The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rivera's QB Comments

Episode Date: January 13, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with lots of WFT QB talk. Included were their responses to Ron Rivera's comments yesterday about giving up picks and players in a trade for a QB. Kevin with some recap of Maryland's win at Northwestern and the Wizards' win against the Magic. Thom reminded Kevin that 40 years ago today, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge before tumbling into the Potomac River.  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 Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. Sorry about yesterday.

I will make it up for you with a podcast on Saturday like I did last week. Tommy, I didn't even tell you. I did a podcast last week where I was just winging something, to be honest with you. But a lot of people really enjoyed it. I put together the top eight moments, wow moments of Washington's football season, because I was thinking about the season as it was winding down. They still hadn't played the Giants. And there were some moments this year that were like stand up on your seat and yell,

like if you were actually really into the game. Like, you know, when Taylor Heineke gave himself up, you know, right before the goal line and then went and did the Lambo league. when Russell Wilson hadn't done anything, they'd gone three and out on six straight drives, and then he drives him down the field and throws a touchdown pass, and they nearly blow that game. The Cole Holcomb picks six against the Cowboys, which put them within a touchdown. Like, you know, the missed field goal by Hopkins and then the made field goal. So I counted down the top eight wow moments of the season.

It was my list, you know, 8 to 1, and people seemed to enjoy that. I didn't know what to do on Saturday, and I have to produce a certain number of podcasts each week for the advertisers. And we missed a day last week, and I forget what the reason was. But I've got a couple of other ideas that I'm going to do on Saturday. So I'm looking forward to them. You never are short on ideas. Not all of them are good, though. Not all of them are good.

But you've got a lot of ideas. Always ideas, but not always well executed, shall we say. By the way, on the radio show this morning, if you want to go listen to Team 980.com, I had Tommy Shepard on the show, and I asked him about this trade deadline, which we are less than a month away from, and whether or not he's going to have to get from Bradley Beale

some sort of an assurance or commitment, you know, verbal commitment that he's going to sign a contract extension at the end of the year. And he answered that. You can hear what he said on the radio show. Also, I had Mike Shanahan on the radio show this morning. Oh, wow. And Mike was talking a lot about the 49ers, a lot about the 49ers Cowboys matchup. And also, I went down a list of sort of the quarterbacks that may or may not be in play for Washington.

and got his thoughts on those. And let me just tell you that he really does love Deshawn Watson as a player, but he's not really sure how that whole thing will play out. The Mitch Trubisky stuff that we've talked a lot about, because I think the organization likes Mitch Trubisky, and I think he would be inexpensive, and you could draft somebody as well. I certainly got the impression from Mike

that he isn't necessarily the biggest fan of Mitch Trubisky. And as far as the college quarterbacks go, he said, I haven't looked at any of them, but I'm going to when the season ends. I thought there was some interesting stuff that he said about Jimmy Garoppolo too. Because, you know,

think about the 49ers here, Tommy, entering these playoffs. What if Jimmy G and the 49ers go on a big run? Like, if you're the 49ers and Garoppolo plays well and you go back to a Super Bowl again, so it would be the second time in, you know, three seasons.

What do you do? What do you do? I mean, because you trade it up and drafted Trey Lance. I mean, that's the quarterback that is your future. And then what do you do? What do you do if you're Kyle, and you've always had this burning hole in your soul, or you know who, Kirk Cousins. And all of a sudden, because you've got new management in Minnesota, he becomes available. I think the Minnesota situation of all of the openings. I think the Chicago opening is very interesting, definitely. But I think the Minnesota opening is the most interesting because, you know,

their fan base is very much the same way Washington's was, you know, during Gruden, Bruce, and Kirk. Like it was Rick Spielman, Mike Zimmer, and Kirk. and all of them were incredibly polarizing. Kirk is incredibly polarizing in Minnesota. They have, you know, there's the faction, half the fan base loves him and thinks the other half is insane for not getting it that you can't do that much better, you know, or it's hard to do that much better, other than the elite quarterbacks. And then the other half do the same thing that our fan base did, which is,

do you know what his record is? Do you know what his fourth quarter, you know, stuff? is, well, I mean, you know, I think every, to be on, to be totally fair, I think every side has, you know, a legitimate gripe. I can't stand when it gets out of control from an exaggeration standpoint on the other end, but he isn't an elite quarterback. You know, he isn't a playmaker. He isn't a strap the team to his back leader. That's not what he is. What he is, is he's somewhere between 10 and 14. And if you put a good team around them, he can play pretty high-level football, you know,

at the position as he has there for the last couple of years. And they just haven't been very good defensively the last couple of years or on special teams, especially their kicker. But I think that they're going to really go after an offensive head coach like Doug Peterson and then a guy like Peterson, you know, off of the anti-year-old. the re-treat, a Super Bowl-winning coach, it'll be interesting to see if he wants to keep a guy like cousins next year at a $45 million salary cap or not.

I personally think Minnesota will, whoever takes that job, will end up trying to restructure and extend Kirk. But if not, you've got Cleveland, you've got Denver. I mean, theoretically, you've got Washington, who would be... I know, but my question is, does Kyle have an obsession with Kirk? I mean, all these years, has he lived with the quarterback who he,

has he lived without the quarterback who he really wants? Yes. We know that to be true, but it's too late because they traded up and drafted Trey Lance, you know, nine months ago. It's never too late to erase your mistakes. Well, who's to say that they made a mistake with Trey Lans? Right, right.

Well, you know, he may think so. If Kirk Cousins out there, he may think, I don't know Kyle very well. But, I mean, and I don't know what its mentality is now. It's just kind of interesting that, you know, even if they accomplish something short of a Super Bowl, but they're happy with their quarterback situation, and you're right, they trade it up to get the young quarterback they wanted, and Kirk Cousins is out there, probably nothing will happen, but it'll just be curious.

Yeah, I think actually, I think there are a lot of curious situations this year. I mean, I think Derek Carr is a very interesting situation in Vegas. Like, if Derek Carr with a new coaching staff that comes in, let's just say that there is a new coaching staff that comes in, I think there will be. I don't think Richard Passachi is going to be the head coach, but maybe if they make a run here, he is. I don't understand personally the discussion about Derek Carr being someone that the Raiders would want to trade if Derek Carr is what many people think he is. I mean, if the Raiders don't have, and Marcus Marriota isn't his replacement, they run a lot of stuff with Marietta, you know, in their dual threat stuff and their zone read game.

So he plays. but I think many in our fan base in Washington's fan base would be enamored with the possibility of trading for Derek Carr and then giving them a long-term deal. I'm not a big Derek Carr fan. I never have been, but I admit that he would be a significant upgrade over what they have. And if they couldn't, you know, hit bigger,

I wouldn't be unhappy about Derek Carr, but I would certainly wonder why, Why did the Raiders want to trade Derek Carr? Who are they going to replace them with? You know, I remember, and I told this story this morning very early in the morning on the radio show, because you'll remember this, because you and I were doing the show together at the time. When Washington traded for Donovan McNabb on Easter Sunday 2010, it was one of the first moves made after they hired Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen.

We've told this story many times. Mike basically wanted the guy that was with St. Louis, the West Virginia quarter. Mark Bulger. And Bulger was going to retire. He wanted Bulger to be his, you know, interim solution until he found or was able to draft, you know, the quarterback of the future. But Bulger said he was going to retire. And Bruce apparently didn't really want Bulger. And so Mike said, well, I'll take Donovan. But bottom line is, I don't want Donovan for more. than a fourth rounder and we're not giving him a new deal. Well, they traded a second and a fourth rounder and they gave him a new deal. And that was the beginning of such a wonderful relationship between a borderline Hall of Fame coach, I think he is, he is, with, you know, multiple future playoff and Super Bowl contending head coaches on the staff. Great job out of Dan and Bruce,

of course, as we know. But I remember specifically saying, because I I was called to do a hit on ESPN. You know, Kevin, Sheehan, radio, person in D.C., what do you think about the Donovan McNabb trade? And I remember I'll never forget what I said. I said, well, it really reeks of the way they've done business in the past. And wouldn't you wonder why Andy Reid would trade Donovan McNabb within the division?

that's what, you know, occurred to me when I heard the news a couple of hours ago. Well, that was the first and only time in all of those years working for Red Zebra. I've told this story before. The only time I ever got a call because the owner was not happy. He happened to have been watching and he wasn't very happy and he wondered why I and everybody else wasn't super excited about the deal. Well, you know, our good, you know, our friend Bruce Gilbert smoothed everything over. And I remember saying to him, I'm like, look, I'm just telling, you know, I'm just answering the question and saying how I feel. I mean, it's exciting that they have a Donovan McNabb, but if you're not wondering as a fan, you know, why Andy Reid would trade him within the division, well, I think you're missing something.

So not that Derek Carr is a quarterback in the division, but I don't get, if Derek, if Derek, Carr is all of that. Why would the Raiders trade Derek Carr? He's coming off two excellent years. They're in the playoffs. And you're not guaranteed to do better than Derek Carr in the off season? I don't think that, I don't think it would not be a smart move for them to trade Derek Carr. I would like to have Derek Carr as the quarterback of my team. I could take a quarterback's I like more. But you're Right. I mean, even though Washington has one of the great quarterbacks of the 21st century playing for them this year for this organization. One of their best of the 21st century. Yes.

Their car would obviously be a significant upgrade. Let me show a name out for you here. Carson Wentz. Well, no. first of all, didn't he sign? He's under contract in Indianapolis. Yeah, but supposedly the talk is that they may be willing to pay him the leave. He's got three more years on his deal. I know that.

If Carson Wentz is one and done in Indy, it'll cost them $15 million cash to put them in the open market. Yeah, $15 million cap hit. I'm looking at that right now. No. The answer is no. I'm not, boy, you know, if Frank Reich, here's the truth about Carson Wentz. I mean, he totally est the bed on Sunday and the biggest game of the year for them against an awful opponent. But he had some really good games this year. But there's something about what, there's something about watching Carson Wentz this year with Frank Reich, which this was going to be the guy. that would get the most out of him. And Carson Wentz, you know, through for 3,600 yards, 27 touchdowns, seven interceptions. And they had a great running game with Jonathan Taylor and they had a really good offensive line. There were some, you know, results that really crushed them ultimately.

They had so many close losses. They had the close loss to the Raiders last week. They had that close loss to Tampa. They had the close loss. They lost two overtime games in which they had the lead in the fourth quarter. Against the Ravens, they had a big lead in the second half. If Frank Reich wants to move on from Carson Wentz, then I would be very skeptical. And I'd be like, that's a big red flag.

I agree. That would be the same for me, too. I don't see any quarterback guru on this Washington staff who's better in Frank Reich. and if he couldn't do it, then I would assume that we're not going to be able to do any better than what you saw from Carson Wentz in Indianapolis. Look, I want to get back to the Houston quarterback situation in Washington, but I wanted to ask you something. Speaking of the Colts, you saw Andrew Luck on Sunday, right?

Yeah, with IG3, yes. Yeah, yeah. The college football Hall of Fame ballot came out the other day, and Andrew Luck was on it. Yeah. And Robert Griffin III was not. Is RG – I'm assuming they're both eligible? You know, maybe not. Maybe that's why not.

See, I think – Because RG3 played last year. Oh, yeah, I see what you're saying. but would that be for the college football Hall of Fame? I don't know. No, that wouldn't be for the college football Hall of Fame. I don't think that would impact it. Well, I was just curious.

RG3 is a college football Hall of Fame player. Yes, he is. I just thought it was curious why he wasn't on the ballot. I don't know. I don't know if it's something that you can't be on the ballot until you've completed your NFL career for a few years. I don't know. I don't know, but Andrew Luck was on the ballot.

I'm looking. obviously a hallfamer. And I mean, I always thought those two were kind of joined at the hip in a way. Yeah, I mean, luck was as a prospect, as an NFL prospect, one of the highest rated quarterback prospects since John Elway. I mean, RG3 was not at that level as a prospect. But as a college football player, Robert Griffin III is a Heisman trophy winner. Andrew Luck isn't.

Yes. I'm looking at the list. A hallfamer. Yeah. I'm looking at the. list of the college football class of 2022. Lovar Arrington's on it. Lovar Arrington and Champ Bailey. Yeah.

Yes. And you know what? Both of them both of them were college football Hall of Fame players. I mean, LeVar Arrington's, I've always said, was one of the, one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen in football. What he did at Penn State was absolutely amazing. I think, part of his problem, he was so talented. He just thought that the talent would trump everything. And I kind of understood that because he was that talented.

Sean Taylor's obviously the greatest what-if in Washington football team history. Right. I mean, that's kind of a given. I think when his jersey was clumsily retired by the team a few months ago, I did this. maybe you and I've talked about it or not. But we brought up Lavaar Arrington and I brought up Jordan Reed. Both of those players, in terms of like true outrageously talented players in the organization during the Dan Snyder era, those are the three.

Now, I think Chase Young and his talent, I'm hoping that what I saw at college translates to the NFL talent-wise. but Lavaar Arrington's talent. Like the year he played for Marty, I mean, it was so exciting because I was like, oh my God, here we go. He's got his Derek Thomas. He's got his great defensive player. He's got his leader, a guy that's bought in when remember

Darrell Green and Bruce Smith and everybody, you know, all the other guys were essentially checking out because they hated, you know, they hated Marty. I mean, LeVar Arrington had the game-changing play of the Marty Schottenheimer season, the interception against Carolina when they were down 14-0-0 and headed to 0-6, and he returned it for a touchdown. They ended up winning that game and then winning eight of their final 11 games. I mean, LeVar was a freak.

And I still don't know. Look, injuries were a big part of why LeVar Arrington did not reach his potential as an NFL player. But whatever was going on in Washington was strange. because remember, you know, we often forget just about the contract thing with Snyder. Remember that he lost out on like a million bucks or two million bucks. I forget exactly what it was because he signed the deal too late or they didn't. It was some sort of technicality that the organization basically didn't make good on.

Do you remember that? Yes. There was another thing, too, where he got involved in a big decision. dispute, I think with the players union about jerseys, about selling his jersey. That was an issue as well. I don't remember that one.

I remember the... You know what? He had a lot of... He had a lot of stuff that seemed to get in the way of what his job was going to be. Well, what... Because he thought he was bigger than a football player. He saw himself as some kind of transcential

you know, because he's a smart guy. He's very personable. Yes, both of those things. And he saw himself bigger than the football field. And, you know, some of these guys don't recognize that if you do your job and excel on the football field, they'll be lining up to do business with you. But first, you've got to do your job.

Look, I think, God, I think he's an interesting conversation. because, you know, there were years there, where his jersey was the number one jersey in that crowd. You know, in terms of this era, you know, of players. He was at times incredible to watch, but he was also really the first pet of the owner, you know, in terms of I want to be friends with LeVar Arrington because remember, that's the first draft,

the Chris Samuels LeVar Arrington draft. And LeVar was a star. I mean, LeVar had charisma. As you said, LeVar was smart. Everything about LeVar reeked of what we know Dan Snyder loves to be around, as weird as it is, no matter the age difference. And then you had that contract thing where it seemed that the organization kind of screwed LeVar. But by the way, I think.

I think LeVar was smarter and more savvy than maybe RG3 was in terms of, I never heard stories that LeVar leveraged that relationship with Dan Snyder into the obnoxious ways in which RG3 did. But there was that contract thing, there were the injuries. And then the other thing, Tommy, was just the relationship that he had with Gibbs, Greg Williams, and Dale Lindsay. Dale Lindsay being the linebackers coach. Remember Warwick Holdman?

Was that his name? I think that was his name. This dude was playing games with LeVar not getting snaps when he was healthy. And we were all like, what is going on here? Something, you know, there was a lot of discussion about how he played kind of freestyle and didn't play the scheme and wasn't coachable. I don't know what any of the truth to that is. But because Gibbs was here during those years, I'm obviously going to side with Joe Gibbs

that there were definite reasons why he didn't play at times when he was healthy and that eventually they moved on from him. But I would not discount the possibility that it was the relationship with the owner both ways, first very positive and then turned negative, that made it difficult for him here. But injuries ultimately are what did him in. But here's the other, here I found the story. It was Washington Post in 2004. LeVar Arrington's attorney contended his client never agreed to the NFL Players Association Group licensing agreement, which grants permission to sell merchandise with LeVar Arrington's likeness or image, including his jersey.

he basically he sent a letter to Reebok advising the company to stop using Arrington's likeness. He got into too many of these disputes. Yeah. I don't know. They were telling me he's fighting with the union

about his jersey. He's fighting with the coaches about, you know, following the scheme. He's fighting with the team about his salary. That got in the way. I just found, I didn't remember that one.

So that's, that's a good. pool, but I just found the contract stuff. And this is, this is, I mean, I remember thinking, wow, I mean, first of all, LeVar's agent, and secondly, the organization didn't make this right. Here's what happened. After four years with the Redskins, Arrington signed an eight-year, $68 million contract extension. His agent, Carl Poston, was accused of neglecting to inspect the final revision of the contract in which six and a half million dollars worth of bonuses contained in earlier drafts were missing.

Poston was eventually suspended for two years by the National Football League Players Association over the mishandling of Arrington's contract. Arrington did not support the NFLPA's decision. Arrington's final two seasons with skins were marred by knee injuries, etc. In March 2006, Arrington paid the Redskins $4.4 million to buy his way into free agency. So the $6.5 million worth of bonuses, the team didn't put it back into the deal. They said, sorry, your agent inspected the final revision of the contract and didn't, you know, note that that was missing. You signed it too bad.

Boy, that is not in the spirit of a relationship with somebody that you want to be a long-term relationship with, especially if it wasn't done intended. What? Go ahead. It sounds vindictive. Incredibly vindictive. Well, but the answer is, but the question is, why? Like, did they take it out on purpose to try to trip up posting, to try to get out of the six and a half? million? Or was it just a mistake? And since they went ahead and signed it, they said, oh, we got a break. So, well, sorry, you signed it. That's the deal. Like, I, I don't know. I always found LeVar

just one of the greatest what ifs because of his talent and because Tommy, I always thought he was bright and thoughtful. Even as a broadcaster, remember, he did radio in this market for a few years on 1067 the fan. And I thought that he, and even when he does stuff on NFL network, and I haven't seen him necessarily recently, and maybe he does radio somewhere else or nationally, I don't know, but I always thought he was pretty good. He was terrible on the radio locally. You know what? You and Andy and Zabe thought that, I did not agree with you. I thought he was very, very opinionated, and I thought he was fearless when it came to going after the team. But whatever.

I thought he sounded like an idiot sometimes on the radio, literally. I didn't think that. I didn't listen to that show a lot necessarily because, well, you were friends with his partner, Dukes. But not then I wasn't. Oh, okay, whenever. Oh, you didn't go on when LeVar was there. Yeah.

No. I didn't even know Chad. And let's face it, this guy's burned a few bridges and has not consistently found a place to land since he stopped playing. Yeah. Which I think speaks to a little bit that he may be difficult to work with. Maybe. Maybe. Because he may have a very inflated opinion of himself and understandably why, but he's not playing linebacker in the NFL anymore.

Well, he wouldn't be playing now anyway. He's got to be in his late. At this point, he was drafted in 2000, so we're 22 years later. He's got to be 44 years old, you know. He's 43 or 44 years old, probably, 45 maybe. So anyway, but back to the what if, Sean Taylor, Jordan Reed, LeVar Arrington, and this era of, you know, and by the way, who knows what's going to happen with Chase Young? I mean, you want him to get back at healthy. By the way, we did talk about the other day his answer to the will you be at OTAs, right?

Okay, yeah, I thought we did. Yes, he did. Basically did, you know. I mean, it sounded like a guy who still doesn't get it yet. But we're saying. We're kind of, you know, going all over the place here. But back to the quarterback thing. Yes.

Ron Rivera told J.P. Finley in an interview on NBC Sports Washington something. yesterday that I'm going to play for all of you when we come back. There are two sound clips, and you have to hear both of them, and then we're going to react certainly to both of them as well. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. That really helps us. It doesn't cost you a thing.

Rate us and review us wherever you can, especially on Apple and Spotify. That helps a lot. Many of you have done that in the last few. days need even more of you to do it if you haven't done it it's just a big big help for us if you can rate us and review us five stars is nice we'll take four but five preferred and just a quick one to two sentence uh review on how much you like the podcast um by the way i also had Doug cammerer on the show um this morning talking about the storm this weekend and Tommy I didn't find this out until very late last night, and I kind of felt guilty because I had already

invited Doug to come on the radio show. But Sue Palka is retiring. She announced it on the air last night. I've been it on social media. After 36 and a half years, all at Channel 5, Sue is going to retire. She's one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. She's a total pro. She's an excellent forecaster. She's been there since 1985. I mean, when I worked at Channel 5, it was five years after. You know, she had been there. And I've known Sue forever and anybody that's ever worked at Channel 5, and I was only there briefly for two years. But as you, you know we've had Sue on the podcast. We've had Sue on the radio show over the years.

She's one of my favorite people. So I'm going to certainly reach out to her today to see if she'll come on and talk about the storm tomorrow on radio or the podcast, one of the two. But she's the best. And it's amazing because, you know, if you've watched her recently, it looks like she could do it for another 36 and a half years. But what I mean, you talk about. for somebody to be in one place for 36 and a half years, you've got to be really good.

And then on top of it, you've got to be really well liked, which she always was. In that business, in the television business, absolutely. Yeah. Now, I got to ask you that she's going to retire. Is that something that you're interested? You're going to go for that job? No, no. I'm not going to go for that job.

No? You're not going to be like the Channel 5 weather guy? God, you know, I've thought about like, would I be able to get up there and actually do the weather? Like, because I'm not a meteorologist, obviously. But Willard Scott wasn't either. But I'd be serious about the weather. Could I do it? I know I could explain it well.

And I know how to get the information. But these people have studied it. They're pros. No, of course not. I need to, we need to start a movement. Everybody out there listening to the podcast, you need to bombard Channel 5 with requests to put Kevin Sheeon on the air as their meteorologist. First of all, I don't know.

I don't know who else does like weekends and stuff and who's next in line, so I would never want to do that. But you know what, Sue would tell you, she would. She would say, I think Kevin could do it. she would there you go she has well Tommy you know this because you've been with me when like my

phone's rung before a big storm and Sue will say hey uh the track did you look at the latest GFS and I'll be like let me look at it real quickly and then to say is this similar to the storm in 99 or 96 and I'll be like nah the track was a little bit further

okay thanks I just wanted to make sure but obviously Sue's the best And so we wish you're... This is the campaign, everybody. No, it's not. Kevin Sheehan, Channel 5 Weatherman. You know that weather is the most watched part of a local newscast. It's a...

Well, I know. Whenever I wrote about the weather for the Baltimore Sun, they put it on the front page. It didn't matter really what the story was. It was a weather story. It was on the page one. Interesting. By the way, just speaking of ratings real quickly, did you see that in 2021, 91 of the top 100 television shows were NFL games during the 2021 NFL season? 48 of the top 50 were NFL games.

Remember that period of time, and I'm not saying that you argued against me on this because I don't think you did. I think you do. Well, you have said in the past that you think the NFL is a very. eventually going to be much less than what it is. You know, sort of travel the route that boxing has traveled because of the concussion issue. Well, look, 2015, 2016, when those ratings took sort of a, you know, significant for them anyway, step back.

We had an incredible, you know, election in 2016, and we had the Colin Kaepernick situation, but the NFL is healthier than ever. John Orand, who writes for Sports Business Journal, who I have on the radio show, show a lot. He said that essentially the only thing keeping over-the-air broadcast television alive is live sports in the NFL specifically because of everything else is streamed. Yes, he's right. It's like television is frozen in time in the NFL while the rest of television is going to extinction. I know. It's crazy.

But you've got, you've got like this, the last dinosaur that is rolling the earth, and it's still a king. Well, it's a T-Rex, that's for sure. I mean, this thing is incredibly, it's a behemoth that just never ever stops.

And, you know, we're reminded of it almost every week, because last Sunday was just an incredible day. You know, the Ravens Steelers game going to overtime in the 1 o'clock window, the 49ers Rams game going to overtime with a playoff spot on the line in the late afternoon window, and then the epic Raiders Chargers game on Sunday night. And we'll get one or two of those, you know, over the next couple of weeks, too. And I mean, the ratings, by the way, I wanted to, let me see if I have this accessible

real quickly because the they the top 16 programs on television since the 2021 NFL season began or all NFL games and the number one NFL game was that Raiders

Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game which is the highest rated NFL game on television in 31 years. 31 years. So we're We'll see a lot of that, especially by the way, if the weather remains bad on the East Coast. That's always a huge driver. And as far as the storm goes this weekend, watch Sue and Doug tonight and Topper.

They're all good. But it's going to be a big storm. It'll be a big storm for somebody. For those in the metro area, we're going to get a couple of inches of snow and then ice, but that's all subject to change. Okay. I wanted to get to the interview that J.P. Finley does each week on NBC Sports Washington with Ron Rivera because yesterday's interview produced two interesting answers. I'm going to play this first clip for you. You'll hear JP talk

about quarterback. He'll get into the quarterback conversation in a way that makes Ron laugh and give a very, I think, very honest answer. And then the follow-up has to do with kind of whether or not a trade for a quarterback is a possibility. But here's the first clip, J.P. Fenley and Ron Rivera. Looking ahead now, I hear you guys might need a quarterback. That's an understatement, dude. What do you do? You look, you know, we've got four opportunities.

We've got four avenues, okay? Is that guy currently on our roster? We have a guy that we like who competes the heck out of it in Taylor. is that guy out in free agency. We'll look and see who's available. We're going to evaluate all those guys. Potential trades. We'll look at that as well.

And the fourth one obviously is the draft process. And we will go through the draft process, and we will deal with all four and see what happens. So that was Ron Rivera on the whole quarterback, big picture. That's an understatement, he says, dude to JP. Then JP asked him about the trade possibilities specifically. Here's what he said. When we talk about trading, whether it's trading for a player or trading up in the draft,

what will it take? We can have an earnest conversation where we may say it's going to take not just draft picks, coach, but it may take a core player or two. With the depth we have in certain positions, we might be. So again, to your question, yeah, that's a possibility. So there are two takeaways real quickly for me from these two comments, Tommy, and then you can weigh in and we can have a conversation. The first one is this. The second comment that he made specifically, last year they were willing to make a trade for a quarterback. They offered picks for

Matt Stafford, but they were unwilling to part with a key player. When it came to the draft, he discussed that the price to move up was too high because they did. didn't want to part with any players. Well, I think he told you in that sound clip, the second one, that this year their mindset will be a little bit different, that maybe they feel like they have some depth, maybe they're more willing to part with a player as part of a trade. That's number one.

Number two was the first comment he made, which is hardly a big reveal. But when he says that's an understatement and laughs about it, the bottom line is the past, The four paths are the four opportunities to get a quarterback, you know, evaluating their own players and their own roster, the draft, free agency trades. Well, the evaluating their own roster, that's not a real opportunity. The quarterback of next year and beyond in terms of the everyday starter does not exist on their roster right now. And I think he told you that as well.

Again, not that that's a big surprise. There's a side pass to that. I mean, it's evaluating your own compared to your options. That's a different road. They don't have any other options, right? There's nothing to compare Taylor Heineke too right now. Like if Mitch Tribusky becomes available, then the path is at an upgrade from Taylor Heineke.

Well, they thought it was perhaps, even before the trade deadline, you know, when there were stories and rumors and reports that Washington was interested. There was one story. Well, we know that they were interested in Trubisky and last off season, too. Okay. Okay. I'm just pointing out that, I mean, their evaluation of what they think of their quarterbacks now is obvious based on what wrong Rivera said. It's not obvious based on what their options would be to compare it.

man you're starting to sound like me you can't start shooting people until you have a solution and and that's true i mean you have to you've got just because you want derrick car or erin rogers or russell wilson or dischawn watson or mitch trubisky there's no guarantee like last year with matt stafford that you're going to land that quarterback. Now, you do have more control in the draft in selecting a guy, but you really have to love that guy. You got to really feel like it's a major upgrade. But I think, you know, the bottom line is not that this is a big reveal. Quarterback's the number one priority. They're going to look at free agency trades and the draft to acquire a quarterback, maybe two of them. And I think that

last part of it where, you know, he essentially says for all intents and purposes, you know, we'd be aggressive if it's for the right guy in a trade. Remember, last year when we were having these conversations about Deshawn Watson specifically, before all of the, you know, allegations and then ultimately the 22 plus civil lawsuits. I basically said, you can't, you can't, you, you, It's going to be hard for you to come up with a price that I would think would be too expensive. I mean, within reason. You know, I'm not going to do a Ricky Williams draft, you know, Mike Ditka, you know, Charlie Casserly style. But I said I'd give up Chase Young last year.

I'd give up, you know, multiple first, multiple seconds in Chase Young for Deshawn Watson, and I wouldn't even think about it. And most of you said I was completely out of my mind. Now, I would not have given up Chase Young for Matt Stafford. would not have given up, you know, Chase Young for somebody like Derek Carr or whatever, you know, I forget the other possibilities. But for Deshawn Watson, before all of the stuff came out, 100% yes. And I think hopefully many of you now realize that you just are, you're non, you're totally a non-factor without one of these quarterbacks. You're just going to tread water.

and in this organization, because you're already working at an organizational disadvantage, you're just going to keep losing. So the only way out of this thing is a true franchise difference-making quarterback. So I think they know that. And then the other thing I was going to add to this, Tommy, and then I know you have some things you want to say about Deshawn Watson, is that because 2-22, starts like the organization from scratch.

You know, it'll almost be and feel like it's an expansion team with a new name and new branding. You know, hopefully, and I think we know this already, the colors aren't going to change. But, and, you know, by the way, I was thinking about this, I don't even care if the colors did change. They're not going to.

I used to care about that, but now I don't even care about that. I'd rather get an expansion team if it meant that the Snyders moved on with this group. But it's going to be a whole new start. And the one thing that Dan Snyder understands is he ain't selling a bunch of new tickets just because they got a new name, which by the way, most people are going to hate, probably. He's got to, it's got to come with, oh, by the way, we just traded for Aaron Rogers. Or we just traded for Russell Wilson.

Now, the Deshawn Watson thing, of course, is very complicated. or maybe it isn't for many of you. Maybe it's an absolute no, or maybe you're like absolutely yes, I don't know. But they're going, they're swinging big this offseason for a quarterback. They may miss, to your point, but they're going after something big. That would be what I would be thinking about doing. And if I were as passionate a fan as I used to be,

I would be screaming, this is what they have to do. You know, Rogers isn't coming here. Wilson's not coming here. Deshawn Watson's got a no trade clause. None of these are probably truly viable. But I'd be thinking that kind of big. And I think they are. Well, Matt Stafford was almost that kind of big.

Yes. You know, and they did take a shot. Yeah, big shot. Did they take their best shot? Do you think they took their best shot? do. I think that they thought they were going to get him up until, you know, Rivera ran into Matt Stafford and Cabo or wherever they were. Yeah. Okay, I know I reported early in the year that Matt Ryan may want out of Atlanta. Every report since then has said the opposite. Yeah,

exactly. Including recently, but you never know. I mean, what people say and what people do are two different things. If Matt Ryan were available, if that a guy you would consider a big swing. Yeah. So the biggest swings. I think he's 37. Yeah, the biggest swings are obviously Rogers Wilson Watson. Then you get to the next tier, which, you know, I'm keeping Kirk out of Eric because he's not a possibility because they're not, they're not, Dan's not going to allow that. But the next category would be like the cousin's car and then if Matt Ryan were available. And then you get to the Tribiskeys and the Winstons and the Tyrod Taylor's. And, you know, I'm forgetting names right now of people available.

I had a list up earlier and I can't find it. You see, that level to me, it's not an upgrade. Yeah, it is. No, it's not. I don't think it is. Okay. Upgrade over who, Taylor Heineke? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I don't know. Give me the names that you're thinking of that are not enough. Okay, James Winston. How many games has James Winston played in the NFL? What, 50? Over his career, maybe? I don't know.

I think that, first of all, you know, there's a lot of question, obviously, with him coming off the torn ACL. Right. Yeah. Okay. Trebisky. You think Trebisky is an upgrade over Taylor Heineke? I'm not a Trubisky fan, but I think he's an upgrade over Heineke.

Oh, I don't think so. Let's remember. This is Heineke's first starting season. Okay. Right. Keep presenting him as a rookie at 29 years old. I didn't say he's a rookie. Okay.

I know how old he is. Nobody knows that he's a journeyman more than me. He should put it on its driver's license, journeyman. Okay? Right. But to me, that's not worth an upgrade. Mitch Trubisky is not an upgrade. I don't think James Winston's.

is an upgrade. I think if you give Taylor Heineke 50 NFL starts, he's going to have a better career and a James Winston had. Really? There's no, there's no, well, okay, I'd have to look this up, but I would bet you that there's no chance he's tracking towards anything resembling what James Winston's done in his career. Statistically, okay, statistically. I mean, James Winston has had some, he threw for 5,000 yards two years. ago. But I, but look, I think one of the things that is telling about James Winston is that we don't know how it would have turned out this year. He got hurt, okay? But it wasn't trending

towards Sean Payton and James Winston being a match made in heaven. It didn't seem to be trending towards that. You know, he had a really good game here, had an excellent game here. But I don't, to me, Sean Payton was going to be the ultimate guy to get the most out of James Winston, who I thought had a chance to have a big bounce back year. You know, he was, you know, through the seven games before he got hurt, he had thrown for 1,100 yards, 14 touchdowns, three interceptions, had a 102.8 passer rating, was completing 59% of his passes and what were they? They were four in three or three and four, something like that. And the season really did for them kind of fall apart when he got hurt, but that's because they had to play Trevor Simeon. I mean, they didn't really have the backup situation there.

Was it Gino Smith? No, Gino Smith was playing for Seattle. Did he get hurt? Which game did he get hurt in? Did he get hurt in our game? I don't remember. I think he got hurt like in the game afterwards. But, no, James Winston, Tommy.

He threw for, he's thrown for 4,000 yards multiple times, over 5,000 in that last year in Tampa. And I know, I know how many interceptions he threw. I do realize that. Look at the weapons. Those weapons he had in Tampa were the weapons that Tom Brady took to the Super Bowl. I'm not saying he's Tom Brady, obviously. But he's, but he would be an upgrade. Taylor Heineke had, Taylor Heineke had, for the most part, Terry McClure.

Right. That's it. And James Winston this year didn't have much at all, you know, because, you know, Michael Thomas got hurt and people were injured all over the board for that team, you know, in offense early on, including when they played here and he had his best game. Right. No, look, if you're asking me, James Winston healthy or Taylor Honeykey, James Winston, not even close for me. Okay, but James Winston's not healthy. No, he had an ACL injury. Look, that's a bad one for me to pick. I'm going to stick with Mitch Trubisky.

The third level, almost every quarterback on the third level, I don't think is an upgrade over Taylor Heineke. Well, I'm not a Mitch Trubisky fan since he, on fourth and two in a playoff game last year against the Saints, instead of going for it, ran out of bounds. That was the moment that I'm like, because there were always moments, that Tribisky had in Chicago.

I'm like, this guy's pretty good. I always kind of felt like there's something to him. And I understand why there's some interest at times in a guy like Mitch Trubisky. I mean, that one season he had was a really good season in Chicago. I mean, I don't think, quite honestly, Taylor Heineke is capable of having the season that Trubisky had the year that they went, whatever they went, 11 and 5 or 11 and 12. and four or whatever it was in 2017, whatever season that was. I'm pulling up his thing right now as we speak so I can speak to it more intelligently.

2018, when he made the Pro Bowl, he was 11 and 3 as a starter, 67% of his passes, 24 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, was a big time runner as well. Yeah, I don't see Taylor Heineke. he capable of that kind of a season. I don't. But I'm not... Really? But no, I don't. You don't think he can throw 24 touchdowns over the course of 17 games? Yeah, but yeah, I do. I just don't know that he would have that kind of impact. And you don't think he could throw for 32. He threw for 3,200 yards this year. That's the most that Mr. Trubisky threw in a season. Yeah, it's Trubisky that season, if you check it out, probably it's 14 games he played that

year, started in 14 games that year. Well, Taylor started in 16 and a half. Taylor started in 15. Started in 16 and a half. It started 16, played in 16 and a half. 16. Right. Started in 16. Right. So two more games in Trubisky would have been. It's pretty close, Kevin. I mean, you're, you know what? You're arguing trading for this guy. No, I don't. No, I don't want to trade for Mitch Trubisky. I don't. I'm not a Mitch Trubisky. I'm not a Mitch Trubisky fan. That's not what you asked me. You asked me if I would consider Trubisky to be an upgrade over Heineke.

The answer is yes. Enough to trade for him. But you're not really No matter what you think of Trubisky. Well, first of all, Trubisky isn't under contract. He's a free agent. Right? He signed a one-year deal in Buffalo. So you're not

trading anything for Trubisky. That's true. You're right. Again, still, not an upgrade. You know, the funny thing about Trubisky, he's really in many ways just a bigger version of Taylor Heineke, which by the way is meaningful because Taylor's not that big. Without the guts. Yeah, I'll tell you what, I'll concede that to you right now. I think Taylor's more of a gamer than Trubisky.

But, you know, I don't want Trubisky. So here's what I take, would I take Jimmy G over Hineke, 100%. Would I take a flyer on Tua over Hineke? Absolutely. Car, 100%, and I'm not even a big car fan. Winston, yes. If Detroit wanted to draft a quarterback and move on from Jared Gough, probably. I'm not a Teddy Bridgewater guy.

I'm going to tell you that. I do like Tyrod Taylor to a certain degree, and he got bumped by Davis Mills in Houston, who ended up probably being the best of the rookie class this past year. year. That kid, I saw him for the first time at length on Sunday. Yeah, played well. In their game against the Titans, that kid can play. Right. You said, you said cool, he liked them coming out of college, right? Loved him. Love him. He basically said that this is, he basically said, this is, this is a Kirk Cousins number two. Like, he's going to be smart, quick, can make every throw, just isn't, you know, overly mobile or,

you know and extend the play guy but in the right scheme he's going to be outstanding um anyway where are we going with this matt ryan i've read everything you've been reading which is Atlanta's not moving on from him right you know doesn't seem to be the case and uh never mind yeah um i'm looking at other names nick foals no sam darnald no matt rule apparently said that he thinks Sam Darnold's got a lot more to give. Watson's the one that I see, personally I see Aaron Rogers staying in Green Bay, Russell Wilson staying in Seattle. And then, you know, of the three biggies that potentially could be available, Watson would be the other. And then it's a matter of whether or not it's actually doable. I mean, we don't know what's going on there.

You can't do it. You mean this organization can't do it? This organization, of all organizations, can't do it. You might as well take their name and flush it down the toilet. Here's the Daily Beast, in today's Daily Beast, which is a credible website, published a letter, an anonymous letter from one of Sean Watson's accusers to Sean Watson's girlfriend. Okay, it's written. And you read this letter, it's really, it's really, really stunning. Well, just tell me, netted out for me.

The Sean Watson came into my place of work, my sole means of a modest income, and destroyed my mental health in my career. He destroyed my love for my job, and he trusts in strangers, and my foreseeable future. He terrified me and tried to gratify himself at my expense. He degraded me. This guy? Yeah, other than your comment. This guy's going to be the new commander's quarterback?

The admiral. He's going to be the admiral of the admirals. He's going to be the admiral of the commanders. Other than your Daily Beast comment, I think that that kind of letter is really the problem, is that you're going to have so much outrage and pushback on if you're the team, that signs them. And then if the team, if you're the team, if the team is the Washington commanders that signs them, and people remember that the commanders used to be that

organization that did all the sexual harassment stuff, it's going to be a nightmare. I'm, I don't think they can. The team that, you know, that the congressional investigation doesn't end on February 2nd when they change their name to commanders. This isn't like Michael Scott coming out of his office and saying, I declare bankruptcy. Yeah. I declare bankruptcy. And then poor Oscars got to explain to him that actually didn't do much. So you think when the House inquiry people send out the note, they'll say, yeah, they don't live here anymore.

That's another team. They moved. That's funny. So I don't think they can do it either. I just don't think they can. But then again, who's going to stop them? And by the way, let me just point back to one thing that you always say. Well, how much lower could it go?

Like, the only thing that's going to solve any of this is winning. Like, on one hand, it's like, well, they're not the organization that could do this. On the other hand, it's like, well, what's the downside? What is the downside? Here's how lower it can go. This is how lower it can go. If that committee gets what they want, Dan Snyder, sitting on TV in a congressional hearing, answering questions how they'd signed Deshawn Watson, how they traded for Deshawn Watson.

Well, whoever is representing. would say, relevant, Your Honor. We're here to discuss the emails. It's a congressional hearing. It's not. It's not a trial. It's not a court of law. Well,

their goal is to get Roger Goodell and Dan Snyder in front of them in a committee hearing. You know what I would say? They accomplished that. I would say I'm running a god. I'm running a goddamn business

and I don't have any customers left. And this dude, no matter what he did, is going to help me get a lot of customers back. Sorry, next question. Oh, by the way, if you continue down this path, I'm going to ditch admirals and we're going to bring Redskins back. By the way, I think, honestly,

I think that's the only way he could garner any kind of support from what's left of the fan base is to say, yeah, we thought about it, and we're taking Federal Express off our stadium, and we're going to stick with the Reds. skins. Yeah. What else do we?

The quarterback thing is going to be, it's going to be really interesting. I mean, it's going to be really interesting. Yes, it is. Because they're going after in a big way. Like always, there's going to be so much off-season entry with this team. Like there always is. They win the off-season, baby. By the way, my prediction is this.

They draft somebody and they sign one of those second-tier or third-tier guys. That's because I don't think any of the first tier guys are going to even be available or doable or even want to be here. And then the second tier guys, like if you consider Derek Carr and cousins, you know, if you want to throw Garoppolo into that, you know, imagine you trade for Kirk Cousins. You can't get him signed to a contract extension and you have to franchise tag him in 20, 23. That would be funny. That's a recurring nightmare. You know, last year I did want Winston, but I just figured that he was going to stay in New Orleans

now that Drew Breeze was retired. But I don't know what it is about Winston. I've always had a soft spot for Winston. And I think part of it is the reaction to Winston when they signed Brady. He was very much well respected and beloved by his teammates. by that organization, and by the local media and fan base, even though he threw 30 interceptions in one season.

I think he's a born, natural kind of leader. I know he has flaws. I understand that. And I'm not even talking about the football flaws. But he still is only how old is James Winston? 26, 27. I mean, you know, and an ACL injury for a quarterback like him is nothing. I mean, you know, it's not, he'll be back and he'll be ready to go at the beginning of next year.

And look, it may be telling us to what Sean Payton does with him. You know, they don't have a quarterback either. They're in the market for a quarterback. There are a lot of teams that are going to be in the market for a quarterback. I was looking at some sort of ranking, I think it was a PFF ranking of the quarterbacks this year. Heineke, I think, was 24th out of the 32. But I was looking that, you know, basically from like 16 to 32, it's like, God, you could make the case that every single one of those teams needs a quarterback. Now, some of them don't because they were rookies playing this year.

And so they're going to stick with that. But, yeah, I mean, a lot of teams, you know, in the market for a quarterback. A lot of teams, we're not even sure, like Pittsburgh's going to be in the market for a quarterback. Cleveland's going to more likely be in the market for a quarterback. We'll see what happens with the dolphins in Tua. You know, we'll see what the situation in Houston is. We don't know what the Raiders situation is. Denver needs a quarterback.

Washington needs a quarterback. The Giants may need a quarterback. What? Look, if the Giants be a quarterback, would you be interested in Daniel Jones? I would be. So would I. I think I think he's pretty good. good.

Well, I don't know if he's not working for a lunatic. I don't know if he's good or not. I think he could. He goes into the category of Tua for me. Like, I don't know that we, I don't know that we really have an answer yet. So if there's potential there, I'm for potential at this point if I can't, you know, land on a big fish. And I think I know what Taylor Heineke's potential is, and that is as a backup quarterback in the NFL. So, yeah, Daniel Jones, I mean, bad team, really bad team he was on.

But I also wasn't very impressed with him this year. And I thought I might end up being more impressed with him this year. But Jones has, I'm just looking to see, when do they have to pick up? Did they pick up the fifth year option? Or did they pick that up at the end of this year? Because he's under contract next year. I think they already picked up the fifth year option. Oh, no, the fifth year option is still available on him.

So we'll see what the Giants are going to do in this offseason. It's going to depend on who they, you know, the GM and new coach. Okay. You know, you mentioned Pittsburgh. And all the stories I've read about Pittsburgh moving forward from Ben, Raffersberger, I haven't seen anything mentioned Dwayne Haskins. No, me neither. Yeah, they're in the market for quarterback.

They know enough, I think, at this point. Okay. I want to finish up the show by talking about Maryland's incredible game last night against Northwestern. Also, the Wizards win and maybe one or two other things. And we will do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the podcast is presented by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com or MyBooky.orgy.org. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they will double your deposit all the way up to $1,000.

bucks. So make a deposit, sign up, and you'll have twice as much money in your account to wager with. Every single prop bet you can imagine for the NFL playoffs is out there. And then, of course, they'll have all of the game action as well. Two games Saturday, three on Sunday, one on Monday night. Go to mybooky.orgie.orgie.com. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll take good care of you doubling your first deposit all the way up to a thousand bucks. All right, real quickly on the Wizards win last night, man, they have had a schedule here, you know, of just dormats. I mean, they lost to the rockets last week, which was unfortunate, but their last three games have been to the Magic, Thunder, and Magic. I mean, two,

well, the Magic are the worst team in the league, and the Thunder is one of the worst teams in the league. And it's not like they blew out any of these opponents. Now, they've been missing Beal, you know, in COVID protocol. They got Thomas Bryant back last night. They got a Hachamura back the other night. The thing that I wanted to mention from this game is just that Spencer Dinwiddie in his last three games has pulled off something that I don't know. I'm sure it's been done.

I'm not suggesting that it hasn't been done. And I don't think it's been done by anybody in this organization in a long time. But in three straight games, he's played 3134 and 32 minutes. He's been their primary ball handler, and he has zero turnovers in three games. That's really amazing. He had another decent game last night, 17 points, four assists, two rebounds. He was 22 and 10 the other night, but zero turnovers for the third straight game for Spencer Dinwiddie. I think that's really hard to do for the guy that's handling the ball more than anybody else on your team,

three consecutive games no matter how bad the competition is. And Kyle Kuzma just continues to play at a really high level. An all-star level. Yeah. I mean, near triple double last night, 1910, 9 assists. The game he had on Sunday, we never talked about it because it was all about football on Monday show and Tuesday show. He had 27 points and 22 rebounds in their wins Sunday. That's an Elvin Hayes game.

God, that is. That is a big game. The Wizards have a much tougher schedule coming up. They play now not necessarily on Saturday night against Portland, especially with Lillard gone. But they've got Brooklyn twice coming up. They've got Milwaukee. they've got Phoenix, they've got Toronto, they've got Philly, they've got the Clippers.

They've got a much, Miami, they've got a much tougher road here over the next month leading into the trade deadline. But a lot of home games, a lot of home games. They're 22 and 20 through 42 games, this time last year through 42 games. They were 15 and 27. So they're having a good season. I know the last month has been up and down and COVID has really, you know,

been impactful to them as it has been to many teams, but, you know, they're 22 and 20. They haven't collapsed. No. They have not collapsed. Maryland last night. Wow. What a basketball game.

So for those of you that don't know what happened, Maryland was 0 and 4 going into their Big 10 game last night at Northwest. One of those four losses came to Northwestern, which was the first game without Mark Turgeon. So they had their rematch last night in Evanston, Illinois. Maryland was a five and a half point underdog to Northwestern. Northwestern nearly beat Michigan State a couple of days ago, Michigan State number 10 in the country. And Maryland and Northwestern played at times a very ugly game, and in other times a pretty exciting game.

but what happened at the end of regulation must be discussed. Maryland had a six-point lead with the ball with 19.4 seconds left in the game. And they blew the lead, ended up going to not one overtime, but two overtimes, before they finally won the game 94 to 87. Now, how did they blow a game that was over with 19.4 seconds? Whatever the win probability ESPN thing is, it was in the high 90s when they were up six with the ball and 19.4 seconds left. But this is a pet peeve of mine. Man, I see it every night at every level.

I am always amazed at how many teams struggle to get the ball in bounds against full court pressure. And the way they do it in such disorganized fashion, this was one of the things that I, I used to be constructively critical when it came to Turgeon. It was Operation Get Open with Anthony Cowan. It's like, oh, Anthony will get open. No, you've got to run plays. You've got to screen. You've got to run different things to get people open against full court pressure.

And Maryland couldn't get the ball in bounds, turned it over. They hit a three. Now it's a three-point game. Then they throw it in bounds again. It knocks off Eric I. I. Alice foot and out of bounds. so it's now Northwestern's ball down three. But wait a minute, they're going to the scorers table.

And they see that Dante Scott took his elbow forearm and jammed it into the neck of a Northwestern player out of frustration over the previous turnover. So you had a flagrant foul. This is at the end of regulation. So you've had a six-point lead cut to three. And now Northwestern not only has the ball, but they're going to shoot two free throws before they get the ball.

They made both of them, and so with 13 seconds left, they had the ball down one, where six seconds earlier, they were down six and didn't have the ball. It was crazy. They did not take the lead, but they got fouled. Dante did a poor job playing defense on Nance. Fowled out, Nance made one of two. Meryl missed a shot at the end of regulation. They were down four in the first overtime.

came back and forced the second overtime, and then in the second overtime, Fats Russell was terrific. In fact, he was terrific in both of the overtimes, and Maryland got their first Big Ten win. I've been telling you, Tommy, that it feels very much like a lost season, you know, after Turgeon, you know, resigned.

It feels very much like an interim season, and all of the focus is going to be on, okay, who's the next coach. But I've also told you they don't suck. Like it's not a bad team. They don't have a lot of depth, but they have some good players. Eric I. Al is a big-time player. He had 26 last night.

Fats Russell is one of the better transfers, and he played great last night. You know, Scott and Hart are good players. They've got, they lost to Wisconsin, the number 13 team in the country, by one on Sunday night. They were up five at Illinois, a ranked team last week. and they only lost by five at Iowa in a game that they led in the second half last week as well. They are nine and seven overall, one and four in the Big Ten, and in every single game that they've lost, with the exception of the George Mason game, actually, they've had the lead in the second half. If they had lost last night, I think the season was over in a big way, over,

because you don't recover from that one. It's already tenuous, and you blow a league. lead like that, that would have been unbelievable to blow a lead like that and lose, and they nearly did. But they play Rutgers now on Saturday, and I think they're going to win games. I told you this last week. I think Maryland's good enough to win games in the Big Ten. They've got to get to 500, which means I've got to finish nine and six to get to 10 and 10 and have a chance at the NCAA tournament. I don't think they're going to do that personally. But they've been fun to watch in a certain way because Danny Manning and those players have not given up on the season. That's all I have. Do you have anything on that or do you have any questions? No. No, I have no questions. I would hope

that, look, I'm rooting for Danny Manning. I liked him as a player. I don't know much about how he's done as a coach. I know he wasn't successful at Wake Forest. Yeah. More successful Tulsa before Wake, but no, he was not very good at Wake Forest. Yeah, but I'm pulling for Danny Manning to get this team competitive and not have them fall too far behind in the Big Ten part of their schedule. Yeah, the Big Ten's interesting this year. I don't know if there's a national championship team. There probably isn't.

I'm not even sure if there's a final four team, but there are probably four to five teams capable of making it to the second weekend at least. and once again it's a league that really might have one truly weak team, and that's it, and that's Nebraska. Nebraska's terrible for some reason. But everybody else is, I mean, Maryland's one and four, Northwestern's one and four, and Maryland again, in the four losses, they led by four or five points in the second half in all of their losses against, you know, two ranked teams and another team that's borderline close to being ranked. So anyway, whatever.

What else you got for today? Is that it? Well, no, I got one last thing. Okay. And I'm thinking it's going to mean something to you. Ronnie Specter. Forty years ago. Huh?

No, no, no. I thought, no. Not a big Ronnie Spector fan. Okay. I thought that's what you were saying. 40 years ago, today was the Air Florida crash. Oh, my God. 40 years ago today. the flight 90 crash into the 14th Street bridge.

I wasn't in Washington then. I was a year from moving. I was still up in the Poconos. I remember watching it on TV. Do you remember where you were? I know exactly where I was. It was a day off from school, high school, because of the snowstorm. And I had, I did not have a car.

available to me so I hitchhiked back then hitchhiking was a big deal remember I hitchhike when I was young yeah I hitchhiked over to my girlfriend's house the girl that I was dating at the time and then I literally you know it was late afternoon early evening I hitchhiked home and in the car that I was riding in the guy had the radio on and it came on on the radio that Air Florida there had been a plane crash in D.C. on the 14th Street Bridge. And so then when I got home, you know, you sat there and you watched the whole thing and you watched, what was that guy's name, Resnick or Red, I forget, Lenny Scutnik. Lenny Scutnik, you know, jump in to the thing.

It was unbelievable. Do you ever watch the show Air Disasters? No, I never do. The episode on... Because I fly, so I don't watch a show about air to do. Well, you know, Steve Buchance is like, you know, the expert of air disasters. So we always talk about this stuff. And it was probably like five years ago.

He's like, turn on air disasters. They got the air Florida flight thing. And I'll tell you what's really awful to hear is the cockpit recorder between the pilots. because, you know, it was something like, you know, hey, Joey, we're going down. Joey, we're going down. Like, it is just, I mean, it's so awful. It's so horrifying to hear.

But this was a big and very important crash in the future of de-icing. Because that plane was de-iced. at the gate, and it was not de-iced in the long lead-up to its takeoff. And before this accident, they did not, I think I'm right about this. They did not de-ice aircraft once they left the gate. Well, I'm glad they do now. Yeah. Yeah.

I just, hold on. I want to pull this up because I want to see if I'm right about this was the one that changed de-icing and the de-icing procedures. Oh, God, there's so much on this Air Florida crash. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there were, okay, so there were 79 occupants, 74 passengers, five crew members,

74 fatalities, five injuries, and just five survivors, and then there were four ground fatalities. on the 14th Street Bridge. As the plane went down, a couple of cars were essentially taken out with passengers in it. But, yeah, that was, God, that was one of those surreal Washington days.

I'll never forget it. I'll never forget. Coming back from my girlfriend, Patty's house, in that car with that dude who had the radio on, nobody hitchhikes anymore. Do they do it out west? Somebody told me once, I think it was Cooney, who said, you'll still see hitchhikers out west every once in a while.

I don't know if they do. When I was in high school, I used to do it, and I had a real good friend who used to do it all the time. Many years later, in fact, I remember picking him up on Route 80, New Jersey, coming back from a Mets game, and there he was in the middle of Jersey on Route 80. And his philosophy was, there's enough cars for me out there. I don't need to get one. There's a lot of cars for me out there.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was so common to be driving down, you know, a road and see one person after another with their arm out and a thumb and in cars pulling over as if, you know, nobody worried about it. It's crazy. By the way, I'm just reading about this. Basically, the, you know, Air Florida essentially went out of business after this flight. and the yeah the investigation

was essentially large pieces of ice had built up on the wings and the plane wasn't and it stopped the engines anti-ice heaters or whatever and gave them bad responses I guess in the cockpit

but it was that was a big storm too I mean that was I remember it being a really cold day and a big storm and, you know, we were just excited to get school off. All right. Thank you for reminding me of that. God, those are 40 years ago.

Wow. Jesus. All right, what else you got for me? That's all I got for you, boss. All right. Everybody have a great day back tomorrow. I declare bankruptcy!