The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins: What's Next?

Episode Date: December 24, 2018

With the Redskins officially eliminated from the playoffs, Kevin talks about the Skins' future....specifically, who's coming and who's going. Michael Phillips (Richmond Times Dispatch) considered the fates of 12 of the organization's players, coaches, and executives and came on to talk about it. Kevin went "Around the NFL" and updated the playoff picture. He also listed the teams in both conferences he believes can win the Super Bowl. He finished up the show with a brief "Weekend DVR" talking Terps, Caps, and Wizards. <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. That's not the kind of music on a day like today. Aaron, don't we have something better than that? Come on. We got to get some Christmas music up in this thing. Good morning, everybody. I'm here. Aaron's here. It's Christmas Eve. Mary. Oh, here we go. Oh, this is my favorite as well. This is probably the Nat King Cole version. of the Christmas song. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack frost nipping at your nose. It doesn't exactly feel like Christmas today.

Temperatures in the 40s, sunny. We just don't get bad weather anymore for Christmas. I can't remember the last time we had real winter weather on Christmas. And for those of you that heard my winter weather forecast on Kornheiser's show, Yes, I predicted a blizzard for Christmas Eve in Christmas Day. I've done that every single year on that show. Wasn't there a point last week where it did look like there might be snow on Christmas? I think winter's holding off for maybe another week or so in our area.

Good morning, everybody. We are in today on Christmas Eve, and Merry Christmas to everybody. We're going to do a shorter version of this show today. The show is presented by Wind Donation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com and tell them we told you to call. Michael Phillips, who covers the skins for the Richmond Times Dispatch, will join us in a few minutes. And we're going to go around the NFL briefly, do a little weekend DVR also. And we'll leave this show up for today, tonight, and all day tomorrow, because we will not be doing a show tomorrow.

But we will be back on Wednesday morning to do a show. The Redskins were eliminated yesterday. Officially, Houston losing to Philadelphia, the Eagles winning, eliminated them. But Minnesota and Seattle winning as well would have done it anyway. Even if Houston had held on to the 30 to 29 lead that they had on the Eagles, it still would have gone down last night. There's just one spot left in the NFC playoffs to be determined. It's between Philadelphia and Minnesota.

If the Vikings beat the Bears, they're in. If they lose, then the Eagles can get in by beating the Redskins on Sunday. That game is a 425 p.m. kickoff at FedEx Field. I would imagine mostly Philadelphia fans is my guess right now. I bet you it's 70 to 75% Eagles fans. Yeah, the stadium is not going to be full even with Philadelphia fans. But the Eagles right now look like a very big. dangerous team if they were to get in. Right now they do. But Minnesota has a lot to say about that,

although they're playing a Chicago team that can potentially get a first round by in the two-seed, but the Rams would have to lose to the 49ers with the Bears beating the Vikings for that to happen. In the AFC, Baltimore can win the AFC North. That game Saturday night put them in position to win the AFC North if Pittsburgh lost, which they did at New Orleans. But the Ravens can be eliminated altogether with a loss against the Browns if Pittsburgh beats Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is basically out if Baltimore wins. I mean, they could potentially get in if Tennessee and Indianapolis tie each other. But the last spot in the AFC playoffs will come down to the Colts and Titans.

That's the Sunday night finale. It's interesting to watch the NFL put this final week's schedule together because they have competitive advantage and disadvantage in mind. All of the games that impact each other are scheduled for the same time. 425. The Indy Tennessee game is a standalone game, essentially. The winner is in, the loser is out. And no one else is really impacted.

by the result of that game unless it were to end in a tie. But anyway, so that's the Sunday night game. And no line on that game because they don't know about Marcus Marriota at this point after he got hurt. That was the one reason I wasn't positive if they put that in the Sunday night slot. Yeah, well, I mean, it's the only, it's a play in game. It's a playing game. And Indianapolis had to come from way behind to beat the Giants. The smell test, another winning weekend.

six and four on the weekend. Most of you who played all of my picks went seven and three because you had Houston plus two and a half, maybe even plus three. Worst case plus two and a push. On Friday when I gave them out, they were plus one and a half. They ended up losing by two. So the smell test, though, six and four, that is now six weeks in a row of winners. Pretty good role that I'm on. We'll do, by the way, during this whole bowl. season. Every show this week will likely have a smell test pick. There are no games on Christmas day, so I won't have a smell test today, and I did not give out a selection on Oakland, Denver. I actually like the Raiders tonight personally, plus the two and a half, plus the three, but it's not an official smell test pick. It's such a bummer. There's no bowl game on Christmas day. Exactly. Yeah, in fact, first time in a long time, we haven't had either the NFL or a bowl game on Christmas Day. You do get five NBA games, though, if you're interested. All right, I'm going to start with this before we get to Michael Phillips. We'll also tell you a little bit

about what Jay Gruden did or said yesterday about DJ Sweringer's comments after the game in Tennessee on Saturday. But I'm going to start with this, and this isn't for most of you with the ability to think and comprehend. This is for those of you who are a little obtuse, a little dense. I want to be clear about something. I have advocated and am still advocating for a major reboot of the organization from the team president on down. We know the owner isn't selling the team. That would be cause for celebration in the streets, obviously, but that's not going to happen. I'm for something new on the football operations side of the house.

No more Bruce Allen involvement in all things football unless it's the new stadium. He's had nine years. The product on the field has been mostly bad, and the events off the field have been very often embarrassing. A new VP of Football Ops slash general manager, please, that's what I want. That's what I've been advocating for. I'm for a new coach. I'm for moving on from Jay Gruden and his staff. He's a nice guy.

He's a good offensive passing coach and passing game designer. He's an average head coach. His teams have been more often than not unprepared for important games, for early season games. His clock and game management is subpar. The team lacks discipline in many areas. I understand that it won't be easy for this organization to attract the better candidates. I get that. I still would like to try.

That is where I have stood for a while now, and that is where I still stand. Now, for those of you that are limited, when it comes to distinction and subtleties and nuance, I want you to also understand this, and these two things can be true at the same time. I can advocate as I have for significant change in reboot, and I can also feel very strongly that Saturday's game in Nashville was a fine moment for Jay Gruden and his staff. a great moment for them, in my view. They played beyond what was reasonable to expect. They had a chance to win a game as a double-digit underdog

with a team that in many spots resembled the replacements of 1987, the movie, too. It's okay to advocate for change, but also recognize that what happened on Saturday in Nashville, and even in Jacksonville the week before to a lesser degree was impressive. It didn't change my mind on Gruden. It didn't change my mind on Bruce Allen or any of them. The whole is more important than one week. I know what Jay Gruden and Bruce Allen are as coach and football operations head. I want change.

As a fan of this team, I'm ready for significant change. but I also was incredibly impressed with the way Jay Gruden had his team ready and coached up on Saturday. Very impressed. Now, I have no idea if there will be change. The people that I know that would know don't know. Dan Snyder is either playing this coy or perhaps he isn't even thinking about change. He may look at this average run of Jay Gruden over the last. four years, I don't want to count the first year. It was one of those organizational

disaster seasons where management wanted one quarterback to play, and the football people were saying, well, he can't play. If you want to be good, he can't play. And so that caused that season to basically implode early on. But if you look at the last four years of Jay Gruden, or if Dan Snyder looks at it and says, hey, 31, 32, and 1, that's about As good as anybody's done around here. And it is. It's as good a record for any coach during the Dan Snyder era that's been here for more than one year. 31, 32, and 1.

He may look at that and say, hey, things aren't that bad. By the way, think about how sad that is, all right? That 31, 32, and 1 over the last four years is good for this organization. They have some young talent on defense anyway. He could point to that. He could, of course, point to the injuries this season and say, hey, we were in first place, six and three when everybody started to go down. I'm not moving on from that.

All we got to do is stay healthy next year. Look, I don't think at six and three they were going anywhere. I don't even know that they would have made the playoffs at six and three. I think some of the better defensive teams that they were going to face were coming up, and that was going to be problematic for them. But is it possible they would have finished nine? and seven instead of seven and nine or eight and eight and had a chance to be in the postseason, yes, it is possible had Alex Smith stayed healthy, or if Colt McCoy had stayed healthy. But then again,

Josh Johnson played the other day almost as well as any quarterback had played all season long. Anyway, there's going to be a lot of time to talk about this. And a lot of stuff is going to start to happen a week from today. When the regular season ends, when teams are ready to move on, it happens swiftly. So one week from today, we could be talking about a new coaching situation, a new general manager situation. But right now, I don't know which way the owner's leaning. Again, the people that I know that I talk to don't know anything right now.

They are in the dark on this. We'll talk to Michael Phillips from the Richmond Times Dispatch in a few minutes about that. I wanted to real quickly mention Jay Gruden's comments about DJ Swaranger yesterday because they were interesting. And we don't have the sound because they didn't put it up on Redskins.com. We credit Redskins.com all the time for using their sound. They do a good job of putting all that stuff out on video after the coach's press conferences. I think this was a conference call yesterday more likely than not.

on DJ Sweringer's comments, which if you miss them after the game on Saturday in Nashville, he took a bus, ran it over Greg Minusky, and then backed it up over Greg Minusky again just to make sure he was dead. He ripped him. He said they should have been playing more zone coverage, not man coverage, said that anybody could recognize that. That the coaching staff put Fabian Moreau in a tough situation on that key third down. and he went on and on. It was about a minute and a half or two-minute rant from DJ Sweringer. And as we know, D.J. Swaranger's been running his mouth for the better part of the two seasons.

He's been here. He's also been a good player. I said on Sunday that the Redskins should bench him. They should suspend him for this final game. Now it's easy because they don't have anything to play for. In fact, I would prefer that they don't win the game so that they, it enhanced him. their draft position. But this was Jay Gruden yesterday. He said, quote, on DJ Seranger's comments, quote, I'm quite disappointed to be honest with you. We made it pretty clear that we try to keep our business within these walls, and we've had many talks before about that, and unfortunately,

he chose to go to the media again and talk about his displeasure with some of the calls. I know Coach Minusky works extremely hard, as does the rest of the staff to put together a game plan, and unfortunately we didn't get it done. Follow-up question to Jay Gruden. Will there be any disciplinary action taken in regard to DJ Swaranger's comments? The coach, quote, we'll talk about that here a little bit later. We have a couple of days off here for the players, and then we'll take everything in and go back and read everything

and listen to his side of the story and go from their closed quote. He was asked whether or not he believes Minuski and Swaranger can coexist if they talk things out. quote from the coach we'll have well we have been for quite some time so yeah i believe that that can happen but things need to be laid out and talked about and all that good stuff which i imagine could work yes closed quote uh he was asked also about whether or not the things that happened that were said after the game and the incident between josh norman and taylor luan if those things disappointed and he defended Josh Norman on that, which he should. That was a low rent thing from Luan to do. If you miss that, he came over and basically put Josh Norman's bow and arrow right

in his face and said, get the hell out of my stadium. He claims Josh Norman took some cheap shots at Derek Henry. But Jay Gruden was asked on whether or not he was more disappointed by the loss itself or the things that happened after the game. And he said, I'm more disappointed with the loss itself. After the game, it has happened with the same guy a couple of times now, referring to D.J. Sweringer, so it's kind of become redundant to me, but the loss really was painful for a lot of reasons. He had one more quote on Sweringer. Quote, he's a talented guy. He has played very well this year. I think he's an alternate for the Pro Bowl, and he has done some good things. I don't know if he really understands that what he's doing is not helpful one bit. It's a

distraction. It hurt Coach Minuski. He worked his tail off during the week to get the best game plan together. Called man coverage on third down and six, which about 95% of the other coordinators do, and we got an unfortunate PI call. He called some great zone coverages during the game. We missed tackles on third and 12, and they got converted. We missed a tackle on third and six on a tackle on a back in the flat, and they converted on that one for a 30-yard gain. So at some point, we are in this together and the players or player has to understand that we are working extremely hard and Coach Minoski is working extremely hard and that we don't need any of that stuff after a game closed quote here's the bottom line you heard disappointment from gruden you heard a little bit of anger there

and you heard him point out a lot of what happened on saturday was a player's issue and a specific player issue as well dj swarendra didn't play great for the entire game He needs to once and for all show that he's not just a friend to all these players, and they like him because he's a great guy, but he is also the head football coach, and that what DJ Sweringer did was talked about in advance as something the coaching staff did not want done, and he did it anyway. Again, suspend him, please.

Suspend him. The cutting him of... would be quite a statement, but they don't have any safeties next year. I would suspend him. He may not care. And in fact, the punishment isn't going to be that severe.

But doing nothing this week would speak volumes about what really this team and this franchise has become over the years. All right, let me tell you about Window Nation. Window Nation loves this podcast. Harley Aaron, Eric, listen all the time. If you've been thinking about new windows, I promise you as someone who has had Window Nation installed in my home, you can't go wrong by giving them a call.

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I promise you as someone who has purchased windows from Window Nation twice over the last 10 years. It is worth it. 86690 Nation or shopwindonation.com and tell them I told you to call. All right, let's bring in Michael Phillips from the Richmond Times Dispatch. Michael, of course, has covered the Redskins for a long time now, and he wrote a really good story. in the Richmond Times Dispatch following the Redskins loss at Tennessee, where he examined the off-season fate of 12 key Redskins players, coaches, and executives.

And Michael, I just said that I personally have advocated here in recent weeks, you know, if not more than recent weeks, for a major reboot. I'm ready as a fan to move on from Bruce Allen. I'm ready to move on from this coaching staff. and recognizing too that the Redskins won't be a desirable location or attraction or destination for the top tier coaching candidates that may be available. And we may have more openings than we even know of. But I also said this, I have no idea what's going to happen. The people that I know that would know don't know.

What do you know? And we'll take it from the top down, starting with Bruce Allen as it relates to sort of projecting their fate. Yeah, I think that's where you have to start, but I'll go one level up to Dan Snyder, who was in the locker room after that Monday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles. I can't remember the last time we saw him in the locker room after the game. It was a very tough loss, obviously. Colt McCoy got hurt. Mark Sanchez came in. A few guys got hurt.

He went around the locker room, kind of, you know, gave some words of encouragement, some paths on the back. He has been on the sidelines with what I would call the brain trust, Bruce, Kyle Smith, you know, Schaefer, Santos, all the way on down the line, extensively before the last couple of games in Jacksonville and Tennessee, he's been kind of huddling with them and chatting with them. Now, that's not unusual. He's always on the sideline before the game.

He's always in the owner's box. But it feels like if he's not taking the temperature, he's at least more visible than he's been in the past. And so that leads me to believe he's at least aware that there is a decision that needs to be made and potentially a very big one at that. To me, getting rid of Bruce Allen is the easiest call of the bunch. They're not successful on the field, but they're not successful off the field either, and that's a big part of the job title that he's got as team president. They're not selling tickets. They're not moving the needle locally. You know that as well as anybody.

You see the TV ratings every week, the interest level shifting to the capitals and to the other teams in town. They need a fresh approach and they need it badly. I mean, it's all of the things that we know. It's the record. It's the off the field embarrassment. It's the fact that, you know, this poll of 25 NFL agents consider Bruce Allen to be the least trusted executive in the NFL. That came out, what, a year ago, somewhere around a year ago, I think. What do you think will happen? Do you know anything? Do you have sort of a gut feel on this? Because there are a lot of different ways they could go here, but do you think Dan will make a change with Bruce? You know, this really does remind me of the end of the Venizurado run. It feels inevitable at this point. The empty crowds, you know, the opposing teams kind of doing their chance inside the Redskins Stadium. It just feels like if he doesn't do it now, when are you going to do it?

You know, how are you going to sell tickets next year? You know, hey, we've got our 16th draft pick, you know, number 16 overall draft pick coming in, buy your ticket plans now. I just don't know how you could build any excitement for the upcoming season. You might lose a couple of your key guys, Eric Schaefer, Kyle Smith, who, you know, I think would be logical choices to promote inside a new regime. If you lose them, then you're really rebooting from scratch. It just feels like I don't have any inside information, same as everybody else.

I don't think anybody knows which way Dan is going with it. It just feel like if he's going to make the change, it kind of is now. or never. It really is right now, Michael, the worst business situation the team has ever been in with respect to the obvious, the attendance, the television ratings. Now, they're in a league where it's 132nd of the television revenue and that's your, you know, that's the significant portion of what you generate in revenue as a team and that's not going to change even if your team stinks and doesn't draw flies. But I just can't imagine. him being, you know, unless he is really detached from reality on this,

I just can't imagine that he looks at the overall business situation and doesn't say we've got to do something about it. And all that is this, you know, the owners are a tight-knit group, and the commissioner, Roger Goodell, he's involved. You know, he makes a point of talking to the owners, you know, once a week or so every single one of them. You know, these guys need the Redskins to be good, too. you talk about that TV money and that TV package, the NFC East drives so much of that TV value.

You need all those games to be good. Anytime there's an NFC East game, you need it to be at 425 on Fox, Victoria Akeland. You need it to be on Sunday night, a big Thursday night game. And, you know, if one of your teams is an embarrassment, you've just lost a fourth of that value. I think that's something people are on the league or attuned to as well. I think that's so true, and I've pointed it out over the years, these NFC East matchups, especially when the teams are good, and sometimes they don't even have to be good, are more often than not the highest rated games on television during the NFL season.

I mean, that's why Redskins Cowboys continues to be a premier matchup, you know, on Thanksgiving or in prime time, et cetera. Let's just, let's take the leap here, that Snyder decides to move on from Bruce Allen entirely or to move him to some position in the organization where he can finish out whatever his duties are with respect to the stadium. Do you think that they would elevate Kyle Smith to vice president of football operations slash general manager or give him the general manager title? I think he'd probably split the role between him and Eric Schaefer if you kept it in-house. Smith would be the guy who picks the players. He would be your personnel guy.

you know, Schaefer would be your business end guy negotiating the contracts, handling the salary cap, you know, both exceptionally proficient at their little slice of the world. I think they would make a good pairing at the top. I don't know if they would go for that. I know, you know, we'll get other opportunities elsewhere as well. But I do think Kyle Smith has earned that. I think his scouting has generally been solid.

You know, it's not his fault. They lost those first round picks a couple of years ago. and, you know, I think, you know, post McLuhan, they've made solid picks. I think the guys they've brought in have generally been of a high caliber. And then with Schaefer, you know, I think his biggest mistake was probably not ensuring the Alex Smith contract for more. I think that'll loom over a lot of things. But he's another guy who, you know, he is trusted around the league. I'm glad you brought that up earlier that Bruce Allen was the least trustworthy guy.

You need somebody who can restore that safe so you can land these free agents, due deal, and have the other side trust that you're coming from a good spot. Whenever we have these conversations, I always feel sometimes that there's a bit of disrespect for Doug Williams, a beloved figure in this organization's history. But do you feel, as I do, that Doug's position in the organization, ultimately he's not going to be handed the keys to the football operation, that he'll be a part of the organization. but if what you just described was the next move,

elevating Kyle Smith to general manager, letting Eric Schaefer continue with his title, whatever it is, senior VP or whatever, of football ops, and handle the contract in the cap. What is Doug Williams' role? I really hope there's a role for Doug Williams. I think, one, what he did in the Super Bowl, obviously. He should always be a part of this franchise.

But he's taken so many bullets this year, too. he was kind of the human shield there on the Ruben Foster thing, which was not fully deserved. No, it wasn't. Yeah, so I certainly think that they find a rule for him going forward. I don't know that he, you know, I'm sure he would like to be general manager, but I don't know that that's in the best interest of the team either. You know, you hate to pull the age card, but if you're looking at a full reboot, which I think you are, and, you know, and you agree with me on that, I think, that, you know, you really want to start a new five to six year plan with a new vision for the organization. I think you need a little bit of fresh blood, at least, to do that.

Yeah, and the bottom line is one of the most important moves made this year was basically Doug Williams saying, I'm not asking for permission. I'll beg for forgiveness on Adrian Peterson because it turned out pretty well. We also didn't mention Brian Lafamina. My personal view is, I don't know that I, you know what, I'm going to keep that one to myself. right now. I think Brian certainly is more than competent enough and capable enough, very competent, very capable of running the business operation of an NFL team or any sports franchise for that matter. I hope he's still here. I'll get my tone in that water as well. You've seen a lot of things this year.

You don't fully appreciate from the outside just what you're going to see once you're inside. You know what? That's well said. The bottom line is when people haven't been here and they just hear about it, when they're actually in it, they scratch their head just like all of us. And they wonder whether or not it's functional enough for them to stick around. All right. But if Bruce were to fully depart, he's a guy who could execute a good stadium deal. Like that's something you could put in his hands and he'd knock it out of the park. He'd do a fine job.

All right. Let's go to the coach. What happens with Jay Gruden and staff? Well, you know, read Matili's, I think Jay probably stays. And, you know, it's a dirty word, but tanking is certainly something you have to consider with this Alex Smith contract that's going to weigh you down for the next couple of years. If you accelerate that salary cap hit into next year, you know, you're potentially not fielding a very good team. But that could be by design, you know, that you look at last time around, they have that $36 million salary cap penalty under Shanahan. He blamed that for a lot of things.

obviously the robber trade. He impacted a lot of things as well. But sometimes the best way out of these things is just as quickly as possible. And I wonder if that's an idea that's going to be discussed or entertained. My response to that is I don't think anybody tanks in the NFL. I mean, that's not necessarily true. I guess Cleveland has tanked to a certain degree in the NFL. But there's always an opportunity every year. You know, the league is designed for good seasons. you know, when you least expect them. The good franchises, which the Redskins are clearly not, you know, sustain those opportunities for successful seasons.

They have some young talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I know what you're saying. Without Alex Smith and that salary cap, you know, hit, they could potentially really struggle, but, you know, they could also struggle with a healthy Alex Smith, because we didn't see a very dynamic offense when he was healthy and playing. So your lean right now is Jay Gruden comes back. That's my lean right now, and I think especially if you're going to do turnover in the front office,

which seems like the most urgent situation. I think you want to give those new people a year. You look at Green Bay and Cleveland, they've both had a two-month running start on their coaching searches. I don't, you know, unless you've been doing a lot of really good behind-the-scenes diligence and you feel good about it. That's a long-term commitment. You bring in a new coach. I just don't think it's something you want to rush into because you're frustrated at the moment.

I think there's worse things in the world than giving Jay another year. And I think the way Jay has handled everything that's been thrown at him this year, I think probably he's made peace either way, whichever way it goes. I think Jay is at peace. But I think he's certainly earned the opportunity. to come back for another year, given everything he went through this year. There are going to be more likely than not some head coaches that are defensive-minded head coaches that are going to be on the market as potential defensive coordinator hires.

Todd Bowles is one that if he's available, I would love to see Todd Bowles run this defense. Do you think Greg Minnowski keeps his job when this season ends? I don't see how he could. You know, obviously the results were very good early in the season, and they also, you know, they also seem to hate each other right now on the defense. I think that comes back to the coaching. And you know, taking it one level up, that is Jay's great flaw. He has not picked a good defensive coordinator in his time here. If he had done that, if he had gotten a Bulls-caliber guy out of the gate, you wonder how much things would be different now. You know, the defense had

even made a few more plays, this could be a relevant football game we're talking about on Sunday, even with everything that's gone on. So, you know, I think your big argument, you know, for getting rid of Jay is you need a new defensive coordinator and you don't trust Jay to pick him. But at the same time, if you could land a bulls or a guy like that, man, I'd be ecstatic about that, no question. Bill Callahan, back or not? You know, I think that's probably a true mutual parting of the ways. I know everybody uses that phrase and it's overdone.

I think it's probably time for a fresh approach on the offensive line. The injuries are not entirely his fault, but sometimes it's just best to hit the reset button. I think for him, he'll be in demand. he can go somewhere else. He can start his next project. He'll probably be, you know, excited to get his breath and fresh air as well. Will Kevin O'Connell be in demand when this season ends? Yeah, I think that's an interesting one. I think he may get an opportunity to be an offensive coordinator somewhere. You talk about the way you get jobs in the NFL is to be a play caller. That's how Jay got his job here. You're a play caller and your success. So once Sean McVeaded it here parlayed into that Rams gig,

you know, O'Connell is not the play caller here. And he's a play caller here. understands that to advance, that's what he has to do. I think that's a possibility as well that Jay relinquishes that part of the job, gives it to O'Connell to keep him around. And that's how that's how you keep him in the building for another year. But, you know, in the NFL, to get ahead as an offensive mind, you've got to be calling those shots. And that's not something he's doing here right now. Now, let's go to the players. What are they going to do with Adrian Peterson? You know, they will offer him. They'll offer to bring him back. I think the question is, does he want to go somewhere where he can be the number one guy?

Because this is all about history for him now. This is all about those yards, those touchdowns, you know, being one of the best to ever do it. And, you know, I don't know if being Darius Geis's backup is necessarily how he wants to spend a season. Now, I think from the Redskins perspective, you'd be crazy not to bring him back. One, he's been great in the locker room. Two, you just, you know, so few times in sports do you see what happened on Sunday or Saturday, which is just that guy willed his role. way down the field. It was incredible to watch. It was sport at its finest. I was just really,

really impressed by what he did, you know, to take that team and that offensive line and carry them for a hundred-yard rushing day. You know, the thing about it is that I don't know what kind of market materializes for Adrian Peterson at his age, but when you look at some olderbacks, not necessarily as old as him, but veteran backs like a Carlos Hyde as an example. Or, you know, they're in the $4 to $5 million range. You know, Chris Ivory is in the $3 to $4 million range. Frank Gore's probably underpaid every time they give him a deal. I'm sorry?

Frank Gore probably gets underpaid every time he gets a new deal. Yeah, so I'm, Gore, I think I looked this up last night, is somewhere in that million to million and a half range, which is where Adrian Peterson is. right now anyway, but it would be interesting to see what someone's willing to pay him. You know, the Redskins have only so much room, and it may cost him for four to five million a year to keep him. I think for him the opportunity is the bigger part.

You know, I just think he really wants to be one of the greatest to ever do it. He's already in the Hall of Fame. He doesn't need to be doing this, but he's driven. I think he wants an opportunity in a team where he can touch the ball, you know, 20 times every single game and get those numbers and, you know, be an integral part of whatever team he's on. I think the offense, too, will be a big part of it for him. You know, it wasn't the most comfortable run set up for him for much of the year. What about Josh Johnson? Josh Johnson, I'd love to see him back. To me, your ideal quarterback set up next year, ideal,

okay, ideal given the circumstances. You know, Colton, Josh Johnson, battling for the starting job during training camp, a rookie hanging out behind them, learning the ropes. You know, if the rookie is good enough that he can start his first year, I think starting cold is a logical choice. And I say this with all due respect to Cole, a guy who I really like, he's going to get hurt at some point. He can't play 16 consecutive games for you.

And so in a way that kind of clears the path to hand that baton off to the rookie in a non-messy way, you know, non-controversial way if you start the season with cold and then, you know, get that rookie groomed behind him to be ready to take over. Yeah, you wrote, and I didn't even think about it from this perspective, but that Alex Smith could potentially start the 2019 season on the physically unable to perform list, the Pupp list, meaning he would not count against the 53-man roster. So there you've got potentially the opportunity to keep Johnson, Colt, and a young quarterback, if you went with three, and then you'd figure out between Colt and Josh who you release once Alex Smith is.

ready. I don't even know if that would be available from a Colt standpoint, but that would be one way to go. A couple of other quick ones, and I'll let you run, and I appreciate the time. What do you think they're going to do, first of all, with DJ Swaranger after the comments he made the other night? Do you think he'll be suspended? Do you think he'll be back next year?

I was disappointed in Jay's comments on Sunday after, you know, a day after the game, 24 hours to think about it, 24 hours to talk to people. And he said, you know, we're going to to get them together on Wednesday when we come back after Christmas. I think that was an opportunity to show who the leaders in the building are, who the adults in the building are.

I think the only appropriate statement there was, especially knowing the game's not going to mean anything, to me, the only acceptable statement there was, DJ is not going to play Sunday. It doesn't matter if his comments had any merit or not. You can't just be going off and shooting your mouth about the coaching staff like that. We're in charge here. We're the adults here. DJ's not going to play Sunday, and you know what, we'll figure it out from there.

Not that they needed to cut him, not that they needed to, you know, find him or do anything like that. Just, hey, we're going to send a message to the team, to the players, to the players who are going to be here next year. You can't just go into the locker room after the game, openly question the coach's decisions, and then everything's okay on Thursday. Totally agree with that. Quick yes and noes to the following three players as it relates to them being back next year. Preston Smith, re-signed or not? Well, I think the market's going to bottom out. yeah, I think he comes back on a team-friendly deal.

Ryan Carrigan. Yes. You need at least a face of the franchise. I think he's as close as you get right now. But you could get something of significance for him if you decided to deal him. And in your scenario of total reboot and tanking, that's a player that would bring something back. No question. You know, they're also in the business to selling tickets every Sunday and selling jerseys.

I just think he's a guy a lot of people identify with and like. You know, you don't want to alienate the fans too, too much. Josh Norman. I think Josh Norman is probably gone. I think this comes down to salary cap more than anything. He's a big cap hit. They can get out of it. I think he may be gone.

Did they find a starting inside linebacker for years to come if he stays healthy and Sean Dionne Hamilton in the last few weeks? Boy, he's been fun to watch, hasn't it? You know, that's been a real revelation. And, you know, guys like that, and I thought Monta Nicholson was on that trajectory for a little while. That got interrupted by the Hot Clinton Dix trade, obviously. But, you know, a lot of these young guys really are coming along nicely.

I don't think it's a hopeless situation, at least on the back end of the roster. And Clinton Dix didn't come in back next year. Oh, gosh. Yeah. So that's a fourth rounder that they gave up for them. I mean, they're going to get some of these back potentially via compensation picks. But anyway, Merry Christmas to you, Michael. Thank you so much for doing this on Christmas Eve.

I appreciate it. It is a pleasure. Merry Christmas to everybody out there. All right. Thanks, Michael. Let me tell you about Farish, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep in Fairfax. If you're considering something new, act now before the end of the year. Because Farish has a lot full of inventory.

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Right now, you will be able to find more likely than not. The vehicle you're looking for, make model and color, and drive it right off the lot. Ralph mentioned to me last week, the Jeep Cherokee, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the Jeep Rangler are vehicles where they've got the best deals they've had all year long. Same goes for the RAM pickup. So take advantage of those opportunities on those vehicles over the last week of the year. They're located right there in Fairfax Circle, and you can find out everything you need to know about Farish, including live inventory and live pricing and their best deals at ferrish cars.com. Let's go around the NFL.

The biggest plays and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL. All right. There were some games yesterday, especially late. That Pittsburgh, New Orleans game was nuts. And the game last night, the Seahawk Chief game. was really, really good as well. You know, before we get into some of these games from yesterday,

the playoffs here over the last couple of weeks, at least the way I perceive them, have become much more open than they were in the middle of the season. I think somebody now can go into New Orleans and win. I think Pittsburgh should have won yesterday. I mean, Mike Tomlin tried a fake punt with four minutes to go in his own territory with a four-point lead. Now, and by the way, the guy, the upman that took the snap, thought he had picked up the first down.

That was so great. And he's given the first down, you know, a signal. And it was short. That was quite a ballsy play by Mike Tomlin. And I, you know what? I don't think I have much of a problem with it, because here's the thing. In that particular situation, there's about four minutes and 10 seconds left in the game. They're on their own 42-yard line.

If you pun it, don't you think. think there's a pretty good chance that Drew Breeze is going to drive it down the field for the game winner anyway. And if he starts at his own 15-yard line, he's going to use up the entire clock to do it. Whereas if you make that fake punt, now you've got a chance to go win the game on offense. And if you miss it, if New Orleans takes the lead, they're going to take the lead sooner giving you a chance to come back and win the game or tie the game, which is exactly what happened. So I didn't have a problem with it. problem with it, less about going for it, more about that there was a fake punt with that

offense, I would have just left the offense on the field. Yeah, maybe, but it was fourth and five, and they had just come up with a great special team's play on the previous possession, blocking a New Orleans field goal up 2824. It was a spectacular game that once again was marred by poor officiated, my view. I mean, the PI on Hayden against Kamara on the fourth and one early was just terrible. Not enough contact there. I just think on those game-changing calls now, I don't want so much replay in the game.

I like the level of replay we have. But on plays like that, you got to get help from other officials before you flag something that you barely saw. The third and 20 that Breeze completed was incredible. Then Ben completed the fourth. and 15 to Antonio Brown on that final drive where they were in field goal range before the Juju Smith-Schuster fumble after the catch. It was a great football game, great football game.

And Pittsburgh is one of those teams that may get left out of the postseason that could have made a run. You know, they're not great defensively, but they are more than capable offensively. I like Jalen Samuels. I like they. They always find running backs, don't they? Always find running backs. So Pittsburgh loses, and now for the Steelers, they have to win and hope Baltimore loses to get into the postseason as the AFC North champion. They could actually get in as a wild card if they won, and if Indian Tennessee tied. And look, the chances of NFL ties have increased in recent years because of the 10-minute overtime. You got to get to overtime first. But I look at the entire AFC.

and NFC and I see now more than three or, I see four teams in each conference minimum that can get to the Super Bowl. I was going to say the AFC, if any team makes it out of there pretty much, unless Tennessee makes it, I don't think they could do it. But outside of that, you tell me any of the teams make it, I buy it. One of those teams in the AFC, and they lost yesterday, but I do believe that Houston can go to the Super Bowl. I think they're good enough on both sides of the ball. and they rallied from 29-16 down to take a 30 to 29-29 lead. And then there was one of those plays.

I give Nick Foles credit. He completes a third in 10 to Alshan Jeffrey on a great play down the middle. They gets him the first down, but only gets the ball to about the 29-yard line, because I think they were on their own 10. And there was a flag for roughing the passer on Jadavian Clowney. he led with his helmet to Nick Foles's chest, not to the neck area, not to the head area. He didn't fall or land on him with all of his weight.

He went in and he made a hit just as the ball was released and they called roughing the passer because I guess it was explained that you can't lead with your helmet even if you're going into the guy's chest. I didn't know that one. But you learn something every week. Philadelphia wins, and they are dangerous right now. Nick Foles set a Philadelphia record in that game throwing for 471 yards.

It's really interesting the Eagle situation with Foles and Carson Wents. Because now, if Foles gets them into the playoffs and makes a run with them in the postseason, what do you do with Nick Foles if you're Philadelphia? What do you do with them? I think you have to trade one of them, and I think you could consider trading Wence. this point, is there any doubt that Nick Foles is going to get a massive, massive contract in the offseason? No, there isn't any doubt. The Eagles win the game 3230. Their playoff possibilities, I mentioned earlier in the show, but here they are. If they beat the Redskins and Minnesota

loses to Chicago, Philadelphia is in as the six seed in the NFC playoffs. And that would put them at Chicago in a first round game. Can they get the five seed? I forget if they can get the five seat if Seattle loses. I think Seattle's locked up the five. I don't know that they've locked up the five with Minnesota. They haven't locked it up with Minnesota because they could lose and Minnesota could end up as the five with just a better record.

Anyway, Philadelphia is in with a win and a Minnesota loss. Minnesota yesterday, they fell behind nine to nothing at Detroit. was a smell test pick yesterday plus the six, and it was looking really good early. I'm not going to lie to you. I was rooting for Minnesota to win the game. Once Philadelphia looked like they were going to win, I wanted them to win. I'd rather see Kirk in the playoffs personally than Philadelphia in the playoffs. But they fell behind 9-0, and it, at one point, midway through the second quarter, Kirk was 1 for 3 for 2 yards. Now they had terrible field position. They had a lot of penalties Minnesota did in the game yesterday, 11 penalties for like 80 yards. They had terrible

field position. They didn't run the ball early, but he wasn't completing passes either, and then all of a sudden he got hot. And he finished the game. In the final two minutes of the first half, he threw two touchdown passes, including a beautiful Hail Mary pass to Kyle Rudolph, who made a great catch. And then they pulled away in the second half, and they won the game 27 to 9. So with Kevin Stefansky is the offensive coordinator now in two games. 4117 last week over Miami, 27 to 9 over Detroit. And Minnesota's defense is legit right now. Legit.

They weren't early in the season. They are now. They're really good. Now, they had Xavier Rhodes got hurt again yesterday, as he did in that Chicago Sunday night game. Mike Zimmer said he's okay, but they play a Bears team in Minneapolis. Chicago will have a chance with a win to get the two-seed if the Rams lose.

Both of those games are going to be played simultaneously. So the Bears are going to go try to win this game in Minneapolis and hope that the 49ers pull an upset of the Rams because if they do, then Chicago is the two-seed at home with a first round by. Chicago, meantime, in their game against the 49ers, The 49ers were a smell test pick. God, they looked right most of the way. Chicago's defense is good.

The question with them will be, can Mitchell Tribisky do it at New Orleans, at the Coliseum against the Rams potentially? He was 25 of 29 yesterday for 246 yards. Tariq Cohen is such a weapon, not as much yesterday. Alan Robinson caught a third-down, first-down conversion catch to end the game, instead of just going down, he kept running, and he fumbled the ball.

And the 49ers had one last opportunity with it, but that bear's defense is tough. Look, the 49ers have been able to run the football against Chicago. 15 carries 47 yards. Tough to run against that bear's defense. Chicago in position now. They have locked up the three-seed. Dallas cannot get the three-seed. Chicago's locked up the three-seed.

still have a chance to get the two. There'll be no worse than the three. They can get the two seed if they beat Minnesota. That would knock Minnesota out if Philly wins. Minnesota would still be in if the Redskins beat the Eagles. Early point spread. The Eagles are six and a half point favorites over the Redskins. The Vikings are six point favorites over the Bears.

That's interesting. That's a pretty big line. That the Bears won. They think that the Bears might rest guys. second half, I think? What, if the Rams are killing the 49ers? Yeah, if the Rams are up big. I don't know. I think that's tough because

that feels built in the line. I think the 49ers are going to play the Rams tough. I do. Then the Vikings shouldn't be six-point favorites. The 49ers have played everybody tough. The game last night was sensational. The Chiefs and the Seahawks back and forth in this one. Mahomes, you know, was pressured and, you know, looked ordinary, actually. 23 of 4.

273 yards. Damien Williams is not a bad replacement for Kareem Hunt. He did fumble in the game, but he's got breakaway speed and some pretty good moves. In the game, Russell Wilson, outstanding, three touchdowns, 271 yards. And Chris Carson, 27 carries 116 yards. Interesting that he's become the guy more than the guy they drafted in Rashad Penny. And keep this name in mind, if the Redskins were to lose Adrian Peterson. I think they should really make a move for Mike Davis. I've talked about him from the beginning of the season. He's going to be an unrestricted free agent, the fourth-year guy out of South Carolina. He's a really good back. Great vision, great power. I would make a run at Mike Davis if the Redskins field at Darius Geis, you know, off of ACL surgery, that there

has to be another runner. And they lose Adrian Peterson, which I think is in play, but you heard Michael Phillips say that he thinks that Adrian Peterson will be interested in staying and that the Redskins will be interested in keeping him. The Cowboys beat the Bucks. They wrap up the NFC East. I do think that, you know, over 15 weeks of this season and over 16 weeks when we're done next week, I think the Cowboys were the best team in the NFC East. You know, I also said about that Indianapolis game last week, it was a bit misleading. It was misleading in that the Cowboys move the ball up and down the field. They just made Bad mistakes, and they got shut out, but it didn't hurt them.

They're the division winner. They're going to be the four-seed. They've got nothing to play for when they face the Giants this week. In that game yesterday, they lost Crawford early. I don't have an update on that injury. It was a neck injury early in the game. He was stabilized, put on a stretcher. It didn't look good.

But there's been no update as of early. this morning on his injury. The Cowboys are good enough defensively to give anybody they play in the playoffs a tough game. I believe that. They're good enough defensively. I just think that ultimately, Zach Prescott will make a mistake, and Jason Garrett will make two of them for everyone that Dak makes, and that they're not a Super Bowl team. But I think they could win a home game, and I think they could go to Los Angeles in a second

round game or New Orleans and have a chance. I think the Saints would be a solid seven, seven and a half point favorite at home over Dallas, even though they lost to him. The Giants had a big lead on Indy and blew it. Andrew Luck brought him back. Luck threw a terrible interception in the red zone. The Giants controlled the ball for much of the game. Eli had a good game.

Look, Eli Manning's coming back. I said early in the season, Aaron, that this isn't an Eli Manning problem offensively. It was an offensive line problem. I believe that to be true, I don't know why they wouldn't bring Eli back. It's a good football team, and a veteran quarterback like Eli, I think, is necessary if they want to make a run next year with a healthy team, add a couple of pieces in the draft. Saquan Barclay is a star. Indianapolis has a very good offensive line all of the sudden. I know we've talked about that at different points in the year.

That game at Tennessee is going to be an interesting. interesting game. No line on that game. That's the game to decide the final AFC playoff spot, primarily because Marcus Marietta is out. New England moved into the two-seed because Houston lost and they beat Buffalo 24 to 12. Buffalo got me a backdoor cover late with a score. Listen to these numbers for Tom Brady. I have them all my fancy team. I know them. 13 of 24, 126 yards, two interceptions. Something right there, but we've said this before. This is my problem with this.

Sony and Michelle went over 100 yards. He was a, he's been very good for them. And they use Cordell Patterson, too, in the run game, which is interesting. You know, they are so, Josh McDaniels does such a good job. I mean, you know, they got Burkhead and they got white and they got Cordell Patterson running the ball. and Sony-Michel. I don't know. It just may be a different New England team.

They're going to, look, they play the Jets. And I think the Jets have been playing very well. The Jets lost in overtime to Green Bay 4438. Aaron Rogers brought him back from 15 down in the second half to win that game in overtime. Sam Darnold has quietly been like the best quarterback in football

over the past month and a half. Maybe not the best quarterback in football, but he's been very good. It's been very good. I think by QBR, he's actually been the best since like week 10 or something. I know, but subjectively he's not been the best. But he has really impressed, really impressed. It looks like they made the right call there.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Todd Bulls. Did I forget any games here? What I was going to say about New England is this. I think the Texans can go to New England and win. I think Baltimore can go to New England and win. I think anyone can go to New England and win. I think the Chargers can go to New England and win. he's always had, you know, that bailout receiver, whether it's Grong, whether it's been, you know, Edelman, when Edelman's been really good.

And they're not there this year. No, they're not. They're not. Hold on. I'm just going through my notes here from yesterday. I think I hit on there. Oh, Andre Roberts for the Jets, former Redskinned, had a 99-yard kickoff return and then had like a 57-yard kickoff return, which got him in position to kick a game-tying field goal. He's really been an excellent kickoff returner in this league for a long time. Also, in my notes here, because I didn't mention it, C.J. Anderson was signed by the Rams, and he went for a buck 67.

Sean McVey knows what he's doing offensively. And I guess that's it. I mean, I would just say that, in getting back to my original before I got to these games, I think in the AFC, Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City and the Baltimore, Houston and the Chargers

for me can go to the Super Bowl is going to come from one of those three teams and more likely than not those three teams

will have to win a road game or two to get there but those are the three teams that I think are the most complete. The Chargers, the Ravens,

and the Texans. If you like the Colts, fine. I don't think they're a Super Bowl team. I don't think Kansas City is a Super Bowl team

and I don't think, and I don't think the Patriots are, although I would never bet against him. In the NFC, I think the Bears are capable, the Saints, obviously, the Rams, Seattle. You know, then you've got Dallas, Minnesota, and Philadelphia. I don't think any of those three will go to the Super Bowl, but Philadelphia is clearly dangerous, really dangerous. Weekend DVR, look, the Wizards, you know, John Wall came back after he was sick and played horribly, and they lost Indie. after they won that triple overtime game against the Suns on Saturday night. Marilyn lost an ugly one to Seton Hall.

Seton Hall is good. Maryland shouldn't lose to Seton Hall. And I love Mark personally. I really do. And I want him to do well. And I never have thought and still don't think like you do that he's a terrible coach. He's not a terrible coach. Nobody wins as much as he does and is terrible.

But I will say this. I don't like the we're young excuse. everybody in college basketball is young. Everybody is young. So we're young and we're going to be good. Let's prove it. You've got to win against Seton Hall at home. That's a game you should win.

They're a good team. I love Maryland's potential. I think they've got more potential than they've had with two bigs that can stretch the floor. I would like to see them play that way in the half court. Using Jalen Smith and Bruno Fernando to stretch the floor and I would give them the green light to fire it from mid-range and from long range because if they start knocking down threes this team could be dangerous it could be but that was a

disappointing loss for the capitals you know it's interesting that their division everybody's heated up in the division recently Columbus has won four in a row Pittsburgh off of beating the caps they've won three in a row the caps have won two in a row you know they came back off the off the loss to Pittsburgh and beat Buffalo and Ottawa, shut out Ottawa the other night for nothing, but they're in good position as well. Did I miss anything from the weekend? I don't think so.

You don't think so? Okay. That's it. Merry Christmas, everybody. Have a great holiday. Enjoy it, relax. And we'll be back on Wednesday.