The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rivera's 3-5 Year Rebuild

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on a lot of different subjects including what Ron Rivera said yesterday about Taylor Heinicke, Chris Blewitt, and the 3-5 year culture rebuild. The boys talked some more about the Denver loss, discussed the trade deadline, and got to the Chiefs-Giants, Mr. Snyder, the World Series, and the Wizards' loss too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I'm here. Tommy hasn't had a chance to weigh in on the Denver game.

He's also got a really good column, which actually dovetails nicely into some notes I was taking after my radio show this morning, Tommy, about ideas I have for tomorrow's show. Wizards lost a game last night. We'll talk about that. We've got the NFL trade deadline. boy, the Chiefs look really average at best. And that Monday night game I did watch, I don't know.

We got a lot of shit to talk about today. But we will start with, of course, the Washington football team. And I do have an email to read to you that I want to respond to. But first, I want you to give me your thoughts on the game on Sunday. Well, I mean, I thought in the beginning of the game, I'm thinking that, well, man, Denver's pretty inept offensively. I mean, they seem to accidentally, when they manage to mount something, it's by accident, then more by design.

And I thought, well, there's a real opportunity here for Washington to win this game. I mean, they'd have to really be equally inept offensively in order to not win this game. And that proved to be the case. I mean, 10 points, 10 points and 13 points in their last three games, the offense wound up scored. So, I mean, the team is worse every week than I thought they were in a way. They keep getting worse. All right, so that'll get into your column, which we will talk about. So I get this email from Rick.

I was just reading it right before the show started. It came in through the podcast email. Thanks, Rick, for emailing the podcast. You can send me emails through the podcast website, the Kevin Sheehan Show.com website. And I do read many of them. Rick says, Sheehan, you're giving your annual season is over speech way too early this year. The NFC's too top-heavy.

Somebody with a losing record is going to gain that. that seventh wild card spot. They were much better defensively on Sunday, and they have been the last couple of weeks. They just have to start finishing in the red zone, and they will start winning games. They're not going to be an easy out for anybody the rest of the way. Thank you, Rick, for that.

Oh, my God. So, yeah, no, first of all, I think it's fair to say, and nobody knows me better than Tom does, you know, in this, you know, format that we've shared together for so long. I mean, who was the playoff scenario guy forever, you know, into mid-December where they were two games below 500, and I was giving you ways that they could get the final wild card spot. I was always the...

You were the guy that didn't stop talking playoffs until the last snap of the last opportunity to make those playoffs. Right. Even when they were actually mathematically eliminated, there were years that I was still trying to figure out how to get them in. Now, I will totally admit that I haven't been that same person in recent years, and I'm definitely not that person this year. And the reason is we're watching a bad football team. I mean, period.

There's no other way to describe this football team. And if you watched last night, the Monday night, game. You know, the only decent offensive game that the Chiefs have had in the last month was at FedEx Field a couple of weeks ago. They struggled to score 20 against the Giants. They only scored three last week against the Titans, and they hung 31 and 500 yards on Washington. And I know that we said after the game, God, man, the defense actually, I think, I think it wasn't terrible. But they gave up 31 points and 500 yards to a team that really is a struggling offensive and defensive football team. The Chiefs are four and four, but if you watched last night, you really,

for the first time, if you're a Chiefs fan, you probably were alarmed. I mean, they lost to the Titans last week, you know, with Derek Henry. Boy, what a blow that is to the Titans, although Adrian Peterson's back in the league. But the Giants very easily could have won the game last night at Arrowhead in front of a packed house and a raucous house. And the Giants didn't even play that well. No, Rick, it's a bad football team and it is a bad defense. And they didn't play a good defensive game on Sunday. I'm sorry. I talked about this during the podcast. I think considering what the opposition was and how the opposition had been playing, when you give up another 53% on third down and you allow that team to get into your territory five out of seven drives.

And literally you had to rely on the quarterback tripping over his center. Their kicker also missing a field goal and a bunch of penalties on the opening drive that knocked him out of scoring range. No, it was not a good defensive game. I mentioned a couple of good defensive performances. You know, I thought that John Allen was once again, you know, stellar. I think he's been, he and Terry McLorn have. been the best two players on the team. I'm not even sure it's close really this year. I thought

Landon Collins had his best game. I mentioned that I thought Kendall Fuller at times, I thought, looked more like Kendall Fuller or the Kendall Fuller that we've seen this year. Other than that, no, it was not a good defensive game. It's not a good defensive team. They're terrible on defense. And offensively, I actually agree with some of the stuff Ron Rivera said yesterday, which we will get to. The bottom line is you can move the football all you want, and I would rather have my team be able to move the football than not move the football. Okay, I understand the difference,

but they still have a kicker that can't, you know, kick. He's had three blocked kicks, and, you know, they really struggled in the red zone, although, you know, Nikki Javala put this out yesterday because I was actually thinking about going back and looking at all of the red zone trips this year. But she put out this tweet, and she said in the first six games, Washington scored on 21 of its 24 trips inside the opponent's 30 yard line. In the last two games, Washington's only scored on two of 12 trips inside the 30.

In those 10 missed opportunities, three blocked field goals, two interceptions, and five turnovers on downs. Well, maybe Ron is really conflicted here because they can't make fourth downs and they can't kick field goals. but they are driving inside the other teams 30 and many times inside the other teams 20, aka the Red Zone, a lot. But no, this is not, this is a top heavy NFC. You got that right, Rick. I mean, and I do agree with you that it's very possible in the NFC that someone will snag that seventh playoff spot with a record that's going to be right around, you know,

8, 9, 9, and 8. I definitely see that coming. Right now the seventh spot is held down if you were to end the season today by the Carolina Panthers at four and four. And I don't think anybody would suggest that Carolinas, I think they're very good defensively. But yeah, you're going to have that. You're going to have a race to get to probably nine wins for the seventh spot, but the race could be to eight wins. But Washington only has two. And the two teams that are also in the NFC East besides the Cowboys.

They're both better than Washington. Yes, the Eagles and the Giants. They're both better teams. Yes, they are. I mean, by the time Washington... They're more likely to sneak in as that losing record wild card than Washington. Well, Philadelphia, for sure. I think I talked about this on the podcast yesterday.

If not, I did it on radio yesterday. The Eagles, look, they were before the season started. They were a team that I sort of liked. I just liked their roster. I didn't know anything about the coaching staff. They had a lot of injuries early in the year. And they lost to the Cowboys, the Chiefs and the 49ers when the 49ers were still healthy. They've also lost games to the Bucks and the Raiders.

Games they were actually not in. The Bucks game, they were actually in that game. And their wins aren't impressive. of the Falcons, Panthers, and Lions. But as they're getting a little bit healthier, I'm going to be interested to see if they're, if they move anybody here at the trade deadline today. But I mentioned this yesterday on the radio show.

The Eagles play in their final, they're three and five. In their final nine games, they have games against the Broncos, the Giants, the Jets, the Giants twice, Washington twice, the Jets. And then they also have a game against the Cowboys in the very final game of the year, a game that maybe Dallas isn't really playing for anything. The Eagles, much more so than Washington or the Giants, would be the team capable of getting to eight. They're the closest to eight at three and five. If you think Washington, seriously, at two and six, is going to win six of

its final nine games, I can't help you. They're not. They're not going to win six of their final nine games. First of all, look at who they're playing. Going six and three, I don't think they'll go three and six, but three and six you could at least point to, okay, maybe the Panthers, maybe the Seahawks if Russell Wilson isn't healthy, maybe the Giants, maybe the Eagles once and you could go four and five over the last nine to get to six and eleven. No, this is a team headed for a four or five win season. They're a bad football team, Rick. But thank you for glass half full.

That used to be my role. That used to be my role. And Tom, I missed that role. But I don't have it in me to play that role anymore. I don't have to. What I used to say when I go on the radio, I'd say, you know, I could come in here and take my stupid pill before I go on the air and say, yeah, they're going to make the playoffs.

They got a shot. But if I don't take the stupid pill, I just can't do that. Tommy, it would be like, look, it would be like, like, when I was playing that role of playoff scenario guy at the end of the year, that was, you know, my initial, I was taking those roles. You know, I wasn't a star yet. And I was taking those roles and I was in an off-Broadway, you know, a run of something you've never even heard of.

I did a couple of bit TV roles. But now I'm a big movie star. I can't play those roles anymore. Absolutely. Seriously, though. I mean, I haven't had that kind of energy on the, you know, one of the things I've referred to in recent years, that the playoff machine, that ESPN typically introduces sometime in November. It's a cool thing where you go through and you play out the rest of the season,

and it formulates with all the tiebreakers how the playoff thing will end. I play around with that thing, but I don't play around. around with that thing recently as it relates to Washington. I think last year I did with the division. That's not true. I did it last year. But no, they're a bad football team. They're legitimately bad. And they are not going to win, in my opinion, they're not going to win more than five games. They might win three more. Might. By the way, with the trade deadline looming today in the NFL trade deadline in you know over the like the last five to 10 years maybe remember it used to be a nothing nothing day it's never been what baseball's trade deadlines been or basketball's

trade deadline has been but in recent years there have been bigger deals and yesterday I mean there was a massive deal I mean the ram sent a second and a third to Denver Denver for von Miller which obviously is why von Miller did not play on Sunday against Washington because they knew this was in the works. The Rams are really interesting. They just go for it. They don't care about draft choices. And they also have the advantage, too, of having a good enough team that always seems like it's on the doorstep and, you know, adding Jalen Ramsey or adding this guy or that guy, and adding, I mean, adding Von Miller to a defense with Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. And they got the quarterback. Who was it? Booker McFarland said last night, they have the, of the

They have the top five, I get what he described them, past rushing impact players in the league right now. They have two to top five, in Von Miller and Aaron Donald. Well, you could argue, I mean, they have the best defensive player in the league. I don't think anybody would debate that. I think some people even think Aaron Donald might be the second or third best player in the league. But they have the best defensive player in the league in Aaron Donald. and they have one of the better playmaking corners in Jalen Ramsey. They have the guy Sebastian Joseph Day, who I actually really like.

They have good players, Jordan Fuller, and now they've added Von Miller to the mix to go with Leonard Floyd. So, yeah, they have the quarterback. And what they don't have this year is in Cam Acres, they really thought they had the back. And they've struggled with the running back situation this year. but because they lost Cam Acres, and then they also lost for you Maryland fans if you didn't see this. Jake Funk who Sean McVey kept as a seventh round pick and really liked him. He's been on injured reserve now. I don't know what his injury is.

But anyway, the Rams are really good. And the trade deadline, this is what I was going to get to. Ben Standing did report yesterday that Washington has made it clear that Landon Collins is available. I just don't know about that contract, and if anybody's going to deal for it, let alone the player. Now, the player is a linebacker more than he is a safety. And I think it's becoming more apparent to people. I think these trade deadlines, I think the conversation about Washington doesn't have any players that anybody else would want. Or even if they did, what are you going to really get for, you know, Tim Settle? Or what are you really going to get for Brandon Sheriff at this point?

Or or J.D. McKissick or Landon Collins. I have no idea, to be honest with you. I'm always surprised by trade compensation, Tommy. I'm always surprised. I think it's the one of the things. One of the things, that we talk about that we know the least amount. It, you know, it's in the eye of the beholder, and obviously there is, you know, there is precedent and there's history, and but really it comes down to how desperate the buyer is and how willing the seller is. And somebody who looks terrible to you on your own team might be the perfect fit for somebody else on another team.

So I don't know if they'll be, I suggested yesterday that they should, be trying to be an active seller for anybody that's not going to be on this team next year. To me, that's obvious. Now, whether or not they'll be successful in doing it or whether or not they're even interested in doing it, I have no idea. Yeah, I don't know at this point. It was ironic that Landon Collins appeared to have his best game on Sunday. And, I mean, who was the analyst? Was it Moose Johnson? No, Mark Schlerth. Mark Schleroth, yeah. Mark Schleret. He kept plotting over how unsettles.

selfish landing Collins was to change positions when all he did was bitch about it to anyone who would listen. Yeah. Yeah, he, he said, you know, he bitched, but he didn't bitch like in a real, like I'm not doing this. He just let everybody to believe that, hey, I believe I'm a safety. That's what I do. Well, what was his option? He didn't have one. Yeah. So let's not pin a trophy on him. give him a trophy for being so selfless here. Right. Adrian Peterson's back in the league for Derek Henry.

I'm upset that Derek Henry got hurt. I love him as a player. He was in the MVP conversation. It's fun to watch him play. There's a chance, I guess, he could be back at the end of the year. So, you know, Adrian Peterson must still be in phenomenal shape. And I would promise you, Tommy, I think I would promise you, that he could certainly use the money.

Yes. Do you know that he is only 449 yards away from the number four position on the all-time rushing list? He's currently in fifth by himself. And nobody who is current in the league is really anywhere near that level. We just haven't seen rushers like we used to see. So I think these numbers, you know, career numbers, are going to stick forever when it comes to rushers. I don't know if we've had this conversation before,

but the 17th game, I guess, will be, you know, a factor. But Derek Henry was the one guy. Derek Henry's lead, rushing lead is like over 300 yards. You know? Yeah, look, there's certain records in all sports because of the way sports have evolved are going to stand forever. Like in basketball rebounding records are not likely to be broken from years before. In baseball, complete games, wins, you know, amount of wins, those records are going to stand

because of the way the games have changed. And with the running backs, I think most of the running back records, I mean, Adrian Peterson will be an outlier. Right now, right now, because Frank Gore, is not playing anymore. Active players on the rushing list. Now Adrian Peterson, you know, is on it. Other than that, you know, a guy like Marshawn Lynch, Lashon McCoy, neither of whom is on a roster this year and are out of the league, Marshawn Lynch for good. You've got to go all the way down to number 55 on the list to find Mark Ingram in terms of an active player. This is on the all-time

rushing list, rushing yards list. And then Zeke Elliott has climbed all the way up to 65 already through, you know, five and a half years of his career. Then you get to Derek Henry at number 71. Now, Henry, if he had another three or four, three years at, you know, close to 2,000 yards per year because he was on pace for that, well, now he is, you know, puts himself into the top 10, you know, area. Adrian Peterson.

Emmett Smith is one, Walter Patens 2, Frank Gore is 3 on the all-time rushing yards list. By the way, I would not have guessed that until I looked it up earlier this morning when I was looking at the Adrian Peterson thing. Barry Sanders is 4. Adrian Peterson is 5. You know, Frank Gore being number 3 on the list, makes him a lock hall of famer. And I'm not suggesting that he wasn't anyway, because I think he was. But, you know, like Curtis Martin is number 6. and Curtis Martin is in the Hall of Fame.

And when Curtis Martin retired, I remember thinking to myself, I don't view Curtis Martin as a Hall of Famer. I didn't. I didn't think personally, Jerome Bettis, who was number eight on that list, was a Hall of Fame player in watching him.

You know, just I remember having that debate with you and other people as well. The only players in the top 20 right now who aren't in the Hall of Fame and probably won't be in the Hall of Fame. Or Stephen Jackson and Fred Taylor. They're at 17 and 18. I guess a case can be made for Stephen Jackson. Do you know, Riggins is still in the top, is still in the top 20, all-time rushers.

She's at 19. That's pretty good for a guy who hasn't played in, what, 35 years? Yeah, exactly, 35 years. And a guy who, you know, essentially was a fullback for a couple of years for George Allen. You know? So, you know, blocking for Mike Thomas. So anyway.

Okay. There you go. Adrian Peterson's back in the league. Adrian Peterson, if he's in shape, should be a good fit for Tennessee. A really good fit for Tennessee. I was surprised the Ravens didn't pick him up when they were looking for running back. Yeah. That surprised me.

Yeah. They went in a different direction. They've certainly tried a lot of running backs the Ravens have, and I think that Leveon Bell actually had a touchdown last or two weeks ago when they played. And so did Latavius Murray. I mean, they've just continued to go through backs. Okay.

I want to get to some of the Ron Rivera quotes from yesterday. Why don't we do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors? This segment of the show is presented by MyBooky. When I gamble, I'm always looking for a way to gain an edge. But at My Booky, they double your first deposit. So you're already a leg up. That's the thing about gambling, Tommy.

It's like you're always looking for that edge. People have systems. By the way, I have to stop for one moment because I will read the rest of this MyBooky read, which you guys have heard me do for a couple of years now. I was having a conversation with Scott last night, and we were talking about some of the bets that we both had over the weekend and who we liked early in the week here for the games upcoming this weekend. And he starts to tell me a story about some dude that's just been insufferable. He's new to gambling because it's legal and he's got a system. And I said, did you tell him about systems?

And he said, yeah, I tried to tell him that there's nobody's got a system, dude. You can have theories and stuff, but nobody's got a system that actually wins. But you know what? The conversation morphed into. The legalization of sports betting, Tommy, has made betting for people who have been doing it for years like me. It's made it less interesting. I think there was this factor for many years about betting illegally that made it kind of cool. Not that it was taboo or anything like that, but you know, if you were one of those people

that bet sports and had a bookie, you know, and those were conversations you could have, and most people didn't. And now everybody does. And God bless them. But, you know, the worst part about everybody that's never bet before and haven't had access to betting is they all think that they're actually going to turn this into like a job. You know, it's the thing that Ted Leonis is sort of preached, you know, with analytics and with data. And with all these smart guys that I know, I mean, people are going to really now that have access to it, they're really going to take down the house. No, they're not. They're not going to take the house down.

And part of me, this is crazy. And I'm talking about this during the My Bookie read, which I want you to sign up at MyBooky and use my promo code, Kevin D.C., because they're going to give you a chance to win from the jump by doubling. your first deposit. Okay? So if you're going to bet, do it through MyBooky because you're going to get your first deposit doubled. And by the way, if you've got good friends and you've got buddies that are looking for a referral link, you can benefit from them signing up with an additional 250% bonus off

of their first deposit. Anyway, here's the thing, Tommy. You know, gambling, and this is going to sound so hypocritical, it's not for everybody, and it's not something that, you know, comes without risks. Gambling has ruined many, many lives. It is a sickness if you are addicted. It is an addiction if you're addicted to gambling, and it can turn really ugly. And I think one of the things about this legalization, of sports betting over the last, you know, couple of years and the proliferation of not online

books like My Bookie, but more the information services like, hey, sign up with us, pay us this, and we're going to give you some four and five star selections. Like the tout business is back, but it's like, you know, they're trying to make it look like they've got information that can really help you. Just be careful. Be careful. If you have an addictive personality and this has never been your Jones, your rush, it's no different than any of the other things that you've gotten involved in. It can lead you into trouble. Okay, listen, you've got to save this for Thursday night for the class that we're teaching that you're going to speak to. I know, I'm looking forward to that.

Okay. Make sure you remember this. This is good. Do you think I'm being a total hypocrite? No, I understand. Look, everyone wants to be bogey in one of those movies. You know, you want to be the tough guy in the movies that's got a bookie, you know, that's got a dame, a doll, and a dish, you know? You want to, everyone wants to be those guys. Listen, I watch those movies so I can think I'm one of those guys. Yeah.

Absolutely. So, I mean, being a bookie, there's a walk on the wild side kind of feel. It's the same thing I go into the track. Oh, yeah. You tell people that you go to the track and they have this image of you that's not sitting in a church pew, you know, praying. Yeah, yeah, I went to the track a lot when I was younger. So, yeah, there's a certain persona that, there's a persona that comes with it that, I mean, I mean, most guys would embrace.

Yes, you know, I know I've said this before. So having three boys, and by the way, making sure that they really understand, because two of the three are big sports fans. And, you know, they are dabbling in the world of betting on sports or, you know, at least talking about it. But I have sat down with them and I've told them just so you understand. You don't do this unless you can afford to pay. what you lose. And number two, for both of you, you can't afford to pay what you lose right now.

And you are going to lose. You know, it is an absolute fact that you are, if you do this and you do it regularly, you are going to lose. So it's an entertainment thing. And people, it's like when I, when I used to go to Vegas, I would say, all right, I'm bringing X amount. And once I lose that X amount, that's it. This is my entertainment budget. Now, I'm not suggesting that I lived up to that budget and stuck to it every single time, because I definitely at various times in my life, had an issue with this. I know what it's like to be down an amount of money that you are really, really concerned about. Most of this happened when I was much younger.

But these are the things that, you know, I kind of am, it's not that I'm repulsed, but I think with people who know better, like, you know, we've talked about, Ace Rothstein, Leonis. I think he knows better. I think he knows that this is not going to be healthy for a lot of people. It's going to wreck a lot of lives. It doesn't mean that I don't think it should be legal. I absolutely think it should be legal and I think they should tax it and everything else. And I feel the same way about marijuana and have for years. But there just isn't enough warning out there right now. And I've been, you know, I've been to the school of hard knocks on this. And a lot of you have as well.

And I think many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And some of you are probably saying, oh my God, she and all he does is talk about gambling. And then, by the way, promote gambling. And I understand that too. But we have to be able to pay for this podcast. And I do love the people at my bookie. They're great. And just so you know, if you're going to do this, you want to do.

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Tell me about your column and tell everybody else about your column. I loved it. Okay. Well, I wrote a column off the game on Sunday. It's a Monday for Tuesday column. And I sort of made a pledge to myself. I mean, not that it's hard and fast, but if they lose a game,

the last thing I'm going to write about is the game, because it really is irrelevant. I mean, what they did on Sunday, to me, if they lose, if they win, that's a different story, because they're so rare, then I'll write about what they did. but if they lose on Sunday, I'm writing about something bigger than the game. I mean, and I'm connecting. I'm not going to let go with this bone about the dysfunction of this team

and the mess that they continue to be. I don't see how you can ignore it through pretty much anything you write about this team anymore. So I'm committed to always tie in what's going on to what happened on the field. So I barely mention the fact that they lost on. on Sunday to Denver. But I tie it in with it was just one more example of bad decisions, bad offense, bad outcomes, and tie it into, you know,

I might, I mean, the Chacom starts off saying, if the football alone was it, that would be bad enough. No, it's like if fans just had to suffer through bad football for 22 years, that would be enough of a burden to carry.

but the football is almost secondary now to the off-the-field disgrace and embarrassments that have continued with this organization. So, I mean, the pain is double for this fan base. And I came to the conclusion that right now, at least the feeling I get from the fans I interact with on social media is they're driven more by their discussion. for this team than their love for this team. They load them more than they like them. And anything they do right now, which will include, you know, coming up with a new name for the team,

they'll hate. You know, because this team did it. If they did it, it must be bad. You know, that's the way to fans are reacting these days. I just think that the team earned no benefit of the doubt, and I think this is going to trickle down to whenever they come up, announce a new name of the team.

I mean, people, there will be a segment of the population that won't like one of the names, no matter what, but I think everybody's going to hate the new name because everybody is lining up to hate everything about this team. And I don't feel sorry for them because they put themselves in this place. So that's the column. The name change, they'll get no cover from that. None. No soul from that.

Nope. in fact i mean i wonder if they're reconsidering um the timing on announcing it um it's it's funny because ben um was on the podcast yesterday and he said you know i don't even think the conversation right now is about the games themselves and i opened the podcast yesterday and kind of talking about here we are again you know another rock bottom and this it's really not about the games the rest of the way. I also, as you were, you know, as you were talking and I read your column right before we started the show today, I think you and I did this together, and I'm not suggesting we were the first to do it, but I remember we did a call segment during one of those rock bottom moments. By the way,

I outlined my rock bottom moments. You want to hear them real quickly? Yes. Okay, so I identified four previous rock bottoms because I'm suggesting that we're nearing rock bottom again, which would be rock bottom number five. Rock bottom number one was the end of the spurious era. It wasn't the Marty thing. We didn't know enough at that point. It was the end of the spurrier era where he was bundled up in the rain against the Cowboys as and didn't have anything to do with that game and then you know, said five and 11 not too good. That was rock bottom number one. Rock bottom number two was the end of the Zorn era when Shirm Lewis was the bingo caller and the play caller and Zorn hung out with us as he was told to comply.

Rock bottom number three was the end of 2013 with all the leaks, the Shanahan leaks, the owner picking an immature quarterback over a locker room and a coaching staff. And by the way, a coaching staff with three future NFL coaches on it that knew better. But the owner, you know, was so enamored with Robert Griffin III that he said, no, no, you guys get out. I'm keeping him. Rock bottom number four, I identified more as less of a moment and more of what I referred to a rock bottom mini era. It was the end of 2017 through the summer of 2020. It was a three-year run of embarrassment on the field and off of it.

You know, it started with the handling of my guys, you know, two franchise tags and he ends up leaving and essentially they get nothing back for them. quarterback's start breaking legs. The results on the field are awful, but Bruce tells you that they're winning off the field. Trent Williams and others just want out of here. A coach gets fired in Gruden midseason. The franchise becomes a total embarrassment because of past transgressions and, by the way, current ones. And the team loses its name in process, too. So basically, from the end of the 2017 season to the summer of 20,

2020, that was rock bottom number four. Now, there was a little bit of a bounce last year off rock bottom number four, but now we're right back in rock bottom. And so that is my rock bottom of the Snyder era. We are approaching rock bottom number five. Do you think I missed any? I don't know. I get so exhausted trying to keep track of them.

I mean, it really is. It's an exhausting process. I mean, I left out stuff in my column from the last three weeks. Right. You know, I forget about stuff. You know, the Washington Post hush money story. Right. I left that out.

Right. I just forget about stuff. It's all, I agree. I had, the other day, I had to write all of them down just to, and then I was checking with Brendan and my producer, I'm like, have I missed any, like, what am I missing? He goes, the Sean Taylor thing. I'm like, of course. the Sean Taylor thing.

Yeah, because it's DEA agents and hush money and congressional inquiries. It's just, you can't keep track of all of it. And in the meantime, on the field, they're getting their ass kicked on a weekly basis. But I want to. And again, I mean, like I said, the football alone would be enough pain for a fan base. I mean, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's indescribable. It's not ascribable. So, I mean, if they win, I'll write about what they did on the field.

If they lose, then what happens on the field means nothing. So what I wanted to say was that I think you and I were the first one to do this. And I remember it was a call segment. I don't know if you will remember this. But it was during one of those rock bottom moments. Maybe it was 2013. It was probably 2013. And we did a call segment.

Are you actually now rooting against them? Because it was more in line with, are you actually rooting against them now just so somehow it ends up with Snyder, you know, deciding he wants out? And it was, you know, it wasn't well received. But I did write down for tomorrow's radio show. Are you rooting for against or do you just don't care anymore either way?

because I sense like you do that a lot of people are rooting against them now. And that's not fair to the current players of the current coaches who have nothing to do with the coach. It's not fair. But it comes with the territory. I've always said that. You know, you talk about the Super Bowl trophies and the rich tradition. you get the bad times that come with it as well. But I point that on my column, fair or unfair, it's piling on time.

It is piling on time. But we've been through the piling on times before in the other rock bottom moments. I mean, it's not like none of this is new. The only thing that is new is it's really been a lot, a lot of the off-field stuff. I mean, we've got Congress looking into this. We have other people. Tommy, I said this the other day on the podcast with Ben maybe. Or I think it was Ben.

Maybe it was you. I got a little bit frustrated on Friday as I read. Did I read the Andrew Brandt tweet to you? No, it wasn't with you on Thursday. You haven't heard me talk about this. So Sage Rosenfels. You remember Sage Rosenfels, right? Oh, yeah.

So Sage Rosenfels was actually drafted by the Washington football team, by the Washington Redskins in 2001 by Marty Schottenheimer. And so anyway, to make a long story short, somebody sent me this retweet from Rosenfels last week. and I'm looking for it right now because I want to be able to quote it perfectly and I will find it here in a second, I promise you.

So hold on I've tweeted more in recent days yeah, that Michigan game on Saturday was terrible. Okay, here it is. So Andrew Brandt tweeted out that on his podcast he had the attorney

for the former Washington football team employees. And a few of these women reached out to talk to him as well, and he was doing a podcast with that. So Sage Rosenfels retweeted Andrew Brandt. By the way, I like Andrew a lot. I've had him on the podcast a lot. I respect the hell out of him. I think he's really smart.

He's a longtime executive in the league. And I think he was on the podcast just a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, Sage Rosenfels retweeted Andrew Brandt's tweet and said, Andrew Brandt is doing work others won't touch. And I just, you know, this, and for whatever reason, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Not personally, but we have a market here. Again, I respect Andrew a lot. We have a DC media market, and by the way, a fan base that has been living, reporting, debating, interviewing, this day-to-day nightmare for 22 years.

and what happens when DEA and everything comes together in like a real condensed period of time, you get people from outside the market that say, whoa, that Snyder's a really bad owner. Oh, really? We didn't know that. We had no idea. We've just been sitting here on our hands talking about, you know, the possibility of what did Rick say in his email, about making a run because the last playoff spot. available for us.

Come on, man. People parachute in. Yes. You know, they're the first ones to discover this. Yeah. Yeah, but you know what? It made me. We went through this with the RG3 stuff.

No doubt. And what's the dude's name on ESPN that pissed me off? And then I invited him on the show and he wouldn't come on the show. What's the black guy who does a show on ESPN? I don't even know if he does a show on ESPN. Bommon. Bommani, Bommani Jones. Yeah, he suggested that the D.C. media was racist for their coverage.

Right. And then when we asked him to come on the show to talk about it, he refused. He refused because I said to him, I said, really, I said, do you know that in 1988, this entire city, 8788, wanted Jay Schrader traded and wanted Doug Williams as the starter. And that would be in a less evolved society in 1987. No, this town has never been that town. This town only cares about its football team or did about its football team winning, which, you know, he of course didn't respond to. And then I said, why don't you come on the show and talk about it with us?

And he refused to. But whatever. Look, I guarantee you we helicopter into other markets in situations and start weighing in on things that we haven't been living day to day that probably people in those markets say, oh, thanks, thanks for joining us. But, you know, people like, you know, I mean, there have been multiple shows in the market

that have had these attorneys on. I had Lisa Banks on or whichever one, banks or cats, you know, back in July of 2020 on the radio show. Chris and Pete on 980 had, you know, two of the women and one of the attorneys on just last week. We've been living this thing. And by the way, we know much more about this thing than anybody else does. No offense to even Andrew, who probably is very familiar with a lot of the parties.

Anyway, yeah, they just, they descend on and they're like, man, I mean, how many times in the last couple of weeks have you read somebody outside the market saying, man, that situation in Washington, man, it just never seems to get better. That owner really is. He's really got to go. Thank you for that. Appreciate that. All right. Let me get to these Rivera quotes.

So before we get to like the money quote, I guess, or the money soundbite yesterday, I'm going to read them because I was unable to get access to copies of them. But that was my fault today. Who cares? We'll read them. It'll be fine. But he did say that Taylor Heineke is going to start at quarterback, which I was a bit surprised at, to be honest with you, not totally, because I told you last week that I was starting

to think that maybe Heineckee was going to continue, but I was surprised that he said it so quickly, you know, because it wasn't a great performance by Taylor Heineke, and it wasn't a great performance by the offense, and they lost the game. And I thought, after the game, I thought, well, maybe Tommy's going to be right. Maybe Kyle Allen will start. And I thought the same thing a week ago. And then when I heard Rivera, you know, mentioned things like leadership with Heineke, I sort of backed off it a little bit. But he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, said, Taylor Heineke's going to be the starting quarterback when we come off this by week.

Yeah. I was disappointed because I so wanted to be right on this. Because this was my you heard it here first prediction before the season started. Right. That Kyle Allen would be the starter named the starter during the bye week. You know, so I really wanted this one. But I'm not going to let go to this bone yet, even though I'm probably off base on this. I'll admit I may be off base on this.

I don't know that you are totally. I think he could change his mind between now and next week. But go ahead. Well, here's the thing. If you did want to make the change and you did want to give Kyle Allen the chance to play, what game would be better for that to happen? I know, not the Tampa game. Before the home crowd against the defending Super Bowl champions,

or on the road against Carolina, the team he played for? Yeah, I guess that could be part of it, but I don't know that they would think about it that way. Because there's this two-week period to really get him, you know, into that position. I don't think Kyle Allen, I think part of the allure of Kyle Allen is I don't think he needs very much time to be ready to run this offense the way they want it. That's part of the reason they like him. Yeah. So I don't think the two weeks is really an attraction for Kyle Allen. I mean, but if you put them out there in front of the limited home crowd to get beaten up by the Tampa Bay Bucks,

then, you know, then he's damaged goods already. You put them out there on the road against Carolina, and maybe they, Carolina is a winnable game. I mean, you know, I don't think they're going to beat them, but it is a winnable game, and he winds up getting a win against Carolina. Then when they come back, you know, he's the winning quarterback. It's a stretch, but I think it's possible. You know, he kind of said that it ain't happening yesterday because the difference between the way he answered that

and the way he answered the question about the kicker were different. He said, Taylor Heineke's going to be our starting quarterback. And then when it came to, you know, I think it was David Aldridge saying, is Chris Blewett going to be the kicker moving forward? He said, for now, you know, so that, you know, as of today, he is our kicker. Like, I don't think he's going to be the kicker. There were a couple of other things. First of all, I just wanted to mention one thing real quickly.

He was asked about the offense, and he said, we're moving the ball between the 20s. That we've done, but it's that red zone we've got to get corrected. There's some things we'll look at. We'll evaluate everything from the quarterback's reeds to the protections, to the runs, to the route combinations, yada, yada. And then he says, I'm not disappointed in the yardage production. Obviously, I'm disappointed that we haven't put up more points because I think we're capable of it. And then he talks about some of the players that he could be getting back, like having Logan Thomas back or having Curtis Samuel on the field or, you know, will help with Diami Brown being on the field or, et cetera. You know, because they have all of a sudden had, you know, over the last couple of weeks, a massive number of offensive injuries, which, by the way, is a bit of an indictment on the defense, which has remained relatively healthy all year and really sucks.

but you know other than losing john bostic and and jackson for for a couple of games um but anyway um this is one of those things that personally i if if i were advising him i would have said we don't like where we are we scored you know we've scored 20 points in the last two games we have to score more points he said there's some things and some players who are playing well and there's some that aren't and we've got to really you know put this thing together but at the same time i don't Because I think when you say we're moving the ball between the 20s, you know, I'm not disappointed in the yardage production. We've got a smart enough fan base that says, who cares, dude?

Yeah. You scored 20 points in the last two weeks. And if you go back to the KC game, it's 33 points in three games. But that's not the way I... Well, his MO is not to stand up there and say we stink. I know. It's not going to happen. But I think there's a way to do it without, you know, opening up this can of

worms because I know how a lot of people think. I mean, I talk to these people all the time, take calls. Some of my friends are like, I don't see the nuance. I don't see that, you know, this is black and white business. You know, you've got to score points. I mean, if you're not scoring points, you're a terrible offense. Well, I see it differently. I do recognize that they've been moving the football. And I talked about this on Sunday. I actually think Scott Turner had a decent day on Sunday. I thought he called a pretty good game. There were a couple calls I didn't like. I didn't like the fourth and one, but really the execution. was poor. You know, the quarterback needs to get the ball out quicker. And I went back and watched

that play for those of you who said he was never going to make it anyway. And you've got a reasonable position, but I think there's a chance he would have made it had the throw come out quickly and been on target. But anyway, you know, he's had three missed field goals. I mean, you had a quarterback that, you know, basically gave himself up at the half yard line and then they couldn't get in on fourth and one. And so there have been a lot of these circumstances. Let me just make this clear, and I think most of you would agree. If my team, if I have the choice of having a team that moves the football and scores 10 points

or doesn't move the football and scores 10 points, I'll take the team that moves the football in scores 10 points. They moved the football. They were in Denver territory seven of their eight offensive possessions. they, you know, they were a pro, if they continue to knock on that door, they're going to score more points unless, you know, the kicker is just horrendous and they keep missing on fourth door down. Like Nikki wrote, and I read this earlier, its first six games, they were 21 of 24 on trips inside the opponent's 30 yard line in terms of scoring. So this has been a two game thing and, you know, maybe a three game thing because Hopkins missed the 42-yarder. The point is, I do think on offense, they're doing some good things.

I think that they've got some weapons. Like, J.D. McKissick's a good player. The backs are all good. And, you know, if they do get Curtis Samuel back, who the hell knows, and they are a little bit healthier. Terry McCorn hasn't been healthy. Antonio Gibson hasn't been healthy. And now you've got offensive linemen that are going to be out.

But I think this is the reason, Tommy, that he's going to stick with Heineke, because he and Scott are like, look, he may be a backup quarterback, but we're moving the football. And we're just getting a little bit unlucky here. I mean, we've had a kicker have three kicks blocked. We had a quarterback give himself up. We had a quarterback that hasn't executed, by the way. He's made some bad plays. He dropped a snap, which led to a sack, which cost him three points.

You know, he held onto the ball too long in the red zone the other day on their next to last opportunity to tie the game and got sacked. but they're moving the football. So that's all I wanted to say. I mean, he's not the answer. I'm not suggesting that he's the answer. I'm just telling you that it's not a terrible offensive team. They're not an inept offensive team, even though the point totals would lead you to believe that.

You know, it's funny. Denver looked more inept offensively, even though they outscored them. Yeah, Denver had, though, moments. Denver moved the ball into Washington's territory on five of their seven drives. They converted seven of 13, and they allowed Teddy Bridgewater to get into rhythm for the first time in a month. He was five for five for 65 yards on that touchdown drive that gave him the 10 to three leads. And I didn't think Washington stopped the run very well either. So I think, like, you know, we talked about this on Thursday.

To me, this was Denver's get right game as much as it was Washington's. and Denver got to four and four. And then they traded Von Miller. Fortunately, Washington didn't have to face Von Miller. Anyway, more from Rivera. So Rivera also talked about the fan base. He was asked by, who is he asked this, by Scott Abraham from Channel 7? He was asked by Scott about how do you keep the fan base engaged?

And he said, well, last year was an interesting year. in the way things kind of evolved and happened for us. But I'll say that the truth of the matter is it gets darkest before it gets brightest. We're going to have to go through this. There's a thing that I've learned from being around military personnel is that it takes three to five years to completely change a culture. Futility doesn't just disappear overnight. To create a positive environment, it takes time.

It's just not going to happen overnight. night. So he then gets into, I'm not going to read the whole thing because God, man, this, I watch this Zoom presser. This was 24 minutes long the whole thing. It was a long one yesterday. He said, and there's something that you sit there and say, you know, he said, but the one thing right now that is, that really is probably the hardest, hardest thing for us to figure out is, do we have a franchise quarterback right now? Is that guy on the roster? Or, we, is that guy going to be in free agency? Is that guy going to be in the draft next year? So we've got to continue to work with what we have, continue to try and grow with what we have,

and try and develop who we have, because if we do have what we're looking for, then we can plug in a guy or a guy that does develop on our roster, then we're going to be fine. And whether the fan base stays engaged or not, it's going to be up to them. We just have to do the best we can, which, by the way, is the right way to handle that part of the answer. before we get to the three to five year thing, which got a lot of play yesterday, I just want to answer a couple of questions for him because he said them, as he stated, he asked the questions, do we have a franchise quarterback right now? No, you don't.

Is that guy on our roster? No, he isn't. Or is that guy going to be in free agency? He might be, but he probably won't want to come here. Is that guy going to be in the draft next year? I have no idea, but that's probably going to be your best route, because players that get drafted have to play for you. They don't have a choice.

Yes, they do. So getting those answers out of the way. Darkest before brightest, three to five years, you know, being around military personnel to completely change a culture. Futility doesn't just appear overnight. What did you make of those comments? Well, the three to five years, I mean, the five year mark, we've heard that, you know, on rebuilds from general managers, coaches, in a variety of sports. There's this magical five-year period where, you know, they all think that that's what it takes to flush out all the bad

and for you to accumulate enough good to make a difference in terms of personnel. I've heard this in baseball. There's something magical about. about that five-year mark. Look, it doesn't really, I mean, if we're at rock bottom with the fan base, you know, if it takes three to five years to change the culture,

then you could make the case that it's going to take three to five years once you change the culture to show the fans that you change the culture. That's a 10-year project then. Is that according to the military personnel, that it takes three to five years to change it, and then it takes three to five years for the public to realize that you've changed it? No, that's my theory.

That's my theory based on the idea that just winning, immediate winning, is not going to change a lot of minds when it comes to this football team. There's going to have to be consistent winning and consistent professionalism. So you've got to get to that point, and it's going to take three to five years to get to that point. Then you've got to sustain that in order to convince the fans that that's the new norm. You know, I mean, and the problem is at the fan base in the three to five year period. The problem is the owner. That's the problem is the owner sitting on his hands for five years.

That's not going to happen. If you look at the back of his football card, there's no indication that he's capable of that. That's Ron Rivera's problem with the three to five years scenario. You have to, and I said this from the day he was hired, he has to establish his credentials early, have early success. So when Snyder decides he wants to start screwing around with things, the coach could say, oh, no, no, no, no. I'm the guy that turned this franchise around. I'm the guy that's gotten us in the playoffs. I'm the guy that got us 11 wins.

Who do you think the fan base is going to side with you or me? Yeah. Yeah, I don't, you know. So a couple of things. Number one, he's been talking, people acted like this, you know, and maybe it was people outside the market, acted like this three to five-year military thing is like the first time he said it. It's like the 10th time he said it,

since he got hired. He has mentioned being around military personnel, it takes three to five years to completely change a culture every bit of 10 times, maybe a dozen or more. So that's not a new thing from him. Now, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and take him literally and that he's talking about the culture, okay, that it takes three to five years to basically change your culture, meaning you've got to get rid of all of the dead weight and you've got to bring in your people and your people have to be good people and they have to represent the organization in the way that you want it represented. And by the way, changing the culture of the football team is only half the battle, as we've

discussed. I mean, there's a whole other culture in the building that has been horrible as well. But, you know, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he was literally talking about changing the culture. But here's the thing. You know, rebuilds in the NFL just aren't a thing anymore, really. You know, he referred to the Buffalo situation. You know, he's referred in the past to, we're going to try to build everything,

get everything right and then go get our quarterback. Well, first of all, that's actually not how he's acted. He went out and tried to get Matt Stafford. You know, he offered Detroit a first and a third for Matt Stafford. So, you know, there's conflict, there's contradiction. And some of the things he has said, you know, like we're going to do like Buffalo did. We're going to get a good defense. We're going to get good offensive linemen and good skilled position players.

And then we're going to go get our quarterback as if there's a quarterback store that you go to. But the truth is that Buffalo, you know, landed on Josh. Allen. They had no idea. It's turned out that he's really good. And then, by the way, they added Stefan Diggs after they had had Josh Allen. So the Buffalo comp isn't a good one. And he's not building it that way because he's already talked. He's already tried to get the quarterback. He tried to get Matt Stafford. So, you know, listening to him say, we'll get the quarterback when the time is right. No, they tried to already go get the quarterback. Anyway, I'll take him in his word that it's about culture. There are no rebuilds in the NFL. It's not, it's not. It's not.

the way it works anymore. You know, you don't, you don't have a three to five year rebuilding plan in the NFL. The NFL is a new year. It's every year. It's a, it's a year to year league. And the bottom line is, if you don't have a quarterback, you really don't have much of a chance, you know, but every year, you've got free agency, you've got a draft, you've got trade opportunities, and there's such a fine line in this league between, you know, certainly between 22 and 27 teams or franchises that every year you can do enough to give you a chance in that year to be competitive or certainly to be competitive within two years. So that part, nobody's sitting around here, owner or anybody waiting for five years for

this football piece to be rebuilt. You can get it rebuilt overnight if with the third pick in the draft, they select Kenny Pickett from Pitt and he turns out to be Justin Herbert. you know and and you know by the way you can pursue both things simultaneously you can be trying to improve your football team drafting good players adding players via free agency that you know fit your scheme that you think are good players which is what they've been trying to do and also keep swinging for the quarterback um by the way with respect to the owner and the quarterback situation look there's high level macro Tommy the only things that really matter like this

to five culture, whatever. Right now, this franchise, if somebody said to you, so, who's your favorite team? It's Washington. Oh, I don't know anything about him. Tell me about your favorite football team. I would say three things. I would say, one, they have the worst owner in professional sports. Two, they don't have a quarterback in a sport that requires that you have one or you really can't win consistently. Those are the two biggest things. Like every other thing, talking about you know, whether or not Jamie Davis is the right, you know, first round pick or whether or not Antonio Gibson or Terry McLorne's top level back. None of that matters. They've got the worst owner in sports and they don't have a quarterback. Two massive strikes against them. And then, by the way,

what's being introduced into the conversation is that they may not have the right head coach. That's now a thing with a lot of people that are still talking about this team. So, yeah, tell me about the team. Yeah, they get the worst owner. They don't have a quarterback. in a sport that requires one, and they may not have the right head coach. All the other stuff is really, it's not as material. And with respect to the quarterback, back to that, because you mentioned the owner, one of the things Ron has to understand, or it's not going to work in his search for a quarterback while he's here, he's got to get the quarterback.

I'm glad to hear him say, you know, do we have a franchise quarterback? That's the hard thing. well, I think he knows he doesn't have a franchise quarterback, and he's got to go get one. But somebody's got to tell him, when you find the guy that you and Martin and Marty and everybody else fall in love with, you have to keep the owner away.

You've got to keep that guy that cozies up next to stark players, stark quarterbacks in particular, who, by the way, are 35 years younger than him, and you've got to keep him away from ruining it. You've got to keep him out of the quarterback decision-making process because if not, he'll tell you about a kid that played high school football at the school his son went to that he's enamored with and he thinks he's going to be the next star.

And all of a sudden, the football people are going to back off on draft day and you're going to end up picking that guy. And then not only are you going to have the wrong guy, but you're going to have to give up two second round picks to get back up into the first round, to take the guy you wanted Montez Sweat. So when you go searching in this offseason for that quarterback, especially if it's in the draft, if it's anywhere,

don't let him anywhere near any part of this operation. He will fuck the whole thing up. We have seen it with Griffin. We saw it with cousins because of the way he treated cousins. And we saw it with Dwayne Haskins. Like you've said many times when I have suggested before, you know, there is this feeling from people who are really close to the organization that he hasn't been as involved in the last 10 years or he certainly hasn't been in the building. But he didn't have to be. He did enough destruction with Griffin and with Haskins.

And by the way, with cousins as well. Because cousins with the way the owner originally treated him and then the way the team president treated him by not even pronouncing his name correctly. And then once Sean McVeigh left, he was out of here. So I hope Ron knows that Mr. Snyder and Mrs. Snyder, they will put their fingerprints on your football operation and on your most important position. And they'll fuck it up seven ways to Sunday. So if you're going to stick this thing out, you've got to stick it out with the people that know what they're doing and they're talking about.

And you've got to tell him, and by the way, I would refer to him as damn. because he is younger than you are. Dan, get the fuck out of this room. We are going to make the choice on the quarterback. And that's the threat of the whole quarterback thing, is that this asshole gets involved again and fucks it up for everybody. Seriously.

Yeah, that's a real threat. Absolutely. I hope Ron's got the stones when it comes time in this coming offseason. When they're interviewing and they're at the Indy Combine and they're interviewing Kenny Pickett, and they're interviewing Malik Willis, and they're interviewing Matt Corral and some of the other quarterbacks. I hope he's got the stones to tell the Snyders to stay the fuck away.

Seriously. Or it'll be messed up. I hope. But I don't have a lot of faith in that. Anyway, three to five years. He has said it before, and it does probably take three to five years. I don't even know if it takes that. long in a football operation, but there are no rebuilds in the NFL. That's just not a thing anymore.

You know, you think Sean McVeigh came into L.A. thinking about rebuild. I mean, they need to think aggressively when it comes to football. Go get the quarterback. Build everything else best you can, but go find the quarterback and hope you hit on them. And if you don't, you'll be like a lot of other teams that tried hard and didn't hit on them, but you got to try hard, like really hard. God, I'm so over this team. So tired. I'm getting so much angrier about, I mean, we've all known, you know, intellectually and, by the way, emotionally, how bad of a situation it is. But when he mentioned in this quote, you know, the hardest thing for us to figure out now is do we have a franchise quarterback?

I think he knows he doesn't have one. And he's got to figure out how to get one. Well, somebody better tell him you can find the guy, but the guy that owns the team that's potentially facing congressional inquiry and has run one of the most grotesque franchises in professional sports for 22 years, these are the things he loves to get involved in. And he hasn't gotten one of them right. Not one. Remember when they drafted it when he drafted Haskins? And I remember saying, because I was not a Haskins guy coming out of the draft, even though I did want to see him once they drafted him. And, you know, I did think in his rookie year there were a couple of signs there, but whatever. I remember saying, this could be Dan's finest moment. It has a chance to be if Haskins turns out to be the guy.

And he told all of his football people to go to hell. And that that's, who they were taking, it could be his finest moment. He may have saved the franchise. That would have been worse. I know, of course. That would have been worse. I mean, the comparable goes back to Peter Angelo, who a lot of people in Baltimore recognize as a comparable to Dan Snyder. Pat Gillick wanted to make trades in the middle of the 1996 season when they were out of the playoffs. And Angelo's Retiret. the trades, the trading deadline, and then he wound up making a playoff. So Angelo's was right.

And that was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Yeah, what if Dwayne right now in year three was just absolutely killing it? And the team was six and two. I mean, look, to be honest with you, the whole city would be going nuts. But you'd have to give Dan. He'd be on the sideline with a whistle. with bike shorts and a whistle around his neck. With the belt buckle and the knee-high socks.

Good God. What a total just. I just can't. It's amazing to me. Like, as we've been talking about the 30-year anniversary of the team here, and we do that on Wednesdays, it's just amazing to me.

If you had told me 30 years ago, you're not going to have much passion for the team 30 years from now. I'd say, this is, what are you talking about? This is like one of the most important things in my life. And I hadn't had kids at the kids at that point. But boy, it's just, it's amazing what he's done. Totally amazing. And every time he refers to him as Mr. Snyder, I think, you know, unfortunately, no disrespect

because I think Ron's a good man. He referred to David Tepper multiple times as David, just if anybody's wondering. He also referred to him as Mr. Tepper, but he also called him David. And I forget what David's first, what his wife's name was, but he referred to to her with the first name too. But the Snyders require that you, you know, call them Mr. and Mrs. I mean, just how ridiculous.

You talk about Napoleonic short man's complex. My God, does he have it? All right. There are a few more things we need to get to. We'll do so right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The World Series, game six tonight, and the Wizards lost last night. Those are the two subjects here to finish up the show.

You want to go first on the World Series? Well, you know, game six tonight back in Houston, Max Freed pitched very well last time out. The Astros have to make adjustments and not chase the slider and the curveball against Freed. And the Astros were starting Luis Garcia on short rest. You know, this is this is the postseason where nobody seems to have any rested pitching or pitching that they can count on. And pitching, it's just like a crapshoot, like a roulette wheel kind of thing. That said, I like Houston tonight back at home with the DH in game six.

I like it to go to a seventh game. Do you care that the football game Sunday night outrated World Seventh? series game five? I don't care. I know. I don't care. You know, it's just the way the world is now. Yeah, I know.

The NFL outreach everything. I hope. I really, I was hoping to see a seventh in deciding game, so I'm going to root for the asteros tonight. And I was, I told you before, I'm rooting for, for Dusty. I did watch a little bit of the Sunday night game because I was flipping between that and my my boyfriend, Kirk Cousins, who was playing and played by far in a way the worst game he's played this year. Oh, by the way, just as a

side note, NFL, something that I didn't mention yesterday, Randy Gregory for the Cowboys, is turning into an absolute monster. He is so good for them right now. He is an absolute unblockable player, and the Cowboy defense just has playmakers everywhere. But Randy Gregory, you know, who's been in trouble and, you know, I, I don't even know how many years he's been in the league now. It's got to be five or six, something like that. But he is, he really is the player that I think a lot of people thought he had the potential to be. He had a couple of bad penalties the other night.

He was the only thing that kept Minnesota, kind of in it in the final few stages. But wow, what a player. And Micah Parsons, the linebacker from Penn State that they drafted. And by the way, they traded back and still got him. he is developing into a phenomenal player. Anyway, I hope we see a game seven. I'll watch tonight. There's a lot of Macion going on.

A lot of college football in the Mid-American Conference. A lot of betting opportunities tonight. Triple-header. You get Ball State, not triple-header, but three games tonight, and then two more tomorrow night. You know what Maxion is, Tommy, don't you? Are you familiar with the term? Yeah.

Macon is the Mid-American Conference, and gamblers have referred to it as Macon for some. years now because they play a lot of their games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. So college football's played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but it's the Mid-American Conference that's done it, the Mac. So everybody calls these nights, Macian Nights. I don't know if I like anybody. So the last thing for the show today, the Wizards game last night, they lost to the Hawks. The Hawks got a little bit of revenge for the other night. The Wizards made a run.

They were down a bunch in the first half, made a run. They were down three. It was one of those games in sort of watching it where I just had a feeling. They just weren't right last night. The ball wasn't. They just didn't seem like they had. They didn't play well. And they were also against a Hawks team that was really into it.

But there were a couple of things from the game last night. The two teams combined to go 45 of 45 from the free throw line. I mentioned this on the radio show, and I didn't know if it was a record or not. not, but somebody, Sam sent this to me. It was only the fifth time in NBA history. Two opponents shot 100% from the free throw line with at least 16 makes apiece. So the 45 for 45 is just the fifth time that's ever happened. Pretty rare to see that.

The other thing real quickly is the Wizards were leading the league going into last night's game in free throw attempts per game. That's a good number to lead the league in. But free throws overall are way down because they're taking away. you probably know this, many of you, but the non-shot, real legit shot attempt to create the foul that sends you to the line, they're not calling those this year. You know, the James Harden stuff and the Durant stuff.

And so free throw attempts are way down, and a lot of the stars have complained about it. But the Wizards were leading the league in free throw attempts going into the game last night. Last thing from the game, Bradley Beale is off to a horrendous shooting start to this. season. Now, he is perfect from the free throw line, and I'm very happy about that because one of my complaints about Bradley Beale over the years is I always felt like he should be an 85% plus free throw shooter, and he wasn't until last year. And he ended up shooting 88.9% last year, and they worked with him. They got his arc. He had a very flat free throw stroke that was not like his jump shot, and they worked with him on it, and he was 88.9%. He's 100% this year in

free throws. I think he's 25 of 25 for the free throw. 24 or 24, excuse me. No, 25 of 25 on the season from the free throw line. So good for him. But he is shooting from the field 37.9% on the season. That would be a career low. And from the three point line, he is shooting 22.9%. He's hit on 11 of 48 from behind the arc. And I mean, he's also shooting like eight threes a game. So what's the explanation for it? Well, look, when you're a shooter, you just keep shooting them. If they're the right shots and they're the open shots, you keep shooting them. And Bradley Beale's got a great stroke.

They'll start to go down. He's not going to shoot 22.9% from behind the arc for the season. But I was looking at this really early this morning because I think that he has shot in more recent years, more of his threes off the dribble and more of them contested because I was wondering if his percentage of three-point shooting, because I think he's been more inconsistent as a three-point shooter in recent years. And I was right. I didn't realize what the numbers were.

But early in his career, he was a better percentage three-point shooter. Well, to me, and I don't know if this is the right answer or not, but this is my guess. When he played with John and he didn't have to handle the ball as much, he got a lot of catch and shoot. You know, catch, spot up, feet set, shot, three point shots that many times were uncontested. And man, what a stroke. He has a great stroke.

And he shot over 40% from behind the arc in three of his first five seasons. In his last four seasons, he hasn't been better than 37.5%. And this year, he's off to a 22.9%. And I think the reason is he's handling the ball a lot more. lot more of his threes more likely than not are coming off the dribble and are more contested. That would be my guess. And I think with Spencer Dinwiddie, he's going to have a chance to shoot more with sort of catching, squaring up, feet set behind the line, you know, like he did more with John. I think that that's going to be coming. But he's also averaging more

turnovers per game than he's averaged in his career in the first six. And I've watched a lot of them. And as I've always said, this is an area of the game which I wish he would really work on improving because they're rarely forced turnovers. I would say 60 to 70 percent of them tend to be unforced. But he'll come out of the shooting slump that he's in, no doubt. They play Toronto tomorrow night. But they're five and two. You know, if they had won last night, it would have been their best start in I think it's like 30-something years or something like that. Look, I mean, I always thought that Tommy Shepard had given the opportunity could build something that would be a good team. And he gets a lot of credit for managing to turn the John Wall contract into ultimately a team full of players that seem to play well together.

but I got to tell you something. You know, there's been a lot of talk early from the players about, you know, what a great tradition that there is here. What? You know, once they do that, they'll realize what a great place this is. And, you know, they've got a rich tradition. And this is all bullshit. Who said that?

I forget who it was. I'm looking for it right now. You don't know how good it can be when it's good here. I mean, you know, the Wizards, well, we've done this before. Look, I think they're fun to watch in the one game I saw them, even though they weren't very good. I still think they're fun to watch. And I give them a lot of credit for the start. But let's not make this out to be like they're just a bit removed from the glory days.

I mean, you know, there's only been two years when this team has won more than 50 games in a season since 1974, since they be, since 73, when they became the Capitol Bullets. Yeah. So only two years where they won more than 50 games, and they were both like within six years of each other. 1970, 1979 was one of those years, and I would guess that the other one was 75. Yes, exactly. So, I mean, even the Gilbert ears, which people think are the glory years, you know, they never won more than 45 games, and they never got out of the first round of a playoff, say for one time, and then they got eliminated in four games. So more power to them. I hope that they do great.

I think they could be exciting to watch. But let's not mistake that there's rich tradition here. And this team has been mediocre at best for decades. I mean, whoever said that, I mean, come on. I did find, as I was looking for what you were just saying, I did find this, which isn't what you said, Beal over the weekend after they beat the Celtics in a very exciting game, by the way, on Saturday, really exciting game in double overtime.

He said, quote, just imagine when everything starts clicking, when everybody's jelling, when everybody's healthy, it's going to be scary, closed quote. It would be scary. Look, if they don't have the guy who we thought, I thought, would be their second best player on the team. Really? Yeah.

I know. They're doing this without him. I know. So. Okay. We'll see if anything. That's all I got, thought. That's all I got to.

I mean, I'm actually very curious about the college football playoff rankings, you know, episode one tonight to see where Cincinnati is. and I think it's going to be an interesting thing. I had Mark Schlebeau on the radio show. You can go listen to it on the team 980.com. He was great. And we're just talking a lot about college football for those of you that are into it like I am.

We'll see if anything happens on trade deadline day here in the NFL. And we will be back tomorrow to talk about it. Tommy, thank you. Have a good day. Thank you, boss.