The Kevin Sheehan Show - Ron's Mea Culpa + Sam To Start

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

Kevin opened with thoughts on Ron Rivera's prepared statement from earlier this morning addressing his headline-making comments yesterday about Eric Bieniemy. Ben Standig/The Athletic jumped on to discuss the last 24 hours of Ron but plenty of football as well in advance of the Commanders' preseason opener Friday night in Cleveland. Kevin closed with Ron Rivera's optimistic comments last week about Benjamin St. Juste and a Darrell Green classic chase.  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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I'm fortunate to have an experienced staff, guys like Eric and Jack, and a roster of players who want to help this franchise take the next step. We're all working to build a culture where players and staff can respect each other's point of views and the way that we do things and continue to be very professional with one another.

At the end of the day, we're all a family and we're working towards the same goal and that's the to win. I just wanted to get that out there so everybody understands. I wasn't as clear as I probably needed to be, and I own that, and that's on me. There's nothing that says we're a little bit messed up right now more than having to read from a prepared statement. That was Ron Rivera earlier this morning reading from a prepared statement. More on that coming up in a moment. Ben Standing's going to join us in the final two segments of the show today. We're going to talk a little bit about the Ron Rivera stuff with Ben,

but we're going to talk a lot of football as well as we are two days away from the preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns. The show today brought to you by MyBooky. MyBooky's online casino offers everything you would want. Every table game available with plenty of options, there are 30 plus ways to play blackjack at MyBooky. They've got craps, they've got slots, they've got roulette options. MyBooky's online casino has over $2 million in jackpots available right now. Secure up to $1,000 in a bonus with a $10 casino chip by using my promo code, Kevin D.C. when you sign up at mybooky.ag.

Football season is right around the corner. Of course, we've got preseason games starting tomorrow night and throughout the weekend. You know, last weekend was technically the first weekend of a long run of football on the weekend. But that football game, the Hall of Fame game, was on a Thursday night. This is truly the first weekend, and it will last right through February and the Super Bowl where we'll have football every weekend. I don't love preseason football, as most of you know. But some of my friends think that the best opportunity for Betty's,

on the NFL comes in the preseason. Washington, by the way, a three-point underdog at Cleveland on Friday night at My Bookie. But my bookie's got plenty of prop bets for the upcoming NFL season. They've got lots of season-long contests as well, including a $100,000 stake in their $10 entry, Survivor Pool. That's a pretty low entry fee for a survivor pool that's going to pay out 100 grand. Go to My Bookie for all your betting needs. As I've mentioned before, my bookie has fair point spreads, fair pricing, and their online casino really is top shelf. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. when you get there, and you'll be able to realize some big sign-up bonuses, including up to $1,000 on your sports betting account. So, you know, Ron Rivera this morning, I think offered up

of mea culpa of sorts. You know, I don't know what to make of his prepared statement and a lot of what was asked afterwards. He did admit foot and mouth. He did admit responsibility. He owned it. I still, you know, 24 hours later, think Ron was just riffing when he admitted

for all the world to hear. And without any prompting, by the way, that a number of players came to him, him directly to express concern about Eric Biennami's coaching style. You know, I know that he added that he told players to go to Beenemy directly, you know, and that Beenemy would enlighten him as to why he coaches the way he coaches, but he created a distraction. You know, he put into everyone's mind the possibility that Beenemy's style might be an issue

for some players. And as I said on yesterday's show, he just shouldn't have said what he said. And he admitted that today. He did. He took ownership for it. Again, it was, you know, a roundabout way. And, you know, he tried to extricate himself from, you know, the comments at the end of that, you know, answer yesterday when he talked about Jack Del Rio and himself being head coaches and Eric Bien, I mean, not having that experience. And, you know, sort of suggesting that you become a little bit less rigid and a little bit more flexible when you become a head coach.

He talked more about that, you know, to a certain degree. Ben pointed that out to me this morning on radio, and I think it was a good observation. But look, no one else was responsible for what Ron did. I still can't believe how many of you actually think that that was some sort of media concoction. It wasn't. If it had been a media concoction, it would have been reported. It wasn't reported people. It was just transcribed as This is what Ron Rivera said today, unprompted. So, of course, nobody else was responsible. Nobody even had it in their mind before yesterday that BNMEY's style might be rubbing players the wrong way or might be of concern.

But now it is there. You know, whether or not it means anything, time will tell. I still don't think it means much unless it was a group of veteran players that went to Ron. And in thinking a little bit more about that specifically, you know, if you're really doing some sort of probability chart on who it was that went to Ron, you know, the number of players, actually it's more likely that it was a group of veterans. I mean, do you really think that it was a group of rookies who may or may not make the team that are going to risk that long shot chance of making an NFL team by complaining about the coaching? I mean, just saying, it doesn't seem like that would be a rookie move or a new player first year play. player move. With that said, I still think that unless Terry McClorn was one of the, you know,

one or two offensive players among the number of players that went to Ron, that this isn't really going anywhere. You know, Ben raised in his story, and we'll talk to him a little bit about it when he jumps on with us in the next segment, he raised in his story in the athletic last night that, you know, this might be more. about Ron than the players, that Ron may not be feeling great about Eric Biennami's style, a style Ron has referred to as loud and about making people, you know, comfortable, being uncomfortable. And maybe that's why Ron brought up that he and Del Rio have the head coaching experience and Eric doesn't have that perspective. So perhaps it's not the players

necessarily, but the head coach or other coaches on the staff who feel that way. You know, I don't want to, you know, go over everything that I said on the show yesterday, but, you know, there were a couple of other thoughts that I had and something that was told to me that I'm going to read to you in a moment. But, you know, Ron really is the, he's the head coach. You know, if there's an issue with the Eric B. Enemy coaching style, Ron shouldn't speak about it as an Eric B. Enemy thing. That's him. He can change that if he wants. Now, he hired it. But if he doesn't like it, you know, when you're the head coach, this is us. This is us coaching the team.

I'm not going to single out somebody specifically, especially when it's borderline critical. It just was not wise yesterday. There was also this. Jason Wright last week. Somebody sent this to me and somebody said, this, you know, was not something that necessarily pleased everybody. He did an interview with Jason Reed. Jason Reed, of course, you know, for years at the Washington Post covering the team.

He was at the radio station briefly doing a morning drive. I've known Jason for a long time now. I think Jason's a really good writer. Jason wrote a story about Eric B. Enemy. and the quotes in here include this following quote from Jason Wright. Jason Wright said about Eric B. Enemy, quote, he's been the single biggest accelerant to the culture change Ron was brought in to do. Ron is allowing EB to operate like a head coach in many ways,

and that's because EB has the skill set of a head coach. Closed quote. There's more. And I'm going to get to some of the other things that Jason Wright said here in a moment. But he's been the single biggest accelerant to the culture change Ron was brought in to do. Really? He's been here six months? The culture change Ron was brought in to do.

He's been here going on season four. But now we've got the guy in the building that can really do it, that can really accelerate the culture change. I don't know if Jason meant it as a dig at Ron versus just a building up of Eric B. Enemy, but it kind of comes off as both. You know, and as far as E.B. having the skill set of a head coach, how would he know? I mean, seriously, how would he know? I mean, 17 football organizations, NFL football organizations, decided that he didn't have this skill set of at least a good head coach, and they passed on him.

You know, I am skeptical about Eric B. Enemy. I've admitted that. I, you know, I can't ignore the fact that Washington was the only team willing to offer him a job, and it was as an offensive coordinator. I'm not going to ignore that set of facts. I am also intrigued with Eric B. Enemy and rooting for Eric Bienemy. I'd love to see somebody like him who's been in the shadows, who's been knocked down several pegs here over the last year, year and a half, actually prove everybody wrong. And it would actually be nice if that happened here. I'm not as invested in being right about this one as I have been other things, because I actually don't really know what to make of him as an offensive coordinator. I just know.

that nobody wanted to give him a chance as a head coach, and there was only one other team even interested in interviewing him as an offensive coordinator. But I think it's a style over substance thing, and I think there's a chance he might prove it. We'll see. There was more from Jason Wright in the Jason Reed column. Quote, the level of intensity and preparation and the focus in both meetings and practice is on a level that has not been since I've been here on the offensive side. players are in the film room early and his coaches are in the film rooms early because the standard of preparation has gone way up it is a night and day difference with him at the helm and the accountability and the attention to detail are being discussed and executed with a new level of rigor that gives me so much confidence and excitement about what's coming closed quote look i'm i'm not about to sit here and tell you that he's wrong he might be right about all of that he might be but i

tell you this, this is my opinion, take it for what it's worth. I just don't think Jason Wright should be doing interviews anymore about the football side of the building. I'd put a stop to that ASAP. You know, there are a few reasons I would give for not letting him talk to the media about football operations. Number one is, it's not his area of responsibility. There is a head football person in this organization right now, whether people like it or or not, it's Ron Rivera. It's not Jason Wright. And I would add to that that the relationship he has with the head coach seems to be a bit frosty. You know, remember the Mike Jones story from the athletic two months ago. Mike Jones wrote a piece on Jason Wright. Ron Rivera was not unavailable to

comment. He declined to comment the story. You know, it was for the most part a fairly positive piece on Jason Wright, the head coach, declined to comment for the story. I think a lot of people in that building, I think a lot of people in sports media in this town know that Ron and Jason aren't exactly super tight. They're not close buds by a long shot. It's not for the team president, the guy that is not involved in the football operation, to be speaking publicly about the football operation. That's my opinion. In some organizations you have that.

Typically it's an owner and then the football person, that's a different scenario, you know, when it's the owner, when it's Jera, you know, along with, you know, the coaching staff. He's not the team president as in the guy that runs the football operation. He is the guy that runs the other side of the building, the business operation. You know, maybe Jason is angling right now for more than just his business-related responsibilities. And if he wants to work on the football side, he's entitled to try and go get those responsibilities,

to get that title expanded with the new ownership group. Go for it if that's what he really wants. Nobody's going to stop him. I doubt he'd end up getting that gig. He has no experience in doing that. but he's certainly entitled to try, but until somebody adds that responsibility to his job description, to his job title,

I don't think he should be stepping on Ron's toes. Any story about Eric B. Enemy, that story should include quotes from Eric Bienemy, players and coaches, including the head coach. Remember last year when Jason Wright scolded Channel 7 Scott Abraham, when Scott Abraham asked Carson Wentz, excuse me, a few tough questions but completely reasonable questions, I don't think that made the football people happy.

And I wouldn't be surprised if his quotes in this Jason Reed story got the attention of the football side of the building as well. But hey, what do I know? Just here to observe and give my two cents. You know, at this point, you know, barring a season of double-digit wins along with a playoff win, I think we're heading towards a total house cleaning at the end of this upcoming season. And by the way, next off season could be the beginning and will be the beginning of the Josh Harris ownership of the football team. He owns the football organization now. But there just isn't anything given how late the deal was finalized that they could do with Ron

or anybody else on the football side. But next January, they'll be able to sell a new GM that this place is pretty attractive. They'll be able to sell a new head coach that this place is pretty damn attractive. First of all, they've got some good young football players on the team. They'll have a top five salary cap space situation and maybe a top 10 pick. You know, a pretty clean slate to build it the way a new GM wants to build it.

It will be attractive here in January if there is a total house cleaning. I'd say the odds favor a total house cleaning and perhaps a name and brand cleanup on aisle five as well. I think all of those things are going to happen next January. Look, they could end up having a really good season and that could change it. And it's going to be an exciting season and an intriguing situation because of the Sam Hal and Eric B. Enemy storylines, the Chase Young storyline, you know, whether or not this defense can carry them into contention. the only thing, by the way, that would limit next off season a little bit would be an 8 and 9 or 7 and 10 season this year.

That's not going to help anybody. That's a worry for me because if they're not a playoff team and they're 8 and 9 or 7 and 10 because they're really good on defense, then they're not going to get Caleb Williams or Drake May. You've got to be 3 and 14 or 4 and 13, maybe worst case 5 and 12 to have a chance at the quarterback. You know, and if you go eight and nine or seven and ten, maybe Sam Howell played well, but more likely than not, the new GM's going to be wanting to draft a quarterback. We'll see how the whole draft thing plays out. You know, there are probably two or three names that we don't even know of right now

that are going to rise through the, you know, round three through five level into a late first or mid-first round position by the time we get to mock draft season. I'm talking about like once college football starts. The first preseason game is on Friday night, and Ben Standig has some information as it relates to the quarterback situation. I don't think it's a shocker. We will discuss all things commanders with Ben Standing, starting right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, this next segment of the show is brought to you by the Circa Million in the Circa Survivor pools out in Vegas. I was just out at the Circa hanging out with Aaron.

I missed Tim Murray when I was out there. We did not connect. We talked, though, but the Circa is something else. And their two contests are the biggest in Vegas. The Circa million, $6 million in guaranteed prizes. Pick five teams every week against the spread, and the winner takes home a million dollars. Top 100 pays out.

The Circa Survivor Pool, $8 million guaranteed to the winner or winners. Pick one team straight up every week to win. If that team loses or ties, you're out. I'm sure most of you know what a survivor pool is. And you can only pick one each team once per season. But 14 million and guaranteed prizes, no rake. All the extra money goes to the prize pool. Entries are available to be made until September 9th at 2 p.m. That's the day before the NFL's first Sunday of the year. You must register in person at a circus sports book Nevada, but weekly picks can be made through a proxy from anywhere, which is what I did when I was out there. So you do have to be out there to sign up. But it will be exciting. The Circa

Million and the Circus Survivor pools all presented by the Circus Sportsbook, the biggest and best sports book in Vegas. All right, jumping on with us right now, and you can hear him. He's in his car heading back from the park in Ashburn. An active 24 hours. from yesterday morning until this morning. Ben wrote about it. I really wanted to talk more football with you because I've kind of addressed a lot of the thoughts that I've had over the last 24 hours about Ron and the B-enemy stuff.

But before we get to football stuff, just tell me overall as we sit here and digest the comments he made yesterday and the Mayaculpah to a certain degree this morning, what your thoughts are in a nutshell. Well, my thoughts are based on your intro that I want to go back to Circa because their pool area is the greatest thing of all time. That's where my thoughts are now. So you've been to the swim stadium.

Yeah, when the commanders or whatever they were called at time played in Vegas, you know, two years ago, yeah, you mentioned Tim and Aaron. They invited all of us over. and, you know, the best things about Vegas, I mean, there's a lot of best things, but in terms of being in the casino area is the sportsbook and the pool area. But you can't combine them, at least we thought, because one's indoors and one's out. And then Circus says, well, hold that thought, and came up with the greatest concept ever with pool and massive screen TV. You can even gamble the food.

I mean, it is the definition of a one-stop shop in heaven. Yeah, I think I talked about it yesterday, but this is like an unbelievable scene. Now, you were out there for a football weekend. I have not been out there for a football weekend, but this is a stadium seating around six pools and a 40-foot HD screen with all of the betting screens surrounding that. It seats 4,000 people. And I can only imagine what it is like on a Saturday during college football season or an NFL Sunday. But it is incredibly impressive. And yeah, for those that are planning any sort of trip to Vegas, you know, you can stay there.

It's a great spot to stay. The casino is fine. But that swim stadium and their sports book inside are the best sports books in Vegas. All right, with that said, maybe I'll plan a weekend during football season. By the way, I'm looking at this right now. When's the by week again for Washington? It's like the beginning of December. It's a by week.

Then they're at the Rams. So if you really want to be adventurous, you can absolutely go to Vegas and then go to LA. Here it is. December 10th is the bye week. So the 11th and the 10th is the buy week. And then as Ben mentioned, the following week, there at SoFi to face the Rams, which is nothing more than just a quick 50-minute flight or a three-hour drive, if you want to do it that way through the desert. I've done both many times. Yeah, that would be great.

The only problem with that time of the year, well, it'll be beautiful out there. Like, you know, although it does get chilly in Vegas. Let me just mention in the wintertime, it gets chilly. is you're approaching holiday season. And at that point, what's their record going to be? Are you going to really want to stick around to see the Rams in Washington? Two teams? By the way, I think the Rams might be awful this year.

I think there's a chance they could really stink, don't you? Oh, yeah. No, it's a fascinating topic. We talked a lot about the process already because of Josh Harris here in that concept. that sort of slow, you know, really slow playing your bill, whereas the Rams, the exact opposite went all in. And, yes, they did win the Super Bowl. But you can see the peril of that approach if you don't win it because they're going

straight down to have to get rid of a bunch of guys, you know, because of age or money or whatever. And by the way, like, if you're the type of person that's even debating now hearing this, going to Vegas and then to L.A., if you're that type of mental, you'll find an excuse to tell your family to buzz off for a couple days. Yeah. By the way, you know, on the Rams thing, it is really one of those interesting things in the NFL over the last, you know, five years. They were all in. Look, they were all in with Jared Gough and they got to a Super Bowl.

I mean, they were spending and getting rid of draft choices then. And it paid off for them. I mean, they ended up going to the Super Bowl and winning it. And again, early on, they went to a Super Bowl and lost. it to New England. I mean, sign me up for that plan. You know, the truth is they're going to stink because you're right. They've lost some players due to, you know, massive salary cap, you know, issues.

But if Matthew Stafford and Cooper Cup were just healthy, they'd still be a pretty good football team. You know, they still have enough really good players to be a decent football team. But we don't know about Cups, you know, health. We don't know enough about Matthew Stafford's health. And that's the big one, right? Because they went all in on Stafford. And they probably thought, we're going to get three to five years of Stafford's, you know, best three years and maybe a couple of years at the very end of his career.

And after a season and a half, he's injured. We'll see what he looks like this year. And they got nobody behind him. I mean, I think it's Brett Rippin, if my memory serves me correctly. because I was talking about this with Cooley, actually, over the weekend. I mean, he stays in touch with Sean McVeigh. And I think it's Brett Rippin. Oh, they drafted Stets and Bennett, too.

Oh, yeah. In the fourth round. But it's very possible that when we get to that week of the season, it's not what you would call in the trade a meaningful game for either team. It could be meaningful for both teams. You never know. And maybe Washington will be alive and well by then. I mean, we both think that they are better than the six and a half number on the over-under.

Yeah, by the first week of December, they have been largely still alive mathematically and all that. But, yeah, you know. Three straight years. I mean, they have been in the hunt, despite horrible starts, they have gotten themselves back into by this. Like, I'm looking at this right now, okay? In 2020, on December 13th, they beat the 49ers to get to six. and seven, which I think at that point put them in first place or tied them for first place in the NFC East. And we know what that year was about. In 2021, on December 12th, on December 6th, anyway,

they were six and six after beating Vegas in, you know, at a Legion Stadium. You were there for it. You were at the circuit the day before. And they were six and six and six and very much in the hunt for everything. And then last year, you know, you. You get to the early portion of December, they're 7, 5, and 1 on basically the same bye week that they had last year they have this year. So I forgot about that, that they have exactly the same by week this year that they had last year, week 14. That's unusual. But, yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

So up for air after another day in Ashburn. but a day where Ron started the day with his, I put my foot in the mouth, Mayaculpa. So why don't you just sum up how you feel about what transpired, beginning with Ron's comments, you know, offered up free of charge to everybody yesterday and where we landed today? Well, let me back to track this a little bit for a second. You know, yesterday when this all went down, you know,

we're very typically talked after practice, but the last few days he's talked before. or roughly like 8.40 in the morning. Maybe it's the lack of coffee, I mean, or pulling asleep, whatever. But I didn't, like, jump out of my seat when I heard that quote. I mean, it was notable, understandable. But, like, I didn't think of myself was going to be this, you know, national story all of a sudden.

And I think what I realized was that I have been so programmed over the last three years that a national story involving the commanders involved lawyers and Congress and Roger Goodell, like a relatively normal, the coach said something weird where he didn't serve again. But it's not that big of a deal. And I'm like, oh, that's right. We're in a new era now.

We're back to being what normal teams deal with. Not to say that what Rivera did or said or anything was a standard operating procedure for teams, but it is more than the norm of what happens around the league versus what we've been used to. So that's with my own personal entry into this. But to go from there, you know, today, so first of all, he comes out of it to say, I want to start, I want to share some thoughts about what I said yesterday. Okay.

And then I look up and notice he's reading a statement. And I'm thinking, wait a minute, a statement, like normally you're reading that if it's some of the things I just mentioned, right? some significant deal. This is relatively speaking about minor story, at least at this point. It was interesting that he was reading from the statement. He addressed, he didn't address so much the headline from yesterday, meaning that players came to him to express some concern with BNAMI's coaching style,

approach, what have you. He focused more on some of the other parts. that I thought were interesting initially, and that was anything that was sort of, you know, questioning the enemy's approach, comparing him potentially to Jack Del Rio, because he mentioned both coordinators yesterday. I think some of that stuff he wanted to clean up, I guess. Ultimately, though, I didn't really get the feel that he was changing his opinion on anything. I just think he felt like, okay, fine, if everybody is.

misunderstanding this to some degree. I guess I put my foot in my mouth, as he said, and he tried to clarify it, but I didn't, like, if people were upset that he said anything, I don't think he, I don't think he changed that approach. He didn't say, like, I shouldn't have said anything. He just was like, all right,

maybe I could have chosen better words. But he stuck with the idea that, hey, I've told, the players have said to me there's some concerns. I'm telling them to go talk to their, you know, direct supervisors, so to speak. and that, you know, he's saying, hey, I think there's been some good progress from those conversations.

Look at our recent practices. We seem to be doing better. The offense is picking up their play. So he's spinning it as a positive, even though it still feels kind of weird and potential that, like, there was some message being sent, but that's the little nebulous as to what exactly that was. Yeah, I mean, I'll start right there. Like, you said a couple things I want to go back to here in a moment, but overall, what you wrote, and I talked about this today, you took kind of a contrarian view last night in your column on this. And you and I actually talked, not on the air.

We did earlier today, but we talked last night. And, you know, after thinking about it and then listening to him this morning, I actually think your take had some validity that, you know, this may be more. more about his feelings about Eric Bienemy or maybe the staff's opinions about Eric Bienemy. And maybe there's a level of something going on there. I talked about, you know, on radio today and at the beginning of this podcast, you know, the Jason Wright comments from the Jason Reed story last week. I mean, we know that that relationship isn't close. And I think that's an interesting part of where Ron's head might be with all of this as well.

but, you know, netting it out, is Eric Bienemy having a problem with the players? Because I hadn't heard anything about that until Ron told us about it yesterday. Right. It was so funny. Like, I had so many people, you know, obviously you can't take Twitter too seriously how people react. But I had so many people saying, how is this a story? Everybody knew what the enemy was like as a coach. What are we talking about? Right. And I'm like, sure, but it's happening here. But it's not, you know, whatever he did in Kansas City isn't relevant to hear, other than to say, hey, I heard, you know, like, I remember when Scott Brooks got hired by the Wizards,

and it seemed like a pretty good hire, right? Because, you know, look at the success case he had. But I remember talking to people who covered the thunder, and they were like, eh, I don't know, man, I think you're going to be disappointed. And then I saw it for myself, like, oh, I get it now. So I think there's some of that. Like, okay, it's one thing for everybody to say what the enemy does, but then you experience it,

and that's where I guess some of these players have had some issues and went to Ron. I think part of the problem here also has been, even today, we don't know, like on a scale of 1 to 10, what level of concern was existing? Were they just saying, hey, Ron, practice is a little bit faster. Is it going to where it's going, or is like, hell no, I'm not part of it.

this is nuts? Was it what these concerns said Monday or they said at mini camp? Like that's the part I think is also unclear. I don't know. He didn't say that. I think that leads to some of the issues. I'm assuming these comments were made during training camp because that's, you know, really where things that have been picked up, you know, aggressively and all that.

But, you know, we don't really know some of that. And I think that's notable as well as, You know, look, the players are getting their first taste of Eric Bienermy, who is not just as he is, you know, an aggressive coach who's, you know, really just intensive, seemingly at all times. He's coming after a guy at Scott Turner, who, you know, not saying it's a negative, but Scott Turner, I never heard in practice. Scott Turner personality-wise is the complete opposite of Biener, you know,

very low-key, at least seemingly based on when he's been around us and on the field. So it's a definitely 180 for the players. So again, I'm not surprised that there's some shock to the system, but to the degree, you know, I don't think we know. That's part of the confusion here. Yeah. I don't know what we know about this whole thing. It's interesting.

But you can't put the horse back in the barn on what Ron said, even though I guess he attempted to do that this morning. The one thing that I would say, to your point, that he spent much of, you know, that opening prepared statement and even some of the follow-up stuff on the portion of what he said yesterday that dealt with him in Del Rio kind of having head coaching experience in Eric Bianami, not having it. And this idea that, you know, you kind of learn to be a little bit more flexible, a little bit less rigid when you have head coaching responsibilities versus, you know, just coordinator

responsibilities. And I would just say that, and I think I told you this this morning, I think that was just easier to sort of explain and extricate himself from versus the other, because he said that players, a number of players, came to him. And to your point, we don't know specifically what they came to him for other than what he said, which was to express concern over Eric B. enemy's intensity and style, basically. You can't really put that one. back into the toothpaste holder. That's what, you know, that was the headline more than anything else. And as I said on the podcast yesterday, what really was alarming to me and why I was kind of taken

aback is that that's the kind of thing you usually get from a reporter who had a source, sometimes anonymous, that said some players have gone to the head coach about Eric B. enemy's coaching style. But we didn't get it from a reporter. We didn't get it from a source that gave it to the reporter that, you know, a player speaking on the condition of anonymity. We got it directly from the head coach's mouth, which made it just, you know, in many ways kind of unbelievable. But anyway, let's talk some football, all right? I want to, first of all, know what we've learned from today about how Friday night will be handled as it relates to starters against the Browns? Yeah, I mean, we don't know a ton. We do know that Sam Howe is going to start. That's not exactly

a shock, but nonetheless, that we've all confirmed that with the team. Beyond that, you know, how long will they go? You know, let's assume that the first drive isn't 10 plays 80-yard touchdown, and then it can feel pretty good. You know, I would think you go a couple series. I mean, we talked about this earlier. It's not so much as, you know, how to somehow look throwing a, you know, a bomb or a steam pass. It's like, okay, let's see him manage the whole system, the whole operation, all the plays, get it in on time, get the huddle, get everybody organized in the huddle, get out on the field,

run the play, do it all over again, and do that consistently. You know, again, he's only had the one, start in the one game in the NFL. And, you know, that was a big part of the plan for the team back in the mini-camp at OTA time, but for how to get, you know, as comfortable as possible being that guy at this level. So let's see where that goes. And that can't just be my head one series or two, even maybe not even two series. The issue is, of course, let's put aside to a degree injuries are going to happen.

They can happen in practice. They can happen anywhere. but, you know, obviously, there's no point in risking Terry McCorn at a ton, maybe not like a Charles Leno, but yet you don't want to leave Sam Hal out there naked, right? Because obviously he needs to play and, you know, play with guys who are, and can help him. So that, I think, is the rough. I would almost guess that on the defensive side, boy, I don't know if I see any reason for John Allen or Doran Payne to play, you know, let some of the younger guy,

or if they do, fine, beat up on somebody else for a minute, but then get, get out. that would seem to be a fairly logical approach for the defense. You know, there's guys that, you know, there's tons of defensive linemen who are in reps. There's tons of guys in the secondary, like Juan Martin and Emmanuel Forbes, whereas, like, say, Kendall Fuller, you know,

I don't think he has to play much or at all. So, yeah, I think the defense, to me, people are likely to play very little. The main guys, whereas in the offense, I guess it's going to come down to how much they want to run at, how out there, who do they want to help them out? You made a really, really good point this morning, as you often do, when you were on.

I love when you say that. But you know that I enjoy our conversations, and I've always said this about Ben. I think Ben thinks, I think he's a good thinker, and I think that he is, because of it, it makes his writing in the athletic excellent and sometimes different than everybody else's in his observations. But, you know, you made a point, and it's a really good. one. And that is, we're all going to be watching these preseason games this year because there's this quarterback that we're all intrigued with. Like, is he or isn't he the guy? And well, I don't know if we're going to

learn a whole hell of a lot. I still think we'll learn more about what the coaches say and, you know, how much he plays and whether or not Berset actually starts to close the gap and we start to feel that versus what we see on the field necessarily, unless it's an absolute disaster. But we have have the howl reason to watch this team in dreadful preseason games. But the point you made this morning is the other guy that's brand new to this position that he's in is Eric Bienami. He hasn't called plays. He hasn't, you know, I think he's contributed to game plans. I think he's contributed to play design, which we've heard a lot about, you know, from his days in Kansas City. But he needs to get in, as much as Sam needs to get into a rhythm of taking the play into his ears

in the huddle and then communicating that played everybody in the huddle. And then communicating pre-snap as to what he sees. And then, you know, acting based on what he sees post-snap, Eric B. Enemy needs to get some experience in calling plays into the helmet of a quarterback that has just as much experience as he does, you know, in doing what he's going to do. And it'll be interesting to see if Ron decides to really give them in these games, and maybe it'll come more in the Baltimore practices in the joint practices next week. But, you know, you'd hate to see it be a total disaster from, you know, a functionality standpoint in the opener against Arizona because they didn't work on it enough.

and get comfortable enough in the opportunities that they had in the preseason? Yeah, you know, to tie it back into the other discussion about things Rivera said over the last 24 hours, you know, there's a lot of people out there who think that Eric B. Enemy is coming in here to be the savior. The reality is he's coming in here to get an opportunity. He does not call played with the Chief, and even if he did it for a moment or two, Andy Reed was saying there looking over his shoulder, right, because that's what he's. it's his offense, it's what he does. Sure, he was with the winningest organization

in this league, but it wasn't just because of him. And this is his chance to show that he can do this. And the point of this is why, I know people looked at it as a why he taking sort of a lateral job to come to this place. It's not exactly a lateral job because of the

play calling. He gets the associate head coaching title. They've allowed him to completely designed practices, all these things. But now this is his chance to show he can do it, and thus get perhaps the next job that everybody had wanted for him, or so many people have a head coach. But yeah, he

needs to prove it. It's not, it's not a, it's not a, it's done it. And I think that's where it seems to be this misconception with some, with some voices out there about, about this thing. With everything to say, he can't. That's a separate topic. It's that we don't know. And yeah, that's why he needs

to get this work in. And we were talking about, you know, part of this conversation is we sort of just say generically offensive coordinator, as he's done it or whatever. There are the basic points of that job are game planning and play calling. Game planning is important, but it goes out the window when you're down 14-0 in the first quarter or, you know, or, you know, you're facing third and four from the other team, 49-yard line, you're down four points with four minutes for Del, what are you calling?

Right? Like, this is you have, you can't, just like walking Sam Hal in practice throw, you know, throw darts in seven-on-seven. It's not the same thing when Michael Parsons is trying to run you down. Then what? So that's why this is an experience,

an opportunity, and, you know, it isn't just Sam Howard. It's also this other guy who is a very important figure for this situation. I think I'd add to the the enemy thing, not to, you know, go through what I've gone through probably a dozen times since they hired him. It's not just, you know, this opportunity for him. It's the only opportunity that he has, and it may be his last opportunity. No one else wanted to give him a chance.

Washington's the only team that did. He's got to make some hay this year. And for him, you know, he needs to be comfortable, and he and Sam Hal have to be ready in that opener September 10th to function in their communication. And, you know, just to get the, I mean, look, I remember, you know, not to bring up Dwayne Haskins, rest of soul, but I remember all of the concerns before he started that first game in Buffalo. Oh, my God, they're going to have 15 delay a game penalties. They're going to use up all their timeouts.

And actually it was a pretty smooth operation between, you know, at the time it was Kevin O'Connell, right? Because Callahan had already taken over. And so it was O'Connell and Dwayne Haskins. Well, that was great. And it allowed him to play and it allowed the rest of the offense to function. You can't have, you know, week one, even though these are two new guys doing what they're doing, at least with respect to their responsibilities. and a whole group of players that are working with this offense for the first time,

I just hope they take advantage of the opportunities they have the rest of the summer and that we don't see a shit show on September 10th, September 17th and September 24th. You know, like we have early in seasons in Ron's first three years. You know, I hope whatever they do, they don't give it away in terms of what they want to do, but there's enough preparation time in live settings to have them ready for the opener. Yeah, and I would just also add, because I'm positive. Somebody who's listening to them are going to be tweeting you and I saying, oh, you guys are being negative, y'all, y'all, no, we're being practical.

But you can't just assume that, okay, we'll go put the ball down, go out there and play football. We've done in the backyard. We see players do it every week. It shouldn't be a big deal. Well, whatever. We don't know. You know, it's the same thing applies to teams that have rookie quarterback, except that you accept the fact that the rookie quarterback is young,

which is the case with Hal, but that you also have on top of it a new coordinator, not just new as in he's done it before elsewhere and is doing it here. He has not done it elsewhere. He's defeated here for the first time. So there's a lot going on. And, you know, we're not even discussing exactly that the offensive line has been, you know, a shaky unit, and that's a concerning group.

Logan Thomas there, top tight in, probably is not going to play this game, et cetera. So, yeah, I mean, there's a lot going on. They've got to figure it out, and I'm not saying they won't. But that's why you, the way, you know, if they're going to tell us practice matters, well, then so does this. Like they, you can't just say, well, we'll figure it out. No, they've got to go through this process. And that's what this game, you know, starts to be about, as well as the next week's during practice.

Look, a practical answer would also be the offense is going to be a work in progress. They have legitimate reasons if they start slow, new, you know, inexperienced quarterback, you know, an OC that's never called plays before installing a new system for everybody. But look, they don't have with the way they have been given this opportunity to start against the worst team on paper in the league, a team that is, you know, also in their situation, not a quarterback or head coach, but installing a new deal at Denver, if they don't take advantage of these two weeks and come out of it, worst case, one and one, they're staring 0 and 4 in the face because they're going to be a dog against Buffalo and a dog against Philadelphia, and that's when all hell, you know, could break

loose, and we're barely out of September. So they have legitimate kind of reasons for a slow start offensively going in, but I don't know if they have the luxury of being able to use those excuses or reasons, given how important really this opener is. It's really actually a very important opener for a lot of reasons. You're going to have a near-packed house or maybe a packed house of the most fans that have come to watch you play a game in several years. in that stadium, and it'll be a celebratory atmosphere,

and you're playing a team that you'll be a solid six-point favorite against and should beat. I mean, I say should. I don't know if they should beat anybody, but it's one of the games on the schedule that they were lucky to get in the opener, I think. Anyway, I want to ask you about a couple of specific players and then ask you if we learned anything from Jack Del Rio speaking today, And we'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This final segment of the show is brought to you by Shelley's back room,

1331F Street, Northwest for the best cigar bar in town. Tommy's favorite spot in town. They've got a great menu too, great cocktail list, beer list, wine list. It's a real neighborhood-ish feel. But you're likely to see somebody famous in there because whenever the big wigs sports-wise come in from out. of town, they end up at Shelly's. Tommy might be there as well, although not this month as he summers in Spain. Yes, that's where he is right now. Shelly's back room 1331 F Street, Northwest.

Did you learn anything from Jack Del Rio's get together with the media today? You know, I'm feeling very uninitory today. I didn't get to Del Rio either because I was trying to, so then for what is worth, as soon as practice end, the players are walking off the field, you only have a relatively short amount of time to get somebody there, and because, you know, there was still some

things going on here with this Rivera Bionami thing, tried for that, but then Delaware, whoever's talking with Rivera or somebody else, they go pretty quick. So I didn't hear Del Rio directly, and I did get a sense that it wasn't much, you know, he was asked a little bit about this Rivera of the enemy thing, and he didn't really offer

too much, and I didn't even, you know, Nobody seemed to even suggest there was anything sicker notable or quotable with what he said. So I didn't. So, okay, so I guess the one thing it is fascinating is like a year ago at this time, Delry was the one facing a lot of questions because of his comments a year ago about the January 6th Dust Up and all that. And now a year later, he's the Com District coordinator who nobody's paying that to do.

So true. I mean, we are a year removed from Dust Up, Jack. And even, you know, the fine and the idea that, you know, everybody had Del Rio on that hot seat. And he seems to be the most calm and most solidly entrenched guy out there. No, the one thing that I always just find so interesting is you know this, because we all get the transcripts of all of the pressers sent by the team. and Ron's are always multiple pages, and Jack's like, you know, is like a page and a half. I mean, he said a lot today more than he typically does.

I read through the transcript, but he just doesn't give you much at all. Like, you know, look, I know he made that comment last year, and everybody, you know, in their PR department cringed when he said it, regardless of your political position. But for the most part, Jack gives you nothing and stays. positive about everybody. What's Chase Young looked like to you? I mean, I think he's looked pretty good.

I mean, I don't even think there's reason to discuss whether he looks athletically back to normal or does any concern. You know, obviously, I don't know. But he doesn't look internal structure of what's going on with me, but he doesn't look like any worse for wear at all. He's looked pretty, you know, aggressive and forceful in, you know, some real life situations there on the line. I think what I want to see from him in this game

but assuming he plays a reasonable amount is what his past rushing plan look like. I think that is, for me, as much of a question as anything, because not only would that help potentially unlock his performance, but it will tell us about his thought process, you know, his approach to improving. Because I think that was one of the big issues they had before was that he just kind of, you know, ran straight up the field.

He tried to beat tackled with his athleticism, and that only got so far. You know, we see that a lot of times with athletes. You know, they've been able to dominate a couple of the lower levels just based on being a physical freak, and then they get to a certain point. You're like, oh, I guess that doesn't work. Now what?

and then some advance and some don't. And that's what I want to see with him is what does he look like. You know, we see a little bit in practice. I've noticed him a couple of times, you know, taking the tackle inside, not just going straight up the field and getting into the backfield again. There's no hitting in practice. No hitting the quarterback. But, you know, I want to see what that looks like in a real game against a real opponent.

Is there – why did you tweet out yesterday that Montes Sweat? is a monster. What was he doing? I just think he, you know, they have a lot of these, at this point of training camp, they have a lot of like one-on-one scenarios, you know, with an offensive and an offensive lineman going to head-to-head. And whenever he's out there, he's just always seemingly winning those.

And when he wins a lot of these battles, whether it's the one-on-ones or whether it's, you know, the more standard 11 on 11, it just looks the part. He's so athletic, as we know. He's such a physical freak. There's just a little bit extra there.

And that's been the case. You know, his whole time here, the issue is, well, I mean, it just, you know, he always feels like, you know, Doc Walker will say he's like a second behind before, from getting the sack. And that's why his numbers have been off. And it's kind of almost inexplicable to say,

why. But he just looks the part. And like I would say, you know, overall, like he looks better than Chase Young. I know there's a lot of people who would say, well, Chase Young is the better guy. You know, Washington. Maybe, you know, may not be able to keep the both. That's probably true. But I don't know that right now there's much of a debate which one I would keep. Again, we'll see what happens when the games turn real. But Montesqueath went to me, looks like a guy who is poised for a pretty good year. All right. Last one. Has there been a player through the first, you know, week and a half that has stood out to you that surprised you? You know, I was talking about this earlier with our friend Matt Parris. Like, I don't know what surprises me that Benjamin C. Juice is a good player. Might surprise me that he could arguably be the most outstanding player in camp right now. I thought he's, you know, I think a lot of us think he's been looked pretty good and he's playing outside. playing in the SWAT. So not surprised that he's played well, but just to the degree that he's

played well, it looks very promising for him this year. You know, we don't talk about them a lot in training camp because it's like we take Tara McCorn and DeHon Dodson for granted a little bit, but man, they are just some smoothest silk rat runners. You know, McCorn, you know, almost every practice now has like one play. We're like, okay, that's why that guy got all the money. and you know Dodson you know it doesn't not look like you've ever heard of the term

sophomore slump the way he's looking I mean he's been really sharp out there as well you know beyond that like I think Cody Barton has stood out to me as that you know

Mike linebacker I think when they do the 515 lineup I think right now to me he would be the one as opposed to Jamie Davis that's my guess at this point you know so I think he's looked good

I wouldn't go crazy for the tight ends, but, you know, Cole Turner, if the ball gets him, I feel like he's going to catch it, and at his height, he gives the quarterback a really nice target. And, you know, look, I may need him, depending on how long Logan Thomas, he is going to be out. I mean, obviously, neither, but I mean, they need him in a larger role if Thomas remains out. So, you know, I think there are a couple of guys that stand out. I could probably go through a few more of real deeper down the depth chart, but I think those are some of the guys that stood out. If you hadn't said Benjamin St. Juice, I was going to bring them up because I think that I'm hearing that they just absolutely love them.

And somebody told me to go back and listen to what Ron Rivera said when I was on vacation about Benjamin St. Juice. And I listened to that earlier today. And there's no doubt that, look, I think when this guy's been healthy, he's been really good. I mean, you know, there were plays I can think of from that Minnesota game and from, like, I even liked him on a couple of the blitzes, the corner blitzes. He's just a player. You know, he's just a really good player. And he's got that size and that physicality that you like to see now in today's NFL, that stickiness. And it's going to be hard to keep him off the field.

Yeah, no doubt. I think one of the, you know, most of the things we're talking about is sort of. of, you know, angsty conversations about somebody things as a quarterback, the offensive line, the enemy, whatever. The secondary, it's all positive. The question is, who are they going to use as their primary five? You know, Emmanuel Ford has certainly, you know, he lived up to the hype as being the 16th pick, but he's an outside guy.

I don't think St. Juice is, like, the definition of what you're looking for in a slot, but at the same point, he's played pretty well. Yet they also have, you know, Kwan Martin, the second round pick, to some degree they have Cam Curl. So, like, they have options. And then, you know, like Percy Butler, I think has had a pretty good camp. Derek Forrest continues to progress. So, like, they've got options.

And, you know, especially, like, other than the defensive line, I think the secondary probably feels like the best unit right now. I mean, maybe if you say you're the top four receivers, but, yeah, they've looked good. And, you know, if you combine the patch rush with good coverage play, I mean, And that is how you get a top, you know, three, four, five, seven defense. Last one. Is there a kicking competition between Sly and Badgley or not? Yeah, I mean, unlike, I guess, how the quarterback situation plays out there is one.

They're both getting, you know, work and, you know, they kind of alternate, you know, when they do like two-minute drill, you know, it'll be one of them for one, and the next one. The only thing I guess that makes me hesitate from a real competition is that, you know, Badly's limitations are distance, both in terms of field goals and he doesn't typically do kickoff. So that feels like Joey Fly would really have to bot this. You know, look, he missed what, four extra points last year. You know, it's not so.

I'm not thinking it's a lot, but he's been pretty on target so far, and he does just have better leg trade. And the fact that Tressway is, you know, dealing with a little bit of a back issue here. And Tressway the other day said, you know, Tressway is like the nicest human on the planet. He said the other day when I asked about possibly doing kickoff, if Badley is the guy, he basically said, look, I wouldn't tell Ron no, but I'm going to tell him no. Like, I'm not doing that. So I just feel like it's going to be Joey's fly on the left.

You know, he goes through one of those slump the kickers can go through where he just misses everything. All right, great job. At Ben Standing on Twitter, the athletic to read Ben and his podcast is Standing Room Only. We will chat on radio the rest of the week and maybe on the podcast sometime. Before the end of camp, thanks for doing this. I appreciate it as always. As always, thanks for having me out. Ben Standing, everybody.

I'm going to leave you with this today. I'm going to leave you with just a couple of Ron Rivera soundbites from when I was away. on Benjamin St. Juice. Tell me you don't leave this show if you listen to all three of these soundbites, thinking that Ron Rivera really, really likes Benjamin St. Juice. He's not the only one out there. It's going to be tough to keep Benjamin St. Juice, even with all the corners they have,

off the field for any less than whatever the top corner plays in percentage of snaps this year. I'll leave you with that. I'll be back tomorrow. And then Benjamin St. Juice, what sort of growth have you seen in him? Oh, wow. A lot of confidence. You know, he's, he's, you know, now into the system three seasons. And you see him play with confidence.

You see how sure he is of his technique, how much stronger he is. He's a good physical corner for us with good length. And so that's kind of cool. And I think it'll be very helpful. When you start to see a player get that kind of, confidence. What are some little things that happen on the field as a result of that? I think as a coordinator, as a play caller, you know, it gives Jack confidence knowing that, you know, we can design something that will highlight and feature his ability.

We can design or highlight something that obviously will play to his strengths and allow us to do some things differently. And that's one of the things that's been really good. The other thing he's done a nice job too is he's gone from corner to nickel seamlessly. and that's something that we were really pleased with because again, you know, this game is a game of matchups and we get in certain situations, you know, would we be able to match them up in the slot? Well, depending on who it is, absolutely. Sometimes guys going into the slot, they're always, you know, they're not as willing. They play a little more tight, a little more hesitant, a little more safe.

And with Benjamin, man, you see the confidence of which he plays. And it's not where he's, you know, just taking a shot or anything. is just that he's really in line in tune with the techniques and the guys that he's working with around him.