The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins Interested In Flacco?

Episode Date: February 18, 2019

Kevin opens the show with some NBA All-Star Game discussion then quickly gets to the report over the weekend that the Redskins were interested in Joe Flacco. John Keim joins the show to shed light on the Flacco report and more on the Skins' overall off-season approach to their quarterback situation. Kevin recaps the Maryland-Michigan game and then talks Bryce Harper, Joe Gibbs, and snow on Wednesday. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. All right, I am here. Good morning to you, Aaron, who is also here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Not a great sports weekend. Some college hoops to get to, including a breakdown or recap of the Maryland-Michigan game, which did not go well for the Terps on Saturday. The big game of the weekend turned out to be a total dud, Kentucky, Tennessee.

Kentucky kicked the crap out of Tennessee on Saturday night at rough. It was still fun to watch that. They're good. They're really good. I think both teams are good. I think Tennessee will get their shot at home against Kentucky. The golf was really good if you're into that. Tiger made it exciting for a while on Saturday and early Sunday.

It was NBA All-Star weekend. I watched nothing on Saturday night or Friday night. I did, however, watch last night, and I'll get to that in a moment. gave up three third period goals and lost to Anaheim last night on the road. They were lucky really not to be down more at the end of the second period with the way the ice was tilted for a while there in Anaheim's favor. God, I wish Tommy were here today to hear me talk about the ice being tilted in the Caps Anaheim game last night. But seriously, though, if you're into the caps, you just look at the standings and you know that the playoffs are a probability. but they're not a complete guarantee.

The East is nuts, and the Metropolitan, the division the caps are in, if you didn't know, is loaded. The caps are in second place currently, but just three points better, Aaron, than fifth place in the division. Just three points better than fifth in the division. They do play one of the worst teams in the entire NHL tonight, the Los Angeles Kings in L.A., and L.A. is lost four in a row. So tonight would be one of those that you would expect the caps to get tonight. And they need to win some of these games.

Absolutely. I mean, right now I just pulled off the playoff probabilities and it has the caps at 81%. Most likely going to make it, but there is that chance. It's probable. It's more likely than not. But again, if you just sit there and you look at the other teams, the divisions loaded with teams playing well. They're five points behind the Islanders for first. And then Columbus and Pittsburgh and Carolina are all there.

bunched up behind him. So it'll get interesting here over the next month. So they've got plenty of time to really turn it around and get on a roll. Bryce Harper, there is some news out there that Philadelphia is getting close with Bryce Harper. We will talk about that, and I'll get Aaron's thoughts on that a little bit later on in the show. I do want to start for a moment anyway with the NBA All-Star game. And I will get to the Joe Flacco Redskins News. John Kime's going to join us shortly.

The NBA All-Star game. I mentioned on Friday that I wasn't very excited about All-Star weekend. I really couldn't care less about the Friday and Saturday night stuff. And while I am interested in Sunday night, there was no guarantee that I was going to watch it if I had something better to do. I swear to you, swear to you that I didn't watch one minute of Friday night or Saturday night, not one minute. I did watch the Dong Contest.

Of course you did. your age demographic, especially for people into basketball. I mean, I was getting text messages from my boys saying, are you watching this? And I wasn't watching this. I'm over the dunk contest. Well, I was going to say normally, I haven't watched it the past few years because for about close to 15 years now, the dunk contest has been bad.

It's, there's no interest for me. I mean, it's a subjective thing. I'm not even interested. Diallo's dunk was great this year, though. I didn't even see. My son told me about it. I haven't even watched it. Didn't even see it. I didn't even look. I must have just missed it on SportsCenter yesterday. Do they still play the sophomore game or the celebrity game on Friday night or Saturday? I don't even know the way it works anymore.

It's the Rising Stars game and it's Team USA versus Team World. Didn't see a minute of it. Again, I mean, my boys, two of them, they're texting me about it. They're into it. I mean, I'm not. Saturday night, I was actually home too. Didn't go out, watch some golf, watch some college hoops. and then Aaron I watched a movie that I somehow missed along the way the last few years. What movie was that? I watched American Made with Tom Cruise. I watched that a few months back. Yeah, based on the true story of the CIA operative and drug smuggler Barry Seal.

It's a good movie. It's fun. I had not seen it. I have no idea, and I'm going to spend some time later on today, I'm going to look it up. I have no idea how close to accurate the movie was about this guy, Barry Seal, and what he was doing to help the U.S. arm the Contras in Nicaragua, and at the same time smuggling cocaine into the country for Pablo Escobar. It was a good movie.

I don't know about the accuracy. I've heard the story of Barry Seal before, but I don't know it in great detail. But I enjoyed the movie. The movie. I had not seen it. This is like the second, and some of you are going to tweet me and say, I mean, what takes you so long? I don't know what takes me so long.

Sometimes I miss a lot of things. Like I miss that movie Molly's game, which I was told by multiple friends over the last couple of years, you've got to watch it. Clay took credit for that, by the way. He's the one that said that he told me to watch it two years ago or whenever it came out. And it was excellent.

It was excellent. Jessica Chastain is just incredible in everything she does. And I really enjoyed the movie American Made. I thought Cruz was great in the movie. But anyway, back to the All-Star game from last season. night. I did watch the All-Star game, and it was entertaining. I mean, it was totally entertaining. It's the best of all of the All-Star games, by a long shot, in my opinion. The Pro Bowl's a joke. I don't even know that much about what the NHL does on All-Star weekend. The midsummer, I think they do some

sort of divisional thing where there's a, they're short games. I think in some, you know, if you win, you advance. I forget how it works. Anyway, the MLB All-Star game, you know, it's traditional. It's the Midsummer Classic, and I watch it every year, but it's not very entertaining. For me, anyway, last night is an exhibition of athleticism and skill like no other All-Star Game gives you. It's an offense thing, all right? There's no defense played, and so watching these players exhibit, you know, their ball handling and passing, and, you know, they're ball handling and passing. and shooting skill in particular. Without much defense, you end up with things in the game

that they can't do in a regular game. The athleticism on display is unmatchable. Unmatchable. I know soccer fans want to think that soccer players are the best athletes in the world, but they're not. Basketball players are twice the size doing twice as much. In my opinion, anyway, I'm a basketball guy, and I do appreciate.

I do, and I can totally, see the incredible skill and athleticism in a really good soccer game. You know, watching some of the World Cup, which I actually enjoy, you know, you can see it. I mean, they are tremendous athletes. Basketball players are much bigger, much stronger, much, you know, they're just, it's the same thing except they're much bigger and stronger and faster and jump higher. If the teams had shot the ball a little bit better last night, night from behind the arc, you could have easily had a 200 point winner in the game. 200 points 48 minutes. Listen to the three point numbers from the game last night. If you missed it,

and I have no problem if you missed it, and I totally understand if it was not anywhere near a priority for you last night. It wasn't a priority for me either. I just, I was home, I turned it on. When I started watching it, I actually couldn't turn it off. Team LeBron was won the game. 178 to 164. If you don't even know what that means, they don't do East versus West anymore. They do LeBron versus Team Janus and the two of them drafted their teams a week ago or so. And so it's a mixture. There's no East versus West. It was LeBron and the Greek freak picking up sides a week ago. And it's those two teams, Team Janus against Team LeBron playing each other. And Team LeBron won the game 178 to 164. actually down by 19, midway through the third quarter and won by 14. So there was a 36 point

swing over the final quarter and a half. But listen to these three-point attempt numbers. Team LeBron shot 90-3s in the game. 90. They were 35 of 90. So if you consider that most of these three-point attempts are wide-open looks, undefended in many cases. They only shot 38.9%. Could have been a lot better. I mean, if they had knocked down 45% or better, they would have been close to 200 points in the game. The shooting by Damian Lillard and Kevin Durant in particular

was really fun to watch. Lillard got hot in the third quarter. I think he had all six of his threes in the third quarter. Durant ended up taking home the MVP. Bradley Biel knocked down three-threes in the third quarter when they started to come back from 19 down, and he had a dunk in the game off a clear travel that didn't get called. But Beale was pretty effective in the game.

The moment of the night, for me anyway, was Dirk Novitsky. Dirk Novitsky and Dway and Dwayne Wade were commissioners' picks in their final seasons in the NBA to participate in this All-Star game. And Dirk came off the bench in the second quarter. Only played four minutes, but in those four minutes proceeded to knock down three long threes. in three attempts, and the place was going nuts. Both benches were going nuts. Um, Dirk just, I mean, if, if you think, when we think about Dirk's career, well after it's over, we're going to think about a seven-footer who took you out behind the arc and made a center

come out and guard you from 26, 27 feet. And that's what he did last night. He totally, you know, from three, four feet behind the line, knocked down three threes. It was a great moment. I've always been a Dirk fan. You know, it's not just his shooting at his size. Dirk had great moves. Dirk could face you up. Dirk could post you up. He's just, you know, he's a Hall of Famer. He's a first ballot lock Hall of Famer. It was fun to see him knock down those threes. And then Dwayne Wade knocked down a big three and played well as well. I don't know. I liked it. I mean, it's not my favorite thing in the world. But of the All-Star games, it's my favorite one.

It's not for everybody. I get it. And if you're a Caps fan and you're watching them with no interest in the NBA All-Star game last night, I totally get it. A real game that counts is always better than something that doesn't count. So I totally understand that. My preference, though, in these All-Star games is last night. I don't think anything is closely,

closely resembles the entertainment value or the athleticism and skill on. display than the NBA All-Star game. It is, it's really something to watch. But it's not for everybody. And if, you know what, if they canceled it, which they'll never do, because it's a big moneymaker for them. But if for some reason it didn't exist, I wouldn't miss it. But it was, man, some of the athletes in that game. I mean, is there any better athlete in the world, in any sport, then I'll list a couple guys, all right, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, the Greek freak, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook, it's just the Greek freak's length in what he's able to do. Paul George, what a shooter he is, Quai Leonard. It's just, I mean, I haven't even mentioned Steph Curry or James Harden, you know,

in the skill level, the athleticism in this game, it's just really, these are the best athletes in the world. They just are. I mean, I can appreciate totally the soccer argument. I can, but it's just a different level in the NBA. The best basketball players in the world, to me, have always been the best athletes. Anyway, that's enough about the All-Star game. I want to get John Kime on here and talk about the report over the weekend that the Redskins were interested in Joe Flacco. I also want to do a recap of the Maryland-Michigan game, which I'll get to. And we'll get to the Bryce Harper stuff. Also a really nice moment. moment last night if you were at all paying attention to Daytona, which I really wasn't, but I turned it on for the last, what they call NASCAR overtime. And Joe Gibbs and his race team finished in the top three spots in the Daytona 500. Very emotional for anybody that loves Joe Gibbs. I'll mention something about that a little bit later on. And I'll have a snow forecast. I know most of you couldn't care less, but there are some of you that always ask, why aren't you talking about the snow forecast. So tomorrow night, actually Wednesday, could be the biggest storm of the year.

So I'll have something on that a little bit later on. Real quickly on Window Nation, it's the final week for off-season deals at Window Nation. You'll get free windows, free financing, have your electric bill paid until your windows are installed. But hurry, this is the final week. Off-season is the best time to buy, and Window Nation knows this too. And they're offering this amazing deal. Buy two windows get two free, get zero percent financing for five full years. And by the way, there's no limit on the buy two, get two free. You can buy four, you'll get four free, buy eight, get eight free. There isn't any limit. Plus, during this final week, purchase a house of windows, and window nation will pay your heating bill until your new windows are installed. You'll save thousands.

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You'll get two free windows for every two you buy. There's no limit. Zero percent financing. You can't beat that. No interest for five full years. That's 86690 Nation or wind donation. com tell them that I sent you. All right, let's bring in John Kime from ESPN to talk about some of the stories from over the

weekend that were Redskins-related. And the big one that got Redskinned fans into a little bit of a tizzy yesterday was this report out of Denver. And I guess it was a guy that hosts a show on 104.3, the fan in Denver, and someone else suggesting that the Redskins were the team that really made. Denver move on Joe Flacco because the Redskins were interested and they were going to make a big play for Flacco and that's why Denver moved quickly on this. What do you know about it? Because let me just be up front. I don't know anything about this. Didn't hear anything about this from anybody.

And I was actually surprised to read this yesterday. Well, I think there's a reason you didn't hear this from anybody. So let's start there. But my understanding, and Adam Schaefter had said, last week after the trade was made that the Redsins had actually inquired about Flacco. I missed that. And that's where it ended because they realized that, you know, you just, they can't make it work because of the cap. And it's not like they can't free up more money. They could conceivably afford to make that move, but you don't do anything else.

And then you're having to cut a lot of other guys that you may want to keep, then just to create opportunities for someone to get other guys in here. but then all you're doing is replacing the guys you just cut. So it's not a very good situation. They knew that. My understanding is the interest died there. And in talking and checking with some people, I think it was highly doubted. And when you'd ask people over there, it's like, you know, about a high price vet,

it's like, how are we going to do that? So, you know, so I don't see this. I don't see, I think there's a difference, Kevin, and you know this, between, you know, inquiring and then being in on, and I don't view them as having been in on based on what I, you know, what I've gathered and heard and what Adam reported. Yeah, it would have surprised me. First of all, you know, he wasn't a free agent. You would have had to trade for him. Secondly, Baltimore was going to try because of the respect they have for Joe Flacco. They were going to try to do right by him and put him into a good situation.

You know, the thing that's come out of the Flacco trade from Baltimore and from teammates and from former teammates is really overwhelmingly, you know, positive, this incredible level of respect that his teammates and his coaching staff and his owner and his general manager had for him in Baltimore. And I don't think that they were going to deal him. You know, now, if the Redskins came up with something outrageous, they probably would have said, sorry, Joe, they're giving us a second for you. you know, we're going to take it. But I think they were going to try to do right by Joe, and Denver is a perfect situation for him with the defense they have and, you know, the young running back that they have. It's a good situation for him. So I would have been shocked. Now, what this does say, what this does say on a certain level is if we just both agree that they inquired, but that they were never really in, because they can't be in. Joe Flacco's cap number

is 18 plus million for next year. Yeah, the math has never had it up for any of these guys. But what it does mean, perhaps, John, if they actually inquired, is it A confirms that Alex Smith, not that we don't know, that we don't have a sense of this anyway, but Doug Williams said over the weekend in an interview with Sirius XM, said that they're still thinking that Alex Smith could come back next year. And, you know, we've heard Bruce, you know, not completely cut that off either.

But if they inquired about Flacco, might they inquire about somebody else? veteran quarterback that may not be as expensive. Oh, I definitely think they'll inquire about someone at that level, you know, whether it's, you know, again, the guys who are out there and the name that I keep thrown out there because, you know, my understanding was they liked him last year was Teddy Bridgewater. Now, I don't know if they're going to be able to afford what he can do, what he might get. And I don't even know what his market will be because it's been a while since he's been a full-time starter, even though he showed he was healthy last summer.

And I think that's a big key for him. But the reason I always bring him up is because the ceiling is higher. If you can come in and play and if, you know, let's say they want to go with Colt as a starter initially, you do have a potentially pretty solid backup with Bridgewater if something happens. So, but I think that's the kind of level you're looking at. And it may even be, I mean, you know, anytime I've ever asked anybody over there, I'm never getting the feeling that they would go after anybody other than a mid-level guy or it's type salary because they just can't afford it.

And then you're investing like how much money at that position. So, you know, so I've always believed that it would get that. And then it's like, you know, but if you get a Josh Johnson and bring him back because it's a low-level signing, then what do you do in the draft? And I think then it's are you, you know, I don't think there, Bruce Allen said there, it's not a guarantee they say take someone in the first, but it's clearly an option, especially if you go with Josh Johnson because this is a, you know, know, let's be honest, man, this staff has to win this year. And are you going to be comfortable

with cult durability concerns and then Josh Johnson and then a mid-round pick? Or would you rather have that higher level quarterback potentially in the first round? So I think I'm going off in a different direction than what you were asking, but that's right. I think, you know, the conversation that's an interesting one off of this Flacco inquiry, if you and I both agree that the only thing that probably happened. And to me it makes sense, what you're saying, is that there may have been an inquiry. Yeah, is that some sort of inquiry, like what would it take to get Joe Flacco? And it just, it's an indication that they are willing to look outside of what they have. And I think that says a couple of things. Number one, now we've got to pay attention to the Brock Osweilers and

Trevor Simeons and Tyrod Taylor's as possibilities. But the other thing, too, John, it says, is that, you know, we both believe, I'm not going to put words into your mouth, I believe, Cooley believes, he was on the podcast on Friday, that Jay just wants to go with Colt. More likely than not, that Jay just wants to go with Colt next year. And if Alex comes back late in the season and is available and it makes sense, that's fine. If not, 2020 could be the year for Alex Smith to come back or he'll never come back, but that Jay really wants to prove it with Colt McCoy. And so the reason the flacco inquiry is interesting is once again it means that Bruce Allen,

because I think it's probably Bruce doing the inquiring, just doesn't really give a shit what his head coach thinks about the quarterback position, nor did he last year because I think Jay would have gone with Colt and said, don't make that trade. We're good with Colt. I know, you know, and I know last year that they were all in on discussions about which possibilities they might, which rose they might go down, but I do know that, you know, I would agree with what you're saying that I think Jay would be comfortable going with Colt. But, you know, having said that, even at times where he could have turned to Colt, he did not.

So, you know, in the past, when Cousins was here, he did not do that. But I do agree with you that. I think he obviously he likes Colts a lot. And I think, you know, in his mind last year, they probably could have gone with Colt and a rookie. or this offseason, you could go Colt Josh Johnson, mid-round pick. You know, I certainly, I would agree that that would be something he would probably, you know, be doable with. But, yeah, I mean, last year that was the same thing, and then they trade for Alex Smith. So I think it's clearly it's more than just what what J, what scenario J would envision.

It's definitely more than that. And so, and that's why, like I said, even with the with the Flacko thing, it doesn't sound, you know, it never, it doesn't sound like it rose to anything more than an inquiry because I don't think a lot of people over there even knew what was going on with it. So, but yeah, no, I think I've been cold. He'd be happy. The hard part is, though, you know, I mean, you can like them all you want, but there's a reality to it with the durability. But that's from our perspective. I don't, you know, and you, if you're on the team, you have to feel the same way. because it's been there.

Like, whether you like Colt or not, the injury history is what it is. I think the reality extends beyond the injury history. I think the reality is that he's not a quarterback that's good enough to lead you to, you know, 10 wins in a playoff of birth. I think he's with everything perfect around him. I mean, and listen, he hasn't done it. So it's hard to say that he is that guy because we haven't seen that. And, again, even whether you like them or don't or this or that, this is a proven league.

I mean, you know, so. All right, two more on the quarterback situation. Do they have an interest in resigning Josh Johnson? And the other part of that is, is there anybody else that would be interested in Josh Johnson after the three games that he started for them at the end of the year? That's a good question. And I don't know how many other teams would be. I don't know.

I think he did well coming in the situation he did. But did he do enough to separate himself from like a lot of the other low, lower cost signings that are out there? You know, perhaps. You know, and I think he's, you know, he showed some things that make him a little bit intriguing from just as a backup. But I know that they've been interested in resigning him since, you know, from the time to season ended, that's been consistent. But I don't know, Kevin. I don't know if others would go after him or not,

because you rattled off some names of guys that would be low-end backups as well in terms of cost. And, you know, I don't know. I mean, do you think that he changed enough minds with the starts that he had? I mean, I think he did well, given the situation he was in, but did he change – I don't know if he changed minds at all or enough minds. Probably not. But you know what? I mean, this is obviously a personal perspective.

I thought there was something to him in watching him. Like, not that he is a 16-game starter for a team hopeful of winning, you know, 10 games plus, but that he should have a spot in the NFL. Like, he's an NFL quarterback. He may be an NFL backup quarterback, but the thing. Yeah, I agree with that. He was, he was like, there was a fearlessness about the way. he played and a creativity that, you know, I can see why Jay actually liked him. I don't know

why they ever signed Sanchez. I don't get that one either, but I agree with you on Josh. And I thought like when he was there, I mean, I think the way he played quickly earned the respect of guys in that locker room. Yeah. And nobody made him into anything other than what he was, but they respected what he did. And they respected the way he played, you know, know, and whatever leadership he was able to show, because it's hard to come in and be a leader, you know, at least a vocal guy. You're not going to, but you can come in there and play a certain way and establish yourself in that manner, and I felt like he did.

Because, you know, guys did like him and respond to him as much as you could. And, you know, there were limitations. I don't think they scored more than 16 points in those games. But they moved the football in all of them, except for the Philly game. Right. So I do think that there are some things that he showed he could do. And that's, you know, and that's like I think the natural place for him to come back would be here for that reason. And if they don't get a mid-level guy, if they can't get, let's say if they do want to get Bridgewater and his price starts to go to $10 million a year and it's like, yeah, you're kind of backing out of that one.

Then you can go back to Josh. So, and I think he would be there. Yeah, you know, but no, I agree with you. There was a lot of things like there was an energy that he played with that I felt like these guys felt like they had a chance. They did not feel like that when Sanchez was in there. You know, the two weeks stretch against Jacksonville and Tennessee, I'll take the Philadelphia game out of it because it was over, the season was over, whatever. Two games that they were, you know, mathematically still alive for a playoff berth. You know, they played two consecutive weeks against two pretty good defensive football teams on.

the road, and they were 15 of 29 in aggregate in those two games on third down. And they were not, you know, up until that point, a team that was moving the ball and dominating time of possession. They were early in the season, early in the season running the football. But anyway, I thought that the performance in particular against Jacksonville and for three and a half quarters against Tennessee was the best quarterbacking we had seen all season long, with the exception maybe of the Green Bay game, you know, going back to week three. or whatever it was. There were stretches where you're sitting there saying,

how was he not on a roster before this point? That was my point. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, and I think that the way he incorporated his legs into the game, which was fun to watch, not because he was reckless with it. I felt he was smart with it.

And I felt like, for the most part, listen, in that Tennessee game, he drops a nice throw to Michael Floyd, and he freaking drops it and decides to five. You know what I mean? So, like, they had chances. even in that game, and, you know, the interception at the end of the game, but he had some throws in there.

And again, that one was like, they'd have been first time inside of five. Now you've got to shot a touchdown. Maybe he win that game. And so I felt like he showed enough that he definitely should be on a roster. And I think that's why you're not seeing him play in the AAF because, you know, but I like, I like that. He seemed to know who he is and what he needed to do out there. That's what I also like.

And I think that's, I think if you're a backup quarterback and you know that, then you understand your role. And, you know, and I, listen, I liked his toughness. And, like, I like talking to him because you could just feel, you could feel that there was still a big passion in him for this game. And I think that rubs off as well. All right. It's February 18th, and there's plenty of time for you to amend. the answer to this following question. But right now, give me your best guess on the quarterbacks on the roster when they go to training camp. Well, a rookie will be one of them.

I just don't know. How will they acquire the rookie? How early in the draft? Well, I think that depends. Are they getting Bridgewater or Johnson? If they go Bridgewater, I think it's mid to late. If they go, Josh, I could see a higher pick, because, but I think it also, I think here you're going to go is what does the front office view at how, you know, compare to Jay. And I think, I think in that case, you're going to probably, I think the front office, I don't know who would win in that one. But, you know, that's what I would, so that's what I would expect.

Those are the two scenarios. If it's Colt and Josh, I would expect them to go a little bit higher. If it's Colt and Teddy, then I would look at it as mid to late rounds. You know, so I don't feel like they feel they have. I haven't gotten the sense that they feel like they have to get a guy in the first. I do think there are things that they like about each of those guys who might be available at 15, enough to pull the trigger. I don't know yet.

Who do they like, do you think? I think they like, well, I mean, you know, I think they like parts of each of the top four guys' games. And I think, you know, so you're trying to see how they fit. I don't know if they love any that might be there enough to grab a guy. So I think, you know, my, the one thing I'd wonder was Carla Murray with these guys would be, you know, the height. It's not about passes, badded down, and all that. It's about how you're doing your splits and can you run your quick game, which they like to do. You know, if you can keep him in gun, the gun all game, that's one thing, but that's not typically what they have done.

But it's not what they've done, not even typically. So can you operate your quick pass game with a guy at his size coming out of set? operating under center. So I don't know that they would do that. I think the thing you always wonder with him, and you know this, that, you know,

if you want to create a splash, there it is, right? So I don't know that they, and I don't know, Kevin, at this point, if they love any of them enough

to, to grab one at 15, and I don't think, I don't know that they're going to tell anybody that they would because, you know, they may be hoping a guy, like,

lock slips there. You know, I think there are, but I do think there are parts of their games that they, that they do look, at and say, okay, how does this fit in and some of this would fit in? And then you look at the inconsistencies of guys like Locke and Jones, two guys who might be there, and you wonder,

like, okay, how long would it take for them to get to that point? And that's where, listen, again, if you're going a first round pick, that guy's going to be playing at some point. And is that guy, kind of guy who can come in and contribute in a year where this group has to win? Who's evaluating these quarterbacks and whose evaluation matters the most in the organization. Oh, boy, that's, I think that, I think when you're looking at quarterbacks, you're going to, you know, obviously Kyle Smith will be, have a major say in that because he's a college scouting director.

And then you have two ex-quarterbacks on, you know, evolved in it with Doug and Jay. And so, and then obviously Bruce, you know, and I do think the owner's going to probably have his say, too. I mean, you know, to what extent I don't know, but if he, if he says, I want Kyle or Murray, then I think they'll find a way to get Colin Murray. I don't think that they feel like they can trade up that much. I don't think that, you know, just because the way they can help themselves this year is through the draft. If they don't have a ton of cap space, so I don't know that they're going to give up that much capital to move up to do something like that.

And that's not a guarantee, but that's just the feeling right now. So I think it's going to be a hodgepodge, and then it's going to depend if, you know, if the owner says, well, this is the guy I want. you know, if Bruce says this is the guy, well, there's your answer. But if they're not sold, you know, I think you, you know, I think they would be very wise to listen to the experts. Kiper put out his mock draft 2.0 version this morning, and he's got Kyler Murray going at 13 to the Dolphins. So two spots ahead of the Redskins, who he has taking Drew Locke at 15.

I personally, out of all of them, watching him this year, Kyler Murray's obviously in a different category because of just the explosiveness, the team that he was on, et cetera. And he's in, I mean, why he wouldn't be intriguing to any football fan who's watched football over the last five years, I have no idea. And it's one thing to go back to 2011 or 2010 and say, oh, no, I would never draft a 5'5 foot 9 inch, you know, 5'10 inch quarterback. But I liked Locke watching him this year.

I thought he looked like an NFL pocket passer. Right. And if you watched the Florida game, he was really good in that game. Florida had a great defense, too. Yeah, exactly. And there were some games of like, oh, okay, this is where, you know, there's stuff he has to clean up. And I did talk to somebody who, you know, an evaluator for another team,

who felt like a guy like Locke might be someone that, Jay would be more inclined to want because of his style. And they felt like he was a very smart quarterback. And he brought up Kirk Cousins. as an example, not so much in terms of, you know, feeling, but in terms of demeanor, approach, et cetera. And being able to run Jay's system. And being able to run Jay's system that he felt like that would be a good fit for here.

And so I know, like I said, I know that they're parts of each of their guys' games that they, that they do like. And so I could, listen, I don't think that's, I don't think that's, I have a question at all for the reason you said. And, you know, there are some things on tape. Like, it's really good. And you can't, the thing that I always hate is that when somebody says, well, Blaine Gabbard sucks, so therefore you can't take Drew Locke. Well, you know, they're not the same person. And, you know, Gabbard, when he was in college, everything was,

was, seemed to be predetermined and short. And you could see him feel, see the rush and feel the, you know, not feel the rush, but see the rush. And that was a major turnoff, I know, for these guys. So, like, you saw a lot of that, and, you know, you're not hearing that with Locke. There are inconsistencies, and I think that's the thing that would give you some, that gives you pause. That's why he would be there at 15. Right.

Because if there aren't any inconsistencies, of course. He's going to, yeah. Yeah, so, you know, so, I mean, listen, I don't think it'd be the worst thing ever if they do like him to go Colt and Teddy and Locke. but I don't think they would. But, you know, then you have guys you can help you now. And if this guy, if you want to work with this kid, you can work with them and get them ready at whatever point. And the other thing I wouldn't do, Kevin, I don't know, you know, where you stand on this, I'm not going to look at it because I hear this all the time.

And you can't think like this is no disrespect to any fans, but you can't think like a fan and assume that, you know, that, well, we're going to suck this year. So therefore they may fight a coach and therefore just wait until the next. year when you have a new coast to get a quarterback. Because what if you got, what if this team wins nine or ten games? Let's say you get Bridgewater and you get nine or ten games and now you also had, you know, so this staff is around, but Locke becomes this great player somewhere else. You know, you don't pass, my point is you don't pass up on a guy if you really like him

on what might happen at the end of the year. Now, if you're not sold and if you only think he can play in J's system, that's one thing. But if you're picking a guy in the first round, he better be able to play in multiple offenses. Maybe not styles, but not every style is going to be drastically different. So I would not pass up on a guy just for the off chance, not for the off chance, but on the chance of what might happen if the season goes poorly. If you like the guy, that's my take. I don't know what you feel. I just think that I am with a lot of the fans when it comes to all of this, and that is, you know, no matter what they do, I don't know that I trust those that are making

the decisions. So, you know, the evaluation of the quarterbacks and a potential selection of a quarterback at 15, you know, I mean, we already know that most teams, you know, when it comes to drafting quarterbacks, it's already, you know, there's already a built-in crapshoot factor to it. And then you get to the point where this team and its evaluators and its decision makers and, you know, what decisions have they made over the years that would make you confident that they would get that right? Well, I think, and I think that's a good, to me, that's a separate, kind of a separate discussion because, you know, you're right.

It depends on if it's who's making that decision and why. And, you know, there are some people over there, I'd say, like, you know, if, if, you know, if Kyle Smith really loves this guy and they end up taking them, you know, you probably feel a little bit better because of the work that he's probably put in. into, he and his scouts have put into, you know, evaluating this player. If it's, you know, if it's someone who says, we just have to get a quarterback, well, I don't, you clearly don't, you're not going to trust that. I don't think. Yeah, if it's a Bruce Dan, if it's a Bruce Dan led thing, no one's going to feel good about it. And it'll probably fail. I mean, we know that

more likely than not, it won't be the right decision. But I do think, and that's hard because I agree with you, like a lot of decisions that are being. made and this is why like this idea of like even tanking or anything like that do you trust this group to then build it back up no but no because but part of the tanking strategy would be an owner-driven strategy where the plan at the end of the season is to bring in the new group to start making the decisions on on sculpting a new roster but but then do you trust even that no no this is the quandary yeah right and i think but i but i don't think you pass up on a guy like again if they if there's a consensus on a guy and they all like him then what's you know then you've

got to take them yeah i mean it's it's almost to the point it's almost to the point john and i've said this multiple times over the last month two months where you know dan snider is a terrible owner but if he's going to suck it being an owner which he does he might as well go back and have fun doing it. And they couldn't be any worse off, you know, spending big, going big, trading up, taking a quarterback, you know, even if they're using Kuiper and McShay's board as the way to draft, like they may be just as, it wouldn't get, it wouldn't be any worse. It wouldn't be any worse. Yeah. So, um, here's the, the last thing that I want to get to before I let you run. And that is just of all of the decisions that are going to be made that are not

quarterback related, you know, Adrian Peterson, Josh Norman, Preston Smith, you know, Jameson, Crowder, all of these decisions. What do you think happens first? Like, what's coming soon? Do you have any gut feel on something that may be coming soon? Because I think all of these things are up in the air right now, but do you have a sense of it? Not, not. I think there, I would agree they're all, I mean, everything is up in the air at this point until it's done. I think if I were looking

to say, what did you think would happen soon? a Brandon Sheriff extension. Yes, I totally agree with you. I think that's one. And then I think, you know, with Peterson, I mean, they're, it's not, I don't, I don't get the sense that there's this, you know, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, you know, you know, zipping faxes over here and this and that. I don't get that sense.

But, you know, there, there's at least an interest on both sides and there has been, you know, at least initial contact about a return. So, you know, I think that's another one. And I think, like, you know, with him, we'll see. And I think that's a hard one to me because you got Geis there. Now, you don't, you know, you want Peterson around because you get insurance and all that. But what's the incentives that you're going to build in the contract? And how much?

And can he reach those? Because if Geis is healthy and playing, then it's going to be hard for Peterson to reach those. But how much you're going to pay for a guy who may just be insurance? I think there's a, it's a little bit tougher, but there's at least an interest on both sides of coming back. So I think those would be the two that I would look at, but I put sheriff's extension, I think, is the easy one, because they want him around, they know how good he is, and it would be a way for them to at least lower the cap hit for him this year. And so I think that that's why I think that one gets done. That makes total sense to me.

And that one is sort of within their control right now, obviously. Exactly. And I think that's the easy one. I don't get, you know, certainly I don't feel like Preston Smith is going to be re-signed before he gets, before free-st-he starts, not unless something changes, you know, in the next weeks. And now a lot of it will be, depending on what happens at the combine, the contact they have with agents for some of these guys, like, you know, in Crowder.

But if you're Crowder, why would you sign now? Right. No, I agree. We're less in a month away now. We're less in a month away. It's not a great free agent class for receivers. You know, you'll be one of the more attractive ones out there. I think, you know, Preston Smith plays a premium position.

That one could be a loaded position. Yeah, they're loaded. That one's loaded. Yeah. And the draft is really good with it. And that's the, that's where, like, you know, like part of me says Preston's going to get paid. And then, you know, because he's only 26.

He's got, you know, whatever, whatever. But on the other hand, you know, maybe other teams will think like the Redskins. Like, okay, we like him. We like to keep them. But this draft is really good there. We can get somebody at 15. and just move on with a lower cost player at that spot, or not have to spend at that spot big time,

and then spend maybe a little bit more in other areas. So, you know, and I'll be curious how many other teams feel that way because it is a good group in free agency and in the draft. You know, the interesting thing, by the way, about the Brandon Sheriff thing, all of these things. I totally agree with you on Preston's – well, definitely Crowder, even more so. There's no sense for them unless the deal, great to sign a deal right now. I mean, let free agency starts in less than a month,

and there would be a market, I think, for James and Crowder. But with respect to Sheriff, what will be very interesting is the Redskins, to me, can't wait on this. Because if you think you're going to extend him right before the season starts or during the season, I'm not saying that that's an impossibility. But, you know, there's too much that could happen between now and then, and also if you get into a season that goes south quickly, Brandon Sheriff may say, I'm less than a year away from free agency. I might as well just go for it. You know, I mean, right now, Brandon Sheriff is entering the last year, you know, the fifth year option that the team picked up, and they need to get aggressive and get him signed because

he is a part of anyone's future on this roster. I don't think anyone would debate that. No, and I agree with that. And I felt like... Unless you just feel like the guard position is a commodity and you can go out and find a Brandon Sheriff. Well, I can tell you, like, I think Shanahan would have probably felt like that. Yeah. Now, you know, in his system, it was different, too.

And the way these guys talk about Sheriff, they know how... Listen, I felt like that was a... Smith injury was huge. Quarterbackers, you can't... I'm not going to say it, the second biggest one was Sheriff. and because of what he could give them in space and just what he did, you know, just in any fast as a run game that, you know, for all the focus on other spots, that was a huge deal. And they know that.

And I think, but I do believe that that would get done, you know, I don't know, I can't say when. I don't know at the time. But I feel sooner rather than later. And, you know, they did extend some other guys. I think it was Kerrigan and Jordan who were later in the year and trying to, William's, I think, was right in August, I think, when he did it. But my guess slash sense would be that Sheriff would be sooner than that.

They have to, and this is where they sometimes are detached from reality. They've got to realize that a guy like Sheriff may say, I don't want to play here the rest of my career. I'd like to go to a winning franchise. And I could get a huge deal. We've seen some massive deals in a Norwell, et cetera. and I'll play this fifth year and hit the open market. Now he's been injury prone.

That's why you take, that's why you take advantage of it now because he's coming off at injury, and if you feel he's going to be fine, and he may feel like he's going to be fine, but guys want security too, and I think they can give it to him, or they should give it to him. Last thing. Did you see this Sue of Craven's thing from yesterday, or over the weekend? No, I'm at my mom's house. I did not see that. Okay, well, this is what he said yesterday. And I don't know, was this tweeted out? Was it Instagrammed out, Aaron?

I forget. I've got the quote here. I don't know where it came from. Sorry about that. But here's the quote. Skins turned they back on me when I had brain damage and accused me of faking and quitting, L.O.L. I'd rather be broken the streets before I ever go back to that lame-ass place. But for fans like you, I'll always have love for y'all, Sue Kravins.

So he must have been responding to a Redskins fan reaching out to him. Brain damage? Did he have brain damage? What's he talking about? I mean, the concussion thing? Yeah, I get, yeah, yeah. He ended up going to a concussion hospital in Pittsburgh, so I guess that's what he'd be talking about. I knew he had concussions, but was there actual diagnosed brain damage? Isn't he on the Denver Broncos roster?

He is. He is. Okay. Yes. Yeah, there you go. Okay. You know what? We don't have to talk any more about that because neither one of us know anything about it, but I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure he's on Denver's roster. I could be wrong about that. He does not seem happy with this place. No, he doesn't seem to be happy about anything. And I hope he's healthy. I do. I hope he's healthy.

I know he was like in and out last year with stuff. Yeah. All right. Thanks for the time. I always enjoy doing this. and we've got, you know, we've got free agency that starts in less than a month. And so I do want to have you back on and, you know, and we'll have more to sort of digest, probably more information to digest, and we can make some predictions together, you know, on a day, three weeks from now. I will always enjoy coming out here, Kevin, you know that. All right, thanks, John.

Hey, by the way, too bad about Ohio State yesterday. Jesus, God, I mean, they scored, I think they scored 11 points in the second half at Michigan. Was it 12? I'm sorry, 12 points. They have nobody who can score and they have no one who can create. And, like, they have a guy coming in next year. They're going to be really good next year after, really good. And they have guys now, like this Luther Mohammed, Dwayne Washington, who will be much better with the real point guard.

They don't, they haven't had a real point guard. They don't have anybody who can go by guys. And so, like, what's happening is not shocking to me. What's hard is that they don't, like last year, I loved watching them. Played hard, played smart. This year, they turned the ball over a ton, and they don't always play very. smart and the turnovers are not always forced. It's just, it's really, it's painful to watch them. I think, I think Holtman's a good coach. I think they'll do well. He is. I like him a lot. I don't blame

him. I just, you know, I think it's the roster construction and some of that is not on him because he just got here a year ago, you know, a year and a half ago. And so, but next year, like, they have a really good class coming in, and the next year, they'll be really strong too. So I think for the next couple years, you just got to get through this year. And, like, I was hoping they could squeak into the tournament to at least, you know, to build off another second consecutive tournament year. But I just don't see it. They'd have to, yesterday they had to win.

All right. See you. Thanks. All right, man. Thanks, Kevin. Yeah, Aaron, did you see that Ohio State yesterday? I didn't see the game. I was, you know, kind of had an eye on the score tracker, though. They scored 12 points in the second half against Michigan State in a college basketball game. They were up six. Getting 12, by the way, they were getting 12 in the game at Michigan State. and the score was tied like at 4242 at like the 10 minute mark of the second half. So it was looking pretty good if you had them plus 12.

They got beat by 18 in the game. I think they scored a grand total of three points over the last nine minutes of the game. Three points. It's not very good. No, not very good. And they're one of those teams that's in a bit of trouble, you know, back on the bubble. They come to College Park Saturday. And Maryland's got Iowa tomorrow night.

And I'm going to get to the Maryland-Michigan recap here in a moment. but man, the Big Ten, I've talked about it before. It is crazy top to bottom how competitive all of these teams are. All right, real quickly, I want to tell you about Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax, if you're considering something new, I want Ferris to be on your list. Now, they're located in the heart of Fairfax, right there in Fairfax Circle. Ralph Perkins runs Ferris. Just ask for Ralph if you head in there.

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because you're a listener of this show. They take care of everybody, but I promise you that if you ask for Ralph and tell him that I sent you, he will take good care of you. You can find out all you need to know at ferrish cars.com, including live inventory, live pricing, and their best deals. Farishcars.com. All right, let's do a Maryland, Michigan recap right now for all of you that are to Maryland and want us to discuss this. Look, Mark Turgeon's teams, they lost the game, for those of you that don't know. They lost the game 65 to 52 in Ann Arbor. It was a tough spot for Maryland because Michigan had been upset earlier in the week at Penn State, and Michigan's a top five, top, you know, 10 team, and they were home, and they needed this one to get back on, you know, get back on pace,

and it was going to be a tough spot for anybody heading into Chrysler Arena. But Maryland is now, Mark Turgeon, that is, at Maryland, is now 0 and 19 on the road versus ranked teams. And I would say this is a big number that all of the Maryland people point to, and especially those of you that think that Maryland can do a lot better than Mark Turgeon, you'll point to the fact that, you know, point to a lot of things. But 0 and 19 on the road versus ranked teams, look, it stems from many things, all right? Sometimes, most of the time, it's because they're playing a better team on the better team's home court. But the one thing that I wish were different about his teams when they go on the road against a really good opponent, a ranked opponent.

I just wish they were more aggressive. I wish they took a more aggressive approach to some of these games. Maryland plays slow. They play a way in which they try to out-execute their opponent in the half-court on offense, and they try to out-execute and out-compete defensively in the half-court as well. That's the way Mark Turgeon thinks his team should play. It's the way he obviously feels his team is best suited for playing. I personally wish they were more aggressive. Now, that's easier said than done against certain teams.

sides, by the way. Yeah, but really, to me, I want to take it to people. You know, I want a more aggressive attacking style on the road in a big game, you know, rather than a more, we're going to grind it out, we're going to out-execute, you know, we're going to slow the game down and we're going to out-execute them in the half-court. You know, our stuff, our sets, our plays are going to be better than theirs. I personally, it's easier said than done against certain teams and certain coaches, and a Michigan team is so well coached, B-line is so good, and they're not an easy team to really take it to. You know, like you can't just play fast-break basketball against Michigan

because they get back so well. Michigan's really good, all right? They're really good, and they're really good on defense. But Maryland is just as quick, just as athletic, just as talented, just as deep. And Maryland had two fast break points in the game. Michigan, I think, had 12 or 14. Maryland didn't walk the ball up the court against Michigan. They crawled it up the court against Michigan.

It's not what I would prefer. Again, easier said than done. Easier for all of us that aren't at practice every day, that think we know what we're talking about, but we're not at practice every day, you know, to just sort of throw this stuff out there. I mean, it's always laughable. I mean, a lot of you right now are in the midst of having, you know, kids play sports and you're sitting there and you show up at the games and, you know, whether it's, you or others, you're criticizing the coaches, and it's like, you have no idea. I have no idea. I swear to God, more times than not, over the years of my kids playing sports and being at games and listening to parents complain about coaches, if I ever got frustrated and even spoke at all, which was rare, because I'd rather not, I would probably more times than not try to sit somewhere by myself so I didn't need to listen to it.

But I would just say, look, if you're not going to be at practice every day, you really have no idea what you're talking about. And that is the case in almost every sport. You have no idea what that coach has asked the players to do, what they've practiced, what he's seen in practice, what your kid or someone else's kid does in practice, what the plan is you have no idea, no idea. More times than not, parents have zero idea.

I don't know how I just got off on that. But I guess it's a way of saying, I'm not at practice every day, nor are you, Aaron, or any other Maryland basketball fan that's going to complain. So it's hard to really be overly critical about style, about sets, about plays, about situations. You can be, it's like with a football game, you can be critical of an in-game strategy or a clock management thing. That's why I always harp on that stuff, because that stuff more times than not, is really. really not debatable. It's not a thing that you needed to be at practice to see, you know, whether or not a coach should have gone for two in the right spot in a football game or in basketball game, should have called a timeout, you know, on, you know, after a made bucket or

whatever. I mean, those things sometimes are very black and white, not gray. What I'm talking about is much more debatable. It's much more of a gray area. My personal preference, without nearly enough information is that Maryland has the talent, the athleticism, the depth to play a different style of basketball that I think, again, without all the information from outside looking in, I think would benefit them more. I don't like to watch the ball come off the rim

and Michigan did not shoot a great percentage, especially in the first half, thank God, because if they had, Marilyn would have gotten blown the F out in the first half. They were down 25 to 10. It felt like it should have been 35 to 10. But they were only down 25, 10, and then miraculously were only down by 9 at halftime in a game in which they only scored 18 points in the first half of that game. I think, personally, that they should play faster, more up-tempo, more attacking, more taking it to them. It doesn't mean that you're going to get a transition opportunity every single time off of a miss.

but it just means you're pushing it a little bit worse cases. You're going to have more time to run your offense. Because I can't tell you how many times in that game. I can tell you this. Down 11 with about two minutes to go, Eric Ayala barely crossed the timeline in time. He crossed it with 21 seconds left on the shot clock. You're down 11.

Why are you still crawling it up the court? You're not playing pressure. You're not playing against a team that's pressing you. team's going to let you bring the ball up the court at any pace you want to. But you shouldn't be crossing the timeline with one second left on the shot clock when you're down by 11 with two minutes left in the game. You know, you shouldn't. It's a mindset. It's become a habit. If there's a chance to run, they walk. If there's a little chance to push it, they crawl. They don't score enough for me. They don't shoot enough for me. They face a set defense on almost every possession.

And when you do that against good defensive teams, teams that are well-coached, and have you scouted like many in the Big Ten do, you're going to struggle offensively. And Maryland did. 52 points. 18 in the first half. 16 turnovers in the game. Many of them because Michigan is really good on defense.

And others that just weren't even forced. 13 turnovers in the first half where Maryland wasn't strong enough with the ball and not even close to strong enough with the ball. By the way, if you tell me, I've got 16 turnovers for a game. I want it to be in a game in which I am attacking. I'm playing aggressively. I'm playing too fast, not too passively and too slow.

Gary's teams turned it over a lot too, but they scored 75 to 80 in almost every game. And Gary would also, Gary's teams would force turnovers as well. Forced a ton of turnovers. Maryland is very low statistically enforced turnovers. Because, again, to your point, they also don't attack defensively. They're a good defensive team. They're a good half-court defensive team. They've become that.

With good defenders, Darryl Moresell is one of the best defenders in the league. Cowan's a pretty damn good defender. The Maryland heading into the Michigan game was 312th in the country in average field goal attempts per game. Yes. That's not good for a team with this kind of talent. In my opinion, the start doomed them in this game.

All right, they were down 14 to 2, they were down 25 to 10, as I just mentioned, it felt like it should have been 35 to 10. Michigan, if they had made some of their open shots, Maryland defended well in the first half, too. They did. They defended well, and they've been defending well. If Michigan had gotten more out of some of the open looks they got, they would have been blown out in the first half and not had a chance, because they were generating nothing offensively. And it's interesting about Michigan, they are the bad matchup for Maryland here recently.

If you recall that final game of the regular season, or maybe it was the next to last game of the season last year, year. Maryland could not get an open look against Michigan in that game. They lost by 30 plus. They were down 30 plus at halftime. There were a couple of key moments in the game. Cowan had an open three to tie it at 42 to 39. That missed turned into a transition dunk, I think, on the other end, and then Cowan had a layup down five to get it to three, missed it, and that ended up in a transition three for them. Offensively, Bruno got frustrated early by Teske, who is a big-time shot blocker in college basketball. And because of it, Bruno was a total non-factor in the first

half. Now, they went to him in the second half and he delivered. And I know Turg has a ton of plays and sets that he likes. And if they're going to play slow, grinded out basketball, the one thing that has worked more than anything else is running it through Bruno, especially on the post, and playing off of that. I just think if they attacked a little more on Saturday, off the misses on the other end. I'm not asking them to do what Michigan State does or Iowa does or North Carolina does take it out of the net off a made shot and push it. But I thought if they attacked a little more off the misses, and Michigan had a ton of misses in the first half, and they could get Cowan in particular going down, you know, if you don't get anything in transition, at least you get Cowan into a

probing situation. You see Simpson a couple times, you know, where they pushed it, and now he's probing and he's dribbling it through the paint and around the baseline and then finding somebody cutting to the basket for an open dunk. That's not half-court offense. That's pushing, being aggressive, spacing the floor, and having a creator like Simpson do something. I personally, you know, as a youth basketball coach, I can tell you, I didn't always have the best talent, not even by a long shot. I had good players, but never overly athletic or deep or any of that. I would have much preferred not to face a set defense. Yeah, I thought I had some half-court stuff that work too, and sometimes it did, but you'd much rather take a three-on-two fast break

or a three-on-one or a two-on-one fast break opportunity where you can drive it and maybe kick it to somebody who's going to get an open look, then face a set defense. And if you push and you get a guy like Cowan going downhill early, even Iyala in a possession, they had a couple of them. A Cowan drove the paint, kicked it to, I think he kicked it to sticks, who kicked it to a wide open Wiggins who shot a three, that's the kind of stuff they got to get more of. Because if it comes down to, you know, just running half-court offense against set defenses who have you scouted well like the teams in their league do, it's going to be tough, man. It's going to be tough.

That's why Maryland doesn't score a lot. They really don't. They're a high-efficiency offensive team. And they're a high-efficiency offensive team. I think they were 24th going into the game on Saturday. because they've got a hell of a low post presence in Bruno. And you know what? They do run some good half-court stuff.

I'm not knocking it necessarily. I just want to go in with the mindset of taking it to somebody. If I don't have the talent and I need to play a low-possession game and try to win 56-54, fine. But that's not what Maryland has. If I'm going into Chrysler Arena with what Maryland's got talent-wise, I'm trying to take it to Michigan. I don't want to be forced to out-recent.

execute or out strategy a John B-line team on his floor. I want my players to take it to his players so it doesn't come down to my stuff against their stuff. That it doesn't come down to who scouted whom better. Get after them. Press them a little bit. Speed them up. Take the ball off the rim.

Get it to Cal and Riala into the front court and get it across the timeline in three seconds or less. Make them get back on defense. They get back on defense so well. They're really well-coached, but make them get back on defense. They didn't have to sprint back. Marilyn was crawling it up the court. Don't accept that they're going to be great on defense.

Don't accept that they're going to get back on defense. Don't accept, hey, they're well-coached. We got to just run great stuff. Take it to them before they get set up defensively. You've got talent. Let them play. But hey, again, it's easy for me to say. You know, bottom line, 18 points in a first half on the road with 13 turnovers playing walk-it-up basketball is not going to get it done.

Maryland's good. They are capable of a lot this year. Against Iowa, Tuesday night in Iowa City, they're going to play a team for the first time in a while, since Illinois, really, in the garden, that actually prefers to run and play up-tempo. They want to play a little bit faster. They're used to playing fast. fast. They're going to press. They're going to trap at half court. They run a lot of half court and three quarter court half court zone traps. So Maryland's going to have chances to get easy baskets if they play it right now. Iowa will also play some zone defensively. But anyway,

that's my one big gripe. And it's been that for a while. And Saturday was one of those games, and I felt coming off of the couple of games that they had had previously against Purdue and Nebraska, where I thought they were getting more aggressive. They didn't score a lot in those games either. All right, I understand that. They scored 60 against Nebraska and 70 against Purdue. But they were more aggressive. And then Saturday, I know it's an early start. Maybe that had something to do with it. I know he's got a young team. And I know sometimes you coach him to do what I'm asking them to do, and they don't do it. So that's why I'm saying. If you're not a practice, you don't know. for all I know, the game plan was to take it off the rim and get an outlet pass to Cowan right around the three point line, be across half court in a couple of seconds, and try to get stuff in transition or try to get an offense set up faster, really taking it to them, and the players just didn't execute. That's a possibility. I don't think so, though. I think this is the way they prefer to play. And they have played well this way. I'm not knocking it. I am just suggesting from my outside looking in what my preference.

would be when you have talent. Low possession games are for teams that don't have superior talent. Not that Maryland had superior talent to Michigan, but they've had superior talent to many teams on their schedule this year. And I'd like to see just a couple of games of 88 to 70. Like I would have rather have lost that game on Saturday 80 to 70, 8575, because we didn't shoot it well. And we turned it over too much.

in a more of a high possession game. But anyway, we'll see. They've got five games left. Iowa's tomorrow night. Iowa threw in a bank shot from the corner at Rutgers to beat Rutgers. Yeah, that was unbelievable. I don't know how that hit the backboard. It's almost impossible to bank in a corner three, but they did it, and they beat Rutgers by two with that buzzer beater.

God, another example of the Big Ten, and how none. of these games. Maryland's got a game at Penn State on the 27th. Not a gimmie. Nothing's a gimmie. But this one, Maryland's had four road wins, right, in the league four? Yes. Right?

Ohio State, Rutgers, Nebraska. I'm forgetting one. Indiana. Minnesota. They beat Minnesota on the road. So I was a ranked team. This could be the first ranked win for Maryland. I was good.

Fran McCaffrey does a good job. this league's so well-coached. All of these things I know if I were having this conversation with their staff, they would say, do you know how well-coached this league is? Do you know how well-scouted there? I know all those things are true. That's why I want to take the coaching out of it and try to play up-tempo and let the players decide it.

Anyway, big week for Maryland in terms of their seating. They're in the tournament. They could lose the rest of their games and be in the tournament. Well, I don't know about that. Yeah, they could. If they literally lost every game for the rest of the season, plus the first game in the conference tournament. They'd still be in.

They'd put them at 19 and 13. They'd still be in. Yeah, but they would say you haven't won a game in a month. The point is, yeah, they're realistically, they're in. Yeah, I mean, okay, I guess we would be on the bubble at that point. I don't think that's going to happen. But all five of these regular season games are difficult.

The good news is, finally, after they played, I think it was 8 of 10 or 7 of 9 on the road, from College Park, they now have a finish with three of their final five at home. But that starts tomorrow night with a road game at Iowa. And it's a big one for Maryland. And it's a winnable game. I think the Michigan game should have been a winnable game. And they'll get another shot at Michigan at home on March 3rd.

But anyway, it was disappointing. It was disappointing. I got excited when they had a chance to tie in the second half. You know, they really, they do grind it out and they compete hard. Somebody sent me a text, a tweet about that, and I said, yeah, I agree. They do play hard. And then he said he was just being sarcastic. Actually, I don't think, I think there could be a lot of criticism of Turgeon from contemporaries, from coaches in the league, other, you know, in terms of anonymous criticism.

Maryland being a team that doesn't compete wouldn't be one of them. Maryland is a tough, they resemble him. He's a highly competitive, intense guy. And for the most part, most of his teams have played that way. Not all of them all the time, but for the most part, they play that way. I just would love to see them put their athleticism, their talent on display, where we could see more than 52 points in a game. Anyway, whatever.

Fernando, let's enjoy him. He's not going to be here. He had 12 in the second half. You saw him struggle against some size in the first half. Doesn't matter. He's going pro. Sticks was soft. Sticks is coming back. Yeah, he's coming back. He was really soft against the size in this game. Two things about sticks. One, he needs to put on about 10, 20 pounds in the off season. Yeah, they know that. And the other thing is he needs to learn to kick it out more. In that game, that was one of the real bad things is that he kept going up, going up when he had no charge. chance of getting to the rim. Yeah, and I would like to see both of them, when they get near the rim, just dunk it over some people every once in a while. And yes, you know, Aaron Wiggins is a star in the making. There's no doubt. This guy is smooth. He's as good a shooter as they have on the team. He's one of the best shooters in the league. He is getting better and more confident. And, you know, by the way, he's not just a shooter. And I think we'll see a lot more of that next year. He's got some mid-range to him. He can drive the ball. And he got 28 minutes in this game. And really without him in

the first half, they wouldn't have had 18 points in the first half. They had had like 10 in the first half without him. All right. That's that's it on Maryland. Real quickly, launch workplaces in Bethesda. If you're thinking about new office space, or you need a place to set up shop because you're working from home and you can't always count on home to be easy to get work done from. Consider launch workplaces in Bethesda. Now that's if you live near Bethesda. And their particular location in Bethesda is right in that

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They have other locations around town. So go to launchworkplaces.com, and you can see their other locations as well. 240, 86714. Mention my name. You'll get an exclusive free two-day trial or launchworkplaces.com. All right, let's finish up the show with a couple of things. First of all, will you update me on the Bryce Harper, Philly's story?

Yeah, so the story over the weekend reported by several people is that Philly's getting very close. It's not officially yet. There was a number reported, which was 10, 10 years, 310 million, so just above that initial offer that the Nationals made, which doesn't quite make sense to me. because I just can't imagine the learners just saying, nah, for an extra million a year. Now, of course, there could be more to the contract. There could be an opt-out after three years for Bryce. There could be a number of things.

And if that's the case, sure. But as it's reported, it seems a little bit fishy to me. And it's one of those things where the timing does seem right that Boris would start leaking offers whether or not they're actually there. Is there any chance, any chance of a short-term deal? I don't think so. I think that you're going to see if there is a short term in play, it'll be framed as a long-term deal with an opt-out. Still amazing to me, but it sounds like, at least based on the reporting that Bryce doesn't want to, he's now getting itchy to get something done and get into somebody's spring training. So you've got that.

I wanted to also quickly mention, and I think I mentioned this earlier. I didn't watch the Daytona 500. I'm not a NASCAR guy. but I turned it on because I was curious yesterday to see how Joe Gibbs' teams would do, his team would do with Kyle Bush, with Denny Hamlin, with this young kid Jones and Martin Truex, junior or senior, whatever it is. I don't know if it's senior or junior. That's his team.

I looked it up yesterday. I knew Denny Hamlin was on his team. I knew Kyle Bush was on his team. I didn't know who the other two guys were. But I wanted to keep pace with, you know, whether or not. his team would do well. And part of that is just because of his son recently passing away and all of the tragedy in his family.

And there's just something about Joe that all of us who are Redskin fans, I mean, I just always root for him. It doesn't matter what he's doing. I root for it. And so I turned it on late in the race, and there was a spectacular crash with like nine laps to go. There was another crash with a few laps to go. Then they got into this overtime.

I didn't even know you had an overtime in NASCAR racing, but basically it was a two-lap deal. And his drivers, Hamlin, Kyle Bush, and Jones. I think it's Eric Jones. I could be wrong about that. Finished one, two, three. Denny Hamlin winning the race. And right after the race, the guy on the track,

the working for Fox, grabs Gibbs, and they're walking, and he's interviewing Gibbs. and it was just so emotional. I can't explain it, because I couldn't care less about NASCAR, but I do care a lot about Joe Gibbs, and he's talking about how JD was watching this and that he had something to do with it, and we know how religious Joe is.

And he did throw in a plug for the website, for people to, it's a spiritual thing, I'm sure, but it had nothing to do with that. It was to see this guy who, he just wins at everything he does. Everything he does, he seems to do it the right way, and it turns out successfully. I mean, he's had the great success with Joe Gibbs racing over the years.

But yesterday was one of these spots, and I think it had been like nearly 20-something years since one NASCAR team finished one, two, three. That they were one, two, three on the podium in a Daytona 500. But to see him interviewed, to see his emotions, to see him really moved by the finish there, I just was happy for him.

I feel like any Redskin fan who watches Joe do anything well, you're just happy for him. But given the tragedy in his family, losing his son, JD, at a far too young age, it was just it was emotional to watch it so i wanted to mention that um just he's amazing he's just he's an amazing human being the everything he touches turns to gold basically um and you know he always talks about it's about people like you know he's always he's always got like every time you interview joe and you're talking about things there's a lot of this stuff that becomes

repetitive for a lot of you that have heard a lot of those interviews, but it's okay because we love to hear his voice. But the one thing that's been beaten into submission over the years by him, which, you know, should make all of us understand that, especially if you're building something or business or making business decisions or life decisions, he says it all the time. He's like, you just have to pick the right people, you know? And Gibbs was in an organization in pro football, where the owner picked the right people. He learned from Jack Kent Cook. Jack Kent Cook wasn't an angel,

but he just picked the right people. He picked Bobby Bethard. Bobby Bethard was smart, was a quality human being. He picked Joe Gibbs. Joe Gibbs really knew football, was smart and was a high-quality human being. And that's what he took from football,

and he did the same thing. He hired the best of the best to come in and gave him the autonomy to do it. and he just he understands that i mean obviously you put that side by side with the organization the redskins that is and the way it's run now and you know why they have failed for so long because they haven't hired the right people and they haven't sought out high quality people over the years um joe was pretty much one of the only ones you know he really was uh anyway um that was uh that was cool to watch wanted to mention one quick thing a lot of you tweeted me after

the show on Friday with Cooley. And you said that Cooley didn't, did he not realize that Kyler Murray had committed to playing football? I think you misunderstood him. Yes, he understood Kyler Murray had committed to playing football. But what Cooley was saying is he wants somebody that is 100% totally in with no waffling capability. And I think what he was saying is this dude could change his mind.

And it was a tough decision for him in the first place. And Cooley's been really consistent about what he thinks is important in a football player, and that is someone who loves football more than they love anything else. So a guy like Kyler Murray already is going to have a strike against him if Cooley's doing the evaluating. Also, from my friend on Twitter, the former ambassador to Belgium, and I enjoy that you listen to the podcast too, and I appreciate it so much. We've had some good exchanges on Twitter over the years. But I'll answer you specifically because you've asked me twice now on Kooley's last two appearances

why I haven't spent time talking about Kooley's career. What he wants to do, is he going to coach, did the Redskins interview him and all of that? It's really simple. He's not going to talk about that right now. When he does, he will do it with me. I feel confident about that. He's a good friend. I love talking football with him.

I love getting his opinion on things like the playoffs and the Super Bowl and the Redskins roster, et cetera. But it's made very clear that he's not going to talk about it. So I'm not going to put him in that position. That's not what I mean, when he has some news, if there is any news, he will definitely be on and we'll talk about it in great detail. But this isn't me interviewing Bruce Allen if he were to be on the podcast or interviewing Dan Snyder if he were to be on the podcast. or interviewing Dan Snyder if he were to be on the podcast, which I don't think they'll ever be, not for a lack of trying,

but it's just different. So that's the answer to that. It would be, if you wanted to hear me ask him, hey, did the Redskins interview you for their tight ends opening or have you talked to anybody else? His answer would be, I'm not going to talk about that.

So I just decided not to do it, because he and I talked about whether or not it would be a conversation, and the answer was no. it would not be a conversation. Not yet. Maybe down the road at some point. I had one other thing that I wanted to mention. Was it the snow?

Oh, two things to mention. Number one is that the national anthem last night before the All-Star game sung by Anthony Hamilton, and he did it in sort of a different, unique way, not the normal national anthem way. it wasn't for me, not because he didn't do it in a normal national anthem way, the traditional way, but because to me it seemed in the moment like an attempt to do Marvin Gaye number two, and no one will ever, ever sing the national anthem the way Marvin Gay sang the national anthem before the NBA All-Star game in 1983. No one. It's the greatest, in my view, the greatest rendition of the national anthem ever. It sends chills up my spine every time I hear it.

Marvin Gay had one of the most beautiful voices of anybody. And the way he did that national anthem in 1983 in the LA Forum before the All-Star Game, to me, will never be bested, ever. And Anthony Hamilton didn't have a major problem. It just wasn't anywhere close to the Marvin Gay rendition. In fact, we'll go out of this show here momentarily with the Marvin Gay rendition if you've never heard it. But lastly, real quickly, on the snow, we're going to get snow. We're going to get snow and we're going to get ice and we're going to get rain. And it's got the potential to be probably not the biggest snowstorm of the year. Remember during that weekend in early January, during the NFL playoffs, we had a foot over, you know, like 30 hours on a Saturday and a Sunday.

That was the perfect storm. if you really like snow weekend, football on. But this one Wednesday morning will be intense. Heavy snow, accumulating snow, several inches of snow, and then probably several hours of ice, especially for the people in the immediate north and west suburbs and further out. In the city, it might turn over to rain in south and east of the city a little bit earlier,

but that's what I got for you right now. I would say we've got a chance of at least four, to six inches of snow before the mixing with sleep and freezing rain. And then it'll eventually more likely than not turn to rain almost everywhere, but not before Wednesday is a day. Right now, they've already got the winter storm watches up for Wednesday. It looks like a day that will have lots of closings. Usually though, we still show up and do a podcast, but I'll have more on this storm tomorrow. Aaron's shaking his head. Anyway, We'll go out if you've never heard the Marvin Gay rendition.

This is the all-time best. Tommy will be back with me tomorrow.