The Kevin Sheehan Show - Sam Howell Joins!

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Kevin opened the show with Washington Commanders starting quarterback Sam Howell as a guest. Among many topics, Sam discussed how he's feeling heading into Sunday's opener against Arizona, what it's been like working with Eric Bieniemy, the type of Washington offense we'll see this year, the receiver with which he has the best chemistry, and what he thought of Ron Rivera's comments last week to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer about Howell's readiness at the end of last year.That was followed by....Thom is back! He had plenty of stories about his summer in Spain and the guys talked a ton of Commanders and more. Use https://www.mybookie.ag/sportsbook/ for your sports betting needs. Use code KEVINDC 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. Today is the day that Tommy will be back on the show after spending the month of August in the early portion of September in Spain. But we're going to do the show a little bit differently today because Sam Howell is going

to join me here momentarily. Yeah, that's Sam Howell, the starting. quarterback of the team that will face Arizona Sunday at FedEx Field. The show today is presented by Window Nation. My friends at Window Nation will take good care of you. So please, if you've been thinking about new windows, give them the first shot. Call them today at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate, a no risk, no pressure, free estimate. You've got nothing to lose 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. Joining me now on the show is the starting quarterback of the team, Sam Howell.

Sam, thanks so much for doing this. I really appreciate it. So how are you feeling about this coming Sunday? Yeah, you know, feeling good. I feel like, you know, we've got to have a really good week of preparation. Obviously, this Arizona team has a lot of really talented players and a lot of You know, obviously, have a new coach. And so it's been a good challenge for us to try to get ready for this opponent.

But, yeah, man, we've got to have a good week of preparation and go out there on Sunday and have our best for – and have our best to have an opportunity to get a win. Does somebody like you who's played a hell of a lot of football in your life, even though it's been just one NFL regular season game, do you have nerves? Do you feel the pressure of a game like Sunday? No, honestly not.

really. I just kind of treated like any other game and I try to do my best throughout the week to be as prepared as possible going into Sunday and then once Sunday hits is just football and just playing the same game that I played my whole life and try to go out there and give everything I got and leave it all in the line and if I know if and if I do everything I can throughout the week to be as prepared as possible and give it all on Sunday then you know what the matter what the result is I'll know I gave it my all but I don't really focus on you know the nerves of the pressure or anything like that. I just try to go out there and do everything I can to help my team win. Take us through like the preparation of a starting NFL quarterback for the opener.

Like when did you get the game plan, the install, you know, what are you working on today specifically? Just give us a sense of what's going on right now as you get ready for Arizona. Yeah, I mean, I think it depends on the day of the week. And we don't like the game plan isn't just done, you know, like tomorrow in practice. like it'll be our first practice of the week tomorrow will, and it'll be just a base down focus. So just the first and second down focus. So for me yesterday and today,

it's all watching base down stuff, watching first and second down and trying to have a really good understanding of what they're doing on base downs. And then sometimes today, most of the base down plan is done, but sometimes today the base down plan will be finalized. So then just going back through the plan and making sure I'm understanding all the plays

and what we're trying to accomplish and while we're calling those plays and then knowing how those plays match up against their defense and thinking through all those things and thinking if there is any potential issues. And then when we get to Thursday, Thursday will be third down. So every day kind of has its own situation. You know, Wednesday is base down, Thursday's third down,

Friday's red zone. So the day before I kind of just been studying those things and making sure I have a good plan. And then whenever the coaches are done with the game plan for those situations, and you're kind of just going through the game plan and tie them into the coverages that you might see and trying to think through all the potential issues. Is everything that Eric Bienemy has

and is in his offensive playbook, is it all at your disposal here for the opener? Will it be more of a slow build to get the whole thing in during the year? Yeah, I mean, I think you never go into a game with everything at your disposal. You try to scale it down to things that you really like. So I mean, I think we're going to have whatever he thinks is best for this week.

That's what we'll have. And I'm sure there's things that we might get to down the road that we're not doing this week. But, you know, we're going to, everything we have that we think is good against the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday, we're going to have in the game plan. And we're not holding anything back. And we're going to try to go out there and let loose and have fun and try to put some points on the scoreboard. You know, I think a lot of us are just wondering what we're going to see on Sunday. And I don't want you to disclose you to any secrets, but just overall philosophically or the approach of the offense, you know, give us a sense of what we're going to see in Eric B. Enemy, Sam Howell, and the offense of 2023. What do you guys want to be?

Yeah, I think the main thing is we have a lot of talent, a lot of skill talent that we have on our offense that we want to try to get, want to try to utilize, and I think that's what E.B. does a really good job of. He knows how to utilize the talent that we have. So, yeah, I mean, we want to get everyone involved in the offense and spread the ball around and put people in positions where they can be successful. But, yeah, I mean, I think we'll have a balanced approach for sure, but try to get the rock around all the guys that we have. So what's he like? What's Eric Bianami like? Yeah, he's awesome. He's so passionate, and he just cares so much about

his profession and care so much about this team. And it's been so much fun to learn from and play for a guy that works so hard and care so much. And at the end of the day, all he wants is what's best with the team, what's best for the players. So it's been a lot of fun to be around them every single day. I've learned so much from him. So I can't imagine someone better to go into battle with on Sunday. Sam Howe is with us. Sunday 1 p.m. FedEx Field, Landover. you were there for the Dallas game. You started the Dallas game, but you were there for all of the games last year. There is going to be a really, really good atmosphere on Sunday. I'm sure you guys have talked about it to a certain degree. You know, more home fans, probably everybody rooting for the home team, which will be unique for around here recently. How much of you guys, you know, talked about it and how excited are you to play, you know, a legitimate home game Sunday in Landover? obviously we're really excited.

There's been so much positive energy in this organization lately, and I think it's such an amazing time to be a player, and I think it's just up to us to go out there and capitalize off of the momentum that this organization has, and obviously we're super excited. You know, the game is sold out on Sunday. Obviously, everyone's seen that around here, and we're just super excited. If anything, it makes us more excited for the game on Sunday. So it'll be a lot of fun to get out there in FedEx.

I'm sure it would be a great atmosphere. sphere. And it's just up to us to do the right things throughout the week to prepare us for Sunday to give us the best chance to win. What about your game? And there's a quiet confidence that I think we all kind of recognize even from afar about you and for those of us that watch you at Carolina. But what about your game specifically? Are you most confident in right now? And then is there a part of your game you feel needs improvement as this season goes along? Yeah, I think the main thing is I feel really comfortable in this system, and I feel like I've grown a lot in this system,

and I feel like I'm going into week one. I'm in a really good place, and I feel like I can go out there and have the ability to play fast and play instinctive. But I just think throughout the year, I mean, I'll only get better with the reps that I get. I think that's the only thing that I don't have is a lot of experience in the NFL, just because I was here one year and only got to play one game. But I feel like I've done the right thing,

from a preparation standpoint, not only this year, but last year as well when I wasn't playing to where I feel like going into season in a good place. You know, you just mentioned last year when you weren't playing. I don't know if you saw this from a week ago, but Ron, your head coach, told Sports Illustrated that when he was on his way home after the Dallas game last year in January, he told his wife, if I had known that Sam was capable of playing that way, I would have played him sooner. Did you read that and what was your reaction to it?

Yeah, I think someone probably had showed it to me at some point, but I don't know, I really don't think much of it. You know, I think, you know, he's a great coach, and he definitely has a, he knows exactly what he's looking for and what he's looking at. And I think, you know, last year we had a guy in Carson who, I still think he's a very talented quarterback and a very capable quarterback. And then we had Taylor who's proven himself every single opportunity

that he's got. So I don't think he was wrong. Friend of the decisions that he made last year, obviously, do I think I could have played and played well? Obviously, of course I do, but that's how I always think that way. But, no, I mean, I think just being around those two guys last year, and obviously the season didn't go the way we wanted it to go, but I learned so much from those guys.

And I think Coach Rivera always has had good judgment. It was just a matter of me getting a real opportunity just because I felt you can only do so much in practice, and I feel like I was doing all the right things in practice, but you really don't know about someone until they go out there in a real game and prove it. And so I feel like it was just kind of a matter-of-time thing where I actually got an opportunity on the field and got to prove myself to the people here.

So most of the time, a quarterback, especially a young quarterback, needs a solid group around him to succeed. So tell me where you think your supporting cast is strongest. Yeah, I think all around, you know, when you talk about the receivers we have, the running back to tight ends from the skill position standpoint. I think we have one of the best groups in the NFL. And I truly would not trade those guys for any other group in the NFL. You know, they've worked so hard and they've been so good to me and so supportive of me. And it's been so much fun to grow with those guys and learn this offense together.

And I feel like we're in a really good place with some really good chemistry going into the start of the season. And the O-Line, I think they've done a really good job. obviously have kind of some new pieces there and trying to get things to mold together with some new guys coming in. I think they've killed it. They've done a really good job, and they've done a really good job in the preseason. All the sacks that we had in the preseason were all my fault, and I've got to do a better job in that standpoint. But, you know, I feel really good about all the guys that we have in our offense at every single position. I feel like we've all come together at the right time, and I think I feel really good going into week one.

Is there a receiver on the team that you feel you've developed the most chemistry with at this point? I wouldn't say there's one. You know, obviously, I think I probably had the most chemistry with the Yami Brown just because we were in college together. We played two full seasons together in college, and then we're both from Charlotte, so we've worked down the off season every year and always thrown together. So I feel like I have a really good sense of chemistry with him. but really with all the guys, you know, with going through this year and really last year I didn't get the opportunity to throw to a lot of the starting receivers.

But this off-season, man, we've put a lot of time in and just making sure we take advantage of every single rep that we get, you know, whether it's OTA, training camp, preseason, whenever it was, we try to make the most of every single opportunity that we got to go out on the field and throw the ball. And so I feel like I'm in a really good place with all those guys. You may have just answered my next question, but my next question was, you know, to give me kind of a player that you think will surprise a lot of us,

you know, fans and media members, a player that, you know, perhaps as of now we're not necessarily talking a lot about. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, I think we have a lot of guys on our team, and especially with our skill position group that people don't really pay much attention to, but it's only a matter of time to where if and when they get an opportunity to go out there on the field, they're going to light it up. We have a lot of guys that I feel very confident in, even guys that are on the practice squad, I think can go out there and light this league up, so it's really just a matter of time, and if or when they get the opportunity to go show it.

So, you know, leadership's always a big part of the discussion when it comes to the position. And, you know, people have said about you that you are, you know, quiet kind of lead by action. kind of a guy. You've become the leader on teams you were on in the past. What's that process like? Are you automatically a leader because you're the quarterback, or does that kind of evolve and come later? I mean, obviously, I think it just kind of evolves over time. I think the main thing is you have to earn the respect of your teammates. I think it's obviously the easiest way to earn respect to your teammates is to play well. But at the same time, just being a good teammate each and every day and trying to get the best out of them each and every day.

And that's who I try to be every single time I come into this building. I try to be a good teammate and just try to leave these guys and get the best out of each and every one of my teammates. And yeah, I'm not going to be the loudest guy on the field. I always try to keep a calm demeanor. But at the same time, I definitely try to leave these guys and get the best out of them each and every day. And I feel like I've done a really good job in that aspect of it.

And I'll only continue to grow in it. Is there somebody on offense or on the team that you lean on the most player-wise? Yeah, I would say probably Jacobi Berset. I've been so fortunate to have him here and someone who's been so supportive of me and he's been one of my best friends on the team ever since he's got here. And so obviously he's been through a lot in his career. He's seen a lot, been around a lot of different quarterbacks and he's had a lot of success himself. So just being able to pick his brain and whatever situation might come up,

he's probably already been through it before. So just having a guy like that here, and a guy that's been so willing to help me be at my best, I've definitely got very lucky to have a backup like Chikov. What about you personally? Do you feel like you've got something to prove, especially after a lot of teams passed you over on draft day? you know honestly I'm sure a lot of people would think that oh that would make me mad and I just want to go out and prove people wrong but honestly I really don't think like that I know the type of player that I am I know the type of player that I'm capable of being and I feel like if I do the right things each and every day and work work as hard as I can and go out there on Sundays and put my best foot forward then I'll have I'll have the opportunity to be successful in this league and I think more than anything I want to prove myself right and I want to prove all the people that have

help me get to where I am. I want to prove them right. I feel like there's been so many people along my career that have helped me and always believed in me that I would always get to this point. So if I want to prove them right more than I want to prove anybody wrong. So how many tickets did you have to get for Sunday? Who's coming? Yeah, obviously, it would be a pretty good crowd. I don't know the exact number of how many people are coming. But a lot of my friends from back home are coming.

obviously a lot of family and it'll be a lot of fun obviously just a super cool opportunity for me and for our football team obviously there's been a lot of good that's happened in this organization lately and to get out there on Sunday

with a sold-out crowd it'll be a lot of fun and we can't wait. It feels different in the organization right now versus your first rookie season, doesn't it? Yeah for sure. Definitely just a lot of excitement and you just feel the support of the fans and just being out here training camp every single day and having all

those fans out here. It's been a lot of fun and I think the organization is definitely moving in the right direction. So yeah, we can't wait to get out there on Sunday and make sure we do our part. Best of luck to you, Sam, not only on Sunday, but for the rest of this season. I really appreciate the time. Thanks. Yes, sir. Appreciate you having me on. Sam Howell, everybody. I appreciate him doing that. All right, Tommy joins me next, and we will do a lot of catch-up

and a lot of news from today regarding the football team and more. We'll get to all of that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. It was great to have Sam Howell on the show. I'm really, really happy that we were able to have Sam Howell on the show. As happy as I was to have

Sam Howell on the show. I am just giddy to have Tommy back on the show today. After summering in Spain, he is back. Not at 100 percent, right? You're not feeling that great. Well, you know what? I got off the plane on Friday, and by Sunday morning, I had an allergy attack. Was it allergies? Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it's allergy. It came on so quick. It came on so quick. You know, there was no nothing to indicate that in September I usually get hit with allergies. And I had been in, like, where I was in Spain, that was the high desert. That's dry. There's really nothing.

I hadn't been taking any allergy medicine or anything. So the minute I got back, it just hit me pretty hard. And I've been doing a lot of coughing. But I'm so excited to be back on the podcast, I'm pushing forward. He did, Tommy texted me earlier today and he said, I can't wait to do it, but my voice isn't quite right. But I will do it anyway. And I said, well, you can, you know, you can do it tomorrow if you want. Nope, I think I can do it.

And I'm glad you are doing it today. Tommy's a big fan of MyBooky and they are the sponsor of this segment right now. MyBooky's got a great offer going on. If you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. at mybooky.orgie. They're not only going to give you a welcome bonus, meaning they will add more into your account than you deposit, but they're going to give you a free chip for the online casino at MyBooky. All of the NFL week one lines are up. All of the season prop bets, as we've been talking about, have been up for a while.

Tommy, I mentioned this the other day, and it continues to come down. it's actually really interesting. Washington's total for the game Sunday against Arizona is 37 and a half. That is the lowest total on the week one slate by a lot. I think the next lowest is 40, and that is Carolina and Atlanta playing Desmond Ritter against Bryce Young in his first start. Washington at 37 and a half, you rarely, rarely see a total. that low, unless it's weather-related or it's late in the season when teams have checked out and one team, you know, has something to play for. But My Bookie's got Washington at minus

seven right now with the total at 37 and a half. The Thursday night game, two days away from it, God, it's gotten here quickly. Kansas City, six and a half, and the largest over under total on the board at MyBooky, 54 and a half. Go to MyBooky.com.com.com. use my promo code Kevin D.C. to secure an initial deposit bonus for nothing and also get a free chip to their online casino. MyBooky is fair, fair lines, fair totals, fair money lines, fair pricing. You get paid if you win. I trust them, you can as well. Even if you've already got a place to bet, use MyBooky for your second spot. You should have one of those. MyBooky.org.org. promo code Kevin D.C. I don't even know where to start with you. I mean, I actually got back. I was off of radio for six days. I took Friday of two weeks ago off, and then I took all five days off last week. And I was in South Carolina for a while, New York. And I did podcast, though, while I was out. So I feel like I'm back into the swing of things. You haven't been on with that.

me since the end of July. Yes. I haven't written a word in my column or posted a social media note on Twitter, Facebook anywhere, other than stuff about my vacation

since the end of July. I literally checked out. Remember, and I want to hear about the summer in Spain. I love saying summer in Spain. It just makes you sound so elite. that you summer in Spain. But remember, right before you left,

we had the disagreement on the air about what your responsibility should be in terms of writing about the new ownership change. And you said, to hell with you, I've earned the right to just do it when I want to do it. And I said, I don't think so. I think this is too big of a story. And if I were your editor, I would make your right no matter where you were.

this was when you were down in Florida for the Ernest Hemingway look-alike thing. That was pretty much our last interaction. So what's happened since? Well, there's a lot. I don't want to bury the lead. First day, August 1st, smooth flight from Dollar's to Madrid, Iberia Airlines, direct flight. we get to the airport, one of Liz's cousins, Joaquin, is there to meet us, and then the other couple of, you know, Liz's sister and her husband,

I mean, eventually the whole family would come over. But then Liz's sister and her husband, who we split the house with, big seven-bedroom house. They flew in like an hour or two after us. So we're leaving the airport. I'm pushing a luggage cart. and I'm about to go across a crosswalk, and a taxi cab honks at me. So I'm still in my American mode. So I turn to basically give them the finger or say something nasty to them.

And I don't notice the strap, the luggage strap hanging off the luggage cart. Yeah. And I trip. And I go down. and I mean down like when you go down like I went down especially at my age there's usually broken bone oh my god you didn't tell me about this no I didn't tell anybody about it uh I went down hard uh I had my chin hit the ground uh and I guess I don't have a glass jaw because I wasn't knocked out but it was bruised and black and blue.

My chest hit the cart, and my chest hurt for like a week. But the worst part was, as I got up, I looked at my left arm, and it was like folds of skin were just torn off. Welcome to Spain. It wasn't deep, but it was like stripped, and there's blood everywhere. So we get to a bathroom, we're waiting for the medics to show up. I've got my arm in a sink. You know, blood, not splurred out.

It wasn't that deep cut. But it was like just like just the skin was gone. The first layer of skin. And, you know, they fixed it up. They put, you know, a lot of stuff on it. Then they wrapped it up. and I had to take seven trips after that to the clinic nearby clinic to get it looked at

to get it looked at rewrapped again looked at rewrapped again you know but it didn't hurt okay it was more of an inconvenience and not that much of an inconvenience it's healed tremendously I mean it's all healed you know and I recovered fine, but I didn't let that affect my trip at all, Kevin, because I got to tell you something. I haven't drank that much beer in a 30-day period since I was in college in Miami. What beer, did you drink that Mahoo or whatever it's called?

That's what I was drinking. I did drink that sometimes in bars, but we had Estrella on tap at the house. Oh. There was a beer tap at the house. Wow. That Liz's cousin who owns a bar a couple blocks away put in for us. Well, give him a nice round of applause. I mean, that is good work.

Yes. Between that and going to his bar every night, Casa Poli, if I was there 31 nights in Spain, 28 nights I was at the bar. Okay. And when you're at the bar, you don't go till 10 o'clock at night because, you know, everything in Spain is late. The night starts at 10 o'clock. We don't eat until 10 o'clock.

Yes. So I don't hit the bar until 10 o'clock. But I'm there every night. And I'm just in a major league drying out period right now. I drank every day. Every day. Did you drink a lot every day? Did it's, was it an all-day thing?

Because the day-drinking can really be exhausting. Well, you know, it's not, I can't drink a lot anymore because God has given me a built-in brake system to get me this far now where I fall asleep if I drink too much at one sitting, you know, before I get drunk. But I'd say over the course of a day, I'd have six beers. Oh, well, that's, over the course of that, well, that's not. That's, you're, you're, you're, it's not going to take you long to as you described to dry out. So hold on, I want to go back.

But every day, Kevin. Yeah, I know. Every day. I know. I know. I'm telling you, um, when we were there, it was every day. And then when I was in South Carolina, when I was in Vegas, it was nonstop. I didn't see why, while you, while you were summering.

in Spain. As you know, I did go to Spain earlier this summer for a week with my wife, but I took a Vegas trip, met my son and my nephew in Vegas for two nights. I hung out with Cooley in Wyoming for a few days. And then I was in South Carolina last week playing golf and was in Charleston a few nights. By the way, thumbs up to Hall's Chop House in Charleston, just one of the great restaurants anywhere. But I want to go back to Madrid and the airport thing. Do you think the person that was honking at you that you wanted to go All-American on was actually trying to indicate that maybe this strap was going to trip you up and maybe they were trying to help you? Yeah, I don't think so. Okay.

No, he didn't like the fact that I walked out in front of him. Was it just you and Liz when you went down, or were there other fans? No, it was me and Liz, her sister and her husband, and Joaquin, the Spanish cousin. Okay. So. It was, you know, I wish I had taken pictures of it, but I was in shock. At that point, I would have said to why. Can we open the tap right here?

And maybe rub some of it on, you know, one of my favorite sayings of sort of the older generation, which you, you know, are a little bit of part of, is with babies when they were crying. Just rub bourbon on their gums. It'll be fine. And by the way, it probably was. So I kind of feel awful for you. I know, but it's a little bit, it's inconvenient to everyone. everybody that's there. It's a little bit embarrassing to you, not that you get embarrassed very often.

And it's just not a good start after an eight-hour after seven-hour flight. I know, but four nights later, I was dancing under the stars at Casa Poli to a live band. Awesome. You know? Yeah. Again, it didn't stop me from doing anything I wanted to do. How? And it was not a tourist type of trip.

We did a few tourist things. We went to Madrid for a day. day. We took a tour of Segovia. We did a couple other small little medieval towns. But for the most part, we lived like Spaniards in this town called Navas del Rio Frio. Navas de Rio Frio was the name of the town. It's north, right? North of Madrid. Yeah, it has about 400 people in it. Mostly summer, like the Poconos in a way.

kind of thing. Well, probably not like the coconuts in Spain. And I just was, like, by the time I left, I knew half the people in town. Oh, that's awesome. So. So it was, it was a great trip, and I really did check out. And I did one thing in particular that we can talk about. Okay. Okay. Do you want to talk about it?

You want, yeah, let me, I got a couple of quick questions. So, okay, great. You basically, you know, you lived the life of a Spaniard in that small town that you were in. Other than your day in Madrid. But by the way, when you went to Madrid, did you do, what did you do? Did you do the Prado? What were the... We didn't do the Prado.

Do you do the Royal Palace? No, we didn't do the Royal Palace. I'm not sure what we did. You were hammered. I'm not sure what we did I know it took a lot of train train changes to get there and get back But I think while we were there

We're eating in this restaurant on the ninth floor Of a department store And this famous artist Like this 86 year old man Walks by us With a canvas and art supplies And sets up like basically Five feet away from us

and starts painting. And it turns out this guy is one of the most famous artists in the world. Who is it? And he's sitting there painting right in front of it. Now, that only happens in places like Madrid. Do you know who it was? He's 86.

Yeah. Yeah. What kind of painting? Oil painting. Okay. Oil paintings. And I'm looking for it right now. And...

It's all right. I'm sorry. We had a... Before I get to that, while I get to that, we had a party at our house. We had a big seven-bedroom house, and five of Liz's brothers and sisters with their spouses had come over,

but some children, some of the younger generation. And we invited... Liz has nine cousins over there. So between their family and our family, we had a party for about 60 people and there's a picture on Facebook and Twitter on my account

of everybody we took up one big crowd shot of everybody everything I posted okay here it was the artist was named Antonio Lopez Garcia and he's one of the most famous

realism artists in the world what did you, how was the food experience for you guys? It was okay. You know, I mean, it's kind of a limited venue. You know, I know only about 12 foods that they really eat, you know? Yeah. And a lot of what I like, what I actually, we eat at home here.

Tortilla combed potatoes. It's basically eggs, you know, with potatoes baked in. you know, sandwiches. I don't like paella, so I didn't, you know, me. I mean, it's my simplicity that makes me complicated. I didn't change for anybody. Well, it's a lot of home on. We found, and we in Barcelona as well,

that actually the best restaurants in Madrid and in Barcelona aren't Spanish restaurants, at least for Americans. And we didn't go to any tourist places, but we found some excellent Italian restaurants and a couple of others. But anyway, all right, so what else did you want to tell me about the trip? Well, the most unique thing I did was I went to a bullfight. Oh, yeah. I saw, you sent me the pictures from social media. It looked tragic.

It was tragic, but I knew it was going to be tragic. but I felt the need to experience the culture of it. We went to a small town called Quayar where they actually, during their festival, and everyone has festivals in August over there. During their festival, they had the running of the Bulls. They do a running of the Bulls there like they do in Pompulana. In fact, that's the first place they ever did it.

Okay. Was in Quayar. I didn't go for that, but then they have four nights. of bull fighting in a small arena and I went to one of those. Three Matador's six bulls. Yeah. And?

I wouldn't go back. It's cruel. But I understand more the history and the culture of it and the pageantry of it. And, you know, and the courage

of these Matador's, yes, the bulls got spear-steaders. sticking out of them, you know, it's really stacked against the ball. But they're still standing right there next to a ball with big horns. Right. You know? Yeah.

That was pretty unnerving to see how close they would be to the bull. And, you know, bull fighting is kind of diminishing in Spain. The arena was only half full. because more and more people have come to the conclusion, probably rightfully so, that it's cruel and something that they shouldn't continue to do. But I wanted to experience it once. We had front row seats.

I mean, and here was the, there were two parts that really hit home for me. Well, more than that. But these two parts, we were close enough that a couple of times I could look the bull right in the eye. I could see his eyes. And that was upsetting because you could see how confused and bewildered he looked.

Well, he may have been confused and bewildered based on what he was looking at. No, no, he wasn't looking at me. And so you could tell he was thinking, why are they doing this to me? What is going on here? Right. You know?

That was a little bit unnerving. I was that, you know, I sent you that video when they're done with the bull, when the bull goes down, they stick the sword in his shoulder blades, and then the bull goes down. He's not dead yet, but sometimes the president of the Bullfighting Federation who sits in a five box up on the arena, waves a handkerchief to tell them it's okay to take a trophy, which means one of the ears of the ball.

Yeah. And the ball's not dead yet. I don't. Yeah, I'm with you on this. I just, I don't know, I like animals, period. So here's the question that I have for you. Because you were there for so long, and it sounds like you had a great time. right?

Yes. Could you see yourself living there? No. No? Why? No. Too much of a northeast United States kind of guy.

Yeah. You need more action. Yeah. You need more things to do and more things to talk about. No, I get it. What about living in a bigger... What about living in Madrid or Barcelona? I think you've been to Barcelona before.

Yeah. I have been to Barcelona. That's not an attraction for me. I like living where we are right now. And the idea of moving to an exotic place to live seems like a bit of an extreme step when I could just go to visit it and still come home. Yeah, well, I'm not talking about exotic. I'm talking about living abroad, you know, and living in a normal city,

not a 400-person town, but a normal city abroad. I never... What about you? Can you see yourself do that? Well, I can now. I never could before, but I think just put it this way. I could never do it before, and there was an opportunity or two to do it, because the technology didn't exist for me to continue to do the things that I really like to do

that I would have missed the most. Like I, you know, I could have never lived abroad during a football season without being able to follow the Redskins and a football season. Like that just wouldn't, it would have never entered my mind. You know, technology and the ability to, you know, not really leave home and except for the fact that you've left home, you know, would play a lot into that. But I think also, you know, you get a little bit older. And when you go to these places, you're like,

wow, this would be kind of, I don't know if it would be Madrid or Barcelona. Actually, it would be Madrid more than Barcelona. It would definitely be more likely somewhere in Italy than in Spain. But what do you miss most when you're away for that long? Because I've never been away for that long abroad. You know, you are gone for longer than a month. What do you miss the most? Okay, well, where we were in particular, the circumstances dictated that what I missed the most was pizza.

Oh, yeah. I did. Yeah. I missed pizza. You know? Yeah. Now, my sister-in-law looked at me like I had two heads because they're foodies, and I don't think they eat pizza once a year. Right.

But, I mean, I like pizza. Well, foodies eat pizza, too. So, I miss being American. I like being an American. Yeah. Now, that said, my son, because he qualifies and has included me in his application, is applying for dual citizenship in Italy. Nice.

By the way, in Barcelona, in little, or, you know, in the Italian area, there were so many good restaurants, including one, and I finally, after being away for just eight days, said, we're going there because apparently the pasta and the pizza is good, and I needed some pizza and pasta. And that was on the very last night, and it was excellent. It was a great Italian restaurant. That was in Barcelona.

But anyway, so he's got, so is he considering doing that? Oh, no, he's in the middle of the application process of doing it. And, you know, the idea is what you don't get an Italian, you're an Italian citizen, but you have a European Union passport. Right. Which means you can go anywhere in Europe, anytime you want. Right. And live.

Did you follow what was going on over here sports-wise? I mean, it's, you know, it's the month to take off because, you know, it's the worst of, I mean, I talked about it this morning on radio. I mean, July and August are my least favorite months of the year to do what we do because so, look, it's not all of you. But some of you legitimately think you've got it all figured out after watching, you know, threes and fours go against, you know, threes and fours. I don't, and I love this time of year when we start getting real games and real football, but did you follow anything of what was going on over here, any of the Ron Rivera, you know, mumblings and back and forths and contradictions, or Jason Wright saying, you know, that Redskins, you know, is not going to happen, period, like any of that?

I did follow a lot. I still followed. social media, even though I didn't comment on anything related to sports the whole month, except for one thing. Only out of frustration. Remember the thing that was going on with Kevin Brown, the Orioles announcer, who was supposed to spend it. Yeah, stupid. Okay, well, that was like at the beginning of my trip. And a lot of people kept saying they're going to do the same thing to John, like they did

to John Miller, they fired John Miller. And I just, that was driving me nuts because they didn't fire John Miller. John Miller and the Orioles had contract negotiations and had a real difference of opinion over their contract. You know, Angelo's, look, Angelo's wanted John Miller to do less ESPN games and more Orioles games. But he was doing a lot of ESPN games then, too. Right. So he wasn't fine. The fact that everyone kept saying John Miller had been fired, drove me nuts.

So you weighed in on that. But he wasn't fired. So I weighed in on that. That's pretty much it. But I followed the Ron Rivera stuff. Actually, I wrote a column in today's paper, kind of catching up on a couple of items. Okay. Do you want to catch up on some of those items and then introduce some new items into the conversation?

Sure. Then we'll do just that right after I tell everybody about Window Nation. Right now, Window Nation is giving you more, as in more more. The more windows you buy, the more you save up to 50% off plus a lot more. You don't have to pay anything for two full years. It's another amazing deal on the windows that deliver more for your home, more energy savings, more value, more features. more features, more options, more beauty. No money down, no payments, no interest for two years plus.

Get up to 50% off all style windows, bows, bays, double hung any style. Save thousands on your new windows and your energy bills all the while upgrading the look and feel of your home. Call them at 86690 Nation. Go to windownation.com. mention my name. You'll get a free estimate. There's nothing to risk here. Get the estimate. Shop it if you want. You're not going to work with a better company with a better product at a better deal right now. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. We'll get to what Ron Rivera told John Kime next right after a few more of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by our good friends at Shelley's back room. Oh, that's right. I don't have to do the read anymore.

Tommy's back. And he can do the read. He wrote five or six different things for me to talk about when I did the Shelley's reads, which I used almost every time I did them. So thank you for that. What do you want to say about Shelly's now that you're back? When is your trip to Shelly's, your first trip back to Shelly's, your first trip back to Shelly's after being back in the country?

Well, it'll probably be this Thursday night because I start teaching Thursday night at Georgetown. Right. The business of sports media class. I've been the co-instructor for like eight years now. So usually when that's over by quarter to eight and I usually head to Shelly's after that to watch the beginning of what will be the first NFL game of the season. That's good.

Shelly's is a great spot for a cigar and a meal. That's one of the things I missed besides pizza. I miss Shelly's. I mean, you know, we're in this bar, Casa Polly, but we were outside every night. You know, because it never, it didn't rain one day. Right. While I was there, not one day. So when I say at the bar, we were sitting outside.

And I'm smoking cigars out there, but there weren't a lot of people. It wasn't, you know, I mean, the idea. of Shelly's is you have camaraderie of people smoking with you, you know, sharing the moment. You know, that wasn't happening. Me sitting there. So I felt like, you know, like the only guy in an orgy, you know, was smoking my cigars and no one else is doing it. But, so I miss that at Shelly's. I'm looking forward to getting back and seeing my friends there.

And Shelly's back room 1331 F Street Northwest in the district. a tremendous spot. And Thursday night will be great with the first NFL game going on. So a couple of things real quickly. And it's funny because I had kind of forgotten about this. But remember that Ron Rivera at times was asked about some of these coaches that didn't get the official titles. Like Trevelle Wharton being the biggest, John Matzcal left shortly after the season. season ended.

And Ron said that he couldn't, you know, elevate Travelle Wharton to offensive line coach until the ownership situation got worked out. But we all knew he was the offensive line coach. So they named officially Trevelle Wharton, the offensive line coach, Todd Storm, the tight ends coach. Randy Jordan is not only the running backs coach. He's now a senior offensive assistant, good for Randy. And Juan Castillo is the run game coordinator.

So that was some news coming out of the team today. They also put out their two deep, or their, I'm sorry, their 53-man depth chart today. I don't read a lot into these depth charts. I know that they get a lot of play on social media, but I think we all have a sense that sometimes these things aren't even legit real. The team has to put them out. their depth chart, but there's no surprises on it at all.

The only thing I went to look at was kick returner, punt returner, and it's Antonio Gibson on kick returns, Milman punt returns, and it is Sidney Charles to start at Left Guard, which is not a surprise. Yeah, so John Kahn. Let me talk about, before we get started, these promotions. Okay. That these coaching promotions. When Ron Rivera got hired, and I know you'll tell me if I'm full shit, like you always do, when Ron Rivera got hired, my impression was he had tremendous leverage, okay?

I mean, the idea was he probably had other jobs, maybe he could have gotten, or people who were interested in him. Snyder was desperate to hire a coach with credibility at the time, and that would be Rivera. So at that point of leverage, my perception that he had leverage, wouldn't you have said, I decide what coaches have what jobs whenever I want to? I make the decisions on my coaching staff. And had it in there contractually? Yes. Well, yeah.

I mean, he couldn't promote these guys without the owner signing off? Well, maybe he could, but maybe he was just working. within, you know, trying to be, you know, a team player saying, well, let you guys get settled. That's the mistake that Revere, that's a mistake Mike Shanahan made. Yeah, but he made that mistake with Snyder. But he made that mistake with Snyder. He didn't make that mistake with new ownership.

No, but he did make that mistake with Snyder because he said he couldn't promote them until the new owners came in. Yeah, he did. That means, Dan Snyder had something to pay over his coach. think that? I don't know. Maybe he had already spent some time with Harris and with Mitch Rails and Magic and, you know, they said, just on any big decisions, can you just hold off until we, you know, get on board? And he said, no problem. I was kind of surprised that he couldn't promote his own coaches under the old owner. Yeah. So this morning, I wake up to a text from Ben Standing linking me to

this story that John Kime wrote today. You know, it's the day after Labor Day. Everybody's back into their regular season routine, which is a nice routine to be in. And Kimes got his big story ready to drop this morning. Tangled Fates will Ron Rivera's big bets on Eric B. Enemy, Sam Hal go bust for all. Now, this story is a good story. John writes good stories. It's the quotes.

It's the quotes in this story. are what I've got to read to everybody if you haven't seen them already, including, have you read this or not? I'm not. Yes, I have. I've read it. So let me just start with this. There's a quote in which he talks about Sam Howe being, quote, this is a calculated risk.

This has been thought out. It's something I felt needed to be done. I wanted to change because I wanted to see us do something different, close quote. Now, you know, Galdi calls it Rone's, which is kind of funny because we've all kind of learned the language of Ronis. Ronnie's being, what I say today might be completely different from what I say and do at any point in time. But I just find this like really calculated risk. This was something that was thought out. You named him QB1 with less than a week after the season.

ended. Ben standing. After a game, after a game that you had to be talked into playing him. Right. So Ben Standing, I'm telling you all, was 100% right when he said back in, whenever it was four or five days after the game and Sam got, you know, the QB1 label slapped on him. He said, this just reeks of, you know, the latest PR move. Like, how can they be. sure after one game, but what they are sure about is the conversation is still about not only starting Carson Wentz against Cleveland, but not even knowing they could be eliminated from the postseason when the season ended. It was a hideous end to the season. And so, hey, we drafted this guy. He played pretty well against Dallas. However, we want to describe that game. He played well enough to give people some hope. Let's capitalize on that and let's give everybody something to really start dreaming about,

which is a fifth round rookie quarterback that we drafted that's going to be a guy we can build around. Okay. A calculated risk, something that was thought out. No, you named him QB1 almost immediately. Then there's this quote. Hold on. I've got to find this one.

This is the Super Bowlring quote, right? No, I'm going to get to that in a moment. I'm going to end with that one. So basically in talking about Sam Howell, he says, quote, we knew what we thought we had, closed quote. That comes exactly one week, one week after the Albert Breer interview with Sports Illustrated, where he said, and he's describing, you know, his trip home with Stephanie,

his wife after the Dallas game, where he says, you know, if I only knew sooner, that Sam could be that. And then he says in this story, we knew what we thought we had. No, you didn't know what you thought you had. And because you just said a week ago, I don't know which one it is. At this point, though, stop. talking. Just stop talking. I know they're trying to sell whatever they're trying to sell him. It's whatever he feels like almost the interviewer wants to get out of him. But what you just referred to

was the one I wanted to save for last. In talking about kind of his future beyond this upcoming season, Rivera said, quote, I don't worry about that. If we go eight, eight and one this year, and he fires me, as in Josh Harris fires me. And next year, they win the division and 40 of the 53 players we drafted, and it's the same quarterback, I'm vindicated. Send me my Super Bowl ring. That's the way I look at it. I want us to be right and to see this community have that excitement again, closed quote. So I'll ask you before I share with you what my reaction was to this. What was yours? Well, basically he's so used to 7 and 9, 9 and 7, 8, 8, and 1, or whatever, that it's become the Rivera special, as I call it. Can you imagine Joe Gibbs going into the season saying, if I go 8, 8, 8, and 1, you know, and they win after that, I'll be fine.

I couldn't imagine that. I mean, those words, that record, those words would never come out of his mouth. Now, that may be unfair, you know, to always compare to Joe Gibbs, but, I mean, a coach shouldn't talk about scenarios where they go eight, eight and one. Uh, yeah. Right? Yeah. I, so I read this, and it, so, what? I've been saying we've been talking about, and I've mentioned many times since the end of last year,

that I don't know that Ron Rivera's heart is in it anymore. And this is a total hunch, total projection based on a lot of things he said. And by the way, just what he's been through. You know, in fairness to him, he took a job that would, you know, he knew was going to be a shit show coming in, was much worse. And then he had... Oh, it was much worse than he could have imagined. And he had a personal battle with cancer.

I mean, I can't tell you how many times, you know, during that season when I had them on the show every week, where we would talk a little bit afterwards. And I would say, so how are you guys doing? And he would just laugh. And because, you know, it was one headline after another week after week that had nothing to do with the football team. And I remember asking him one day, do you and your wife ever just talk about, oh, my God, Why did we take this gig?

And he laughed. But, you know, he's been through it since he's been here. And now, you know, you've got new ownership. And new ownership typically wants their own people. And I have suggested multiple times during the off season that, you know, it's very possible. And Ron's a competitive man and he's a good man. I do believe both of those things. But it's very possible that he's resigned to his fate, which is more.

more likely than not, this is going to be his last year as an NFL coach. And so this whole Sam Hal thing, look, it might work out. It might. I'm rooting for it to work out despite what some of you believe I'm rooting for. I really am. It would be the best thing for the franchise. The best thing for this podcast is for it to work out for them to have a franchise quarterback and for them to start winning.

But it's all about now the... this idea of, I'm going to be gone and I want credit for how I essentially really gave. I gave back to the community by focusing on roster development and playing this young quarterback and maybe sacrificing this particular season for the betterment of the long term. And to me, it speaks to a little bit of resignation about his fate. You're right. I mean, and by the way, just so we're clear on this, not 40 of the 53 players, I went back and added it up. It's basically like 46 to 48 of the 53 players have been brought in by this regime. This is something that I've given him credit for. He's built out a nice roster, even though he

claim that for the first time he was focused on roster building. It's not true. They've been focused on it. The most important players, he inherited. He did. Their best players are Terry McLorn and Montes Sweat and John Allen and Duran Payne.

And all four of those players were brought in by the regime before. But all of those four, all four players were signed to long-term deals by this coach. They could have gone some. elsewhere else. And there...

Montes Sweat hasn't been signed yet. No, that's true. But there are other very good players that they've brought in. I mean, those aren't the only good players on the team, but they are the best players on the team. That is true. I just, I read that and I was like, this kind of feeds into the way I've been thinking, which is he understands that there's a pretty good chance he's coaching in his last year.

He would probably never admit this. but he and maybe everybody close to him may be ready for that. And he wants to be recognized for whatever comes after him with players that he brought in. I guess my question would be, is this healthy? Is this a healthy head coaching situation? Somebody that's coaching understanding that it may be his last year, okay that it may be his last year, and already talking about what he wants his legacy to be.

Not if you're a new owner trying to sell a new image and tickets. I mean, the timing was all off for the new ownership to do anything about the situation. They had to take what was given to them and live with the inherited situation, and I think they're trying to make the most of it. But it's not ideal for the new ones. owners to basically have a coach talk about 8, 8 and 1 seasons. You know, after that was their season last year. You know, it's not like he's saying we go 8, 8 and 1 after we were 3 and 13 last year or 3 and 14.

Right. You know? Yeah. Just interesting stuff. And look, I think Ron Rivera, when his time is done, there will be a lot of discussion in the markets in which he coached about him, but around the league he will be a guy that everybody liked and was well respected. I actually read last week, yeah, last week from Ben's survey of agents.

He does an annual survey of like 23 to 25 agents. I read that. I read that. And the comments about Ron Rivera were just so glowingly positive. Everybody in the league likes him. Personal comments. The personal comments. His character.

The personal, exactly. That's what I'm talking. And that they're rooting for him. But I think, you know, look, it's 80% to 20% that when we get to the end of the upcoming season, there are major organizational changes that lead to a whole number. new group of people. The 20% is that they end up having a shockingly good season and new ownership, no matter how, no matter what they feel, just can't do it because you got close.

What is getting close? You know, winning a playoff game or two? Winning 11, 10, 11, 12 regular season games? I don't think that's going to happen. But that's, you know, anyway, that's it on that. I just thought it was hysterical how, you know, they got it all figured out on him. They had it all figured out. But last week it was, who knew?

And, you know, calculated risk my ass. I mean, it was four days later that you slapped the label, QB, one label on him. I mean, it really was, it may work out. And it seems to be working out in terms of they've got a really good kid at quarterback. They've got a smart, coachable, you know, football's super important to him kid. Let's face it, the last two quarterbacks that were drafted, they were drafted very high, and it turned out that, you know, it was a lot different in terms of their coachability and their desire, et cetera, et cetera. So they've got that going for them, and they've got a kid who's got some skill and talent too.

I'm not knocking that. I completely, and I've said it over and over again, Sam Hal has a skill set and his talents fit with today's NFL. I wanted to mention this, because I don't think I did this on the podcast yesterday. I don't think I did. Seth Walder, the ESPN analytics guy, he and ESPN did one of those NFL season simulations where they simulate the season 20,000 times to come up with how the season plays out. And their first headline from it is that Dallas ends up having a disastrous season.

The second headline is the Panthers and the commanders reach postseason, with first-time starters. So for Carolina, that would be Bryce Young. For Washington, that would be Sam Howl. And they talk about a Washington season that starts off slowly, one and three, but ends up really strong and finishing at 10 and 7, and it snags the last wild card spot.

And then they lose in the wild card game to the Eagles, who aren't the one seed, Minnesota ends up in their simulation getting the one seed. The Ravens and the Chiefs, by the way, in the AFC, end up fighting for the one seed with the best record, and the Chiefs end up with it. They win the tiebreaker with the Ravens. But Washington goes 10 and 7 and makes the playoffs in their simulation of this year. we're going to do predictions on Thursday's show. We're going to do all of our predictions on Thursday's show.

Yes, the part of the show that I really look forward to, predicting the future. I'm not so good sometimes at predicting the future. Let me make it clear here that I was the one, and it was a long-shot prediction, everybody. let's remember that. We said that Jacoby Brissette would be the starter for game one. Yeah, you did say that. You're going to be wrong about that one. You also said to me after it became clear,

I think you said that you think Jacoby Brissette will, no, that was last year. I'm getting last year confused with this year. Last year I was right. Last year on the Thursday before the season started when we had all of our predictions, I laid on you 8, 8, and 1. I just want to remind everybody of that

that I predicted that they would go 8, 8, and 1 last year. Laura Rivera's favorite record. His favorite record. Now, I didn't get the tie exactly right. I predicted it would be the Chicago game that they ended up tying, and they tied the Giants game at the Meadowlands late in the season. But I got the record right. So will you do some points?

prep in advance of Thursday show because we're going to pick our division winners, our wild cards, our Super Bowl matchups. We're going to pick the commanders' season record prediction with a big bold prediction about the season.

We're going to do all of that together on Thursday. And then, by the way, you've got to have your prediction for Sunday's game. You've got to have your prediction ready to go for Sunday's game. Yes. A game, I will be attending. I will be there.

Maybe you have the voice issues because you stopped drinking cold turkey. Maybe you need before the show on Thursday to have a couple of pops. That would make perhaps your voice better and maybe even the content better. I'm kidding. Okay, doctor. I'm so happy you're back. I did really, I honestly, I really did miss you. I really did.

I miss doing this show on a regular basis with you. But it sounds like you had a great time. Yes, I did, but I'm glad to be home. All right. We'll do it on Thursday together. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm going to do on tomorrow's show a few things. I'm going to do my season over-under-win total prop bets.

I've got six of them for NFL teams, Washington included. And don't forget that you still have time to enter the Circa Million and Circa Survivor pools out in Vegas. September 9th this coming Saturday at 2 p.m. is the deadline. The Circa million, $6 million in guaranteed prizes. You pick five winners against the spread each week at the end of the year. Whoever has the best record will take home a million dollars, but the top 100 pays. The Circus Survivor Pool is guaranteeing $8 million to the winner or winners. Pick one team straight up every week, no spread.

If that team loses or ties, the entry is eliminated, you can only pick each team once in a season. 14 million in aggregate of guaranteed prizes, no rake. So if the entries go above the guarantee, all the extra money goes into the prize pool. You must register in person at the Circus SportsPourts. book in Nevada, weekly picks can be made through a proxy from anywhere. Back tomorrow. You're listening to The Sports Fix.