The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rivera on Haskins + Terps Comeback

Episode Date: February 27, 2020

Kevin and Thom opened with Maryland's stunning comeback win at Minnesota last night. The boys spent time recapping Ron Rivera's press conference yesterday at the NFL Scouting Combine. He was asked a lot about Dwayne Haskins and the Redskins' plan at quarterback. Also, Tom Brady is expected to leave New England according to Jeff Darlington/ESPN....the guys made predictions on where he lands. <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. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Tommy by phone from Destin, Florida. Aaron's here. He's under the weather. No coronavirus, we don't think. Apparently it's just allergies, hopefully. Knock on wood. And I'm here. After an active night last night when it came to basketball, Tommy, I was at the Wizards game. All right, you'll be happy to know that I'm the one person you know that's been to a wizard's game this year. I went with my good friend Harley from Window Nation, and Harley had phenomenal seats. We were on the floor. We were right there on the floor. I don't, you know, I've sat on the floor at Maryland games with Scott many times before. Only once have I ever sat on those floor seats for a Wizards game. and it was one of the playoff games with Gilbert Arenas against Cleveland.

A friend of mine had floor seats and invited me. And I will tell you that for an NBA game sitting on the floor, you really have a completely different perspective. Those dudes are so big when you get them all on the floor together. We see them when we're out there and we're doing things. But when you see them playing a game, and the athleticism and the side, compared to college.

I mean, college really looks like freshman ball compared to the varsity when you're talking about the NBA players. But I stayed for a half and then left to get home to watch the Terps. That's what I did last night. Well, I never have had the elite privilege of sitting on the floor of an NBA game. Surprising. They wind up in your lap sometimes.

Garrett Temple ran right through us, actually, at one point in the first half. You probably didn't know this. He plays for Brooklyn. They played the Nets last night. And he stepped on my foot as he was trying to chase down a ball. I sort of reached out to grab him, missed him, but, you know, went over there and tried to help him up and said,

Garrett, you're right? And he said, yeah, I'm good. Right back into the game. Wow. Look at that. I was a participant. Yes. Anyway, we won't spend much time on the Wizards game.

They did win. They won. We'll start with Maryland. Did you watch it or not? No, I didn't watch it, but I watched highlights. I've read about it extensively. It was a shocking, shocking, glorious win if you're a Maryland fan. That's what you read?

Yeah. Okay. Why don't Aaron and I tell you about how shocking it was, since we actually experienced it live? But they were down 17 points, right? They were? I didn't know that. I'm just, I'm messing with me.

I know, I'm about to hang up. I know. I just feel like pissing you off today. So, I don't know about you, Aaron, but of all the comebacks this year, and there have been several of them. They have come back from 15 plus points or more now three times to win games this year. That's pretty amazing. and on the road in their last six games in which they've won five on the road, they've come back from 15 down, 14 down, 7 down late, 8 down late,

nearly came back from double digits against Ohio State the other day, and then last night, 17 down to win. Last night was the one in which I thought there was zero chance. Like it was such, there was just nothing went right. You know, as sports fans, we watch games, and we know that sometimes you watch a game, and it's like, oh, my God, that team's pretty good, but it's just one of those nights. Nothing is going right for them. And the other team, who's not really that great, but they're okay, everything's going right for them.

And you know what usually happens in those situations? The team where everything's going wrong, they lose the game, and the team where everything seems to be going right, they win the game. That's what usually happens. not last night, not last night. It was one of the more stunning finishes of a Maryland game I can remember. Like I had absolutely zero expectation they were going to win that game. I'll tell you how little expectation I had.

So I am under the weather. You turned it off. I didn't, well, I took some NyQuil about midway through the second half when I thought it was getting completely out of hand. Last thing I remember, it was 68, 62. I was just like, all right, whatever. I can just let it take it, scorn. course. Then I woke up and watched it on DVR this morning. It was, Tommy, I was in my house

last night, 1130, and I was out loud screaming when Morsell knocked in the game winning three. My wife was upstairs. She's like, what's going on? And I go, they won the game. And she goes, no chance, you're lying. Turn it off and come upstairs and stop yelling. And I'm like, no, they actually won the game. And it actually wasn't over at that point. because there was still 1.9 seconds left. But I want to give you the following perspective, because you know that I bet sports a lot over my lifetime. And I have, you know, perhaps it's an overinflated sort of opinion that I have

of people who bet have, I think, a sharper perspective when it comes to, you know, watching sports and sort of thinking about sports. it's certainly at the very least. That's why they're all so rich. Exactly. Yeah, that's why they're all so rich. They're all retired, yeah, all of them, as another building goes up in Vegas. But, you know, at the very least, it's a different perspective.

It doesn't necessarily mean it's better or worse. But I have always felt like it's a perspective that I've liked having because I think I see these games sometimes in advance in a different way. certainly doesn't always work out to be the right way. But anyway, last night, Tommy, Maryland was an underdog. They opened as a one-point underdog. And Aaron and I talked about it on the podcast yesterday. And college basketball is one of those sports, and Aaron will tell you,

because he bets college basketball too. Every year you get these games in January and February in particular, where, you know, a highly ranked team goes on the road in conference against a team that's not perceived to be very good. Minnesota is a 500 team. They're below 500 in league play, but they're capable. They have a lottery pick on their team in Daniel Otero. He's going to be a top 10 pick, more likely than not.

And they've had some big wins, and they're sort of on the fringe of being on the bubble. They're outside the bubble, but like a win last night puts them back on the bubble. Like now they've got a chance to get back into the conversation for being in the tournament. And when we both saw the point spread on Tuesday night, when it came out, Minnesota minus one, Aaron texted me. I sent the text out to about seven different people, and everybody said the same thing. All of us gamblers, shit, they're going to lose tomorrow night. Like, you know, because not only is it that the line stinks, this setup seemed, you know,

something that we're very familiar with. Like, it happens all the time. They're going to play better because they're the desperate team. They're at home. They're going to get the benefit of the whistle, which you typically in these conference games get at home anyway. But then on top of that, you know, the Big Ten wants more teams in the field. This would be a signature resume enhancing win for Minnesota.

You know, they're going to get the whistle. They're going to play better. And it's going to be a shitload, you know, it's going to be a shit trap game for Maryland. And it's going to suck. it's going to be two losses in a row, but they'll come home Saturday night and hopefully get the benefit of the whistle at home against Michigan State. So sure enough, it's exactly the way the game played out. They got absolutely nothing called in their direction in the first half. Sticks Smith had three fouls at halftime. Two of them were non-contact fouls.

Okay? Terrible calls. Cowan got teed up in the first half. Turgeon got teed up in the first half. Turgeon got teed up in the first half. Minnesota's knocking down every single shot they look at, and Maryland can't get one shot to go in, and they're down 17. And all of us that bet sports, and have bet it for a while, said, told you so, you know? Like, this is what we've seen many, many times. I did not bet the game last night. Did you? No. I have bet against Maryland before, but I actually didn't last night. I've sort of taken a bit of a hiatus, except for betting Tyson Fury last Saturday night. Anyway, so there you have it.

Like, it's nothing's going right. Let me ask you a question. Yeah. Based on this edge that you have and this insight you have being a gambler, are you taking a hiatus because you can't store all your money someplace? No. actually the opposite. Again, let me be clear.

This perspective doesn't necessarily mean that it comes with some sort of financial edge, because nobody has that, as we know. But again, I mean, in all honesty, Tommy, and you've known me for a long time, you know, this is the kind of game that's set up for, you know, the smell test. You know, the whole, the public was all on Maryland last night. Now, the line did move in their favor. They went off as a one-point favorite by the time we got to game time, which meant there were some sharp guys that said, yeah,

it's set up for Minnesota to sort of win this game, but Maryland's better and they're going to win, whatever it was. But no, unfortunately, this edge or this perspective doesn't always work. I wish it did. If it did, I wouldn't be here talking to you. But it really was an incredible comeback. And I want to take just 30 seconds to say, you know, what I've said many times about Mark Turgeon, because he's really the lightning rod, you know, for Maryland basketball fans.

And sure enough, I mean, you know, last night, another example of, you know, the in-game social media Turgeon bashers, Tommy, are having a tough year. really tough year. You know, because all of those tweets, what do they say in the Twitterverse? They don't age well. There's a whole lot of tweeting going on when Maryland's been down 15 and 14 and 17. You know, all these anti-turgeon guys, and those tweets have not aged very well this year. He is, he's a real competitive person by nature.

and he's admitted he's not an elite coach, but he's a good coach, Tom. He is a good coach. He's a good defensive coach. He's a good overall coach. And I think what we've seen this year, and we've seen it in the past, it's not the first time we've seen it. But we see his teams reflect his personality. They have come back a lot over the years. They've been down in double digits, Aaron, a number of times during the Turgeon era, as they did in the Gary era. And they've come back to either nearly win games or win games when a lot of teams just sort of, you know, go meekly into the night. Look at last year's second round game against LSU. They're down 12 at halftime and 15 in the second half. And they came back and they took the lead and

nearly won that game. You know, this has been, you know, something of a given with Mark Turgeon teams is they can be behind, but they always tend to hang in there. and not get the shit kicked out of them. It's happened occasionally, but it's not surprising. And I think that's coaching personally. I think you recruit players that are like you, and I think you coach into, and you find the players that don't necessarily look at the score,

that look at the opportunity to keep fighting. I mean, I know it's cliche, the fight, the compete, the resilience, the whole thing, but they've shown it this year, and they're in the midst of putting together a pretty special season right now. Look, I mean, I think Turgent gets a lot of credit for the heart of this team. I mean, the players ultimately have the heart, but basically players do two things with a coach. Either they tune them out or they're engaged with what that coach has to say.

And they're clearly engaged in what Mark Tern. and has to say during a game. They're not tuning him out. So you have to give the coach credit for that, you know, for keeping his team engaged when they're 17 points down in different situations like that. So I agree with you 100%. I think he's a good coach.

I mean, for the thing, he'll never be Gary, and he's competitive. He's just not demonstratively competitive. He can be. He can be. It doesn't come off as crazed as Gary did, but he's pretty animated. But not as much as Gary,

although nobody is probably as much as Gary. Okay, my question would be then, are all these comebacks preparing this team for tournament play or doesn't mean nothing? Well, I actually thought you're going to have a different question there. I think it definitely prepares you because, you know, if you're playing six games to win a title, and that's the goal. In one of them more likely than not, you're going to face adversity being behind,

you know, by a significant number of points, at least in one of them. And they've dealt with that. So I would say it's preparation. I thought you were going to ask me if it's an indication that they're, you know, they're clearly resilient and they're a tough team, but maybe they're a bit of an overachieving team, that, you know, some of these games, you know, a much better team would be blowing out some of these teams. And I think that that's, you know, a reasonable conversation to have. I think part of it is just the league they're playing in. There's just not a night off. Yeah, that's the part.

I mean, you can't really say they're an overachiever because the Big Ten is so competitive this year. Yes. I mean, you're facing a good team almost every night. So it's not like, you know, it's not like there's a bunch of super teams that they're overcoming. They're playing teams that on many less. levels aren't equal footing with them. So I don't think necessarily they're an overachiever. I mean, look, there were high expectations for this team going into the season.

Yeah, they were preseason top ten, yes. Right. And they remained all year. So I don't think anyone can say they're an overachiever, but you certainly have to, okay, where on the squad do you think the heart comes from? Darryl Morsell. Darryl Morsell. Really?

I've felt that way about him going back to his freshman year when I said this guy's tough. He's everything that's sort of turgeon is and we're going to end up loving this player. And there are nights where he makes you want to pull your hair out. There's no doubt about it. But he is, he's tough. He's fearless. Tommy, if you asked any Maryland fan last night, you're going to have the ball down two and you're going to take a three to win the game, he would have been the last person on the floor at that moment that anybody would have picked

because he doesn't have a great stroke. It's not a consistent stroke. But at the same time, they would say, but if he's open, he is going to take it. He won't have any fear in taking it because he's hit big shots. And last night was really interesting because Anthony Cowen, man, he could not get the ball to go through the basket. He was two for 15. He played a very good rest of the game. I mean, he really is a good player and an all-around player. And it was their defense more than anything else that got him back into it. Morsell's defense in particular. He's their best defender, Morsella is. He's their toughest competitor. And Cowan's a tough competitor, too. Don't get me wrong. But there's something about Morsell that is, you know,

like the people up 95 like to say, Balmer tough. I mean, he is, he's Baltimore tough. You know, I wanted to mention one other thing because I just wrote it down. You made a really good, you simplified it, but it was perfectly put. You know, you either get tuned out or they stay tuned in when you're a coach. And the bottom line, if you look at Turgeon's teams over the years in every spot he's been in, they're always tuned in. Rarely are they tuned out. You know, he's not had a terrible season.

You know, every season's been, the worst season so far, far in the Big Ten was a couple of years ago when they went 19 and 13, 8 and 10, it was the only losing record he's had in the Big Ten, and they finished eighth. Every other season they finished second, third, last year, fifth, this year's going to be first, you know, and they faced adversity in these seasons where people really questioned him and questioned the team, and they were always, you know, clearly the results say, and I know you can look at March and say, well, you know, he's only been to the Sweet 16 once, but I think the overall results sort of say they've always stayed tuned in with him. I think it's what he told me when I had him on the show a couple of

months ago, not a couple of months ago, a couple of weeks ago, when he said, I'm a good coach, and one of the reasons I'm a good coach is I've evolved and I've been very good at being able to communicate and motivate today's kind of player. He said that to me specifically. He said, I'm not an elite coach. There are better coaches out there, but I'm a good coach. And one of the reasons I'm a good coach is I've evolved and I understand the players and the young players of today and I've been able to communicate with them and be in and motivate and find the right ways to motivate them and I think that's true and that's a big part of coaching yes it's a youth part of coaching I mean otherwise you know you're just drawn up play for yourself I mean it really doesn't

matter if you don't have the players uh on your side I would say the one you're year I think of where they did tune them out was the Diamond Stone team. Yeah, the team that went to the Sweet 16. But they would have tuned anybody out. That was a dysfunctional team, I think. Yes, it's true. It's true that that team I think he was most frustrated with, you know, on that team. That's also the team that went to the Sweet 16, you know, and has to. guys like Mello Trimble and Rashid Suleiman, you know, in his transfer year. You know, Stone was the problem on that team.

I don't think everybody else tuned him out. I think Stone was the problem on that team. It also helped when you face Hawaii in the second round. Understood. Yeah. Yeah, they had an easy pass. But they also, you know, won 28 games that year or whatever it was, you know, and were ranked in the top 10 the entire year.

Was that team more talented than this team? Talent-wise? maybe. But I don't think that they have, I don't think anybody on that team's better than Stick Smith. And, you know, Mello Trimble was an extraordinarily talented player. Anthony Cowan's proving over four years that, you know, we probably missed out on seeing something special from Mello in his junior and senior year, you know, if he had stayed an extra two years. Because Cowan, I think, he certainly, well, he certainly exceeded Mello's career. in terms of results and just, you know, take the quantitative out.

I think most Maryland fans would say Anthony Cowan was a better college player than Mello Trimble. I think most fans would say that, Aaron? It's close. It's close. Mello had more big moments, I think. Cowan's had some big moments. He's coming on strong. Mello didn't have one Michigan State moment like he had.

What's that? Nobody had the Cowan Michigan State comeback moment. Well, but Mello did hit that three at Wisconsin. No, against Michigan State. Yeah. Yeah, look, Mello Trimble in many ways saved Mark Turgent's job. Yes. You know, if Mello's freshman year, they get to the tournament and they're in a battle in the second round to get to the Sweet 16 against West Virginia.

If Mello doesn't get hurt in that game, they probably beat West Virginia. One of the reasons he got hurt, though, is the way West Virginia plays, which, by the way I love the way Huggins coaches that team. One last thing just from last night's game, because, you know, I'll nitpick. First of all, I thought he did a phenomenal job again. Switching defenses, the right matchups. Morsell on Carr was a really good matchup for them. The zone, you know, he didn't stay in it too long enough for them to get used to it and for them to get comfortable with it.

He's got multiple zones he goes to. He ran some really good sets in key spots, ran a great play for Wiggins when they were down eight to get an open three. ran a really good play for sticks to get the three that he missed Aaron at 72 to 69. I still personally have an issue. It's the less than three-second scenario for me, which is if there are less than three seconds left and the other team's got to go the entirety of the court, they're throwing it in from their own baseline and the baskets on the other end.

and you've got to put somebody on the ball, and he doesn't do it. He believes that five guys guarding four is better than having four guys guard four with the fifth guy being a defender on the in-bounds pass. My belief personally is if you put that seven-two guy, Chol Mariel out on the floor to guard the inbounds pass, they're going to have to throw it into the back court. They're not going to be able to throw it accurately into the front court. And so if somebody catches it in the back court with under three seconds and there was 1.9 last night, it's going to be a heave from 60 feet that's got to beat you, you know?

Whereas when you don't put somebody on the ball, now they've got the ability to freely throw the ball from the baseline all the way down the court and potentially get a reasonable shot to beat you, which they did. They threw it to Daniel Otero. He caught it. I think he may have been fouled on the catch. by sticks. And he turned around and he had a 20-footer to win the game. He missed it. You know, and Maryland won, but I'd rather somebody heaving it from 60 feet than shooting a turnaround jumper from 20 feet. That's just a personal nitpick.

Have you shared this with your buddy, Mark? I haven't, I'm going to share, that's on my list to share with him over the summer. Because last summer, we, we, on the golf course, Scott and I presented our concerns over pace of play. Right, right. And how did he respond with, are you kidding me, seriously? But he had a great sense of humor about it and it was funny. But yeah, I think next summer or this spring, I'm going to say about the, you know, under three seconds,

why don't you put somebody on the ball? I know what he's going to say. I've heard him say it. He's going to say, I like to set my defense with five guys guarding four. You know, I think that's an advantage. The problem is that there's a better chance they're going to get a makeable shot than not if you put somebody on the ball. But whatever. They won the game.

I'm happy about it. Really happy. It gets them close to – so here's the last thing actually on Maryland. And this is for Aaron more than it's for you, Tommy. But you can chime in. So if they win the Big Ten title, okay, that is the first true notch on his belt. as a coach at Maryland. Yes.

Right? I mean, he hasn't won anything. All right. Winning this, not only that, winning this league in this particular year, even if you don't think the national championship team is in this league, if you think Kansas or Baylor is better than anybody the Big Ten has, that's fine. And that may be true, but top to bottom, there's not been a league anywhere close to the Big Ten. If they win the Big Ten, that is a huge, huge win, huge win, notch in his belt for Turgeon.

for me as a Maryland fan sounds like for you too, Aaron. So the next notch would be not the Big Ten tournament because I want them to advance in the Big Ten tournament. How about win a game in the Big Ten tournament? Okay, well, they've won games in the Big Ten tournament, just not the last two years, right? Is it two years that they haven't won? I think they've won two Big Ten tournament games since they've gone to the game. Yeah, well, they had the double buy in those two years, and they got to the semifinals.

They were in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament their first two years. Was it both of the first two years? Yes. Okay. Yeah, and they lost to Michigan State. think in both of those games. I think so. Anyway, the next notch is how far does he have to get in the tournament? If you combine Big Ten tournament and this far, all right, fill in the blank in the NCAA tournament, then he gets a three-year pass, two-year pass. Yeah, I guess it

depends what you mean by... Well, National Championship gives him a lifetime pass. Sure. Final four gives him a lifetime pass. Okay, so what does he need for a two-year pass in addition to a Big Ten tournament? I'd say, again, it would depend on how it happens, you know, who they beat. I'd say for complete pass. Realistically, I think a Sweet 16 would be solid. I think an Elite 8 would shut up a lot of people. That's what it is. It's elite 8. That's the answer.

Aaron, you got the answer right. It's elite 8. Because they're going to be a one or a two seed if they win the Big Ten regular season. So based on seating, they should get to the elite eight. I mean, but if you do the math, Kevin, do the math, guys. They've been to the Sweet 16. They haven't been to the elite eight under surgery. They get to the elite eight.

They will have accomplished something that they haven't done under him. It's not rocket science. You know what makes you so complex? Your simplicity. I don't know if anybody's told you that. Yes, this is true. Like if he gets to the elite eight, it's where he hasn't been. With that said, if they beat two good teams, look, if they're a one or a two seed,

the first rounder, they're going to be a double-digit favorite, okay? No matter who it is. You know, it's Arkansas Little Rock or, you know, UC Irvine or whatever it is. They're going to be a double-digit favorite. So now you're in a second round game as a one or a two-seat against a seven or an eight. You're going to be favored in that game, too. So you better get to the Sweet 16. Yes.

Because the Big Ten tournament, the Big Ten regular season is going to be nice. But if you're out in the first weekend, nobody goes away. None of the naysayers go away. They're right back at it. If he gets to the Sweet 16 and he loses to Duke in a two versus three. But it's a good game. People are going to be really upset. but that's going to be

And that's why I said depending on how it goes 16, could buy him some time. It's not as simple as you say Tommy. God, losing to Duke, because Duke could be a three now. Duke could be a three. There's a lot of interesting degrees. It could be a two. It could be Maryland Duke in a sweet

16 game in Madison Square Garden. Listen, a loss to Duke would be blindly emotional. Yes, it would be. And would basically take out any rational thought or reason in that in terms of judging

turd. No one's going to sit there and say at least the turf fans I know aren't going to sit there and say well, you know, they played Duke, they played them really tough, you know, I mean, we're happy with that. No one knows. No, no, no, no. That's not going to work. I know. I'm just looking

for what is the minimum he's got to accomplish to give everybody you know, arrest on crushing him every single time they're trailing by 10 points in the middle of a game. I mean, seriously, Twitter's amazing when it comes to this coach. And thank God

he, you know, he says he doesn't pay any attention to it. But man, there is a portion of the fan base that is so rough on him. And it's been a bad year for them. Although they could ultimately get what they're

looking for, which is an early round exit. Anyway, I don't think it's going to happen this year. I think this seems to be team that they're in the midst of something, you know, they're figuring it out. They've got something going. They got the senior point guard. They got the exceptional, you know, big guy. They've got toughness and glue guys and guys that are capable of going off like Wiggins. They're going to be a tough out, no doubt. You know, whoever beats him

is going to be a good team. The alternative would be an amazingly difficult to be. appointment. What do you mean? If they're not a toughout. In other words, if they leave with a whimper. Oh yeah, no doubt. Yeah. Like if, you know, in a second round game, Butler beats him by 15 or something like that.

Yes. That would not be good. But you know what's so funny about the NCAA tournament, it's true every year, you know, in this one and done thing. Matchups, man. Basketball really is a sport of matchups. You could get, you know, we see sevens beat twos and sixes beat threes and even eights beat ones all the time. And it's all about matchups and styles.

And, you know, part of what has me optimistic about Maryland in the tournament is just the grind that they've gone through in the Big Ten. And the number of really good defensive teams in particular that they have faced, you know, I think most leagues don't have as much defensive. night in and night out as what you face in the Big Ten. And I think if that's true, Maryland will get it going and they'll blow a couple of people out early, you know, before they get to a real, you know, a legit competitive situation. The point is, it might actually seem easier for them in the tournament than it has for the last three months.

Anyway, anything else on that? It was thrilling last night that they won that game. I cannot wait for Saturday night. which you're not going to be back. You'll be in Florida. But it's going to be, I would say right now, it's the biggest home game since they've been in the Big Ten, Aaron. Yeah, I'd agree with that.

Even though Michigan State's only ranked 24th. I mean, they can basically clinch if they would. I wish I was going to be there. ESPN Game Day is there 8 p.m. That means all day, liquid refreshment, getting ready for this one. It will be one of those environments that we've seen many times before out at Xfinity Center.

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required. Stamps.com, never go to the post office again. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. Okay, Ron Rivera spoke yesterday. He actually did a press conference at the NFL scouting combine and then did a media scrum. So there was a lot of Ron Rivera yesterday, a lot more Ron Rivera than there was Kyle Smith from the day before. But the conversation, a lot of it, dealt with quarterback and dealt with Dwayne Haskins. And, you know, if you woke up early this morning or you were watching the NFL scouting combine at any point yesterday after Ron Rivera spoke, you know, the whole conversation about the Redskins and what they're going to do at number two and what they're going to do at quarterback and what they think of Dwayne Haskins is a national conversation right now. Aaron and I were just watching before we got you on the phone, you know, Mel Kuiper on ESPN's, you know, first take, you know, what are the Redskins going to do at number two? and Kuiper said, if Tua is there, assuming Cincinnati takes Joe Burrow, and you don't think that it's a lock that Dwayne Haskins is going to be great,

you take Tua, period. You know, he believes that Tua is also sort of a lock to be a great quarterback as well. I want to play in order some of these Ron Rivera sound bites from yesterday on Dwayne Haskins. The first part of it just deals with, you know, what he's seen from Dwayne so far in the off season. Well, I think one of the things that, you know, Duane's done is he's been around. I mean, you know, he's in the building. He'll pop by, say hello and wave at you and go get his workout in. He's been around a group of guys that do that. And so he's learning from their example. And one of the things that he and I talked about specifically is that he just continued to grow

as a young man as a person. That was the first thing he said. The first thing I thought of, actually, what's the first thing you thought of after hearing that? I mean, that doesn't mean anything. That was the first thing I thought of. It doesn't mean anything. Right.

Right? Yeah, of course. Because, you know, like Cooley used to tell me that one of the things he did, like early, you know, in the off-season is he'd go in and be the first guy in the building and make sure that his position coach saw him and that the head coach saw him. Like, if he had to go over and say to his position coach, hey, does anybody know where the coffee filters are? There's no coffee. I'm looking for the filters. You know, and he'd walk around to make sure that everybody saw that he was the first one in the building. And then he

would take off. And everybody say, yeah, no, cool, he's here, you know? And so, you know, I don't think that's what's going on with Dwayne. But really, there's not much that said there about Dwayne necessarily in that first soundbite. By the way, because you weren't on the show yesterday, Smith was very, and I was happy to hear this, like publicly, very complimentary of Duane. You know, like, and it's a change from what we saw at times last year, which is exactly the way I think they should present it. How they handle him behind closed doors, hopefully is to make him earn it. But I can't stand what they did to him last year publicly with the leaks and the different, you know, comments about he's not ready and even he knows he's not

ready, whatever. Here was, though, from Ron Rivera, a more lengthy description of what he's seen with Dwayne, what he's watched on tape with Dwayne. This is very complimentary of Dwayne from Ron Rivera. One of the things that I really go back to is the way he played the Detroit game. You know, one thing everybody forgets those early games before he became a starter. I didn't put a lot of stock into because those game plans weren't devised for him. But when you start looking at the games that they devised for him, then you try to see. you know, what they were trying to do with him, and then you watch him, and I've had a chance to go back and do that. I see some progress. From the time he started the Detroit game to the very

last game. I know he didn't play in the last one, but until he got hurt, you look at those things and you say, man, there's some growth there. There's some potential for a young man to be the type of player that, you know, he can be. But the thing that excited me about the Detroit game was the fourth quarter, the two drives when they had to score. He was very calm. He was very calculated. He showed his poise. He showed his leadership. And he put them in position to win a football game. and that's what you want from your quarterback is a guy that gives you a chance to win. The guy can help you win. You can win because of him and you can win with him.

That's what's exciting. He's got that type of potential, but he's got to grow into it, and nothing will be given. He's not anointed. That's for doggone sure. I'm going to expect him to come in and compete and work, and we'll see what happens. What's your reaction to that one? Well, he's certainly right about that. That was an impressive fourth quarter, and I can certainly understand after a fourth quarter like that,

you know, before the game's over, you'd want to get a selfie taken with fans in the stand. He wasn't asked about that. He was so impressive, you know. I understand now. I have a better perspective about the selfie now. Look, he's right. Dwayne Haskin showed a lot from that Detroit game moving on until he got hurt. I mean, he didn't give you any indication that he can't handle playing in the NFL.

And like I said, he had nothing to work with. in terms of offensive weapons. It's dealing with a terrible coaching staff in a terrible situation. So everything he said about the kid on the football field, in terms of what he showed last year, feeling good about it, I think he's 100% right. I didn't expect you to remember the conversation about the Detroit game. That's why I wanted you to go first,

because I was sitting here not expecting you to remember anything about it because we got into quite the debate about it. You were incredibly off-put by not only the selfie afterwards, but his inaccuracy during the game. And you took me to task, as many others did, because I was very, very encouraged by that particular game. It was interesting to hear Ron Rivera go off about the Detroit game. He specifically said the fourth quarter, though.

Yeah, well, that's what I focused on, too. I went back, and I didn't go back to listen to the podcast. I should have to have heard exactly what you said, but I went back to Twitter, which is what I told you the other day I wasn't going to do and I don't do anymore. But when I heard him going off about the Detroit game, I just remember how many people ripped me after the radio show and after the podcast. And I found a couple of the tweets because people mocked me. This was Linwood. I found this one from Linwood on Twitter. It was the day after the Detroit game.

Stop it, Sheehan. the worst. Two field goal drives. You made him your number one star of the game. I actually don't have a star system, as you know, but I think he was like my number one thing on the things I liked list. He says, you are the biggest suckup of all time. And then recently the Detroit game came up in a conversation, I think on the radio show. And I kept this one, and I remember this one, and I found it. It was from Gary on Twitter. Would you shut your mouth about the Lions game already? He was terrible in that game.

They got lucky. I've never seen you more like a dog with a bone when it comes to that damn Detroit game. Do you know who played quarterback for the Lions that day? Jeff Driscoll, which was pretty funny. I forget if I told you this or not, but there was another show host in town. I'm not going to mention him by name, and I won't even mention the station necessarily. but he texted me after the radio show, the day after the Detroit game, and he said, did you actually say you thought Haskins played a good game yesterday, that he had a winning

performance? Somebody told me, you said, I must have been watching a different game. That person knows who he is. I went off the day after that Detroit game as a moment for me where I really started to change my mind about Dwayne, and it was, you know, a game that statistically he was not very good in. He was 13 at 29. He was inaccurate the entire day. He, of course, took the selfie at the end, missing, taking the knee at the end of the game. But what stood out to me was he was put into a situation for the first time where he had to deliver with the game on the line, not on one drive, but on two final drives. The first one, they were down 16, 13, with five and a half minutes to go. They were deep in their own territory. He leads a drive. They get a field

goal to tie it. Then they get the ball back off of an interception. And on the final two drives, he was six for nine, 79 yards, had a huge scramble for 11 yards and a first down. And then on the biggest play of the game, they're not in field goal range yet. Third and five, he finds time, ducks pressure, and connects on a perfect throw with Terry McLaurin that puts him in position to kick the winning field goal. And I said the following morning, those final two drives, you saw the potential.

You saw a guy that played with urgency, a competitive level that matched the moment. He had a ton of confidence. He carried himself like he belonged. He was the leader on the field. He didn't miss a moment because he was confused. And I just thought it was a really telling moment. And I went on and on,

and most people mocked me, including you, is fine that you don't remember that. That's fine. But... No, I remember that because you choose to dismiss. You said he didn't miss a moment. He missed one big moment. Yes, he did. He did. You're right.

And the fact that you choose to diminish that only serves your purposes. There's no doubt. You're right about that. I chose to not make a big deal out of that. I chose to chalk it up to him winning for the first time in his career. being overly excited and being completely caught off guard and immature or whatever else. But I was not nearly as off put or flabbergasted by what he did there as you were. You know, I wasn't. I'm much more concerned about the clothing line and the number seven being handed to him than I was about the taking of the selfies at the end of the Detroit game.

That's true. I did pretty much ignore that. and focused on what he did on the field. But anyway, Rivera was, you know, you heard him be very complimentary. That's, he's watched tape, and there are things about Dwayne that he likes. You heard that.

Didn't you hear, there was some passion in his voice. You agree? I don't know. I don't know Ron Rivera from Adam. I don't know how much coach speak he does. But look, I think what he said is credible. you can believe it. Like I said, the kid has shown enough

that, you know, you're not sitting there thinking, this guy can't play for us. I mean, that's what he's what he showed. He showed you he can handle playing in the NFL. But the question is, do you think he's as good as the options that are available to you moving forward? Right, which we're going to get to here momentarily.

So here's the next Ron Rivera soundbite on the course. quarterback position, sort of, but also the second overall pick, and you'll hear it morph into a conversation about Tua, Tunga Viloa, and also Joe Burrow. Talking to Tua is you talk to Tua, which I've had an opportunity to. Again, as I said, everything guys is an option. We're not closing the door in anything. One of the things that Kyle and I talked about is that we have to go through this process because you don't know. You don't know what's going to happen in front of you. You don't know what's going to happen with you. So we're going to go through and we're going to, we're going to, we're

Two is one of the guys that we're bringing in, just so everybody knows. Okay, we're bringing in burrows, we're bringing in two, and we'll see both of their workouts. I mean, that's just the way it is. I mean, you just don't know. So we're going to prepare. We're going to get ourselves ready. We're going to obviously look at some of the other players. We're going to look at Chase.

They're going to look at the corners. We're going to look at everyone. So, you know, there are a lot of ways to think about that. the simple way, which is typically your way, is they should be bringing in Tua in Burrow. Even if they have no intention of taking a quarterback and they think Dwayne is great and they think Dwayne's going to be the next Dan Marino, you still want to bring in these guys because you want to know when Miami calls you what they're calling about, who they're calling about. They'll be calling about Borrow or Tua, but you want to know what they think because you've got

an idea of what they think based on the way you worked them out. based on your interview with the player. They should be talking to all of these guys. So that, to me, is a given. But here came, I think, the most interesting soundbite of the entire day when it came to Haskins and the quarterback. He is asked about sort of competition for Dwayne. And Tommy, we've had conversations before.

What kind of quarterback are they going to bring in? You know, if you assume, which we both do, that Alex Smith isn't going to be available to them. going to have to bring in some type of quarterback. Here's what he said about creating competition for Dwayne Haskins. We have a very good young player. Okay. The more we break down on, the more we learn about him, I think, you know, it puts us in

a pretty good spot. I am excited about him. One thing that I have seen is his commitment. He's been around a lot. You know, when I make my rounds during the day and I'll walk by the waitroom, there he is. I'll walk by the locker. There he is. That to me is a sign of a young man that's learning that he needs to be around.

All right, that's actually not the sound bite, but you can leave that in, Aaron, leave that there because that was a little bit more from Rivera and Haskins. That last one is the one that I wanted you to play. You have to have competition with Haskins. Yes. I think you have to have competition at every position. But at quarterback, too? Oh, absolutely.

Quarterback's the position you've got to have competition. But in terms of, I guess, that competition, there are guys who are just strictly backups, maybe he could help him. But then there was other guys who were legitimate starters and maybe could get a starter job now. What type of competition would you seek to bring in for him? Very competitive competition. That to

me is the big question. It's one of the big questions of the off-season. He told you he wants competition, but that's coach speak too, right? You know, we want competition. But at the very end... He didn't bring in competition for Cam Newton every year. Right. But at the very end,

Ben Standing asked him the question we had talked to Aaron yesterday about what would we want to hear from Ron and I said, I'd like him to sort of give us some sort of indication on what kind of quarterback they're going to bring in here because we've talked about like the true backup or, you know, the one-year guy like Rivers, but you're keeping Haskins long term, you know, or a guy like you pointed out Fitzpatrick, you know, could be brought in to compete for the position, but also could be the backup, obviously drafting Tua. You know what, number two means you're saying goodbye to Haskins more likely than not.

But when he said very competitive competition, I want your lean right now. What kind of quarterback do you think they're going to bring in? Did we learn anything from Rivera about the direction they're going to head? We're going to find out here in the next couple months for sure. But they're going to have to sign a quarterback. What kind of quarterback do they end up bringing in? I don't think it's going to be very competitive. I don't think it will be.

And I'm kind of curious who the coach is talking to when he says that. Is he talking to Haskins? Is he talking to the owner? You know, when he says that, I tend to think you're not going to see much change other than what they've got. I think Haskins will be the clear-cut starter going in the camp and they'll have a backup. I agree with you. that's the way I would lean right now, which is Matt Moore, Trevor Simeon, A.J. McCarron, Brett Hundley, Blaine Gabbardt, the guy that we would all say Chase Daniel, the guy that we would all say when they signed him for, you know, a two-year deal for, you know,

$8 million or $10 million. That guy's being brought in to back up Dwayne. Now, it doesn't mean that Ron Rivera, won't say, you know, Blaine Gabbard started in playoff games and took a team to the AFC championship game in New England a few years back when he was the quarterback for Jacksonville. Or, you know, Trevor Simeon started a lot of games in Denver.

Or, you know, A.J. McCarran has started some games in this. He won't, it's not that he won't say, hey, we brought in competition for Dwayne. But we'll all know if they, Matt Moore started three games or four games from Homes last year in Kansas City and played really well. We'll all know if they

bring in those kinds of guys, that Dwayne's the guy, that these people are being brought in to back them up. And that's what I think will happen to. I think one of those guys will be signed. Not because I'm convinced that they are absolutely sure about Dwayne yet, but I think they're sure enough that they want to see next year and that they think there's enough upside to have him start next year. Now with that said, Tommy, yesterday I mentioned, you know, and I learned that the Redskins are planning on being very aggressive and free agency, that the owner and the head coach believe that this is a quick turnaround situation, that they really believe, that they really believe they can go from 3 and 13 to the playoffs. You know, that they've got a, you know, one of the reasons

Rivera took the job was he liked the roster, one of the, Reasons Snyder offered the job to Rivera's because Rivera said he likes the roster and said this could be a quick turnaround. You know, you add Chase Young, you get 60 million plus in free agency room, you can add some impact players, and they're going to be aggressive in free agency. And for those of you that, you know, asked me some follow-up questions and said, you know, you mentioned a couple of players, yeah, those are the kinds of players if they're available. You know, Amari Cooper, Kenyon Drake, you know, Austin.

Houston Hooper, there are other names, you know, big names, they're going to go after some people here. So if they bring in that backup that we think is the true backup quarterback, then there is some belief in Dwayne. That will tell you that they believe in Dwayne's ability to be good enough next year for them to win nine, ten games. Yeah, that would be the case. I mean, if they think they can win next year, and Dwayne is the clear-cut starter going into the first year. into the season, then you're right. They would think that. I think what they need is an unfiltered season of Dwayne Haskins without all the noise

that you had last year. In order to make a judgment about him, you need to take out all the extracurricular activity, at least that you can control as the coach and just judge him moving forward. So the only way to do that is to eventually name him the starter. And not to make it more difficult by bringing in a free agent quarterback who actually could threaten him. I think that's the last thing the kid needs at this point. I don't think – look, I don't think the kid lacks any confidence. And I'm not sure the competition – I'm not sure you could do any more to force his work ethic

than the way you publicly sort of, at times, shamed him as an organization to work harder. So I don't think bringing in a quality, big name, you know, starter to compete is going to help Wayne Haskins much. I totally agree with you. It's why I think they'll go in that direction. With that said, you do not pass on Joe Burrow or Tuatunga Viloa. if you think that either one of those two guys has a much better chance at being great than the guy you have. You know, if you evaluate Tua or Joe Burrow, you know, they'll have a chance at one of them, more likely Tua.

But if your evaluation of Tua is, no, this guy is a star. He's got a much better chance of being great than the guy we have who we like. you have to take Tua. And if you don't think that way about Tua or Joe Barof, Joe Barof, for whatever reason, was there too, then you do what we described, which is you go out and you find, you know, the competent backup and you, you know,

you present it to Dwayne as, hey, Matt Moore is going to compete. He's a starter in this league, man. He started last year from Holmes and played pretty well for the eventual, you know, Super Bowl champion team. But your plan is that Matt Moore is going to be the backup and that you're going to ride Dwayne. Wayne next year on a team that you think he can play well enough on to win nine, ten games next year. Because I think some of the other options, you know, like if they were really,

like it's funny because this morning on the show, it's like we started listing quarterbacks. And almost every quarterback creates sort of a different reaction. Like I'll mention right now to both of you. What would be your reaction right now, Aaron, if the Redskins signed Marcus Marriota to a two-year deal at, you know, five, four to six million a year? He's coming in as a competent backup. A competent backup? Yes. And nothing more.

Nothing more. What would your impression be, Tommy? What would your reaction be? Oh, it would be competition to me. It would be a guy who needs a fresh start with a different organization that, you know, was a top draft pick coming out of college. No, I put him as a competitive situation for Dwayne Askins. Yeah, and see, that's my point.

You know, you both had different reactions. I think my reaction would be somewhere in the – probably closer to Tommies. I think I would be looking at it saying, you know, they like Dwayne, but they want legitimate competition and may the best man win. And if it's Dwayne, that's even better. We'd prefer that. and Marriota would be a great backup. But, you know,

Marriota would actually have a chance to win the job if he really outplayed him. You know, so what if they went out and signed Teddy Bridgewater? What would your reaction to Bridgewater be, Aaron? That would because I think Bridgewater is specifically looking for that starting job or a place, I would view that as real competition.

Tommy? Absolutely. He'd beat a starter. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And especially, it comes with a hefty price tag, which I would imagine it would. If they sign Teddy Bridgewater, to me, they're looking to trade. I'm not exaggerating here. If they sign Teddy Bridgewater or

James Winston or they draft Tua, they're looking to trade Dwayne Haskins. These guys aren't coming in to compete for the job. Now, Rivera just told you, everybody's going to compete. Yeah, well, they're just going to compete with somebody else, okay, that's going to eventually be the backup. You know, if it's a rookie like Tua, maybe they would, you know, sign a veteran, you know, if you need them early in the season because Tua is not ready yet. But if they draft TWA, Haskins is not a part of the franchise's future. Does everybody agree with that? Because I have, Tommy. I agree with that. Well, let me ask you this. Based on your expertise, looking from afar. And let's operate under the premise that Tua is healthy, 100% healthy.

Who do you think is the better quarterback, Tua, or asking? Probably Tua, but I can't assume he's going to be healthy consistently. I'm saying assuming he's healthy. There's no argument about who's the better quarterback. Yeah, there's an argument. It's not even a debate. No, there is. Oh, come on. There's not a debate for me with Joe Burrow. Joe Burrough is special. Tua to me, and I think some people like Kuiper have him, you know, he thinks he's special too.

I mean, if you told me that you guaranteed me he's going to be healthy for his entire career, he's really accurate. He's got a really strong arm. He can really make plays. Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that I would feel differently about two of them. than I did about Haskins. And by the way, like comparing the way I would feel about Tua in this draft and Haskins in last year's draft, not even close.

But I've seen Haskins play now, and I'm much more bullish and encouraged about Haskins as a pro quarterback. But again, with Tua, you know, I don't know that I can take the injury thing out of the equation. It's in the equation. You're taking a risk. This guy had, you know, hip surgery. That's a big deal. I know.

I know. Burrow, no conversation. You know, last week when you were off the day that you weren't feeling well, Cooley jumped on, and I said, just for a moment, hypothetical, Burrow doesn't go to Cincinnati. He goes, Burrow, not even, you don't even need to, like, you just take him. It's not even a debate. And then I followed up with him in saying,

do you think it would be something the team would do? And he goes, no. which sort of is an indication that the owner is still, you know, going to be involved in that kind of a decision. Yes. But the Tua thing is more, it's really hard, you know, you'd have to be, you'd have to get like this guarantee from your medical people and feel confident about your medical opinion that this was not something that, you know, is automatically going to be recurring or he's not an injury prone or whatever. You know, however they do it with, you know, medically clearing him, or giving him sort of a grade, a future grade of, hey, he's going to be okay. This guy's going to be durable. I don't know how you predict that with a guy that's been injured multiple times. One of the knocks against the Redskins is they bring in too many injured players. Right. One of the knocks against. Yeah. Darius, Guyson, Bryce Love, boom.

Yeah. Hold on. There was another one that I, I think we would all have the same impression about Philip Rivers, right? That's an easy one. It's like they think they can win next year and they don't think Dwayne's ready yet. Philip Rivers is coming in next year and then Dwayne's the long-term guy. That would be the reaction to a Philip Rivers, yes? Probably, yeah.

I mean, what other reaction? I mean, you're not signing Philip Rivers to be your starter for the next five years. No, but you could view it as he's a two-year stopgap to someone. else and you don't believe in Dwayne. Okay, that's a good one. You know, I'm a massive Philip Rivers fan. I saw arm strength issues. I think that's going to

impact him here in the free agent market. Anyway, so, you know, there are a lot of guys out there, you know, like Ryan Tannahill. What if Tennessee doesn't resign him and the Redskin say, oh, we love Tannahill? What would you perceive Tannahill to be after the season he had? That's interesting.

I wouldn't think Ryan Tannan Hill would sign a free agent contract any place he wasn't in. He wasn't told he was going to be the starter. Yeah, it's just funny. He was brought in to back up a guy who now more likely than not will back up a guy next year. You know, like he was a backup who backed up a guy that was the starter who's probably going to back up somebody next year. And Ryan Tannahill, I guarantee you there's still some teams that look at Ryan Tannahill and think backup. You know, and think, no, defense, Derek Henry, you.

You know, he had multiple playoff games where he threw for less than 100 yards. But anyway, it's going to be interesting because they have to make moves at quarterback. They have to do something at quarterback. The only other things... Why don't why do you stop all this? And just sign Derek Henry and get it over with. Let's stop everything and just sign Derek Henry and just go have a season. Dave would say. Boy, Derek Henry is going to cost a lot of money, isn't he? A lot of money. He's worth a lot of money.

Yeah, they didn't pick up the option on Adrian Peterson to go out and sign Derek Henry. I don't think. I know. I do think they're going to be in the market potentially for a running back, and I mentioned Kenyon Drake's name. I think that that's a possibility if Arizona doesn't franchise him or bring him back. But anyway, the other things Rivera, Rivera touched on Trent Williams, said that there are, details that need to be worked out, sort of implying that this is now about contract, you know, sort of value. And I was thinking about this. This isn't, you know, necessarily a revelation in any way. But if you're Trent now with just one more year on your deal, man, you are either getting a massive deal from the Redskins or you're saying, nope, I'll just play this final year and then I'll hit free agency next year as a 32-year-old. Because even though his best days or his best years,

may be behind him. He's still going to be a left tackle that's thought of to be good enough by a team that thinks they're good and needs a left tackle to get a big deal next year. Yes, he will. That's what they're wrestling with right now. They're wrestling with the whole, you know, beyond the relationship, you know, repairing. It's what is he really worth?

Because you know what? He misses games. He does miss games. not just for suspension, but for injury. And he plays a lot of games injured too. You know, I'll give him that. He's also got them by the balls, Tommy. They don't have a left tackle.

No, they don't. And they think they can win. You're right. If they think they can win, they need him to come back. Yeah, they're working towards that. The sheriff answer from Rivera was, you know, again, one that would lead you to believe that it's about, you know, sort of coming to an agreement on what his true value is.

Now, they have some obvious control there because they can use the franchise tag on Brandon Sheriff. But, you know, Sheriff's another guy that probably thinks he should be among the top two or three paid guards in the league. And you know what? He's really good when he's available. He missed games, you know, last year for the first time. He's really, really good.

He's so athletic at the position. and he in many ways has them by the balls too, because Eric Flowers is a free agent. And if they think they can contend next year, especially with a year two quarterback basically finishing out as year one, they've got to have some offensive linemen in front of them that can play. So they're in a bind there along the offensive line in terms of the players having some real advantages in negotiations. Because there's nobody else there to play it. Geron Christian doesn't inspire you? Nope.

I don't think he inspires them either. I think Wes Martin inspires them. I think they can absolutely envision West Martin starting at one of those guard positions, but you still need another one. Yes, they do. Okay. Anything else? It's like Casey Stangles said when the New York met or in the 60th.

two expansion draft, and he drafted a catcher first. And somebody asked him, why did you draft a catcher? And he said, well, if you don't have a catcher, you're going to have a lot of pass ball. It's not exactly the same. Well, if you don't have two guards, you're going to have a lot of sats. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

You probably need five along the offensive line minimum. Most teams don't go with four. No. No. All right. Anything else Redskins related? Nothing else for me. Okay. Let me tell you about the Tom Brady report that came out late this morning. Jeff Darlington from ESPN says that Tom Brady is currently operating under the belief that he will enter free agency and play somewhere other than New England next season. A sentiment the quarterback has shared with others, according to Darlington, while Brady has.

has his eyes very clearly on free agency. There's still a belief in his circles that the Patriots will have their opportunity to convince Brady to stay. But at this point, Brady's evaluating the NFL landscape with the intention of departing New England. You think Brady departs New England? No. I think Bob Kraft gets off the massage table for a couple of minutes and closes this thing at the end and makes it happen. Is that after he's closed out at his end? Yes.

I think there's a happy ending for everybody. Okay, good. So maybe two happy endings for Kraft. Tom, I've got happy ending number one completed. It didn't take that long, by the way. Now let's get one with you. Look, it's just like he stepped in at the last minute and convinced Josh McDaniel not to take a head coaching job in Indianapolis.

He's got to do the same thing. with Brady. I mean, he's not going to let that happen. That's what I think, too, but you know. And I don't put, and Jeff Darlington, not a lot of credibility. There

are others with that report as well. Who else has the report? Vic Taper from, I guess it would be now Las Vegas. Never heard of them. Okay. Have you? The Las Vegas Review Journal, owned by that lunatic out there in Vegas Sheldon, whatever his name is,

Please, that's not even a newspaper. Oh, that's pretty brave from you. He's with the athletic, though. I know. That's pretty good. Oh, he's with the athletic. Oh, he's with the athletic? Okay.

Okay, that's different. That's different. I take that back. Yeah, because there could have been a joke or two headed your way about the paper you write for. Oh, that's okay. I know. I can handle it.

I think Brady's going to be back. You know, Breez announced he's coming back next year. He's going to be in New Orleans, and I think Brady's going to be in New England. What do you want to see? As a sports fan as an NFL fan, Aaron, what do you want to see? I'd like to see him go. To where? I mean, Las Vegas would be so much fun.

Why? Just the idea of him and Gruden in Las Vegas. I just think that would be fun. That team's not going to win the Super Bowl. He's going to find a team where he can win the Super Bowl next year. You asked me what I wanted to say. I understand that. I understand that.

So maybe the better question is... If he left, he's going to Tennessee. I really wanted to know whether or not you wanted him back in New England or somewhere else. So I don't know. Personally, I don't want to see him leave. I'd like to see him... I want him back in New England. Yeah.

I want to see the legacy completed all the way, all the way. I still think they can go out, you know, and win a Super Bowl next year. I mean, you know, they were... All they had to do was beat the dolphins and they were the two-seed, you know, with a buy. in the playoffs this year. But, you know, in thinking about, like, different places where he could end up... I have odds. Let me guess.

Okay. Because maybe we did this before. I don't think we did do this before. We didn't do it with Brady. The Brady odds are pretty recent. Okay. These are updated since these reports. So these odds are from Fandle.

Okay. Number one, the favorite. I'm going to say... By the way, this does include New England as a destination. Okay, so New England's a favorite. Yeah, minus 180. Okay, New England's the favorite. Tennessee?

Yep, plus 550. They're the second favorite? They are. Third favorite? The Chargers? They are fourth. Okay. Chargers are plus seven.

Tampa's third? No, Tampa's actually sixth. Ooh, because I think that'd be a good fit for him. Chicago. No, they're not even on the board. The Raiders. Raiders are third plus $650. What about Denver?

Denver, I don't think. They're not in the top nine. You know, why would they, why would the Raiders? The vaguest thing, I guess, in Gruden, but his best chance to win a Super Bowl next year would be Tennessee one, Tampa two for me, the Chargers three. The interesting one on here is the fifth that, plus 1,000, the New York Giants.

I don't think it makes sense, but for whatever reason, there's getting to be some buzz about that. It's because of Joe Judge. Yeah. More likely than not, it's because of who they hired. That'd be fascinating. That'd be a few storylines there. Tommy, would you like to weigh in on any of this?

No, I'm not interested. You've lost me. We've lost you on the Brady conversation? Yes. All right, what do you want to talk about? I'm done. You're not done. I'm done. I'm not allowing you to leave.

You haven't earned your paycheck today. I'm punching the clock, baby. I'm on vacation. You're the best. You know, Aaron, over the years after a show, Tommy will send me a text a lot of times. And it's been the same with the podcast. And he'll say, you know what? That was a pretty damn good show.

We are, you know, usually it goes something like this. You know what? You and I do a pretty damn good show together. And that's going back to the radio days and even on the podcast. I think recently you may have sent me a note after one of our shows. Today, I'm not getting that text from you. Today's not a day where you're going to say, you know what? Today was really a good show. We do a pretty damn good show together.

I didn't give you a chance to bring your A game today. You know, that's my job to make sure Tommy's got his A game. So I'll take the blame for that. There was a lot of stuff in you're on vacation and you're paying attention to some of it. And I needed to find, did you go to the dog track this week? Have you been to the dog track? Have you gone to see the Greyhounds run? Well, I went to the dog track when I was in West Palm Beach.

You know, this is the last year they have dog racing. Right. I mean, and I'm writing a story about the Palm Beach Kennel Club for the Sunday Washington Times. It's owned by the Rooney family. Really? The Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Steelers Rooney family. Yeah, that would have been the one I would have guessed. Yeah.

So it's interesting. I mean, at one day, at one time, you know, they do 5,000 people in night for dog grazing there. and the place would be packed, and there'd be all kinds of celebrities like Bert Reynolds and Frank Sinatra in the old days. And so I'm writing a story about the heyday of the Palm Beach Kennel Club when dog racing was a big deal. I can't wait to read that one. And I'm saying that in all seriousness, because I've been to, I've seen,

you and I went one year in Florida. we did that together. Yeah, we went to Hollywood. It took you guys to Hollywood. Right. During that Super Bowl. And when I was young, and when I say young, 20, 21 years old on my cross-country trip with my best friend, when we left, you know, in June and came back at the end of August, and we drove, you know,

all the way out west and all the way back on the trip out there, traveling along I-90, Interstate 90 through the state of South Dakota, through the black hills, into the badlands, and into a city called Rapid City, South Dakota. They had right there on the highway a dog track, which gave us a reason to stop for the night. And we went in there and we hung out with all those South Dakotans, and we watched the dogs race, and I think we lost money.

But we made it up when we got to Reno. That was the next stop. There was a lot of gambling on that trip. I do remember that. All right. Let me just point out one last thing. Yes. My B game is worth paying for.

I just want to point that out. Got a little sensitive there. If I had my B game today, it's still worth paying for. It's still better than what you're going to hear in most places. Are people like you, the elderly? Are they concerned about the coronavirus? People like me? Yeah, elderly people.

that are sickly. You know what? What's interesting is you're much more of hypochondriac than I am. That might be true, but you're much older and you're more sickly than I am. Are you concerned about the coronavirus? I tell you what. I tell you what. I'll bet you've been to the doctor more in the past six months than I have. That's actually not true. I haven't been to the doctor in a while. I should probably go to the doctor. But you're not concerned about the coronavirus. No, I'd be more concerned about the flu, which kills a lot more people than the coronavirus. Yes, I think yesterday. But I had my flu shot, unlike you, who did not have his. I did not get a flu shot. And I think I told you the story, and I think I told Aaron this yesterday.

Nextdoor neighbor, our next door neighbors, both husband and wife, work for the CDC. And a week or so ago, I said, hey, what's the deal with this coronavirus? And he said, did you get your flu shot? Because that's much more important than worrying about the coronavirus. Yes. I would agree. All right, I'm done with you. That's my public service announcement. You were awesome today. I'll talk to you next week. Enjoy the weekend down in Florida. See you. Hi.

All right. We're pretty much done too. The only thing I was going to mention is, you know, last night I think was only the second Wizards game I've been to this year. and I left at halftime so I could get home Aaron to watch the Maryland game as I mentioned earlier in the show. Bradley Beale had a line afterwards. He said they were boxing oneing me. Apparently Garrett Temple, former wizard who plays for Brooklyn,

was part of a box and one defense against Bradley Beale who had gone for 50 plus points on back-to-back nights. He had 30 last night. If he had scored like 25 in the first half, I probably would have stayed for the second half, but he only had 11 at halftime. Anyway, I was reading this morning that, you know, apparently, you know, people are like, God, that's the first time they've ever seen the box in one in the NBA. It's a middle school defense in the whole thing.

And for those of you that don't know what a box in one is, it's a defense where four players play a zone, like a two-two zone, and one player is guarding the other team's best player and basically guarding them anywhere he is on the court to try to stop him. It's usually when one team has, and you do see a box in one, a lot at the youth level, because a lot of teams you play have one really good player, and the other four players aren't very good.

Anyway, when I heard Bradley Biel say it last night and act in some of the reaction was you just don't see it in the NBA, I said, well, we saw it recently. Where did we see it? And so I googled it and it hit me. We saw it in the NBA finals last year. Nick Nurse, the head coach of Toronto, threw a box in one on Steph Curry in game two of the NBA finals. And Jeff Van Gundy, during the game, said, that's a box in one.

I don't think I've seen that since the last time I went to an eighth-grade basketball game. And Steph Curry afterwards, if you recall this line, he said, I don't know what they were playing. They were playing some kind of janky defense. And that was the quote from Steph Curry. But Nick Nurse in Toronto employed a box and one defense in the NBA finals against Steph Curry for part of that series. And it worked, although they lost the game in which they played it for the first time, which was game two. but I knew we had seen it recently. It just didn't hit me until I Googled it and found it in the NBA finals.

All right. Feel better, Aaron. Thanks for listening today. Back tomorrow.