities. And a lot of those missed opportunities on winnable games come down to things like clock management, which he didn't handle well at all at the end of the first half. You know, there was a situation on the final drive where they lost 13 seconds, 13 valuable seconds. You know, it's the inches in these games, more than even the yards.

And a lot of that is coaching. But here's the quote that I actually wanted to read. He said, you know, I think we have some pretty good pieces in place. I'd like to have them all on the field at the same time, but we don't. We can't. So this is the lot we have. So, you know, and he mentioned pieces a couple of times. Well, he's responsible for the pieces.

He picked Andrew Norwell and Trey Turner, two former Panthers to replace Eric Flowers and Brandon Sheriff. And I'm not saying I would have paid Brandon Sheriff. No. I would have made him a much better offer with the first opportunity. which wasn't the Ron group. It was the group previous to Ron. But, you know, he's the one that signed William Jackson to a massive contract when no one else wanted to, you know, him. He's the one that, you know, was, they had their arms around Carson Wentz like he was the long lost, you know, answer that had finally come home.

This is who we wanted all along, which wasn't true. And no one else wanted him. I mean, last night I'm watching this and I'm like, Jesus, this would be an opportunity for me to come in here today with you and do what you always do, which is I told you Carson once wasn't the long-term answer quarterback. I told you that that trade had major flags on it. I mean, you don't give up a quarterback if he's any good at great expense. I mean, Indianapolis in Philadelphia chased him out of the bill. building at great expense to them. We have talked about this over and over and over again since the

trade. I said, there's no way I would have eaten $28 million and given up what they gave up in compensation. And a lot of you said, well, it's going to look cheap, you'll see. And by the way, at the same time, I said, I think it's an upgrade over what they have. But the bottom line is, I didn't think Ron did throw him under the bus. But it doesn't matter because he ended up under the bus anyway. I am reading right now. now that apparently Ron had a Maya Culpah with the team. Are you seeing this? I guess he did some interview on, oh, I guess it's the, on the Don Geronimo show. Oh, yeah. So it's the station that carries the games now. So he does an interview on that. So that's, well, I should know that because I've

asked for him this year and they said, well, we really can't give him to you this year. So the exclusivity is with the broadcast partner. And so apparently he told that station, this morning that he talked to Carson and he talked to the team and he gave him a mea culp and he took accountability and he said, I talked too much yesterday and it was not what I meant to say. So whatever. My sense of it is, I don't know why. I don't think yesterday phased Carson at all. And yet when they drafted Jaylen Hook, I know, I know. When they drafted Jaylon Hertz, he was upset. I think Alex Smith's comments would crush anybody. I mean, I just think being in the public eye still.

I mean, again, you talked about, you know, this is so ironic, and it's almost like some kind of scientific formula that can't be explained. But it's all the truth. Carson Wentz's performance was not that bad Sunday overall. his numbers, 25 for 38 for 35, 359 yards, and two touchdowns, were terrific numbers. So 359 yards, it's a tremendous output. Okay, so why is such a quarterback who puts up such impressive numbers so repugnant?

Are you asking, like, repugnant? Repugnant to whom? To his former teams, you mean? to everybody, except people in the building. Okay, and I'm sure even then they're on the Republic. There's a lot of them are on a republic. He was so, okay, he had 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in Philly. In Indianapolis.

On paper, that's not the quarterback you get rid of. Of course not. Okay. So his numbers don't tell the Carson Went's story. No, they don't. And as far as the inner, and as far as the. interception at the end? I mean, I'm surprised he hadn't been intercepted on the play before that. All three of them, all three of them, all three of them were interceptable balls. Yes.

Yes. I mean, it was almost like by the time that play came, everyone in the stadium knew it was coming. Oh, God. Yeah, that sequence was hideous. The first one, I think the first one was the worst. He's backpedaling all the way to the 15-yard line. And I know now, after watching it again, He was looking for Cam Sims who broke off his route. But if that ball had been picked off in bounds rather than beyond the end line, that would have been the worst ending for him possible. Because it's just, because, you know, at least you can say about the one that got intercepted. That's actually probably not the read, probably not the throw, but one hell of a play by long.

I mean, eight times out of 10, maybe nine times out of 10, that's just a pass breakup. that's not an interception, you know, by a linebacker. That was a hell of a play. But he should have probably been working the other side of the field. By the way, I want to say one thing because Doc was on with me yesterday. And a lot of you, you know, whenever Doc's on, I hear from so many of you, which, by the way, it pleases me to no end because I love my conversations with Doc, as by the way Tommy does. We love doing stuff with Doc. But, you know, Doc said I would have lined up Brian Robinson on first down and run them right behind Norwell.

I would have said, come on big fella get your act together. And I said, well, you can't run the ball on first down because more plays are better than less plays in that situation. And you have a chance with 19 seconds to run four plays to get to a fourth and goal and run a fourth and goal play. And so if you run it on first down and you don't get it in, you're probably only going to get two snaps off. So you're cutting in half your chance, which is why Tennessee played coverage, you know, on first, second and third down. And, you know, I said, look, I would think about on third down, you know, if I really thought that they were going to continue with, you know, basically eight in coverage, then maybe you decide, okay, let's run it on third down, run it in sort of surprise fashion, quarterback draw, whatever. because we think actually this one play running it against that defense is a better chance of scoring than throwing it two more times or throwing it on third down and then having a run pass option on fourth.

I actually really do think that that is something that more teams should give thought to because almost every team in the league understands that if you have no timeouts and they're like 19 seconds or less, you've got to throw the football. You can't risk being stopped short in bounds and having the clock run out or limiting your number of snaps. But I do think that there's 100% credence to maybe you try to run it on third down and surprise them against eight men in coverage because that's what they had. You know, they didn't give run even a sniff of thought. But God, yeah, the three passes, all three of them could have been intercepted.

All three of them. Yeah. So, I mean, the Carson-Lent numbers don't tell the Carson-Went's story. No, they don't. I mean, again, I'm feeling awfully good about my 10-game prediction. Did you see what Michael Phillips reported from the Richmond Times Dispatch? No. He reported that, okay, the trade agreement for Carson-Lenz,

that if he plays beyond the 10th game. It's 70% of the snaps. It's 70% of the season snaps. So basically, that would be roughly game 11 to 12. Yes. Yeah, game 11. Yeah. Yeah.

And that means that that draft pick becomes the second round draft. That's right. Yeah. And I look, you're going to be right on this. Okay. I'm predicting right now you're going to be right. In fact, you're an overwhelming favorite. it to be right that he ends up getting bench. Well, you said by week 10, whether it's week 10 or

week 11, I'm going to give you a credit for it. And, you know, before the season started, I didn't give much thought to that threshold because I really believed that this team, you know, was going to hover in that seven, eight, you know, nine win range and that they wouldn't be, you know, I obviously didn't pick them as a playoff team. I didn't think they were a good team at all. thought they were somewhere in the middle and could be a competitive team. And so I figured he'd play all 17 snaps, 17 games. But you're going to end up being right on this. Tommy, if they lose to Chicago, and God, I don't want them to lose to Chicago.

I don't care as much as I used to care. But we do this all the time of getting to the season, not even feeling like we've even had any part of the season yet in knowing that it's going to be a bad season. I'd just like to keep the conversation about maybe them, you know, working their way back into a competitive season. I'd like to keep that alive. It's better for us. But if they lose to Chicago, I don't think that's the cutoff.

It would be the cutoff for me. But I think once they are practically eliminated, not mathematically eliminated, because that could take a lot longer than seven, eight games, nine games. But once they are practically eliminated, meaning they're two and seven, and the three. The rest of the division is four and five games in front of them. And the seventh seed in the NFC is three games ahead of them. I'm playing Sam Howe. It's all about trying to find out what we got coming back next year with whatever the new coaching staff is going to be at that point.

Because what I said to you last week I'm sticking with. I see a mutual parting at the end of this year. I do. And I think it's because Ron's going to tire of all this. I do not agree with that because of the money involved. But you may be right. you may be right about that. I also want to go ahead.

Go ahead. No, you go ahead. I was just going to say, I didn't want to forget this on Alex Smith's comments, too, because I made a note of it. He's also dead wrong about what this team is right now. The team defensively actually has become pretty decent. They've improved significantly over the last two weeks. And in fact, they've gone from, I think, 28th DVOA, you know, on football outsiders to 20th. And they've got the seventh-rated rush defense in the NFL.

They've been outstanding against the run now for three straight weeks. Yes, they have. The front group has been much improved. And then offensively, Carson Wentz is not the number four quarterback. He's the number 24 quarterback in QBR in the league. Did he play well Sunday? I think he played pretty well. Was he great?

No. I think he was kind of like a B performance. The ending obviously probably takes it down to C plus B minus territory. I left him at a B because I think he was one of the reasons they actually had a chance in the game on Sunday. But the defense was number one. But Carson Wentz has been a problem for this team, but he has not been the problem for this team. As much as a lot of people would like to make that out to be, and I wouldn't mind if that ended up becoming the issue. But let me also just add this because somebody asked me this last night.

What if they lose to Chicago, Sheehan, what's next? Don't you think that it's possible that Dan fires Rivera? So you don't see it at the end of the year, so you obviously don't see it against Chicago. I just wanted to mention, and I think I was having this conversation with Ben Standing, so I want to give him credit for it too. There's no way on God's Green Earth that Ron Rivera is going to get fired in season. for one reason more than any other reason. There's only one person on the staff capable of being the interim head coach. And his name is Jack Dust Up Del Rio.

So if you think they're going to fire Ron Rivera in season, have that press release and then announce Jack Del Rio is the interim head coach, you're on cocaine, lots of it. That ain't happening. I do think now a bad season is definitely new staff, big changes in the off season is now majorly in play. And you know what would kind of suck to a certain degree is if Rivera does what he's been doing, which is he rallies the troops and they end up winning seven games and going seven and ten or eight and nine. And it's like, okay, great, but that's awesome that you're able to do that.

And I give you kudos for never losing your team in the worst of circumstances. But to what end is this? You're not a contender. You're not playing playoff games. The only reason you played one, it was a total massive aberration on the NFCE standings that particular year in 2020. You'll be home with everybody else, just like you have been since 2017, with the exception of 2020. So that means we're coming back with the same group looking at. for a new quarterback in 2023.

And I am now to the point where, you know, the shred left in me that just cares a little bit is wondering whether Ron's really in this, you know, at this point in his life and with what he's been through. And I see mutual parting, young offensive coordinator, no options other than here to be a head coach, on the cheap with Martin Mayhew continuing as the general. manager. And if I were ownership, of course, this will never be a part of them, but you let Martin Mayhew be the point person on everything and make the hire. Even if he's not really making the hire, you make it seem like he's making the hire. Because you know what we've never had

is a normal organization where there's a general manager who constructs the roster and hires the head coach. And I'm not saying that I'm a big believer in Martin Mayhew, the GM, but it would be an attempt to do it that way, hasn't been done that way in a long time. I'm talking about a true football general manager, not Bruce Allen and Dan together making those decisions. With Jay Gruden having no say in anything when he got here, by the way, that might be the case, although I think every head coach and general manager has to work together. But that's what I'm predicting now. That's what's going to happen. In terms of like if they lose to Chicago, if they're one in five or one in six or one in seven after Green Bay and Indy, you know, it might be.

might be somebody like Marty Herney that they cut loose or, or, you know, somebody like that. Yeah, the Washington Times guy. Go ahead. Get rid of him. Well, he was really, wasn't he the Washington Star guy? Well, he was the Washington Times speedwriter covering the team. Oh, I remember when Marty Herney covered the team, but I thought it was, well, maybe they, is it possible that he worked for the star and then the Times? It may have been. I don't know. He wasn't there when I came. Yeah.

Okay. What else on this? Did you read my column on Sunday? I did. It was great. Tommy wrote a really good column where he basically wrote it in letter form to the guy that heads up the Maryland Gaming Commission saying, remember that little get-together you had with Dan like a month and a half ago? I don't think he was really telling the truth to you.

Yeah. They didn't have great attendance coming and he doesn't have a quarterback. And by the way, for people who asked, yes, I really did send that email to the guy. You really did? Oh, I thought it was just a column idea. No, no, no. It was a column, but I sent it to him. Let's end this segment because I do want to come back and I want to talk about the Monday night football game.

There was so much to that game, including this stage, this environment we're in right now in the NFL. following the Tuatung of Iloa injury, where the protection of the quarterbacks has gotten a little bit out of hand on Sunday with Brady, last night with Derek Carr. I want to get to last night's game also because there's a massive analytics debate,

which you know you always love. But since this is, oh, no, no, you'll be with me on Thursday. You'll be with me doing the Thursday show. You can hold off on your prediction until Thursday. I was thinking, I'm not going to hear from you before the game on Thursday night. But we will.

We'll do the show together on Thursday. Cooley will be with me tomorrow. All right. Let's get to that Monday night game and a few other things right after. These words from a few of our sponsors. Don't forget to rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify Apple. Give us five stars if you think it's five star worthy. A quick one to two sentence review.

This one from Steffson, 06. The no-holds-barred climate critique of the D.C. sports landscape, period on a daily basis mixed in with local reverence for regional goodness. Roy Rogers, hot shops, basketball hotbed, etc. Balanced critique of life overall, given sports being roller coaster disappointment. Close quote. Thank you, Stephson, 06. I think that was a very nice review.

Absolutely. And I'm on the money, too. This one from Che Guevara on. Apple. Kevin and Tom said we could do better than 4,000 reviews, and damn it, I took that personally. Great show, guys. Okay, boss, which is the way Tommy ends each show. Yeah, we have a real healthy number of reviews. Don't get me wrong. And it's great. And the average star rating is phenomenal and we're consistently ranked very high on the Apple podcast charts for the football category and even the sports category, especially considering the kind of show we are, which is more

of a locally based show. But as I have said, more reviews and ratings, the better for us. It really helps us on the ad front. And we have, we're approaching 4,000 reviews. We've got 39, 100 and change. And what I know is that that is really a small fraction of the overall number of people that listen to this podcast. So some of you haven't rated and reviewed us. Many of you haven't, the significant majority of you haven't, so if you have time, do it. But then again, I don't want to be overly pushy,

but it does help us do this, even though we end up with, you know, lots of spots during the podcast. Thank you to all of our sponsors, including Tommy, our newest sponsor. My favorite place at my home away from home, Shelly's backroom, Kevin, where did I go after? covering Sunday's Commander's game.

Shelly's back room. Yes, I did. For a post-game smoke. Yep. And, you know, I picked out a great cigar for myself because they have a great selection of cigars.

I had my favorite meal there, the chicken tenders with barbecue sauce, top-notch, but they have such a great menu there. I've told you before I brought my wife and other visitors there. People who eat normal.

as opposed to me, and they look at the menu, and they're very impressed with the selection and with the quality of the food as well. There was a good crowd there like there always is watching the Sunday night football game, and it's just a place where I feel good, and people who are in there feel good. You know, you hear a lot of people, they're talking politics, maybe they're on a date. I've seen people bring their first date, even to Shelly's sometimes. I guess that's, you know, to impress them. So it's like a one-of-a-kind place.

You can't go anyplace in this city and enjoy a good cigar and a good drink. That Shelly's back room is my favorite place to be. And it will be your favorite place to be if you give them a chance. It's a great spot. It really is. And every time I'm down there, it's usually with Tommy. I really enjoy it. And, you know, for a lot of people who don't live downtown or work downtown,

it's a great reason to be downtown. It's one of the things, it's kind of a pet peeve for me, Tommy, with a lot of people that live in the DMV, but really don't live or spend time in the city. It's such a great city, you know, and there's so much to do. And I know so many of you, it's busy lot. lives, kids, the whole thing. You don't have a lot of time.

But I always love being downtown, and Shelley's is a great spot. Thanks. I'll be there on Thursday night to watch the Thursday night football game after I teach my class at Georgetown. By the way, I got a story to tell you. Okay, go ahead. I got to tell you a story. It happened last Thursday driving in to teach my business of sports media class at Georgetown.

Thursday was a pretty bad traffic day in and around the city. There had been a shooting down on New York Avenue at East Capitol Street. There were a lot of accidents around the Beltway, and it really was bumper-to-bomper drive-in. I'm on MacArthur Boulevard, and there was a bike in front of me, and he's taken the whole lane. okay and he's allowed to do that I recognize that I mean they have the right to drive in that lane if they want there we go okay so so he moved over at one point

and I went around him now I didn't think I went that close okay I didn't knock him off the bike I didn't hit him or anything like that okay so we're at the stoplight and he comes up behind next to me and he knocks on my passenger window.

Oh, Jesus. He's knocking on the window. He says to me, you okay? You got a problem? Anything wrong here? Oh, boy. So I put down the window, and I say, what are you talking about? They said, are you okay? I said, what? When I passed you back there, I didn't,

I didn't come close to you. I just went around you. And he said, well, I think you did. I think he came too close to me. I say, well, I don't think I did. And he starts hopping. So I told him to get his blank and hand off my window as I pushed it back up.

So then I turn around and he starts banging again on the window. This time, he's banging with a badge. Okay. He's knocking on my window with a badge. A badge? What do you mean, a badge? A badge. Like a police bag.

Oh, so he was a police officer and a bike? Well, I don't know if he was. I mean, it could have been any number of police. There's a lot of police agencies in the district. You know, he could have been a capital officer. he could have been anything. I don't know which agency he was with, and I feel bad that I didn't get my phone up in time

to take a picture of him. You know, I said to him, I said, are you nuts? And I grabbed my photo, but then the light turned green, and we both had to get going, and that was it. So. I mean, he was crazy. Showing me a badge in a situation like that? Yeah.

What is he nuts? I wish I'd have taken a picture because I would have made him a star. Well, you know, it's, of course, it reminds me of the time when I was on with Tony many years ago. And we, in one of the news segments that I would do on Tony's show, the conversation turned towards bikers. And, you know, I made the comment. It's absurd.

I mean, on MacArthur Boulevard near my house, you know, there's a big, bike path and they're constantly in the road. I'm like, and not only that, they're chesty as hell and obnoxious. And then Tony, Tony went on this rant and then I think you remember this. It turned into a big thing where Lance Armstrong

got involved and essentially Tony Cornhizer is ripping bikers. And so Sally had to broker this like peace agreement between Tony and Lance Armstrong and Lance came on the show. But I'm the one that basically started it,

because I came in with, you know, I would pick these stories, and I would come in, and the story was about some biker that got into it with somebody in a car. And then the two of us just went off on bikers, so I'm very careful because it really is cultish, the whole biking thing. And by the way, I don't mind a bike ride every once in a while. I think I told you this story a while back. Of course, you won't remember it.

My son, my middle son, I don't know, he was 19. years old, 18 or 19 years old. And he, because it was every bit of four or five years ago, three or four years ago anyway. He pulls up, I hear him come in the front door and he said, Dad, and I said, what?

And he said, he said, there's going to be an issue. And so I said, what's going on? And I was, so I walk out and my son has his finger in some guy's face who has the biking helmet and the whole uniform on the sponsorship uniform um

this guy did too the whole thing and so and I hear my son basically saying get off my property or I'm going to effing kick your ass and the guy turned around got on his bike and rode away and I said

what's what's going on he said this guy was in, you know, driving in front, in my lane, I very nicely went around him. He took his hand, smacked it on the windshield, or on my side window as I went around him, and I basically rolled down the window and told him to fuck off. And so he was close to home, and he said he literally followed me on his bike all the way to our house. And then, of course, when he got there and realized, I give my son credit, he's, the one out of the three. Not all three of them would have reacted that way. I've got two of them

who definitely are more on the, let's talk about this. Let's try to work this thing out. But this one, yeah, he's been in a scrap or two, which I'm not thrilled about. But when he came back, he didn't realize it. And he said, I think this guy followed me back. And I got up and the next thing I know, he had sprinted towards this guy, this guy was walking up our front path. And literally just, and it was, I have to say I was kind of impressed, and then this guy jumped on his bike, he was terrified and rode away. But, you know, I, I understand that the biking thing is great, and it's great for the environment and all of that, and, you know, and probably at times, they feel a little bit pushed and shoved, and, but it's a two-way street. You know, everybody's

trying to get to where they're going, and it's as long as we're cordial to one another, but I have definitely, you know, felt the, and been in situations where the reaction is sometimes a little bit over the top from that side, you know. Yeah. So anyway, but I think we should be careful. And the Flash is badge. What? Oh, yeah, the badge.

The Flash is badge. I mean, really, really petty. Very petty. I mean, I didn't hit them. Well, you don't even know what the badge meant. Right. Yeah. I mean, it looked impressive. It looked official. But I don't know from what agency it was. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's enough on bikers. When's the last time you wrote a bike? It was, you know what? It was during a January 6th insurrection. I was in Florida.

We were riding bikes. We were riding bikes. And we had no idea what was going on until we got home, really. That was it. Whenever that was, that was, well, that was 20. I have a bike. It's in my garage. I got this bike a while back. I think it's still a good bike. But there was a period of time, especially when the kids were younger, where we would jump on the Capitol Crescent Trail, which was really very close to our house. I mean, we could be on the trail in three minutes on our bikes. And we would ride down to Georgetown and then get off the trail and ride around downtown and on the mall. And it was always a lot of fun. You know,

especially when the kids were young, it would be fun. And then we'd stop for, you know, breakfast or bagels or somewhere, somewhere in Georgetown or, you know, on the way back. And, uh, but I haven't, I haven't done that in a while. The only bike I'm on is Peloton, which recently not enough of. Um, okay, I want to talk about the, go ahead. What? Oh, I had a story, that's just going to say, story for you too. Okay. I just look at it right now. It's riding a bike is one more chance for me to get hurt.

For you to get hurt. I'm not going to mention any names. I've never blocked or muted anybody on Twitter. As you know, I don't give a shit about what people say. You know, sometimes it actually creates great fodder for the show. but I muted my first person yesterday. I'm not going to mention any names. You should have blocked them.

I didn't block. No, I don't want to block. I don't need... Well, because, because muting, muting is sort of like the gutless way to you. I don't think it is. The person doesn't know they've been muted. I don't, exactly.

I don't want them to know that they've been muted. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. that's not my intent. The reason I did it is because literally it had gotten to the point where I could, like, every time my phone buzzed, it was like a notification from this person on Twitter. I don't want my phone lighting up 35 times a day. And I don't know. I don't have my phone.

My phone does not light up on Twitter. I don't have that. Well, maybe I could have done something with my phone. I probably could. If I just go to settings and Twitter, I could probably stop that from happening. But, you know, it's also like every time it's like, it was just too much. And it's not that I just, because there are people that say, you know, obviously, for both of us, you get, you some of you would tear up if you could reach some of our notifications. But you get used to it, you know, and it's like, oh my God, I mean, these people are so effing stupid. They don't even,

They must have us confused with somebody else. Sometimes they're right also, especially when it comes to you. But it's just the constant, when you get somebody that's just constantly badgering, badgering, badgering, and hammering home, hammering home. I just, I can't do that. I go on Twitter usually early in the morning before my show, and I'm looking for ideas for the show. because sometimes the best ideas come from emails or texts or or or tweets. And sometimes, by the way, really good information for the show comes from Twitter. Otherwise, I use Twitter for as a news source.

That's it. To be up to date on what's going on usually in sports, nothing else. But I've never used the mute or the block option, but I did mute somebody for the first time yesterday. See, I thought you would be proud, but it sounds like really what you think. of me is that I'm gutless and I should have blocked this person. Yeah, I mean, that way they know, that way there's no doubt what you think of that. I don't want them to do. The way I look at it is it's not a community account, it's my account, okay?

And I'll decide who reads it and who doesn't. Yeah. I think when you have the kind of gig that you have, you have, you have, you, You need the community. You need kind of a community environment. I actually think of us and what we do as kind of this community of people that have similar interests and like talking about this stuff. But whatever. I want to talk about last night's game.

Okay. It was a great football game. The first thing I just want to say is this. You know, Arrowhead's a special venue. You know, I've never been there for a game. would really like to go to Arrowhead for a game. I covered a game, a Redskins game there in 92. They lost that game badly.

They got the shit kicked out of them in that game, I'm pretty sure. Before kind of rallying and making the playoffs later in the year. But anyway, there's so much about Arrowhead because it's outdoors, because it's grass, because there's never an empty seat, because it's so loud, because it's so, I like this term in describing sports crowds that are really raucous and really intense, bloodthirsty, always. And especially with a rival in town like the Raiders last night on Monday night football. The place was amped right from the beginning. And it just reminds me of what we've missed out on here for so long, you know, with the football team here.

And look, I know that Capp's playoff games, and I've been to a lot of them, great atmosphere, the Nats playoff games. sometimes were phenomenal. Sometimes they were filled with people who were just on their phones, you know, and telling people to sit down when the count went to three and two. But still, there were some great crowds. The World Series crowd was phenomenal. The Milwaukee Wildcard game may have been the best crowd ever, and that's history. And, you know, you know that I feel that way about Maryland basketball, and you've been in a Maryland basketball arena, X-Finity or Cole when it's just been lit. I mean, it's, when it's good,

it's top 10 in the country good. It isn't always that way, but when it's good. Last night, Arrowhead was on fire. And then what really got it going, and I remember these instances so much from RFK, or from Cole or Xfinity, when there's a call that goes against the home team that's just egregious and horrible,

it becomes truly bloodthirsty. Like they want the referee's neck. And it becomes incredibly intimidating. And the call last night in the game against Chandler Jones, when he literally stripped Derek Carr of the ball, had possession of the ball all the while sacking Derek Carr late in the second quarter, and then doing his best not to have all of his weight fall on Derek Carr, He had the ball in one hand, the right hand, used his left hand to try to stop him from going full weight on Derrick Carr, which he kind of did.

And then to see that get flagged and overturned, I mean, the place went ballistic. I can remember so many. Yeah. Now, let me just point out. It was Chris Jones. What did I say? The Chandler Jones. I'm sorry, Chris Jones.

Yes. It was Chris Jones. Thank you. Chris Jones made a great play, sacked Air Car cleanly, textbook tackle, textbook strip, had possession of the ball, and the flag comes out for roughing the passer. And on Sunday we saw Brady get sacked by Grady Jarrett, who by the way is having a hell of a year in Atlanta. And it was a clear, you know, obvious sack. It was not anything egregious. It got flagged.

He did get flung a little bit. Jerome Boger was just, I don't know how he's the lead referee in any real NFL game. He should be refereeing flag football somewhere on weekends. You know, he backed up his call. Carl Chefers did the same thing last night. And what we're seeing here is we're seeing the, you know, the calls that we've been seeing for a while, whether it's a DB hitting a receiver, a defenseless receiver. It's the one where we all say, well, what's he supposed to do?

You know, that's the reaction as football fans. Well, what's the defensive backs supposed to do? What's the pass rusher supposed to do? And we're right. We're 100% right. But what we've seen here over the last couple of weeks in the wake of the Tuatunga injury in Cincinnati is we've seen a heightening of the protection of quarterbacks. And it's not good for the game, Tommy.

It's not good for the game. And what I would suggest is, if they're going to continue to do this, we need replay in the game for these subjective calls that end up in automatic first downs. I'm not talking about every penalty. I'm talking about the flags that result in automatic first downs. These are the most hurtful of penalties because they change games. They change outcomes of games. They change outcomes of seasons. You know, and I know I'm talking about pass interference.

I know I'm talking about hits on defenseless receivers. I know I'm talking about roughing the passer. I know I'm talking about defensive holding and illegal contact. But I think if they're going to continue to do this, there has to be a group in New York that weighs in very quickly and says, pick the flag up, that's not roughing the passer. That's not what we want called as roughing the passer. I think it would be better for the game,

and I know a lot of you who are anti-more replay, would say, no, it's just going to make the games last longer. It has to be clear and obvious, like it was last night, or like it was with the Brady hit, where somebody who's got responsibility over that game, you know, buzzes to the referee, pick that flag up, you got that one wrong, let's move on with the game.

I want more replay for that. I'm in favor of replay. as much as possible. I'm in favor of getting it right, however painful it may be sometimes. So, yeah, that was a terrible call, and it seems like replay on roughing the passer would not be a complicated issue to determine.

I think it has to be... I think just like any other video review, it's got to be clear, you know, it's got to be conclusive, and I know it's subjective, okay, but, you know, we can have some football people with some common sense to say, you can't take away that play. Chris Jones made the kind of play that he is coached to make every day in practice, and Derek Carr's safety was not at risk with him and the way he landed on Derek Carr.

It wasn't. Pick it up. Let's move on. That's not a foul. What was really interesting, and it goes back to what I said about Arrowhead last night, the next seven penalties as the place went ballistic. And I remember those days at RFK against the Cowboys and you get a bad call. And you can't get the crowd off of the referees for like 30 minutes until the game starts to turn.

The next seven penalties were called against the Raiders. These referees, they're human. They know. We probably angered them a bit too much. And they would never worry about FedEx Field. There are plenty of places they wouldn't be concerned, but at Arrowhead on a night like that against the Raiders, there's some make goods that we've got to put in to play here

over the next quarter and a half. Next seven penalties were called on the Raiders after that. And some of them were not doing good calls. Yeah, you're right. Now, the other part of this game, they are human. The other part of this game was the two-point conversions and all of the analytics discussions.

around them. For those that didn't see the game, I'll set it up for you. So the game was, by the way, a really good game. The Raiders jumped out to a 17-0 lead, and the Chiefs, of course, with Mahomes and company, they came back. And they took a 24-23 lead. And they ended up scoring a touchdown, by the way, after they missed a field goal and they called defensive holding on the Raiders. That was part of the seven in a row of penalties. And so you don't give the Chiefs with Mahomes and Kelsey another chance. Mahomes throws his fourth touchdown pass to Travis Kelsey. And the score is 30 to 23, Kansas City. They lined up and they went for two.

Now, this is an odd two-point analytics situation. You know, it is the one that's not as obvious, but the two-point analytics people will tell you, you should go for the two and essentially the knockout. Because if you extend that lead to nine points, it's a two-possession game now literally. and it can be a two-position game, a possession game with an eight-point lead. Well, it can be a two-possession game with a seven-point lead because you might not make the PAT.

But anyway, they went for two and they got stopped. So, you know, immediately last night, you know, Aikman and Buck say, well, according to the analytics, that was the right move. That's, by the way, the new move on broadcasting. I don't know if you've noticed it on NFL games when something happens. Well, according to the analytics, that was the right move. According to the analytics, they shouldn't have gone forth there on fourth down, et cetera, et cetera. I actually think what they should do like they have with referees, you know, former referees. They should employ somebody that understands the actual analytics.

That's a good idea. And let them explain it. Let's get somebody in the boost. Let's get somebody in the booth to talk about it. Yeah, that's great. How entertaining would that be? You know what? Oh, my God.

Let me take that back. I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that. Can we get Peabody and Sherman? to do the play-by-play? I take that back. I don't want that either.

Because you know why? It'd actually be pretty hard to find somebody that could do it well. It's hard enough. Remember the guy Mike Carey, the former official that CBS employed is the referee in the booth? Oh, my God. Every call wrong. Every single one wrong. Everyone.

So Kansas City goes for the two, and they don't get it. So now they're only up seven. Okay. I mean, it's Patrick Mahome. it's two yards. It is a condensed field. But you want to go for the knockout punch there? Fine. And if, you know, the fourth down analytics, two-point analytics all come into play, whatever, fine. Then the Raiders take the ball down the field, down seven.

They score with four and a half minutes to go. They go for two. Now, to me, apparently the two-point analytics said, yep, go for it. They didn't get theirs either. And so it was 30 to 29. They were down a point. For me, with four and a half minutes to go against Mahomes and the Chiefs, I'm going to kick with, by the way, the best kicker, one of the best kickers in the game in Daniel Carlson and Carlson.

And I'm going to make sure that when Kansas City gets the ball back in four minutes and 37 seconds, as good as they are, that they can't run the clock out on me. Because that's very likely to happen if I don't get this two-point conversion. And if I do get it, it's still more likely than not that they're going to come down and take the lead. So I'm going to kick it. I'm going to be in a tie game and we'll play it from there. But according to two-point analytics, they did the right thing. They missed it.

So now they're down one. Here's the biggest problem with all of this. You know, whether it's the Andy Reeds or the John Harbaugh's or whomever that are so hell-bent on following their analytics people. So Kansas City gets the ball back, up one. And by the way, they're in the midst of basically potentially running the clock out and winning 30 to 29. But they missed on a third and three, and they were faced with fourth down and three at the Raiders' 46-yard line with two minutes and 36 seconds left.

So we've already gone through two two-point conversions where the analytics people said, it's right. And by the way, each team missed. And now we've got a fourth-down analytics question. Well, I promise you, Tommy, fourth and three in plus territory at the Raiders' 46-yard line with a chance to put the game away with Patrick Mahomes. that's 100% green light go-for-it situation. They punted. So you went with the analytics that, by the way, was probably an even money proposition on the two-pointer

to make it a nine-point lead. But on the obvious one, and by the way, when I say obvious, probably, I don't know, a 53 to 47% advantage somebody would say, they punt. It's the inconsistency. You know, John Harbaugh, after he went for the fourth down and through the interception and then lost a Buffalo on the walk-off field goal two weeks ago, had a fourth and one at the three-yard line on Sunday night against Cincinnati, up three and

kicked the field goal. It wasn't exactly apples to apples and score-wise, but it still wasn't a field goal to take a two-score lead. They were up six, and they gave up the lead. 17-16. They, you know, kicked the game winner. But it's like, I don't know. To me, context is the major driver. all of this. And then all of the mathematical historical analytics, in air quotes, I want that information.

By the way, I'm pretty sure I can come to what that mathematical probability in the moment is on my own with the context. So I don't need the analytics guy in the booth. But man, some of these coaches, because they're so dumb at this, they're just going with whatever the guy that they've hired to do this tells them to do. And it's all on, you know, sort of historical, mathematical data. It's not really on context. Bill Simmons, Bill Simmons had the best quote about this on Twitter. Who did? He said, Bill Simmons. Okay, Bill Simmons. Okay, Bill Simmons. In 2022, an NFL head coach would jump out a fourth floor window because analytics say it's faster than taking stairs.

Yeah. Some coaches, not all coaches, but some coaches, yes. And look, Andy Reid's one of the great all-time coaches. He's a Hall of Fame coach now that is, he's been one of the worst clock and timeout and score managers ever. I mean, it's funny, some of your best coaches ever have been horrible at it. And Andy Reed has topped the list for all NFL fans over the years of, Oh, my God, what are you doing? But, you know, they obviously have somebody now that's come in and helped them. And they went for the nine-point lead, but didn't go for the fourth and three. By the way, Mr. X, who's a listener to the podcast and a contributor, I would say, often, DM me that last night. He's like, are you kidding me? I'm like, oh, my God, you're 100% right.

Why are they not going for this fourth and three? But whatever. Hell of a game last night. Really good game. God, the Chiefs. I mean, if we still did our power rankings, which you don't want to do, I think the Chiefs and the Bills right now, the two best teams in the league. And they are headed towards a showdown this coming week.

The 425 game this week, Bills at Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes. For years, I said Johnny Unitas was the greatest quarterback I ever saw. And then I conceded based on his accomplice. his body of work that Tom Brady was. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback I've ever seen play in the NFL. And he does things I've never seen quarterback do. Elway has always been or was always my number one.

And I did the same thing you did a few years back, you know, based on accomplishments and based on just the way he just owned the position, Brady became my number one. I have certainly considered in recent years Aaron Rogers to be pretty much as good as anybody I've ever watched. But without the accomplishments of Tom Brady, and actually without the accomplishments of John Elway, Elway won two Super Bowls, and lost three, you know, went to five.

But Mahomes, you know, I want to give it more time because last year in watching the Chiefs, there were times where I thought Mahomes played like he was bored. You know, Cooley and I talked about that a couple times last year. He's just, he does things, you're right, on the field at that position that you just don't see. Yeah. And yet, ever seen before. And yet, after, you know, an incredible performance last night, the Raiders did get the ball back after they decided to punt.

And they were almost in field goal range with a chance to win the game on a walk-off field goal. You know, it's funny. Josh McDaniel obviously had terrible production as a head coach the first go-round in Denver when he had Tebow at quarterback. And this is a big, big gig for him because, you know, he's got Derek Carr, he's got Devante Adams. Josh Jacobs, they didn't pick up the fifth year option on. He was spectacular last night. And, you know, it's a tough division, but there's some expectations for the Raiders, and they're one and four now. But damn, every single game for the Raiders has been winnable.

lost, you know, last night, you know, with a chance. The replay basically overturned a catch where they were in field goal range, and it was by a split hair that Devante Adams didn't have possession of the ball with both feet in. So they almost beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead. They beat the Broncos. They almost beat the Titans in Tennessee. They blew a 23 to 7 lead and lost an overtime on a fumble return against the Cardinals. And they lost with a chance to win late against the Chargers.

I mean, they're 1 and 4, and they've had a chance to win every game. That's why I say sometimes the old adage, Bill Parcells, you are what your record says you are. I just disagree with that. Like the Raiders, if you look, their 1 and 4 is a lot different than Washington's 1 and 4. Just they're not the same team because they're 1 and 4, because the record says they're a 1 and 4 team. The Raiders very easily could be 5 and 0, or certainly 4 in 1. Washington could very easily be 0 and 5. Very easily.

So, okay, let's finish up with a couple of things, including baseball playoffs, right after these words, from a few of our sponsors. Shortly, the Phillies and the Braves will play game one of the National League Division Series, Tommy, the first of a four-game quadruple header today is the division series get underway. You know, I think I told you this last week. I'm really kind of rooting for the Phillies because I really do. I still like Bryce Harper. I still really like Bryce Harper. And good God, did you see the home run he hit in Game 2 in St. Louis?

Yeah. Oh, my God, 435 feet. He really is a clutch performer. But anyway, what was the biggest surprise? It had to be San Diego winning game three the way they won it against New York, right? Yeah, it did. I mean, I'm sure, you know, Mets fans, you know, already counting, you know, on making it to the next round with their pitching lineup. So, yeah, I mean, the Mets lost to the Padres was surprising. I think some people were surprised at how good the Cleveland Guardians are because I don't think most people paid attention to them for much of this year. I think there's a lot of people that don't even know there's a team called the Guardians in-based. They still probably think they're the Indians, you know, and the Guardians play the Yankees tonight. So that'll be interesting.

Look, you know, I've always said to people, when people say what teams do you root for, and I say I don't root for teams, I root for people who I meet. Dusty. Along the way to do well. But I'm conflicted by the Dusty, the Mariners Astros series, because I want to see Dusty. win, but I'm also friends with Manny Acta, who's a coach on the Mariners. And I'd like to see them win as well, but I think the Astros are going to wind up win in that series.

I think the Braves are going to beat the Phillies. They're going to disappoint you, and I think it's going to be the Braves and the Astros now in the World Series. But I was wrong five minutes ago, so I could be wrong again. So the weekend, I think the biggest surprise for me, But I don't know that I should be surprised at this. Max Scher pitched horribly on Friday night. He got lit up for seven earned runs, seven hits in four and two thirds.

And they lost that game one to San Diego seven to one. And, you know, you start thinking back. He didn't pitch that great necessarily for the Dodgers in the postseason. Let's not forget. He did pitch very well in game seven against Houston. You know, he gave two earned runs in that game. I think I looked that up the other day. But remember, the wild card game that year against Milwaukee,

it was Strasbourg coming in as a reliever for Max that saved the day. Because Max gave up like three early runs. And remember, they were in a big hole until that eighth inning when Soto had the hit. and place went nuts, and Washington got through Josh Ader and won that game four to three to advance to the next series against the Dodgers. But Max Scher has not been a good playoff pitcher recently. You know, that performance had to just be so disappointing if you were a Mets fan for the amount of money.

Yeah, absolutely. He's got a 7-7 career record. Is that what it is 7-and-7? What's his career ERA in the Post? season. $358. What's his... Not that bad.

No, that's not terrible. That's better than I thought it would be. Yeah. He's had, well, early in his career with the Tigers, he had some disastrous postseason housing. Yeah. He pitched much better for Washington, for the most part, in the postseason than he did in Detroit.

Yep. I mean, let's not forget that, you know, game. Game five against the Dodgers when he got pulled. Look, and seven, seven, Max Scherzer is not a 500 pitcher, but he's 500 in the postseason. Yeah, with a three, you said a three, five, eight. Was that what it was? ERA? Right.

Right. Right. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know, I'm looking forward to these games. It's fun, it's fun this time of year, October with day baseball games in the middle of the week. That is, I understand. Yeah, you have four games today.

I know that is, I understand, you know, it's an age thing. Like, my boys aren't sitting there watching playoff baseball, as much as I've tried to tell them how dramatic it is. And I think they get it, you know, on some of these games. But there's something about, you know, way back in the day, it's a Thursday afternoon. And, you know, the sun's setting in Dodger Stadium. And it's the Dodgers and the Mets or, you know, in an NL Pennett game. Like that's, those are some great memories as a child, you know, how big those games were and how big the postseason was.

And I don't think it's anywhere near that anymore. But the matchups are good matchups. I mean, I'll tell you what was great about the Padres. U. Darvish was phenomenal to watch on Friday night. And then Musgrove, the performance he had the other night in game three, you know, at City Field, he had a perfect game going into the sixth, fifth or sixth, something like that. and ended up throwing seven innings of one hit ball. He was dominant like Darvish was in the opener. I mean, do you give the Padres a chance?

You have to give the Padres a chance against the Dodgers, right? Of course I do. Yeah. I give him a chance. And by the way, Soto was big in the game three the other night. Two for four with two RBIs in that game, which was awesome to see him come through. And Josh Bell came through big time. I think it was in game one on Friday night.

I think he had a – didn't he have a homer in game one? I think he had a homer in game one. And it was early in the game. So anyway, all right. Anything else? Yeah, one more thing. Okay. Real quick.

Tomorrow night, I'm going to the Washington Capitol season over. Yep, tomorrow night, the NHL season gets underwent. Assuming tomorrow, I won't be on the podcast, I'm assuming you're going to have a big – Capital Season Preview show to podcast tomorrow, right? Yes, I'm going to have somebody on to talk about the caps tomorrow. Yeah, thanks for promoting that. Okay.

Appreciate that. Okay. Okay. Good. You're trying to program the podcast? Is that what you're doing? Were you trying to make me look bad? Yeah, that's pretty much it. Trying to make you look bad. Let me just tell you, just so you know, already, okay, already, I have booked a Capp's guest for radio tomorrow morning.

Ben Rabi, who I really like Ben a lot. He's outstanding. And Joe B, I'm working on, and I'm working on Tarek, one of those two, hopefully we will have on the podcast tomorrow. I know that the NHL season opens tomorrow night. You didn't need to tell me that. Look, there's a 50-50 chance that you did. Okay.

Well, I... Come on. You know, because what I do is in... my phone, I put reminders, and there was a reminder that popped up for me on Sunday to say, book a hockey guest this week hockey season starts. So, and as you know, you can do some hockey early in the season, you know, before the season starts, and then you pretty much have to wait until the playoffs to do it again. All right, we're done. Good job today, boss. Excellent job, boss. Thank you, boss. Tommy, he'll be back Thursday, the day of the Washington

Bears game. Back tomorrow with Cooley. And a hockey guest.