The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins Season Breaks in Philly

Episode Date: December 4, 2018

Kevin recaps in detail the awful Redskins' 28-13 loss to the Eagles. He brings in NBC Sports Washington's JP Finlay to discuss what's next after Colt McCoy and more. Kevin updates the NFC playoff picture, talks briefly about the Wizards win in New York, and then mentions the retirement of one of the best against the spread college football coaches of all time. <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'm here. Aaron's on vacation this week. Corbin is in producing for Aaron. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that I told you to call. The Redskins season has taken a beastly turn over the last two and a half weeks, six and three heading into their game at home against Houston, six and six now and on their third quarterback. They're looking for offensive linemen as well. They lost Colt McCoy early. It's really sad for him.

He's a great guy, and he was looking at this opportunity as a potential opportunity to resurrect his career as potentially a starter here or somewhere else. He broke his fibula. It was a weird play. It appeared that it happened on that scramble where he slipped. But two broken legs in one season for your top two quarterbacks? Not the norm for sure.

Mark Sanchez came in. They signed him when Alex Smith went down, so he's been in the building for all of about 14 days. On his first snap of the game, Adrian Peterson goes 90 yards, for a touchdown and the skins had the lead. They actually were only down one heading into the fourth quarter. The game may have seemed over because of the quarterback situation, and it definitely seemed over when the Monday night booth turned into a talk show. You know, they were

talking about everything but what was actually happening on the field. What a complete joke that Monday night booth is. I'll get to that more in detail later on, but it was an embarrassing night for Tess and wit and bugs. I mean, my God, Gifford, Meredith Kosell turning over in their graves last night listening to that broadcast. It was an abomination. Fortunately, you've only got three more Monday night games with them. They'll be done after one year. That's a lock. But anyway, the Redskins are six and six. They need three to have a good chance at the postseason, but it doesn't really seem like it can or will happen. I give Sanchez a shot at playing better than than he did last night with a week of practice.

Didn't we say that about Colt McCoy? He's 32. He's been through it. You know, he's quarterbacked big games, playoff games. I expect him to be better than he was last night. He's never been very good, though. I mean, there's that. Look, you know, he's never at any point in his career been called a good quarterback.

His best moment may have been as Dak Prescott's mentor in Dallas in 2016. Anyway, I don't know if it was going to happen anyway. Their defense has regressed significantly. We've got big picture conversations ahead of us. We do. What's next when this thing ends this year? How attractive, by the way, were the shots of Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder during the game? I mean, the response on Twitter, if ESPN had any idea what the fan base was doing

every time they showed those two. Bruce Allen on the head, say, I think most of you know this, but I am pretty sure, and I haven't gotten complete confirmation of this, but everybody has talked about this in the DC Redskins media, that Bruce Allen is actually the guy that tells Jay Gruden when to challenge a play up in the booth. Anyway, most of you are going to bail on this season. Most of you are talking about, you know, already who the next team president, who the next GM, who the next head coach will be, and let me say right now, I am ready for a change. I am. I just am at my wits end

with the organization. I don't know how good it can get, though, with the current ownership. You know, the problem with wanting change is who are they going to hire? Who wants to come here and work? You know, Dan Snyder isn't what most quality football people want. They want something better than here. They do. And for the young coordinator, all right, let's say the young hot coordinator who will take almost any head coaching opportunity, what's attractive about this place?

Who's the quarterback? Alex Smith is taking up significant cap space. And let's be honest, he wasn't very good when he was healthy. I mean, what's attractive about this right now? They've got defensive talent. They do have defensive talent. But right now the defensive talent's underachieving, they've had some injuries. It looks bleak.

It's another rock bottom moment, it seems like. It seems like it's inevitable that we're going to get to, you know, where this organization has been at the end of many, many years. So much for all of the December meaningful games. Although they still technically have meaningful. full games. They still could win three in being a postseason game. But you've got a front office problem. You've got a coaching problem. You've got a quarterback problem. You've got a lot of problems right now. We'll stay in the moment. Let's get to the game take.

Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right. The good, the bad, and a lot of other observations from a dismal night in Philadelphia. Biggest game of the year. I mean, technically. The Redskins didn't have to win this game. Philadelphia had to win the game. That's for sure. They had to win the game. But we'll start with the good. Adrian Peterson, I mean, look, he only had 98 yards on nine carries. It's really hard to have a 90-yard touchdown run and not go over 100 yards. In fact, I think it's only the second time in NFL history that that has happened. He tied Jim Brown last night for career touchdowns. The 90-yard touchdown run was the longest of his career. He made a quick cut to daylight, and then at 33 years old, outran everybody.

It was a jump out of your seat, yell out loud moment. It was Sanchez's first snap of the game. The skins had the lead. Everything seemed possible. Everything seemed possible in that brief moment. It was the highlight of the night. But we also have to say, say that after that, nine carries, 98 yards. And, you know, I saw a lot of criticism post game of Jay Gruden for not giving Adrian Peterson the ball enough. And I guess, you know, you can look at the number of carries and say, what did he do? Why didn't he give him the ball more? Well, you've got to look at the context. Listen to what his next five carries after the 90-yard or were. minus two, three yards, minus four, three yards, and three yards.

His next five carries generated three yards of offense. Now, the lack of production on those next five carries put them into down-in-distance situations that they had to throw to get out of, as did a lot of penalties last night. The penalties really, really derailed drives. So I will tell you, I don't really think that Jay abandoned the run. I think that that is a mischaracterization of what happened last night with Adrian Peterson. But Adrian Peterson leads the things that I like the list because of that 90-yard touchdown run. Josh Norman, I mean, I'll say this.

I think he made one of the top two or three plays he's ever made as a Redskin. That was a great red zone interception. He had Alshan Jeffrey and man coverage in the slot. Golden Tate went in motion to the other side, and you could see Norman. He knew when Tate went in motion that he had Jeffrey in the slot, and they were going to throw the slant if he played outside coverage. Watch how Norman jumps a little bit to the outside to bait Wentz into throwing the slant to Jeffrey. That was another jump out of your seat moment.

It was going to be 2113, or they would have gone for two as they did it when they finally scored the touchdown. And Josh Norman not only gets a great pick on a really good play, but he gets a 40-yard return. And the Redskins had field position, and they got a first down after the interception. And then Jay Gruden or Kevin O'Connell, or whoever was calling plays at that point, called that tricky reverse number that didn't really work out because the quarterback that was playing at that time didn't actually know how to execute that play. More on that coming up. Also on the things I liked list. How can't you like Tressway? How can't you like Dustin Hopkins from last night? Tressway's been the MVP of the team this year, right? I mean, who else? John Allen,

Matt Ionitis, DJ Swearns. Look, you really can't take anybody from the defense anymore, can you? Given how bad the defense has become here over the last four or five games, Tressway boomed a punt after the three and out to start the game on offense. Punt coverage was great. It was a net 55-yard play for them. He had a good one out of his own end zone. He punted too much.

He has all year. Coming in, only seven teams had punted more than the Red Skins. but he was great. He's been great all year long. And Dustin Hopkins was outstanding last night. Two big field goals from 44 and 47 yards out. They needed those kicks in the moment. He's 20 of 23 on the season, and one of those misses was the 63-yarder against Houston

that he should have never been out there to kick in the first place. I liked Jordan Reed last night. I liked one play in particular. At the end of the half, when they were down 14 to 10, after the Sproles touchdown. And Doug Peterson's calling his timeouts to try to get the ball back because he's just assuming Sanchez isn't going to lead a drive that's going to result in a field goal opportunity.

And the Redskins had a third and seven or eight, and Sanchez threw underneath to Jordan Reed, and he fought his ass to get a first down. That was a big play. I mean, none of these plays, in hindsight, turned out to be impactful as far as the final result. But at 14 to 10, Jordan Reed kept the Redskins in possession of the football with a first down, and they got enough yardage to get a field goal at the end of the half to make it 14 to 13.

Jordan Reed, I think, is going to become a favorite here down the stretch. Now, I think he would have been for Colt also, but Sanchez is going to need a security blanket, and Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis are probably going to be those guys. I think James and Crowder will be a guy like that. It was good to see James and Crowder back. Chris Thompson was back last night, too. He did not look like himself, really. All right, let's get to the list of the things I didn't like.

That list is a bit longer. We'll start with the injuries. Look, the injury to Colt McCoy was unfortunate for him. He's a great guy. I think if we had seen him over the final five games with practice time, I think he would have been decent. Nothing great, but perhaps good enough to put them in position. position where they were competitive offensively. So that was too bad for Colt McCoy. But it's also

what it's been, right? You know, not broken leg injuries, but it's always been a problem for him when he's played. So in part, you've got to put this back on Alan and Gruden. You know, I said when Alex Smith got injured and Colt McCoy came in, there was a giddiness, you know, not an outward getting this, but I think a lot of us that have spent time covering Jay, spending time with Jay, know that Jay really likes Colt. And he had to be devastated last night. And that I think he probably thought that Colt was going to lead an offense that was going to be better, was going to be more potent. He actually mentioned last week. He said, look, my receivers, they got to get ready because Colt's going to give them chances that Alex didn't give them. Haven't we heard that before

with the last quarterback last year. But he's been injury prone. Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden had a chance to look really good if McCoy had come in and played well and led them to the playoffs. But they also know, like we know and knew, that he's injury prone. So when they really needed a backup because they were in a playoff race, the backup who had an injury history got injured. And while a broken leg wasn't predictable, injury was a reality.

and a possibility and a good possibility. I feel badly for Colt. I'm sure he had visions of a run and a starting career next year somewhere, if not here. And now, more likely than not, he's probably done. Somebody will give him a backup job. Maybe it'll be here.

I doubt it, though. I think the contract, I think he has another year, but I think it may be, it could be his option. and it might be guaranteed for injury. I don't know. I didn't look at that. They also lost another guard last night. Jonathan Cooper gone with a torn bicep. Luke Bawonko was in the game last night and got called for a false start. None of you knew who that was.

I think I read that they signed him and just barely remembered the name. So the first thing on the list of the things that were rough last night, the injuries. Second thing on the list is the defense. The defense made two plays. It made a goal line stand. Actually, I thought that was a very, for Doug Peterson coach team. They ran it right at sort of the strength of the Redskins. They left their fastest player and their most athletic player. Zach Brown unblocked. It wasn't the best of calls by Doug Peterson. It's not what you usually get from Philadelphia, but it was a goal line stand, nonetheless, a good play. And the Norman interception, both deep in the red zone. So that was good,

but the rest of the night wasn't. 28 points could have been more. 431 yards of total offense. They were 7 for 13 Philadelphia was on third down. Sure, the Redskins defense was missing Quentin Dunbar and Matt Ionitis, but it's been getting worse week by week over the last month. What they were during their 5-and-2 start is now a distant memory. They can't stop the run when earlier in the season they were stuffing the run

to the tune of a top three rush defense in the league at one point. Now they get run on, they get thrown on. I think the pass rush has been good in recent weeks, even when they weren't stopping the run, but it wasn't good enough last night. They got screened to death last night, screened over and over and over again. The defense has speed issues at linebacker with Foster,

not with Brown, but with Foster, but you don't want either one of them, and you certainly don't want Carrigan or Preston Smith in coverage. They've got corner issues right now with the young players out there with little to no experience. They're getting experience. You know, Fabian Rose had a couple of moments here and there. Stroman's had a moment here and there. Danny Johnson's been torched every time he's been in there. They've got a safety issue right now with Ha ha ha Clinton Dicks. He's been poor since the trade that brought him here. It's looking right now like a potential wasted pick because he's an

unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. You signed him as a veteran safety to come in here because you were frustrated a little bit with Monta Nicholson, had some injuries as well, and he's not played well. There's a play where they threw to Golden Tate on the sideline, and Clinton Dix was backing up as Tate was running towards the, he was backpedaling the whole way. It was Tate against Strome, and he made the catch, and then you can see Dix. He's like backpedaling. Instead of going up to make the... tackle. And then there's this defensively. Greg Minnusky isn't getting enough out of decent talent. Jay Gruden said as much afterwards. He didn't call Greg Minnowski out. He didn't call

his coach out. But he did take a subtle shot at the defense saying, we've got too much personnel. We've got good personnel here, too good, to be giving up these 430-yard nights. And he's right. The skins have fallen to 29. in the league on third down defense. 29th. That's not good. Also on the list of things that were troubling last night. Other than the one run, they didn't have anything else. Adrian Peterson had one run for 90, and then eight yards on eight carries.

You know, they had at one point, you know, in the first seven games, a top 10 rush offense. I think it got to as high as sixth or seven. seventh in the league and rush offense. It's 15th now and it's falling fast. And now with Sanchez and no run game, that's not a good combination. That's not a good combination at all. The injuries along the offensive line have been the major reason for it. I don't know about Adrian Peterson slowing down, but the injuries along the offensive line are a given. No Brandon Sheriff has been a massive, massive loss this year. And a really, impact on their running game. I don't see it getting much better. They played a run defense last

night that's been gashed in recent weeks. The Giants are going to be a little bit tougher, and then Jacksonville and Tennessee defensively, try running against them. And then you've got a season ender against Philly, which might be easier. I don't know. They're not running the ball well, and they're clearly not stopping the run. They had 10 penalties last night for 69 yards. I'm not going to, not going to kill Jay Gruden for that. I think a lot of that is because of the offensive line changes, the quarterback cadence issues, there were some false starts, but still too many penalties on a night where, you know, you had to stay ahead of the chains offensively when Sanchez came in, and you got behind the chains on many of those drives last night, many of those drives.

You know, you start with the opening drive of the game, and you got a hold on the first play from scrimmage. So you're first in 20. You never recovered from that. When you kick the first field goal, you had a second and nine at the Philadelphia 15 and false started. That didn't help in that moment. on the on the Sanchez for a second drive

of the second half you had a false start on Morgan Moses on a second and 15 and that was you just you weren't you weren't that was after a five-yard loss on that reverse remember the reverse the tricky number by Jay that or Kevin O'Connell

whoever called it was terrible timing for that call because that was the one drive after the Josh Norman interception, they got a first down. They threw a little bootleg to Jordan Reed, and then Peterson sort of inched his way and squirmed his way to a first down at about the 48-yard line. And then here comes a reverse that the quarterback doesn't know how to run.

And it loses five yards, and then you get a false start on Morgan Moses, and now you're second and 20. So they were behind the sticks all night long in this game. The penalties hurt. They really did. The last thing on the list of things I didn't like from the game last night is just a lot of the decisions from Jay Gruden and staff. You know, I just mentioned the reverse. That wasn't the time for a play that clearly the quarterback wasn't familiar with. I'd like to hear more about that specific play, but, you know, it's 14-13. You're midway through the third quarter. You've got a third quarterback.

in, but he led you on a drive at the end of the first half to get three. And then, you know, you were in the first drive of the second half, you had Adrian Peterson go for a four-yard loss on the second play from scrimmage. You really couldn't recover from that. But now, you know, after an interception, you're on the move. You get the ball up midfield. You're in the midst of potentially a drive to take the lead in the game late third quarter. And you run that play? Who made that decision? I mean, how many times could Sanchez have possibly practiced that play? It lost five yards, and then the false start, and then the punt.

And they never, ever got close again, because the next drive was the touchdown that gave the Eagles a 22 to 13 lead after they went for the two-point conversion. There was more, though. Jay Gruden, I'm not going to spend a lot of time. time. I think everybody now knows how bad he is at calling timeouts and managing the clock and all of that stuff. He's just terrible at it. He's not going to be, it's not going to change unless he hires somebody to do it for him. But the timeout he took from his own six inch line with Sanchez. He's inside the one

yard line, his own one yard line, and the play clock is rolling down. And I said, as I saw the play clock, please don't call a timeout, Jay. Don't, don't, uh, he called a timeout. You do understand why that was a stupid timeout. He won't understand it, but I think most of you understand that you can't get penalized five yards when you are inside your own one yard line

because then you'd be in the end zone. So they do what they call half the distance to the goal, so it would have been about a six-inch penalty. I don't even think it would have been six inches. They were like almost at the goal line. And he took a time out. Now, it didn't cost them. They didn't need it.

It's just stupid. It's just another indication of a part of the game that he is so, so limited in. Major limitations in that part of coaching for Jay Gruden. And then there was this. I know that they didn't have a chance, really. to score they're late. The score is 2813. That's 15 points.

That is two scores with one of the scores. You get a two-point conversion. And yes, they were facing fourth and 24 from their own 20-something yard line or whatever with three minutes and 15 seconds left. I'm sorry. For me, I know if I punt the ball there, I have zero chance to win the game if I punt it.

Zero. I need two possessions. They're going to either not give me the ball back or go three and out, make me use all my timeouts and then punt it to me. And then there's no way I can actually win the game without recovering an onside kick. And even that, I may not even get the chance to do that. I don't care if I miss on fourth down and they score again. Who cares? I just, I don't like the concession.

I don't like the tapping out. Remember when he tapped out last year at San Diego against the Chargers or in L.A. against the Chargers? And then he decided he wasn't going to use his timeouts at the end of the game after he punted it. I don't get that. That doesn't make any sense to me. Why not try to win the game?

There are three minutes and ten seconds left, okay? You have your timeouts left. I think he had two at that point. try to get the ball back. He didn't. He didn't care about getting the ball back. He tapped out. I don't personally like that. I like a coach who is never, ever thinking the game is over until it's actually over. I understand they weren't going to win that game, that the odds were incredible against them. That we're talking about, you know, we're talking about 300 to 1, but the chances of them winning the game by tapping out are zero.

All right, a few more observations about the game. Carson Wentz looked really good last night, I thought. You know, he was inaccurate on a couple of throws, but it was his playmaking ability last night that looked different than some of the other games he's played in recently. I mean, if you're a Philadelphia fan, that's about as good as you've looked on offense recently. You know, you scored 28 points in this game, the second highest point total of the year for your team. You had 431 total yards of offense in the game. Your quarterback was 27 of 39 for 306 yards, and he made a lot of plays, the way he made plays last year, by getting

out of the pocket. You know, he had that one play where he escaped and ducked in and went backwards and then went sideways and lobbed one down the sideline to, I think it was Tate who beat Zach Brown. I mean, Ertz is so good. Nine catches, 83 yards. He got into a real rhythm with Ertz in the game. You know, if you're a Philadelphia fan, you're looking at this game saying, this was a pretty good game for us based on what we've looked like, because they've really

looked poor. even in some of their wins. They ran the ball last night. Josh Adams was questionable going into the game. He was activated. 20 carries 85 yards. He had some good runs. Redskins have been run on recently.

He had some really good runs. And then their screen game was really good. You know, it's the Andy Reed screen game. It's what you see Pittsburgh now running all the time. Those real quick middle screens. Corey Clement was the beneficiary of a bunch of them last night. I thought Carson Wentz in Philadelphia looked about as good as they looked all year on offense in particular. They really did. I mean, you can't really judge their defense last night.

They were playing against Mark Sanchez. I wanted to go back to the defense for a moment because Greg Minoski, in reaction to DJ Swaranger's comments after the cowboy game where Swerenger said guys are joking around and, you know, laughing and, uh, Minuski said, look, you know, these guys can't keep their focus for more than, you know, 50 minutes. They got to, it's got to be a loose atmosphere. We got to, you know, we joke around every once in a while. It's hard to keep their concentration for more than 50 minutes.

Minusky. Hmm. I don't know what's going to happen at the end of this year. I am for change. I just don't have confidence in this group. Most of you know that I haven't had confidence in this group in a while. Going back to the way that the last general manager was handled, to the way the quarterback situation was handled,

a lot of these things, I just think that it's not, it's not from a roster management standpoint, from a public relations from a dumb and arrogant, and a lot of that stuff, it's bottom, you know, it's bottom quarter of the league. From a roster management standpoint, it's not the worst in the league, but it's not great either. You know, they haven't been terrible at personnel, but they haven't been great either. I'd like to see something new. I don't have the solution yet.

I'm going to think about it. I'm actually one of the thoughts I've had in my mind here recently, given that most of the young talent is on the defensive side of the ball. Is hiring a defensive-minded head coach? You know, a guy that really knows defense, it would be your head coach, but would also be in charge of the defense and then hire an offensive coordinator.

But Minusky hasn't had a great week. You know, Bruce Allen hasn't had a great week. Clearly, poor Colt McCoy didn't have a great night. I think I mentioned Chris Thompson. I made a note that Chris Thompson just didn't look completely ready to play. How about this stat from the game last night that the ESPN crew, that fine crew had? The Redskins have not scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half in 24 consecutive games. What does that say about your ability to adjust offensively at halftime?

that's not a very good number. Also, I saw this. Andy was in here yesterday, and he does on the podcast before each game, sort of a look back at some of the key moments and the history against the team that they're going to face. And Philadelphia, there was obviously a lot of history. And the body bag game was a Monday night game in Philadelphia in 1990.

And last night was basically the body bag game, too. I mean, they carded Colt McCoy, Jonathan Cooper, Todd Bergstrom left for a while. They had a couple of other players that were banged up, but I think everybody else basically came back. It wasn't the number of players, but the third quarterback, you know, that night in 1990, they got to the third quarterback of the night, and that quarterback was Brian Mitchell, who finished three for six for 40 yards and had a touchdown on a fourth and goal quarterback sneak. Lastly, I'll just say this. I thought, I knew that Ruben Foster was going to be a big part of the conversation last night.

I thought it was completely out of line for them to bring it up in the fourth quarter of a 14 to 13 game in December between two division rivals fighting for the playoffs. That's a pregame topic. It's not a topic. I want to hear Tess and Witt and Bug talk about during the game. All right, they handled it during the pregame. I'm sure I didn't watch a lot of the ESPN programming leading up to the game. But focus on the game. You had a 14 to 13 game and they broke out the Ruben Foster conversation right then and there.

And then we get this long diatribe from Jason Witten, who apparently has domestic violence in his family history. and he's telling us about how he would have never signed Ruben Foster. And by the way, I feel the same way. I think most people feel that way. And then people started tweeting out his quotes about Greg Hardy, about how he was very accepting of Greg Hardy as a teammate and he was giving him a second chance.

You talk about hypocrisy at the highest level. I mean, did he not remember those comments? Did he not know that it would be dug up? that was a big thing with him. I mean, bringing that up in a fourth quarter, I mean, bring it up, you know, pregame, if you want to bring it up and let the crew talk about it, the Monday night crew talk about it,

do it in the second quarter. It was 14 to 13 in the fourth quarter. In fact, during Jason Witten's, you know, lengthy discussion about it, it was during, I think there was a big play in the, barely even mentioned the play. Horrible crew. It's horrible. How about the disclosure last night in the pregame

Lisa Salters interviewed Bruce Allen? And Bruce Allen said the Redskins conducted their own investigation in Tampa, and they believe they know more of the story about Ruben Foster. Well, that's nice, Bruce, that you had a conversation with Lisa Salters, but you couldn't address your own media last week. And instead, you put Doug out there. and Jay out there. Wow. What's next? On the quarterback front, you know, I'll say this. I understand why teams don't want to sign Colin Kaepernick as a backup quarterback. I don't think that any team makes a decision to not sign Colin Kaepernick

because they are for police violence against young African-American men. I think that that's an absurd notion. I think they don't sign Colin Kaepernick because they don't want their backup quarterback to bring MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and a bunch of media and a bunch of distraction into their organization. That's what I think. I also think there's another part of it.

In certain markets, it may not be good business to bring in Colin Kaepernick because of not because he stands for anti-American or he's not patriotic, but because there is a perception from many fans and many consumers of many teams in many markets that he is. whether it's real or perceived, it can impact the business of your operation. So I understand all of the complexities of bringing Colin Kaepernick in. And I don't think that any team has chosen not to bring Colin Kaepernick in because they are for violence against young African-American men, police violence. I don't. I don't think any team is for that. I think they understand and are very sensitive to that issue. And I think they completely, in almost every case, appreciate and respect Colin Kaepernick's position.

But it's not perceived that way by too many of their consumers. And if you bring him in to be a backup because he's not good enough to start, because he isn't, the last time he played, he got benched for Blaine Gabbard, then what are you doing? You're bringing in a lot of attention and a lot of distraction and disruption for a backup quarterback. So I do, I try to look at it from both sides and I understand that side. However, I want to say this. If you think he can now start for your team because he is better than Mark Sanchez or he is better than T.J. Yates or Kellynne Clemens or Josh Johnson, these are the others that.

that the Redskins brought in. If you evaluate or have evaluated Colin Kaepernick, and you think he is better than all of them as a starter, you're not willing to bring him in as a backup because you don't want your backup to have that much of a disruption. You don't want the first day he shows up. It's three days of CNN interviews and Fox News interviews and MSNBC interviews and NBC News and ABC and ABC and the whole thing.

You don't want that. but if he's going to start for you, that's a different conversation. If he's the best guy out there right now and you're going to bring him in as your starter, I think you consider that. I don't think, or let me just say, I am sensitive and I think I understand the issue of those that decide the juice ain't worth the squeeze on the backup role. But is he better than Mark Sanchez? Is he better than Kellyn Clemens?

Is he better than T.J. Yates? That's for somebody out there to decide. My guess is they will not bring him in. That's my guess, is that they will not bring Colin Kaepernick in. But if they were to bring Colin Kaepernick in, they should be bringing him in to start at quarterback. We'll talk to J.P. Finley here shortly, and I'll ask him about if he's heard who they're going to bring in.

but I wanted to get that in because there were a lot of people last night saying, well, now's the chance to bring in Colin Kaepernick. You've got to sign a backup, or you're really going to sign Kellyn Clemens instead of Colin Kaepernick. Well, maybe if you think Mark Sanchez is more of a starter than Kaepernick. But if you don't, then maybe that's something they will consider. I don't think they will, though. All right, let me tell you about Wind Donation real quickly.

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All right, we'll bring in J.P. Finley here momentarily. I had a couple of other quick things I wanted to get to before we bring JP in. No one was paying attention to this last night, I'm sure, but the Wizards beat the Knicks. 110 to 10-107. They've won two in a row, they're 10 and 14. But listen to this one, all right? Because again, none of you watch this, and you probably don't even care. But I had an eye on this game while the Redskins game was going on.

They took a 107-92 lead, 333. left in the game. They had a 15 point lead. Game over, right? Nope. Nope, it wasn't over because they allowed 12 unanswered points. And with 35 seconds to go, the Wizards had the ball after a Nick layup to make it a three-point game. And they were one more missed shot away from potentially being tied in blowing a 15-point lead in three and a half minutes. I don't know what the record is in terms of a lead blown in the final three minutes of a game. But that would have been close to it. It's tough to, you know, the 10, 12 point leads,

eight, nine point leads with three minutes to go, two and a half minutes to go in the NBA. Yeah, you see that all the time. Fifteen with three minutes to go, that's hard. That's a big comeback. But anyway, John Wall, John Wall put the Knicks out of their misery, knocking down a three with 12 seconds to go in the game.

and the Wizards beat the Knicks 110 to 107. Bradley Beale had a big night last night. He seems to always play well in the Garden. Wizards haven't lost in Madison Square Garden in the last eight games. I think it's been 2013 was the last time they lost to the Knicks in the Garden. But Beale went for 27 on 12 of 25 from the floor. Also had eight rebounds and seven assists. So a really good game for him.

Wall had 18 and 15 assists in the game. And Kelly Ubre was huge off the bench with 21 points in the game. But yeah, the Wizards have won, I'm sorry, nine in a row, nine in a row now in Madison Square Garden. And their schedule, you know, they're going to play a bunch of road games coming up. You know, last night was the first of four in a row. but their teams they can beat. They can beat Atlanta. The Hawks are terrible.

They can beat Cleveland. Then they play at Indiana. They got a chance to work their way back towards 500 here. Okay, I'm not that excited about it. Wanted to also mention the following. Over the weekend, Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder retired. It was his second retirement at Kansas State. I can't tell you as a football baseball.

better how many times over the years I looked at Kansas State and said, yep, they're the right side. And I always knew that I had a smart, well-coached team that was going to show up. When I saw that he retired over the weekend, it's the first thing I thought of was how many times I bet on Kansas State over the years with Bill Snyder as the coach and won. So I was having a conversation texting back and forth with a friend of mine who, is, let's just say on the other side of the betting equation. And he sent me a follow-up text with the following numbers on Bill Snyder. Bill Snyder, and I didn't know this necessarily, I just was involved and knew it from direct experience, but he had a 57.7% ATS mark against the

spread mark during his 27 season career. It's one of the best point spread records of any coach in the last 30 years. Bill Snyder was a hell of a football coach. Hell of a football coach. K-State was nothing before Bill Snyder got there. So good luck in retirement. That university in Manhattan, in Kansas will miss him. They had some really good teams over the years. You know, they weren't a team that was pushing for a national championship, but man, they had a lot of big wins over the years and typically in games in which you wouldn't really expect it.

The last thing, and I wanted to just circle back to the NFL for a moment. So last night, what last night did for the NFC playoff picture is it put the Eagles right now into a position where they're in the division race now, right? Because they've got the Cowboys at home. I'm sorry, they got the Cowboys this week on the road in Dallas. And if they win that game, they are in first place. They would be in first place by division record. They'd have a better division record than the Cowboys if they were to go to Dallas and win. I don't think they will personally. I think the Cowboys are a better team, but I think we did see a glimpse of something from Philadelphia last night, especially on offense. Now, the early line for the Dallas Philly game

is Dallas minus four. Now, let's, if the Eagles went to Dallas and won, and they went to seven and six, and the Redskins could somehow beat the Giants, you'd have three teams at seven and six a week from today. But I think the giant game now is a very difficult game for the Redskins to win. Carolina now, you've got Seattle and Minnesota who are the wild cards right now if the season were to end. And I've mentioned this before, but Seattle really has the best track towards the first of two wild cards. Now, this game they're going to play with Minnesota on Monday night is a huge game in the wild card race. The Vikings are still in a division race.

because they play the Bears at home to end the season, and the Bears have the Rams this week. So if the Vikings somehow could get a win at Seattle, they could potentially be sitting there a half game out of first with still one more left against the Bears at home. But that's a big game in the wild card race. But Seattle, after Minnesota, has the 49ers and the Cardinals. They have the Chiefs.

God, that's going to be a good game. Sunday night, December 23rd, the Chiefs at Seattle. But Seattle right now is a good chance to get to 9 and 7, if not 10 and 6. They'll be favored in three of their final games. They're a three-point favorite Monday night in the game against Minnesota. Carolina, you would count out, but you can't because they're 6 and 6. But the problem with them is they've got the Saints twice. Now, maybe the Saints don't have to win that game, but they probably do because they're fighting for the one seed with the Rams.

So Carolina at 6 and 6, I mean, record-wise they are in it. I just don't see how they get there. Somebody tweeted me yesterday and said, well, what about the Buccaneers, man? They can really score. Well, that's true. They're five and seven, but they've got the Saints,

Ravens, and Cowboys the next three weeks. So that pretty much knocks them out of the conversation. I think what you have here is you've got, you know, Dallas, Philly, Dallas and Philly for the division in the NFC East. you've got to really say that now with Mark Sanchez, a quarterback, and with the defense really imploding over the last four or five weeks. Now, the good news is they don't play great offensive teams. The Giants are better, though.

But Jacksonville, I mean, could you eke out a 13 to 10 win at Jacksonville? Could you beat Tennessee 16 to 14? Could you come home against Philadelphia and play well? I'm not seeing it now. So let me just tell you what I'm seeing. I'm seeing a two-team race, really, in the NFC East now. And the runner-up, if it's Dallas, will be in the wild card race. If Philadelphia loses to Dallas and falls to six and seven,

they're not out of it, but it becomes a long shot because they still have the Rams and the Texans left. So now I think I'm leaning towards a Minnesota-Seattle wild-quashire. card, grabbing the last two wild cards. Because even if Minnesota loses at Seattle, they finish up with Miami, Detroit, and then Chicago at home. So they're likely going to get themselves to at least 8-7-1, if not 9, 6-1. 8-7-1, though may be good enough. Let me tell you about Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. If you've been thinking about something new, give them a shot. Go to Farrishcars.com right when you finish listening to this podcast. You'll see their live inventory,

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first of all, I'm just curious. It was on the play where he scrambled, correct, and sort of slipped? I believe that to be the case, but Jay Gruden couldn't even, he wasn't even certain yet what play it was. And what's crazy is if it was that play, he played more. He finished out, yeah, he stayed in the game, clearly a tough, gutty guy. Talking with players and coaches in the locker room afterwards, everybody was just, broken up about what happened to Colt. And you nailed it.

He's a really, really great person. And it's just a gut punch for the organization. And for Colt and his family, his brothers were here. And I talked to those guys as they were leaving. And you just feel awful for him. You just hate to see it. What did they have ready for Mark Sanchez after, you know, two weeks? Not much.

Because, you know, they really only got to work with Sanchez after the Cowboys game. So this week was kind of when he got some installations. And one thing that's kind of interesting, Kevin O'Connell was actually the one calling the plays for Sanchez because he's the one that's been working with him, and he's the one that knows Sanchez the best. I think he had a wristband on. I don't know if you could see that on the broadcast or what. And they were calling plays in conjunction with what he had on his wrist. but it was certainly a more limited, a limited playbook.

I kind of think it was successful early on. They were running a lot of bootlegs and getting him moving. But the second half, offensively and defensively things just fell apart. I'm assuming that they signed him in lieu of some of the other guys because he is a veteran. He's 32 years old. He's played in key spots during the course of his career.

I mean, I think T.J. Yates, they brought in, had started a playoff game or two, but, you know, Mark Sanchez started six playoff games in two years and played in two AFC championship games with a hell of a defense. You know, and he wasn't great in New York, but they won four road playoff games. So there must have been a reason he was brought in above the others. How much of it do you think was to sort of mentor and be there for cold? or in the event that Colt went down, they thought he was their best optioned. I think he has a really good relationship with Callahan, O'Connell, Chavanaugh, you know, so a lot of it's just familiarity with a guy that can step into the room, step into the facility, and just not, you know, the backup quarterback a lot of times the job is to not kind of upset the apple cart and just let things work.

And I think they knew Mark could do that right away. Good guy can step in there. Now the situation is going to look very different because I don't know that they believe they can win games with him. The team, I think you and I probably both believe that their season's over, but the team can't operate like that. They have to go out and try and win games. and I think, you know, who they bring in now is going to be a pretty interesting task. Well, what do you think they'll do next? Who are they going to bring in? I think if Sam Bradford's knee is at all usable, I think they would love to bring in Bradford.

I'm not sure if it is usable. You know, in Roadway, the front office guys kind of sit in the press box, so we're all kind of intermingle. an actual bunch of the skins from office guys working the phones during halftime in that game, trying to figure out who they could get in here or get into Ashburn, probably Monday morning. And it'll be interesting. You know, they just had a bunch of guys in, guys like E.J. Manuel, you said Yates already. Josh Johnson.

I'm trying to think who else was in there. Kellan Clemens Yeah, that was the list. Yeah, it wouldn't shock me if it's one of those guys because they've already brought them in once and see what they think. I just, you know, the giant elephant in the room is Colin Kaepernick.

I don't believe they will call him, but I think now makes more sense than it did when you had Colt McCoy trying to guide this team into a playoff bid. now maybe you need the best guy you can get and I think you can make a pretty a pretty, at least realistic claim that Kaepernick would be the best option for them

from a football perspective. Do you think they're going to do that? No, I don't. Yeah, I don't. No, I don't. I don't. I just think now is the time to have the conversation, but I don't expect it to happen.

Yeah, I mean, when you said that, I was wondering if perhaps you knew, that they were considering. I've not heard anything to that effect. I mean, I would say this. I mean, at this point, if I'm an organization, and I'm bringing him in to potentially start, that's a different conversation than bringing him in to be a backup.

In my view, it is. That's my point, exactly. They were going to Colt and they were fighting. They had a game for first place in the division. You don't need to radically flip things around, that situation. Now, it's possible this, you know, the six wildcard, you know, the second wildcard spot, the six seed is still available. If you want to try to go win games, I think the paradigm has shifted where you're like, oh, you know, Mark isn't here to be the good guy in the QV room with

cold. Are we comfortable thinking Mark's going to go win games for us? J.P. Finley is joining us, and he's still at the link in Philadelphia, as we record this podcast very early in the a.m. hours on Tuesday morning. You're a meeting, by the way, for how early you do this. Well, I mean, I only do this on the day on the mornings after games. But let's get to the macro conversation. I'm not, you know, look, if the defense were better than it is, if the defense were what it was earlier in the season, then I would still want them to go out and make a run here and see what happens. I think the problem is that they're not a good football team right now,

with or without a starting quarterback or a backup quarterback or a third-string quarterback. They've really regressed defensively, and so that makes the chances of them, you know, winning three or four, which is pretty much what they've got to do. They've got to get to nine and seven to get there. So let's move to the bigger picture question, because I've spent enough time already. here on their playoff positioning in the game itself. Are we headed towards a conclusion that the front office makes with respect to Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden, the owner makes, with respect to Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden, it says, you know what? There's another one of those seasons

where you got to take them off the hook for whatever the record is because of all of these injuries. Or are we headed for change? I don't know the answer to that, Kevin. My gut right now in the basement of Lincoln Financial Field is that these guys all stay and that it's another season of we just don't know because of you lose your quarterback, your season's typically shot. You lose your quarterback and your season veteran backup, your season's definitely shot. And I think that's what happened and right or wrong.

Here's what I think. I think as long as Bruce Allen stays, I think Jay Gruden stays. They just gave him an extension, you know, last year, and that's where they're at. I'm not sure it's the right course, but I just think it's, they were six and three, and in first place clear by two games, I think, at that point, when Alex Smith went down. And there is something to be said for that. Now, that doesn't explain the defensive meltdowns or anything else, but it's going to be hard.

The other part of it, Gav, is who are you going to go get? Is this a really attractive job for a lot of... I've said that, yep, I agree. Who's the hot young candidate, John DiPilippo or even Matt LaFleur or something? You're coming to a team with a quarterback situation that is a mess. You know, you got a ton of cash invested in Alex Smith. who I don't think is going to be back till training camp at the earliest. And now you've got your backup QB.

You don't have a quarterback under contract in 2019 that's probably going to be ready for OTAs. You know, that's pretty tricky. You know, I was listening to somebody earlier, and I forget who it was who said, look, you either have a reboot with the entire group or you don't, but you will end up having a reboot to the offense because you don't. don't have a quarterback solution for 2019. Look, based on the contract, it's got to be Alex Smith if he's ready. I think they've got to draft somebody now.

I was just going to say, but I think you've got to draft somebody now. And unfortunately, with this group, I don't have the confidence that they'll draft the right person if they do go that route. Look, I, that's so hard to do anyway. It is. No, you're right. It is. even the bat i mean it's a crap shoot when we're talking about quarterbacks um look thanks for doing this i know you're heading back home uh we'll catch up later uh in the week or or certainly a week

from today after the giants game i'll see it the giant on uh river road i'll see it i'll see at the west bar giant in bethesta where we always end up seeing each other all right thanks jp very much appreciate it you keb take care uh well 2813 uh the redskins lose to Philadelphia. I really thought they had a chance to compete in this game. I picked him yesterday to win the game. Obviously, that was with Colt McCoy playing. And what did we see from Colt in the early portion of the game?

We saw him, you know, on a first and 20 on that first drive, throw a couple of underneath plays to Chris Thompson to actually get him in better position to punt. You know, those weren't what I would call, you know, impactful throws. But then he made a big one to job. Josh Doxon, you know, that got him in field goal range. It was a 32-yard throw to Josh Doxon on that second drive of the game. Colt finished four of four for 50 yards.

And then, you know, they had to settle for the field goal on that second drive of the game. It was an eight-play, 40-something-yard drive. They got to the Philadelphia 16-yard line. And from there, you know, they had another penalty, and then he got sacked. And I think it was on the play where he was scrambling, seemed to, slip, got sacked, lost six yards, that was the play where he got injured. Now, he played two more plays after that. He threw something to Thompson, although there was a holding penalty on that. Remember, they were faced with third and 30, and he threw underneath the Crowder for 10 yards,

which set up that Dustin Hopkins first field goal, and then you saw him limp off the field, and then it was the next drive when they had the ball that Mark Sanchez came in. But, we wish Colt McCoy the best. He really is a first-class guy has always been that. I've had several opportunities with him at the studio out at Redskins Park, whether it was just me doing a show there or doing it with Cooley or doing it with Tommy, where he sat with us. He was always a gentleman, so nice, so helpful. I remember we sat there one day and talked about, it was a At the end of the show that he came on, he hung out with us for a little while, and we were talking football. He and Cooley were talking football, and I was asking questions about various things, and it's just a good guy.

It's a shame because I was rooting for him. I never have thought of Colt McCoy as a 16-game starter in the NFL, never. But I've always considered him to be more than a competent backup. And I actually credited the Redskins, and I'm not going to back off that, for having Colt McCoy around his aback. up. But he's never been able to stay healthy, and last night was the most severe of his injuries. But, you know, you wish him the best and hope that he recovers well and is back in the league next year backing up somebody, I'm sure. But I would have liked to have seen five healthy games from Colt McCoy here down the stretch to see what would have happened. I think the offense would

have ultimately been a little bit better, but he probably would have made mistakes and maybe injury was inevitable anyway, starting five games in a row, or really six games in a row, right? Because they were six and four when they went to Dallas. But we wish him the best. Redskins have the Giants next. Tommy is on vacation this week, so that's why he wasn't on today. But he is going to call in on Thursday. But we'll have a busy show tomorrow, I promise. Enjoy the day, everybody. Thanks to Corbyn. He did a great job producing the show. thanks to JP, thanks to all of you, back tomorrow. Take care.