The Kevin Sheehan Show - Skins Nightmare Scenario

Episode Date: December 3, 2019

Kevin and Thom opened with Thanksgiving stories and Kirk Cousins losing another Monday Night football game. They then talked the Nationals documentary and what their offseason could look like before moving to the Ravens and the Redskins' nightmare scenario. Plus Georgetown troubles and more. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Yep, Tommy's here, Aaron's here. I am here. Lots to get to last night. What a Monday night game that was. Oh, that damn Kirk Tommy. He stuffed stats all game long and then chokes at the end. I mean, he just, I don't get the people that are just really infatuated with Kirk Cousins because he never. ever plays well and never delivers in the clutch. You're trying too hard, boss. He's 0 and 8 on Monday night football. I guess Monday nights are the only nights that count, right? They're the only games that count? You would think that watching this morning. Let me ask you a question.

What would you rather be 8 and 0 or 0? I'd rather be 8 and no. Okay. Or have one of my favorite players be 8 and no on Monday night than 0 and 8. Yes. He's the worst starting quarterback in the history of Monday night football. Oh and 8. And last night, you know, clearly it was all on him.

No, it wasn't. But we'll get to that in a little bit. We're going to get to the Redskins ratings story. I predicted this Friday, I think it was, with Aaron. Maybe earlier in the week with you, I forget that for the first time, there was a chance in the same time slot for the Redskins to get outrated by the game on the other network. The game Sunday was Ravens 49ers on Fox while the Redskins and Panthers were on CBS. And it came true.

the Ravens and the 49ers game outrated the Redskins game in the same one o'clock window time slot. We're going to get to the significance of that during this show. Georgetown basketball seems to be in a bit of trouble. We're going to get to that, and other things. But, Tommy, how was your Thanksgiving,

first of all? Well, I'm going to tell a little story, and this kind of pretty much tells you about my Thanksgiving. And again, I love my in-laws. They're the best. You talk about them all the time. Yeah, I mean, they, they, have they have an entire section reserved in heaven that I won't be invited to.

And so at one point, you know, I had an older sister who, you know, God rest her soul, passed away a few years ago from MS. Right. And it was well, commonly known throughout the family. So one of my in-laws sits down with me at some point to try to make small talk, you know, because that's what you do on Thanksgiving. So they say, look, I mean, they say, so how's your sister doing?

Oh, God. I said, well, she's dead. And the reaction? Oh, my gosh. It was, it was, it was like he had swallowed the raw turkey, for God's sakes. That's too bad. Because he meant well. But it was funny.

And then I didn't let him forget it. You know, I mean, I was just relentless. It gave me something to chew on besides the meat. Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, this is your wife's family, her side of the family. And you are, you know, every year at these family functions, you tend to be a little bit high maintenance.

You require your own room and your own television to watch, you know, specific games that you need to write on or stay in touch with. And they've probably over the years, you know, just said, there you is. again, he's off doing his own thing. And they forgot, you know, that some of them didn't even know you had a sister in some cases, but certainly the ones that did didn't know that she passed away. I guess not. You know, so whatever.

I guess not. So that was the highlight of my Thanksgiving. I had a great meal. I didn't watch any football because it wasn't any football really worth watching. Yeah. So I wasn't inclined. As opposed to last year, I had to go find a sports bar in downtown Westchester to because the Redskins were playing. Thank goodness.

They weren't playing on Thanksgiving again. So it was a pretty uneventful day. We drove up and drove back the same day. Pretty quiet other than that faux-pal. You know, that faux-pou? I don't think I talked about Thanksgiving yesterday, Aaron, and it's better because the conversation's always fun with Tommy. But you know over the years we've typically hosted Thanksgiving.

Yes. And have had some big crowds over. the years. I mean, it's a relative thing, but I think we had 25 at the house on Thursday, and my niece is getting engaged, so everybody was in town because there was an engagement party for her and her fiancé on Saturday evening, and then we were going to host the brunch for everybody in town, for the engagement party, who were going to be heading out of town on Sunday morning. So it was quite a food and booze fest all weekend long, not to make. mention the one quiet day should have been like Friday, except with all of my relatives in town

from out of town, I said, come on over, watch football, hang out, have dinner. So we had people over on Friday again and Friday night. It was actually a lot of fun. It was a great weekend. And it's sometimes those weekends can be long and you get to the end of them and you're like, oh my God, thank God it's over. Thank you. It's so good to see everybody heading. back. Most of them, you know, heading north to Jersey, Boston, you know, but mostly New York, New Jersey, most of them, although I've got a niece who lives in Chicago, a niece who lives in Salt Lake City and, you know, some other family who are in other, you know, areas, Texas. But anyway, it was actually one of those weekends where at the end of it is like, you know what? You guys

want to hang out another couple days? This is fun. Now, is this mostly your wife's side of the family? So for Thanksgiving, we had, I guess, yeah, it was my family. My father and his wife stayed in Florida. My brother, as you know, was in Costa Rica. Right. And then my sister who lives in Nashville was up with her husband and her two girls. And then my mother and her husband were over. But I guess the majority would have been Kara's family.

Who's the boss in Karas family? Who's the boss? Like who's? Oh, my father-in-law. Okay. When you say boss, like who's got the biggest voice? Who calls the shots? My father-in-law's got a big, out-sized personality.

You would love them. You would absolutely love them. And my brother-in-laws are great dudes, too, very different from one another, but great guys. And so we always have a good time with, you know, it's a lot of fun. My younger brother-in-law is truly one of the funniest people I've ever known in my life. I've talked to you about him, I think, before. And so it's always entertaining when he comes to town. And if anybody in my family is listening to this, and hopefully he is, but he isn't because he couldn't care less about sports.

Couldn't care less at all. But it was really nice that he actually showed up for a family function outside the state of New Jersey. It's always nice when my brother-in-law travels outside of Point Pleasant, New Jersey for a family function. That's sort of an inside joke. Listen, Point Pleasant is nice. Point Pleasant's okay. It's right on the beach. Yeah, well, all of my in-laws who live in Jersey, they all live in Monmouth County.

Spring Lake, New Jersey, primarily, Avon. And my brother-in-law actually doesn't live in Point Pleasant, but they did, I think, at one point. So I was joke about how they're from Point Pleasant, never leave Point Pleasant. Or Seaside Heights? Live at Shop Right, you know, or Food Town, or one of those places. Anyway, it was a good weekend, but it was, you know, many times I get to the end of that weekend, and I'm like, okay. You know, and I'll flick the lights on and off. know, like it's time to leave.

But it would have been fine had it continued. You know, it was a good time. Maybe you've matured. Or maybe, you know, I also think about it this way. You know, this weekend there wasn't like a big redskin game to look forward to on Sunday, where I want everybody cleared out, you know, who cares about the Redskins these days, you know? So everybody.

Well, you better start caring about the Redskins, buddy. Yeah. You better start caring about the Bill Callahan era. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Are you kidding me? They are on board, baby. Oh, really?

Yes. And you know this because? Because they're going to wind up doing just enough. Okay. Let's get to some. Well, you went to the Ravens game Sunday. Yes, I did. I saw a football game.

Oh, you did. I didn't see the Redskins game. And I'm glad that, you know, from all counts, it was probably, what, the best performance they had in two years. but I saw Not two years, but probably since last October. I saw a heavyweight fight on Sunday. Can I ask you, I don't know the answer to this question.

It was a terrible weather day. Oh, it was here. At the game time, it was 40 degrees and a pouring down rain. And mist covered the field. You know, Baltimore in recent years have had some issues with attendance. You know that, right?

The Ravens have had some issues with attendance. I was there last year. Like everybody has at times. Was that place packed for that game? It wasn't packed. But considering the conditions, it was pretty good. There were empty seats in the third deck, you know, in the upper deck. But all you saw was, I mean, it was pouring rain.

Oh, yeah. It wasn't just drizzling. It was poor and rain. And it was cold. And it was cold. But it was great football. It was absolutely tremendous football. And Lamar Jackson,

basically showed everybody that if you want to go toe-to-toe with him in a game like that, he's up for that. Yeah. He is up for that. I mean, the 49ers still really had no answer for him. He wasn't, it wasn't as dynamic or obviously they didn't score 45 points. In fact, that's the lowest amount of 20 points. That's the lowest they scored all year.

All year, yeah. In any game. But his drive down the field, getting a key quarterback's, Well, it wasn't a quarterback sneak. It was a run on fourth and one, getting three yards, hitting one at Baltimore's three terrific tight ends with a sidearm pass that basically sealed the game that, like for 12 yards,

that forced the 49ers to use their third and final timeout. It was as enjoyable a football game as I've seen in a long time. I mean, the 49ers were tough. I mean, they ran rough shot, on the Ravens, but points, other than that, points were hard to come by. And it was just, I mean, I was skeptical of Lamar Jackson after seeing them in two games last year in person. I'm ready to lead the parade right now. That's awesome. You got to see a game like that. It's been a long time since I've been to a

game with that kind of anticipation with those stakes, and then it played out as a great game as well. I was stuck, of course, watching Redskins Panthers, and I had the big desktop on Marilyn Marquette who played at the same time. And I have the 49er Raven game recorded. I intend to get to it. I probably will not end up getting to it, but my intentions are to get to it. But, you know, in watching, you know, sort of the highlights of the final drive, what a benefit it is to have a guy like that on third and one or fourth and one to have a Lamar Jackson. Because really, your fourth and one odds with a quarterback like that are so much higher than most teams, fourth and one odds. And it almost makes you think, why does Baltimore ever punt the football,

you know, in fourth and three or less? You know, the first, the game that I came in here raving about Lamar Jackson was the game where they went to Seattle and won. And it was a fourth down in the second half in a closed in a very close game, you know, at the Seattle 10 yard line, nine yard line, and they stay out there on fourth and like three. And Jackson keeps the ball on a keeper and scores a touchdown on the play. And I'm like, whoa, they went for a fourth and three in a tight game. I think they were up at the time, maybe at a tie game, 13, 13. 9 out of 10 teams kicked the field goal. And Harbaugh says, not our team, because, you know, you could even use if you were, you know, sort of wired this way, the analytics in that particular position, because

fourth and three is probably a very, you know, a 40 to 50 or maybe higher percentage play anyway, but with Jackson, it's got to be 70%. Probably. And that was the play that I was like, wow, and I came in here the next day and people I remember said, oh, you're going too nuts on Lamar Jackson. I'm like, no, he is the best show in sports. And he didn't have a big passing day. No, no, he didn't. I think he threw for like 130, 140. 105 yards. I think it was 14 out of 25 or something like that. 14 out of 25, 105 yards, but he had 101 rushing.

Yeah, and he hit key passes in the last drive of the fourth quarter, two key passes that he hit. And yeah, I know, you know, this happened to me before, but I fell in the love of the guy when he shows up at the press conference. And I know this is hypocritical, considering the grief we've given RG3 over the years. But I think this kid may live this. He wears a T-shirt to the press conference that says,

nobody cares, work harder. Yeah. You know? And that's the way he acts. Yeah. That's the way he acts. I mean, I talked to a lot of Baltimore media people up there who just, I mean, they're ready to build a statute for him up there.

right next to the one for Ray Lewis and Johnny United's. They have a very interesting game Sunday. They play at Buffalo. Buffalo went into Dallas on Thanksgiving Day and beat the Cowboys. And this is another, like, there are just so many of these matchups that we've had. The Saints play the 49ers this week. You know, you have a lot of big games remaining. Aaron, did you say this to me, or did Greg say this to me this morning?

That this is a really good NFL season. Unfortunately, you know, my favorite team. is not participating. But it really is a very, very entertaining and intriguing NFL season where you still are going to be hard pressed to come up with two obvious favorites to be in the Super Bowl, although Baltimore, for me, I don't know how you beat them right now. You have to outscore them. You beat him in the postseason last year by completely making Lamar Jackson a one-dimensional quarterback. Can you do that anymore, though, because he isn't one-dimensional anymore? But here's what's so apparent. And, I mean, it's obvious the people who watch the Ravens

is this organization, once they committed to Lamar Jackson, they committed to putting weapons around him. Yeah. And, I mean, Mark Ingram, these three tight ends that they've had. All of them can play. Yeah. They've got players that can, they've got receivers who can stretch the field, Hollywood Brown. So they gave him weapons to make his job a lot easier. Tommy, that's a really, really good point. Not only did they commit to Jackson, but they gave him things that, by the way,

would have worked for Flacco too, because Flacco has had how many offensive coordinators and really they had a big, big hole in offensive talent over the last several years. He had never had the receivers. This guy has now. Yeah. This guy's got Andrews and Hearst and Boyle, all good three very good pass catching tight ends.

He's got big time backs in Ingram and Gus Edwards. You know, he's got a deep threat in Hollywood Brown out of Oklahoma as a rookie who, you know, has a chance to be, you know, a star. They put some really nice pieces around them. And, you know, they're good defensively. The 49ers ran the football against them. They really did. They ran the football. So the Baltimore Buffalo game is a really good game.

game on Sunday. The 49ers at Saints game is big. You know, Seattle winning last night. I'm going to get to that next here. Seattle now is the number one seed in the NFC. Yeah. Two seed. Behind what? Behind the Saints. Oh, the Saints are the one seed right now? As of now because of tiebreakers with New Orleans is the number one. Seattle's number two. It was written down for me this morning. I guess we got that one wrong. I thought that Seattle at 10 and 2 had a better conference record than New Orleans. And they do. They have a better conference record than New Orleans.

Why aren't they the one seat? Hold on. Plug it up right now. We have... They haven't played each other. Oh, they have played each other. New Orleans beat Seattle. There you go.

New Orleans beat Seattle. They did? Yes. They did. When was that? Early in the season? It was fairly early on. I...

You're right. New Orleans beat Seattle, 33 to 27 in week three. Hmm, forgotten about that. Okay. New Orleans is the number one seat in the NFC playoff picture. But you have Seattle now atop San Francisco. And that just as a quick aside, if the season ended today, San Francisco would be the five seed. And they would be playing the four seed, which would be the Packers. No, it would be the Cowboys. It would be the Cowboys, excuse me, on the road. So it would be a 10 and two team at a six and six team. We've seen this over the years.

It's why when they do get this new CBA, and I've suggested this many times in the past, they're going to expand the playoff field by one, which would mean seven in each conference. So you get a number one seed who gets the by, and you get three games in each conference, six teams each conference participating in that first weekend, which make that first weekend of the postseason, wild card weekend, even more entertaining, because there will be six games instead of four. But you can have the qualification for playoff spots the same way, four division winners and then it would be three wild cards. But you got to reseed them. You got to

seat them based on record. You can't have any more, you know, a 12 and 4 wildcard team playing an eight and eight division winner on the road. Let the eight and eight division winner qualify for the postseason because they're a division winner. Keep the importance of the divisions in this sport. But 12 and 4 shouldn't be playing a road game. You know, it's like when New Orleans had to go as a division winner is a wild card team. I forget what their record was, to play seven and nine Seattle in Seattle, and that was the Marshawn Lynch Beast Mode run, you know, one of the great runs, and they lost the game. I know, well, that's a memorable game. I'm all for keeping it the way it is. I bet they change it. I think they'll receive it. But I think that you should get,

in fact, you know, if you don't like it when your division. Yeah, if you're, if you don't like it when your division, the problem is, what if your division winner is 16 and 0 and you're 15 and 14 and 2? Well, you should have beat them when you played them. You played them twice. Okay. So now I got to go on the road to play a seven and nine team potentially. Yes. Yeah, I don't like that.

And if you can't beat them, then you deserve to lose. I'd forgotten about that Saints Seahawks game earlier in the year. In fact, even looking at it now the box square, I don't even remember it. That's starting to happen to me more and more. I don't know about you. I want to talk about last night's game. Because last night's game really encapsulates everything that people think about Kirk Cousins. I mean, it was all there last night.

It was, you know, they're not even close to Seattle on the road without them. And then at the end, they can't get it done because of them. You know, the game, if you watch this game, Minnesota's defense was atrocious. I gathered that. They got run over, like a knife through warm butter, cut through, sliced through, and to the tune of 230 yards rushing against them. and that was the number one reason that Minnesota lost. Anybody looking at that game objectively last night,

with Kirk Cousins having no history of losing on Monday Night Football or not coming through in the clutch, or at least the narrative of him not coming through in the clutch, the perception. The truth is he's got 13 fourth quarter comebacks, game-winning drives in the fourth quarter, which is top half of the league over the last five years. But his standing there has been dropping.

Yeah, but the perception is that he... standing, he keeps going down on that list. He does, yeah, because he only has one this year. Yes. So far, there are four games left. Yeah. Most quarterbacks don't have more than two or three in a given year. I get that, but he used to be higher on that list.

He was. He was top five in 15 and 16 and 17. And now I think he's, you know, top 10 to 15. But still, the perception that he never delivers in the fourth quarter is inaccurate. But it doesn't matter. The perception is that that's what it was. And last night encapsulates everything that you perceive about Kirk Cousins. Good enough to keep your team in it?

Not good enough to win it at the end. And yet, last night, if you're looking at that game objectively, which nobody can involving a game with him. And a lot of people, Tommy, say to me all the time, why do you spend so much time talking about Kirk Cousins? Well, truthfully, I don't. That's for starters. That's another perception versus reality thing.

But Kirk Cousins is a massive NFL storyline. Absolutely. I mean, ESPN this morning, all they're talking about is Kirk Cousins. Why do you say that? Because you don't think he's very good? Well, because he signed the first totally all guaranteed contract in the history of the league, basically, for $84 million. And the Jets wanted to pay him north of $90 million over three years. And people thought it was too much money. I thought it was too much money, too. I would have never paid him that much money. Some of you think that I would have. No, I wanted him traded after 2016 and before 2017. I wanted him signed early in 2016. But anyway, last night, their defense gets run over. They lose their left tackle to a concussion. They're without their number one receiver, Adam Thielen, for like a month, four or five games now in a row, maybe more than that.

Dalvin Cook, the number one, top two running back in the league this year, fumbles deep in their own territory early in the third quarter, gets hurt doesn't return to the game. Stefan Diggs drops three balls in the night, including one that resulted in an interception. Kirk hadn't thrown in an, he had a stretch of throws without an interception that was the longest stretch in Viking's history,

eclipsing worn moon stretch, when Moon was in Minnesota. And the last interception he threw bounced off of Stefan Diggs' helmet and bounced up into the air and was picked off. He's had a phenomenal season, really over the last eight games. Until that game last night, people were starting to introduce him into the MVP debate. Yeah, I mean, he's way behind, you know, the top four or five guys.

But odds-wise, Aaron and I looked at it a week or two ago. He was like in the top 10 somewhere in the odds for MVP. But anyway, so they're down 3417. Sixth in the MVP race right now in the MVP race. So he's not going to win. the MVP. No, no. So last night, you know, with a terrible defense all night long, with his team turning the ball over deep in their own territory twice, they're down 34 to 17 in a game that they led 17 to 10 at halftime. He had been playing very well. And he leads, he puts straps him to his back,

literally, throws a couple of passes, 58-yard touchdown pass 34-24. They get the ball back on a really good hit off of a throw that forces a fumble that actually was called incomplete. They challenged it overturned. They get the ball back. He drives him right down the field. And then on third and goal throws a really good ball that Kyle Rudolph catches one-handed for a touch. Now it's 34 to 30. Kicker misses the extra point. You know, which they've had kicker problems there. Just like they had kicker problems when he was here in Washington. They would have won more games had Dustin Hopkins made more clutch kicks. And then they get another stop. And there was three minutes and change left in the game.

He's already put them into position with great play. He's been terrific all night long, and it's 34 to 30, and they've got the ball back with three minutes and 27 seconds left from their own 16. And Bougar McFarland said, well, America, you wanted it. You got it. Kirk Cousins down needing a touchdown to win it, and the final drive, let's see what happens. Again, they're not even close in this game without them, but that's beside the point. Of course it's beside the point. And then he didn't deliver. And he didn't.

He hit Rudolph for a 20-yard pass from their own 16, and it's like, here they go, because he was in rhythm at that point. And then the worst throw, and nobody made a big deal out of this. It's first and ten, and they're going hurry up. And they didn't need to go hurry up at that point, but that's beside the point. He gets pressured on a first and ten throw, and he throws a ball, a Kirk pressured throw that we've all seen, that flutters up in the air, intended for nobody. and I'm like, oh my God!

And it hit the turf, thankfully. But that was one of those balls. If that had been picked off, it would have been even worse for him today. Even worse. And then they got it to fourth and three. And Irv Smith, you know, I don't, I would personally, I thought the whole play call was terrible.

I thought on third and three, the play call was bad. They went with a slant to Laquan Treadwell. And he missed Smith. Now, he was covered, and it may not have been completed even if he makes a good throw, but he just missed him. It was not accurate enough. And so the game didn't end there because if they stopped Seattle, they would have gotten the ball back.

They had three timeouts, but Seattle ran it right down their throat and pretty much ran the clock out. And so there you are. It's like, I said to Aaron before the show started, for him, it would have been better this morning had they gotten beaten, you know, 3417, they're getting run over defensively. they've lost Alvin Cook, they've got no Adam Thielen. Riley Reef, their starting left tackle has left the game in the first half with concussion.

And it would have been better had they just lost 41 to 17 because you would have said, hey, he's 0 and 8, he is 0.8, but he didn't choke at the end on 4th and 3. It would have been better for him. But like what happened in Washington and a lot of those games that they lost, you know, I think about so many of those games over the years, you know, during some of those seasons,

where, you know, they wouldn't have even been close without him. You know, the game in London that they lost, remember that game, the game that they lost, where Dustin Hopkins missed the 30-yard field going overtime? That was that a loss or was that a tie? It felt like a loss. Right. The Bengals game, yes. I mean, he's incredible in that game.

I think he threw for 400-plus yards or something like that. And let me see if I can find that. 458 yards in that game. He strapped him to his back in that game, and the kicker misses a 30-yard field goal. The Thanksgiving Day game against the Cowboys, he throws for 450, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, and they lose because they couldn't stop the Cowboys one time in that game. And you go through the list of a lot of those games over the years that, you know, were fourth-quarter losses, but, you know, the Redskins were nine and seven with a ten.

terrible defense. They were 8, 7, and 1 with one of the worst defenses we have ever seen. As NFL fans, it was the worst third and long defense in the modern era since the merger. No one had ever been worse on 3rd and 7 or longer than the 2016 Redskins were. And, you know, and what do they say? Barely even a winning record this year, 8, 7 and 1. Well, they would have won three games without him that year. But Kevin, here's what I think, based on the rumblings that we heard out of Minnesota this year. I think the problem for Kirk is that the players

think the same thing. I think his teammates may think the same thing as the narrative. Well, the thing earlier in the season, you know, was much more about the coordinator in the play calling than it was about cousins. Right. You know, and even Zimmer has mentioned a couple of times,

and even Stefan Diggs has mentioned a couple of times, the Chicago game, which they lost 16 to 6, in which nobody could block Clements. Mac, and he wrecked the entire game single-handedly. They all pointed to that game, and that was when all the fireworks with Thielen and Diggs started after that game. They were two-and-two. And a lot of the reporting was exaggerated as it related to Diggs and Thielen calling

Kirk out. They were calling the play-calling out, and Thielen said, you know, if you're going to run it 70 times for two yards a rush, it's going to be really hard to beat a team like Chicago. They wanted to throw it. They wanted better play calling. Kirk wasn't good in the game, but Chicago was really good in that game, and they got beat. And then from that moment on, it was lights out.

You know, he's been top three, top four in every statistical category since then. They lost a game to the Chiefs without Mahomes, but they gave up eight and a half yards per carry defensively. And then last night, they lose 37 to 30 to Seattle, but they gave up 230 yards on the ground. He, the bottom line with him is this. And I'll leave it at this. And then, well, you can comment on this. The same thing applies to him in 2019 as it applied to him in 2015, 2016, in my mind's eye. He's not an elite quarterback.

He's not a top five, top eight, top ten quarterback, but he's definitely somewhere between 10 and 15. And if you put a good team around someone like Kirk Cousins and it's the right offensive system, etc., you can win a lot of games. and the Redskins would have won a lot of games had they had a decent defense, even a bad defense rather than an historically bad defense, and if they had had a running game. And Minnesota is 8 and 4 right now with a good team around him,

not a great team around them. I don't think this team's going to win the Super Bowl or even advance significantly in the playoffs. I don't. I think the Saints are better. I think the 49ers are better. I think the Seahawks are better. I think the Packers are better than the Vikings. There are a lot of people that think that talent is really good.

Their defense has given up way too much. But he is what he is. He's a quarterback that there are only 12, 13, 14 guys that are better than him. At max, maybe only 10 or 11 guys. So we know how hard it is to find one of those guys. I would have preferred to have had somebody like him than somebody like we've had here for the last year and a half. Not for that money, though. I didn't want to pay him that money.

So why is he so electric? Why is he such a lightning? The contract. You know, it was before that. I mean, I think part of it is, I'll give you an example. Outside the Beltway, there are people who are still convinced that Robert Griffin III was screwed over here in Washington. Yeah.

And that Kirk Cousins benefited from that. I know, but those people are, I mean. There's a, that's, listen, Sam, Farmer covers the NFL for Los Angeles Times. He's covered the league for years. Before the Rams played the Ravens, he did a preview story

about the Ravens and Lamar Jackson and he talked to RG3. He asked him this question. This is a veteran sports writer, asked him this question to RG3. Don't you wish that the Shanahan's

had developed an offense around your skills like the Ravens have done? Did he not know that they had? Apparently not. And that's what you're dealing with on the outside. So that's, I, Kirk Cousin. How did he answer the question? Oh, he answered it. I mean, he didn't, he didn't tell a truth. I don't remember what the exact quote was. But he didn't say to Sam, say, oh, no, you're wrong. They did do that. I just didn't want to run it. They didn't do that. But that, this is a veteran NFL writer. So if that's the, if that's the perception outside, that's Kirk Cousins is seen to a lot of people as the villain,

one of the villains in the RG3 saga that took place here. I think, I think, you know, you have to turn to the people who followed the story and know the story. Sam, Sam was working on the farm. He didn't know what went on here. I was, look, you know, Amy Trask, she used to be. Yeah, I know the name. I mean, she used to be the Raiders front office executive. Yes, right, of course.

And she's on Twitter. About a year or so ago, something about RG3, she quoted, she mentioned something on Twitter that basically took the Redskins to Tass for ruining him. And I responded back very politely and said, trust me, RG3 was not a victim here. He was a carrier. Yeah. You know, there was a virus and he was one of the carriers. And she respectfully said, well, I'm sure there was a lot of blame to go around and all that.

But again, that's the perception on the outside. And Kirk has seen as part of the guys who either, you know, basically damaged RG3 or benefited from the damage done to RG3. I don't think that that is the overwhelming perception. Oh, I think it is. I don't. I mean, I think a lot of NFL writers understand what happened here. You know, people like Albert Breer, who covered this story pretty cool. closely. There are reporters that understand how toxic it was. There are, but I think the majority

of the outside world in sports and football is convinced that the Redskins, you know, damaged RG3 and that Kirk Cousins benefited from it. I don't know, Tommy, that he stepped over a body to do it. I think if RG3, I think right in the, in the aftermath of it, that that may have been the case, but given that he's never gotten an opportunity really since then, is sort of indication that, you know, this was him more than it was any of the teams, whether it be Cleveland or anybody else. You're doing math. I know that. You're putting together the evidence. I'm putting together a timeline. I'm telling you that this perception that you believe exists now may have existed, but it doesn't exist anymore. Well, I think you're wrong. I know you do. But I think I just

disagree with you. I think it makes sense for that perception to have been there in 2013, 2014. At this point, if somebody still has that perception, they're stupid. Like your guy Sam is just flat out stupid. Because if that were reality, then if he believed that to be true, then we're all the NFL teams that have offered to resurrect the career. You can't talk perception into existence. It just happens. I don't think that perception has changed.

I do. I think it's changed significantly. I think people know what RG3 is. Now, what's interesting about that, did you read the story? that Barry's Verluga wrote. Barry wrote this story about RG3. Did you see it? Yes, I did.

All right, so there were a lot of quotes in there, but my favorite part of the story is really the beginning, where Barry writes, late in October, the Baltimore Ravens jaunted off the field in Seattle, celebrating a solid victory over the sturdy Seahawks. Lamar Jackson, the NFL's It character in 2019, ran for 116 yards and a touchdown, and the defense turned two Seattle turnovers into scores.

heroes abounded. Yet in the on-field hullabaloo, John Harbaugh found one person to hug, Robert Griffin the third. Quote, you are playing great football and nobody knows it. Griffin recalled his coach saying, If anybody could see the type of ball that you're playing right now, they'd be banging down our door to come and get you, closed quote. Then he continued, it meant a lot for him to say that, Griffin said at the Raven's team facility. The relationship between the coach and quarterback is very important. Everybody sees how great a relationship that he has with Lamar because he's out there, and people see it constantly. But they don't see the relationship he has with other players, especially the guy that no one really thinks about until you need him, the backup quarterback,

closed quote. And Barry writes, and that's what Griffin is right now, in his own words, nothing more than QB2 for Baltimore. I just think it's funny as I read that, that the person who's telling you what John Harbaugh said isn't John Harbaugh. Yeah. It's Robert himself. Yes. And the words that John spoke to me, Robert Griffin III, were so complimentary. And then at the very end, there are these quotes from RG3.

And there are some quotes from Harbaugh in there that are very, very positive about RG3. I don't want to act like there wasn't. But that particular part was really self-inflating. Of course. It was self-serving. At the very end, he says, quote, I want to be an inspiration to people. I want to be God's comeback story.

I'll take that. I'll start from the bottom, closed quote. Do you think somebody's going to give him an opportunity in this offseason to be a starter next year? No. Do you? If I didn't have a quarterback and I got the commitment from him after a conversation that he would play and try to play the way Lamar Jackson was playing

and to play the way other quarterbacks have played to play to play the way he used to play. And I didn't have anything else. I would try that. I would definitely try that. I'd get another one. You know, I would find another quarterback similar to Griffin. But I've always been in favor of this kind of, you know,

attempt at playing football. I've always thought that this college style, you know, football could work and you could win doing it. And the Redskins did win. There's kids coming out of college right now who are better at it than him. That's true, and I would probably use him, and I would draft others like him, knowing that he's also breakable. But I would not be totally opposed to trying him out there.

Because I think if Jackson got hurt this year, Griffin's is a fraction of what Jackson is, speed, vision, the whole thing. But you know what? They're still going to have a chance to be successful with Griffin running. that offense. They'll have a chance. They won't be nearly as good, but they won't suck either. Like the Redskins truly sucked

when they tried to satisfy him with an offense that fit what he thought he could be, which was Aaron Rogers, or somebody like that. And we found out that he wasn't just bad. He was all-time bad at that. Now,

if he's more committed to this, I would love to, and I actually have reached out at time, over the years to try to get him on. I would love to have a conversation with him about whether or not he understands or whether or not he feels, I'm sorry, whether or not he feels like if he had stayed in Washington

with Mike and Kyle and Sean McVeigh, it would have worked out better for him. Well, that would require him to accept some responsibility. And he still hasn't done that. He still sees himself as a victim. I'm willing to start at the bottom. I'm willing, you know, because I mean, because I have the shoulders to handle that. That's my burden.

You know, I didn't put myself here, but I'll dig myself out. And he exactly put himself there. Yeah, with unfortunately the assistance of an owner that doesn't know how to own or manage. I don't know. Because if it had been in a different situation, maybe he would have been more responsive to maybe to you know uh some hierarchies to some discipline to some accountability um requirement maybe if he had bill callahan as a head coach that his his career would have been different because we're talking about responsibility we're talking about accountability we're talking about discipline now baby

all right wrapping up kirk cousins bottom line last night to me it was like it was funny tommy in that final drive i'm like i hope he gets it done but this is how I felt I wasn't sure that he would. I wasn't sure that he would. I was hopeful that he would. But, you know, he was missing some pieces. Here we go with the excuse making. And I also thought that if it came down to a fourth down and something,

he may not deliver. And he didn't. But anyway. I didn't watch the Monday night game because last night I was down at the anthem. Oh, yeah. Right. And what was that about again? Well, that was the premiere of the 2019 World Series documentary by Major League Baseball.

And there were more than 3,000 people down there waiting in line in cold weather to get in to see this thing. And it was, look, MLB, basically they had 10 days to put it together. And they did a great job. And it's not a Nationals documentary. It's a World Series documentary. So there's a lot of Astros stuff in there as well as, national stuff, but it's really well done. I think you can buy the DVD.

I'd highly recommend it to any Nationals fans. It's very emotional. It's very inspiring. I'd love to see it. It's revealing in a lot of ways. But the best part of the night was, you know, D.C.'s

Media Power couple, what's his name, Lindsey Zarniak and Craig Melvin. They hosted it. Oh, they did? Yes, they did. And on the stage with them were Mark Lerner, Mike Rizzo, and Ryan Zimmerman, who was either, who basically told reporters last night, either I'm playing for the Nationals next year or I'm retiring.

So, I mean, and he was, you know, the only player that was part of this, so he's obviously coming back. So at one point, Craig Melvin in questioning Mark Lerner, just sort of blurts out something to the fact. of how about buying the Redskins? And the place... Wait, wait, wait. Who said that?

Craig Melvin just said to Mark Lerner. As part of like, what, a Q&A? Yeah. Okay. How about buying the Redskins? The place went nuts. It was the biggest cheer of the night. The place erupted.

I mean, it was... And then Craig tried to backtrack from it because he saw the reaction he get. and he knew how it would wind up out there, how it would sound. And it's funny, Mark responded, we tried that already. They did. Because they did. They did.

Yeah. And you know the story about that. I think, I don't know if, I heard this from somebody who was close to the situation, a couple of years ago, actually, that the old man that Ted Lerner had a number in mind for the team, and he would not go past that number. Like, they had penciled this thing out to the nickel, which is. just very learner-like. Yeah, they've done this.

I mean, they tried to buy the Orioles back when Hoffberger sold the Orioles, and he wound up selling it to Edward Bennett Williams. So they've been in this business before, and they've walked away before from bidding. And so the number, I think, was $650 million. It was somewhere less than the $800 million that Snyder paid for it. Call it $650 or $700 million. and he would not budge, said, no, it's not worth it over this amount. And of course, it's the worst decision they've ever made,

because if they had spent $800 million, they could sell it today for $4 plus billion. Yeah. But would have turned out better, I bet. Yeah, well, that was interesting. And also, Mark Lerner was asked, you know, when did he feel like, you know, when did he feel like they really could win this thing? where he could win like the World Series, the seventh game. Can I ask, oh, during the World Series, you mean?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. And it's funny because Ryan Zimmerman was asked, and he basically said he couldn't relax until the last out, you know, but Mark Lerner said what a lot of fans were thinking, where he said, basically, when A.J. Hinch took out Zach Grinke. He said, that's when I knew we had it. Wow.

That's what I knew. And, you know, it's funny because in the documentary, they asked Howie Kendrick. They're talking Howie Kendrick. And Hallie Kendrick said, basically, when Granky went out, it was like they all breathed the cider relief. So basically, the way the nationals see it, that's where the game changed for them, that seventh game and deciding game. So a lot of it is on that A.J. Hinge decision. One last thing about the reaction to the crowd. I know it's a Washington Nationals crowd,

but the National, the Astros legacy is forever tainted now by this cheating thing. I was just going to, forever tainted because people kept splurting out, yelling out cheaters every time an Astros player would come up on the screen. I know this is a Washington crowd, but I bet they do the same thing in New York. I bet they do the same thing in L.A.

And I don't think they're ever going to, no matter what happens, and I think they're going to get punished. and punished severely. Their legacy went from being, they perceived this World Series about their legacy as one of the great teams of all time to win two World Series in three years

and have three straight hundred win seasons. Instead, their legacy is going to be tarnished and tainted forever. It's just so funny because the irony is they won three road games and didn't win any home games in the World Series itself. won the games in which they didn't potentially have the advantage that they had at home. What do you think is going to happen about that? Because we haven't talked about that.

Shouldn't A.J. Hinch be suspended? I think he should. For, I mean, a long, long time. Yes, I think he should. And look, this is a beloved, respected manager who willingly participated in what is in baseball, you know, is perceived as cheating. I mean, even if everybody does it. Now, nobody did it to the level that the Astros did. And the Astros have a certain arrogance that people want to jump on and really punish them for.

So it's going to be worse for them because they're a hated organization throughout the game. And, you know, a lot of people who see this as revenge. As my co-instructor at Georgetown in the business of sports media pointed out, Marty Conway, you know, the Patriots do the same thing, and you don't see anyone from the Patriots right in the book. Well, they wrote this book called Astro Ball, you know, and there was a level of arrogance involving the way the Astros do business, and now people want to see them pay for it. That's Strasbourg, you know, game six, when he got hit by, you know, early, the Bregman Homer, and they, he was tipping his pitches, remember, was the discussion.

You know, you just thought it was one of those things where he was tipping his pitches. Yeah. But it was probably more than that. Like they knew what was coming. And somebody was banging on something in the dugout based on what the video was revealing. And we didn't know that until the series was over. Thankfully, the Nats won it or would have been truly tainted, as was their World Series from a couple of years ago now. It's tainted.

Yeah. Against the Dodgers. You think they'll take it away from them? I don't think they don't really do that in professional sports. Even in college sports, it's the most meaningless. It's meaningless. I understand that. I think the closest thing this is, though, when you kind of look through sports,

I think the closest thing you can compare it to is Bounty Gate, and I think we might see a Sean Peyton suspension, a year-long suspension for A.J. Hinch. It could be something like that. I mean, I think, look, Rob Manfred is under a lot of pressure right now to come down on the actions. Like I said, there's not a lot of sympathy around baseball for the Houston Astros. Two other things. You mentioned Strasbourg.

he's prominently displayed, obviously, being the World Series MVP throughout the documentary, but he's not really interviewed. I don't know if that's, I don't know why that is. You know, he may have declined to be interviewed. Even Rendon, I mean, he was pretty much invisible until the end of the documentary, and then he was interviewed there. But Strasbourg never really got interviewed. The parts that juiced, the people really got juiced up when they showed Dave Martinez,

when he was when he got kicked out of the game remember and how crazy he was the crowd went the audience went nuts when when they showed that part but i highly recommend the DVD to anybody will they run it on MLB network soon i don't know if they will i don't know but you can buy it right now one quick nat's note since uh we we we found our way into this conversation bob nightingale last night several executives during the GM meetings insisted that Texas, the Rangers are the favorites to land free agent, third baseman Anthony Rendon. And on Sunday, Rendon met for the first time with the Rangers contingent in his hometown of Houston per Evan Grant.

I don't know who he is. He's with Dallas Morning News. Look, I've been telling you that for months, that the Rangers are going to be the frontrunners. They're the ones that Scott Bores has been working on for months. the owners of the Rangers who are opening up a new ballpark next year. And unlike the learners, I know everyone wants to canonize the learners. And they had a World Series champion. But most people, when they open up a new ballpark in baseball,

don't want to open it up with a 100 lost team. They want to open it up with a winning team. So the Rangers want to make a splash to open up their new ballpark. And Boris has been selling Rendon all year to the Rangers' owner. as their ticket to be able to do that. I think it's a little misleading. Rendon's no Bryce Harper. I don't know how many tickets are going to be sold because of Anthony Rendon.

Although Renton's a much more recognizable figure after October of this year than he was going into it. Yes, he is. Even more respected, I think, even from baseball people, because he delivered in the clutch at every single time, every single opportunity during the postseason. Tremendously respected among baseball people. And Strasbourg, according to Chris Russell, reported that Strasbourg has met with the Dodgers and is going to be meeting with other teams out west. Who reported that? Chris Russell.

He did? Yes, he did. Good for Chris. Yeah. He reported that. Look, the Dodgers are no surprise. Stancaston, you know, he was here when they drafted Strasbourg. So, I mean, they saw firsthand what he.

could do. I think, you know, it's a tough situation for the nationals because I would love to see Strasbourg back, but, I mean, again, 227 starts since Tommy John's surgery. And you don't know what the expiration date is. I want them both back, please. That's what I want. I want April to come around, and I want Rendon hitting third, and I want Strasbourg's schedule to start the second game of their first series. I really would be so disappointed if they come back as the defending champion and both of them are gone. That would be tough to handle. It really would be. It'd be a different team. I mean, Soto and Scherzer, I mean, there's still going to be some people, but Rendon and Strasbourg,

Rendon in particular, because we're now getting into that point where this is the prime of his career, and it might be for, it should be for Strasbourg too. I'd love to have to. them here. I'm not worried about what the timeline on the Tommy John is. What I saw, I know, but what I saw was one badass starting picture in October of 2019. I know. I look, I, I, I, I love the guy and I love the way he pitched, and it'd be, it'd be great. It'd be a big disappointment if both of them go on. It'd be a major disappointment. I think the learners should consider this that, you know, it was such, it was such an incredible moment. for this city, October was. Yes, it was. I mean, I don't want, this is not meant to be condescending

or dismissive to the capitals, because that was terrific too. It was great. But that whole month of October this year, for people like me of a certain age that like baseball and love postseason baseball and wanted it to be a part of our lives for so many years when it wasn't, it was really special. And the way they did it with the comeback win over Milwaukee in the Game 5 win at Dodger Stadium and all of what, you know, being down 3-2 after the homestand here in the World Series and going to Houston and winning two games, and the clutch performances, and Strasbourg and Rendon being so much, you know, front and center, top of the list of the reasons they won.

If you open up next season without those two players, it's going to be a letdown. It will be. Huge letdown for that season. It will be a letdown to have both of them gone. And the other thing about the documentary, I mean, you just, If you possibly can, you fall in love even more with Juan Soto. I thought you were going to say with Dave Martinez even more. I mean, Martinez is so likable.

Yeah, but Juan Soto, I mean, we're talking superstar ballplayer here. And one last thing that Nats fans should consider going into next year, we haven't even come close to seeing the best of Victor Robles. I mean, Victor Robles was the higher touted prospect than Juan Soto. And, I mean, Robles has established himself as one of the best center fielder's in baseball. But offensively, I think he's just starting to scratch the surface. You know what? The other thing, just on Strasbourg and Rendon, because it's unusual in sports, you know, in any sport in this day and age. I mean, the caps have it with Ovechkin, and they have it with Holbe and they've got it with, you know, Baxter, et cetera.

but when you draft that player, when you acquire that player and that player's been with you their entire careers, it makes it even, the attachment even more emotional and stronger. You could see it the way to Crowe reacted to Ryan Zimmerman last night.

I mean, you know, I mean, they went nuts when Zimmerman came out on the stage holding the World Series trophy above his head. So yeah, I agree with you. That's, I mean,

I've always felt like if you're building a sports team, team, particularly a baseball or a football team. And we've heard this term before, core Redskins that I think Joe Gibbs used to use before. But I think you do have to identify two or three players that you want to try to say, we're going to try to keep these guys for their whole career. And then everybody else is an interchangeable part. Right. That's the best you can do at that point.

Okay. We're going to get to the Redskins ratings thing next, and we'll touch on Georgetown as well. That was a long, what we call an opening segment. That was pretty much half, if not more than half the show there. But a quick word about mybooky.ag. Lots of sports now, holiday time, lots of football games, NBA in full swing, college basketball in full swing. if you're looking to bet and you don't have somebody to bet through, first of all, be careful.

Be careful when you dip your toes into the arena that I've been in for many years. It's not for everybody, but if you're looking for a place to do it, MyBooky.orgie.ag is a place that's reliable. You need a place that you feel confident in that you're going to give information to, that you're going to give money to, that you want to get paid if you win. MyBooky.orgie.org is one of those places. Fast payouts, quality lines, many, many, many, different ways to bet on games. You know, you can bet straight bets, parlays, teasers, in-game action, futures. It's all there at my bookie.ag. If you go to my bookie.orgie.g and you use my promo code, Kevin D.C., K-E-V-I-N-D-C,

they will double your first deposit. Use my promo code, though, Kevin, DC. MyBooky.orgie.orgy, today, you play, you win, you get paid. All right, let's get to this story, which I guess on most shows we would have probably put this at the top. When Tommy and I get together, we could probably do a five-hour show every day. Yes, we could. If somebody's interested, we're available for that. So the ratings came out for the Sunday game between the Redskins and the Panthers and the 49ers. And I mentioned earlier, but I predicted that either on the Friday show or Wednesday show, that there was an opportunity

for the Redskins, I think for the first time ever. They've been beaten before, on the same day, but not in the same time slot. So, for example, they play a 1 o'clock game and they get a 15 rating or a 14 rating, and then later on in the day the Cowboys play, a big game against the Eagles, and that game does a 16 rating. That's happened before in recent years. That, by the way, never used to happen either, way back in the day. But that's happened more recently.

But I'm pretty sure, and there's really not a lot of, you know, there's not a place to go to for all of this information, this TV ratings, data. You know, it's not like there's a historical, you know, site that keeps all of the D.C. local sports ratings. It's, you got to go back and you got to look at it, but I believe this to be true. I believe that the Redskins have never been outrated in the time slot in which they were playing. But I saw this coming as the perfect storm on Sunday. Ravens 49ers, the game of the year in the NFL, certainly one of the games of the year in the NFL. The Redskins are horrible. And I thought, And the Ravens have not just a heavyweight matchup, the Ravens have the player to everybody wants to six.

Superstar player, 100% right. And it's the Ravens. You know, there is some bleed through here in the D.C. television market. So the Ravens did outrate the Redskins. Actually, by slim margin, I thought that the margin could have been bigger. But the Ravens' 49ers game in the 1 o'clock window on Fox did a 12.5 rating. And the Redskins Panthers on CBS in the 1 o'clock. window did an 11.7 rating.

There was also a report, and I think J.P. Finley had this, that the Redskins game surged late because they had the lead. And it took a long time. And because the game lasted longer. That's right, Tommy. Good point. The Redskins game Sunday was a long game. It was three hours and 32 minutes.

And I think the Ravens 49ers game was the shortest game in the one o'clock window. actually may have ended before three hours. It may have. Before four o'clock. But anyway, so what does it mean? Well, one thing that it definitely means is that it's another data point, okay, that indicates that the Redskins popularity in this market has reached an all-time low. It doesn't mean it can't go lower because they still did in 11.7, okay, in 11.7.

That 11.7 is, I think, tied with the lowest rating they've ever done, the Chargers a few years ago, the Jet Game from this year. so it's sinking. It could go lower, though. It could be a 7.7. You know, there's more room for it to fall. You know, you suggested I think the Redskins had 10,000 of their own fans there for the line game, right?

So it could be 5,000 fans next year for a game, so it could go lower. But it is another data point that indicates, you know, just how less popular the Redskins have become in recent years. What I hope it personally means is that. that Dan Snyder takes it seriously and says to himself, the Ravens are more popular in my own market than we are, and doesn't view it as the perfect storm kind of thing, and says, whose fault is this? Well, it's my fault, which I'm really, you know, reaching here

for what I hope the reaction is. But I hope he also looks at his co-conspirator, Bruce Allen, and says, you've been here 10 years, and every time I go to the stadium, there are fewer and fewer people here. and now fewer and fewer people are watching, which we've known, but now more people are watching the team 30 miles to the north, run by Steve Bishotti, who I don't even like very much. You know, you're out of here.

What I hope it doesn't mean internally in Ashburn is that they say, yeah, fine, whatever. It was Thanksgiving weekend. Washingtonians have more money, and they were all traveling and out of town, and it was Lamar Jackson in the game of the year, and we've got a bad record, And all we have to do is win and everything will change it.

Oh, by the way, you should have seen the pregame rally we had in Charlotte. You should have seen the crowd we had because I did hear. They had an incredible crowd again. And they're fooled by this all the time. Yeah, but in Charlotte, it's always going to be worse because it's a Redskin market. Yes. I mean, basically, I mean, for years, the Redskins were the only team that was considered the South. and then the Falcons were started in 66.

And then from 66 to the time, 94, when the Panthers started, it was the Redskins between Atlanta and Washington. So, yeah, they're going to have, I mean, they always seem to get a stronger showing on the road. And it's going to be even stronger in Charlotte. So that's understandable. But they do. Were you going to say something, Aaron?

It was something that struck me as we were talking about this Baltimore, Washington thing. The Redskins host the Ravens next year. It's a home game against the Ravens. What percentage is Ravens fans? Well, it depends when the game is and what the two records are. I mean, more likely than

not, let's assume the Redskins are going to stink and the Ravens are going to be good. It's going to be... 80. 20. It's going to be the Philadelphia game from last year. The Philadelphia game was 90-10. That's what it'll be. Especially if it's later in the year and the season is basically over. Because you'll have Redskins fans that won't want to show up just so they don't have to deal with Ravens fans.

You'll have Redskins fans that might normally show up. They'll say, why do I want to show up and have Raven fans all around me, harassing me, and tell me how my team stinks? You'll have Redskins fans that won't do that. So, yeah, that would be interesting. But you see, you're missing the point here, Kevin. What am I missing?

You're missing the beginning of the Bill Callahan era here. This team is on the road to redemption. This team seems to be heading in the right direction. They have a young quarterback who looked pretty good. Looked okay. I mean, they have a running back. They got a quarterback who apparently had a hell of a Cyber Monday. Yes.

Had a big Cyber Monday yesterday, 40% off all merchandise at Kingdom of Pride, his clothing line. Tommy made me aware of this last week, and I think I mentioned it on Friday's show or yesterday's show. I do wonder how many starting quarterbacks in the NFL have their own clothing line. Actually, Lamar Jackson does. He does? Yes, he does.

I read that too. I think it's a more prominent thing than we think. But it just plays into the whole Haskins and Haskins thing. But look, I don't want to talk bad about the kid because he played, he's getting better. Hold on for a second. Is this sarcasm? No, he did play better. He played better.

he would, you know, and he was certainly helped by a running game. And you saw how a running game can help any quarterback. And they may have found a, they may have stumbled onto a piece of gold with Darius Geis. I mean, if he's healthy, I heard you talking about it on the radio this morning, on 980, that he reminds you of Marshawn Lynch. and the way he ran on Sunday and the highlights that I saw, that was flinch-like.

So they, you know, I mean, and look, you got, who's the coach while all this is happening? Bill Callahan. I mean, you know, there's more discipline on the team. There's a better offensive balance on the team. Right.

There's more accountability, you know? I mean, this is, this is what's matter. I just love you. You're just so funny. I can't believe you didn't spend more time on the Cyber Monday 40% off Kingdom of Pride because I bet Haskins had a better Monday than he had Sunday. I guarantee you he had a better Monday than he had Sunday. First of all, with respect to the ratings thing, they should take it seriously.

All of this rights information over the years. And I know that you will say that it's not the end-all be-all anymore. And I understand that there are many ways that people are consuming content now. it still is the one thing that we have out there that reflects a much larger audience than attendance. You know, the number of people that watch a game is, it's exponentially higher than the number of people that attend. So it's more reflective truly of popularity in a market. But there are other ways that it's reflected too. But they should take it seriously.

It's a serious thing. You know, it goes back to what, you know, I've talked about for a couple of years now. Dan Snyder has ruined the Washington Redskins. Ruined it. Personally ruined it. He's a terrible owner. He's one of the worst owners that we've had ever in the history of sports. And he took something that was so revered and so special for a community.

And community makes this town sound smaller than it is. It's a big metropolitan market. You know, the number five or number six market in the country? Actually, it's seventh now. Is it seventh? Yeah. What's sixth? Oh, what moved up to?

Whatever. I just read about it, but they're seventh now. So it's a huge market that... San Francisco. Oh, I always thought the Bay Area was bigger anyway. I don't know if they divide them, San Francisco, Oakland, they're not. Anyway. Because they don't combine Baltimore, Washington anymore.

Anyway, he doesn't understand still to this day. I don't believe how, because I think in his own mind he's tried. You know, and a lot of people, you know, still have this percentage. Which I think still does exist. Yeah, but Dan Snyder wants to win. So what? He doesn't go about it as if he wants to win. He fails every time he tries harder to win.

So he's ruined something that was so special and so revered and so important to this community, something that actually brought the community together in a way that nothing else did for a long period of time. And so it worries me that these kinds of things, that happen, you know, like they got beat by the Ravens, just sort of sails over his head. You know, last year, when they didn't fire Bruce Allen and they didn't fire Jay Gruden, I talked about with you and by myself, you know, they just still think that people are disappointed, not checked out. They still think, well, winning's going to bring everything, make everybody change their minds. Winning's going to sell out the stadium. And I do think winning will help a lot. I think a lot of

people will come back. But they view the current state, the current losing state, is people just being disappointed, not off put, not disgusted. There's a difference. You know, disappointed is like, ah, we had injuries this year, if not for the injuries. You know, we had everything set up. No, people don't agree with that mindset. They're disgusted. And now many, have completely checked out. And until they recognize that that's the issue, I don't know that they're capable of fixing the issue. And then, you know, determining why that's the issue, the issue is them.

You know, the issue is all of the decisions that they have made over the years that have built up into one bad season, one mediocre season followed by a bad season, followed by a mediocre season. And this damn guy, Allen, is 6296 and two. Like how can't you look at that and say, or one, whatever the ties are? They had the tie against Cincinnati. Do they have another tie? I think that's it. I think that's it.

How can you not look just based on record as a business person and say, you know what, I've given you 10 years and you have a 395 winning percentage? But it's much more than that, as we know. It's all of the things. You know, it's the winning off the field. It's the damn good culture. It's the Trent Williams situation. It's the Lafamina.

It's the McLuhan stuff. It's the cousin's stuff. And now it's things like nobody comes to the games and very few are watching the games. And not just that very few are watching the games, but more people are watching the other game on television than our game. If this stuff doesn't start to sink in, what will? Again, you're, I mean, you're looking at me. I mean, I've been saying, I've been doing for a couple years, the Surgeon General's Warren. You know, the Redskins, it doesn't matter who coaches the team.

It doesn't matter who, who's the general manager. As long as Dan Snyder owns the team, I mean, this is always going to be a lousy franchise. Like I told somebody, you know, they're not a real NFL franchise. They play in the NFL, but they're not an NFL franchise. They're two different things. Yeah, I know. I, you know, you know, I've been sort of leading to this, Bruce is going to be. gone and there was some reporting over the weekend from

Garifolo from the NFL network and I do I'm standing by it I you know I'm not I'm convinced that it's 100% by any stretch of the imagination but you know I've discussed it on the podcast that the relationship which with Dan and Bruce is probably a little bit more strained than it was in the past there was a lot of conversation that I that we talked about you know a couple of weeks ago about how there's some in the organization that have tried to convince Dan that if he fires Bruce they'll get a huge boost in ticket sales, which I don't think they will. There will be a huge reaction on social media. Fans will love it. They will feel satisfied by it. They will actually be optimistic,

even though Snyder's still the owner. I don't know that it's going to translate into huge ticket sale increases. That's my personal opinion. But if they win at Lambo on Sunday and the Cowboys lose to the Bears and the Eagles lose to the Giants and now all the sudden, oh, they're only two games out of first with three to go. You're right. They might all a sudden think, oh, Bill, we put this thing together. Bruce, you were right. God, why do, Bruce, why didn't you fire Jay in January and hire Bill and elevate Bill? But that's all right. We finally got to the right answer. Yeah, we're on the right track. And then we'll be sitting here a year from now in the exact same position. Exact same. If they beat Green Bay, they're not going to.

I know they're not. But if they do, Bill Callahan's not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere. You know what? That's a really good column idea for you and a segment idea for me because of their four remaining games they've got the reeling eagles, the bad giants, and the cowboys who aren't very good and may have nothing to play for. This game, however, at Lambeau Field on Sunday, where they are 13-point underdogs against the Packers who are heading for in a division race with the Vikings, they need the game, they can't lose to the Redskins at home, that if they went in and won at Lambo,

would that, if Snyder is on the fence about Callahan and Allen, would that tip it in the direction of, tip him in the direction of, whoa, if I was thinking about stopping this train, maybe I should just get out of the way and let it keep rolling. Well, because this is what Brutes has been selling them on, I'm sure. I mean, and he'll have something to back it up. So this is why, you know, this Packer game is huge.

Yes. Oh, my God. Yes. It just occurred to me how big this is. If they go in and beat the Packers, this may convince all of them because they really are impressed with themselves over the Miami win, the Lions win, and the Panthers win. Yeah, by the way, they beat three back-off quarterbacks. Well, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, of course. Well, and they, and now they're playing Aaron Rogers. Right. So this is the point. If they go into Lambeau Field, iconic Lambeau Field, and beat Aaron Rogers a good Packer team in a game the Packers really need, this could really, really be the game of the year that ruins the Redskins for years to come. So no, this is a nightmare scenario. A victory in Lambo is a nightmare for Redskins.

And I do like Darius Geis. I compared him this morning for those of you that don't know, and we won't spend a lot of time on this because we've already gone way too long on this podcast today. I think Darius Geis is Marshawn Lynch best case Chris Ivory worst case I love Chris Ivory I thought he was a really good back

I think he never got in the right situation and he was always injured but they're very similar in running styles but he really is something to be optimistic about with respect to next year you can build an offense around maybe a talent like that

he he really blew me away Sunday with some of those runs Yeah. And in the way he did it the first two weeks without the numbers. And I was like, wow, that was impressive even though he didn't have the numbers. You know, he got you yards when there were no yards to get. And, you know, the jury's still out on Haskins, but I'm definitely intrigued. I have been for a few weeks now, and I thought he took another step forward on Sunday.

I think you're right about all that. What if he goes in and he has his best game against the Packers at Lambo? Well, I mean, his best game, yeah. If he has his best game against the Packers and they win. This may be the biggest measure of how dysfunctional the Redskins truly are. In that you have a fan base, if you're a smart Redskins fan, you're agonizing over these wins. You're saying, oh, my God.

What if the nightmare scenario happens? They beat Green Bay. And then nothing changes. You know, they're convinced they're on their. right track. I mean, as a Redskins fan, you're sitting there rooting for failure. You're rooting for losses. I mean, you're, and you're watching your team win games and there's, there's a, like, a hole in your stomach that says, oh, my God, this is eating me up. I can't root for my team because I know it's the worst thing for my team. I know. I know.

I know. It's like I, you know, I feel, and I felt this way going into the Haskins starts beginning in Buffalo, that if they ended up winning a couple of these games, but they were winning them because we were watching the development of the future franchise quarterback and that we were becoming more and more convinced because he was playing well and the other young players as well, I would deal with that. You know, losing draft position, but, hey, we got a quarterback, we got a running back, we got a wide receiver, we've got some young players. on defense. We've got, you know, Christians playing well. You know, Cole Holcomb's playing well, all of that, that it would be more easy to swallow. But the Callahan thing introduces, you know, a much worse case situation because he should not be a head coach next year anywhere, in my view. And if they, he convinces, and by the way, he and Bruce are sort of cut from the same cloth. You know, they're very impressed with themselves, and I can see a conversation between the two of them right now, and they are nodding at each other with everything each other says.

I mean, they are each other's best audience. There's no question. Tommy, I'm telling you, people like Bill Callahan, I knew so many people just like him before I got into this broadcasting career, and it's not, there's not a lot of substance there. I know you think he's brilliant. I'm not suggesting he's dumb by any stretch of the imagination, but he ain't as brilliant as you think he is. And more importantly, if he comes back and Bruce's back, even if we've got some, you know, optimism about the young players, we're going to be sitting here a year from now with a four and eight football team. You know, that's what's going to happen. We may be sitting here next year four and eight, even with a new coach and a new regime, because it's going to take some time. They need more

pieces. It's not a roster built ready to win. Like somebody, said to me yesterday, don't you think this roster is attractive to a GM or a coach? Oh my God. I don't. I don't think it's the worst roster in the league, which makes the results really disappointing. I don't think it's the worst roster in the league, but it's not like, it's not Dallas's roster.

You know, it's not, and by the way, you still have the owner here. Anyway, I don't even know where we're going with this. Well, we've come to the conclusion that the world could change if they beat Green Bay. Yeah, you just gave me the idea for tomorrow's show.

It's a good one because it is a nightmare scenario for Sunday at Lambo if the Redskins go in there and win. Now, if Dwayne Haskins throws for 350 and five touchdowns and Geis runs for a buck 16 and the defense shuts out Aaron Rogers and they win 35 to 7, five touchdowns, third time seven, 35 to 7, then people are going to be like, whoa, wait a minute. And then if you add to that, if Dallas, loses, then you're going to think you actually have a chance to run the table and win the division at 7 and 9. I don't think they're going to beat the Packers. I don't think they're a very

good team. You know why I don't? Because they're not a very good team. Real quickly, Georgetown, their best player is off the team, kicked off the team. The other player, a key reserve. So their best player, Kynjo is off the team, and we don't know why. Unless the story is No, no about kicked off the team for him. We know he's leaving the team. He's leaving the team. Well, I thought we sort of, they were asked to leave the team. I think Georgetown announced that they were.

Georgetown University of men's basketball players, James Ekinjo and Josh LeBonk will not be playing for the men's basketball team effective immediately and will not be members of the team for the remainder of the season. Georgetown made that decision. Well, Georgetown made that announcement. They made the announcement. They both entered the transfer portal. And I think that at least as of now, it's important to distinguish the two, because

of the reason we know about LeBlanc. We know LeBlanc has legal issues. We don't know anything about Akinjo. Yeah. LaBlanc, there was a restraining order request granted November 20th after LeBlanc and another player on the team, Galen Alexander. I'm sorry, let me move back. According to court records obtained by ESPN, a Georgetown student filed a restraining order on November 5th against LeBlanc and another Georgetown player, Galen Alexander, for

sexual harassment assault. And it was also in response to an alleged burglary as well. So there's burglary, there's sexual harassment, sexual assault, all of these accusations on LeBlanc and other players. But none of that is attached to Akinjo, none of it. And to your point, Aaron, even though the university made the announcement, it doesn't mean that it was their decision. It could have been the player's decision as well. With respect to LeBlanc, I hope it was the university's decision. With respect to LeBlanc, with respect to the university's decision. With respect to Akinjo, that's a big loss for them. He was their best player. And I just wonder whether or not we're seeing the beginning of the end of the Thompson era on the hilltop. Talk about a nightmare

scenario. This is it. Like I told you before to show, at some point, people who run Georgetown got to wake up and look in the mirror and say, we are a Jesuit school. Yeah. You know, I mean, We can't let this go on. I mean, you know, we can't let this happen. I mean, so this, a couple weeks after Georgetown had an impressive win over Texas, played Duke Tough. You know, they host Syracuse in two weeks. This is a bad time for Georgetown basketball.

I had Jeff Goodman on the radio show this morning. And he, you know, he got into an argument, I guess, with people on Twitter last night when he suggested. that Georgetown was a top 20 program. And I said to him, I said, I actually think you should distinguish between program and coaching availability. It's a different conversation because Georgetown's not a top 20 program right now. But you could argue because of the conference it's in, because of the market that it's in, because

of its history, that it might be a top 20 available job. You know, I've always said about Maryland, it may not be a top 10 to 15 program or top 20 program right now, although they're number three in the country. But if the Maryland job becomes available, it's a top 15 job in college basketball. For all of the reasons, I just mentioned, Georgetown might be a top 20 job. Maryland's got even more reasons. They've got an on-campus arena. They've got one of the best home environments.

There's a lot more. They're in a better league. The Big Ten's a better league than the Big East. But, yeah, you know, the funny thing about Georgetown, Aaron, you and I have talked about this in the past, I actually think Patrick and his staff, when I watch them, I actually think they're fairly well coached. So do I. I think they are too.

And they had Duke on the ropes. They beat Texas. They lost to UNC Greensboro. And I mentioned that to Goodman and Goodman, who really follows the sport, said, UNC Greensboro is not terrible. And I went and looked at it. They were down two at halftime to Kansas just a few weeks ago. So it's not like the worst loss in history.

But to your point, Tommy, you know, at some point, it's going to be less, for somebody at the top of that school, it's going to be less about the basketball history, the Thompsons, et cetera, and more about, you know, perhaps getting back to our Jesuit roots. Yeah, it really is. You know, core values, I don't know. Basketball is important at Georgetown.

We're not talking about Alabama football here. We're not, we're not talking about, you know, LSU or something like that. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's a Jesuit school. But the reason. And the Jesuits are very, forgiving, but not this forgiving. One of the reasons Georgetown is Georgetown is yes, because they've been a phenomenal

academic institution since when the 1700s, whenever Georgetown was founded. But in recent times, you know, in KS, in KS years, Kevin Sheehan years that matter, Georgetown's also been known for its basketball program. You know, so it'll be interesting. to see what happens. I mean, I love Big John, and I like JT3, and I hope everything works out for them. I'm a Maryland guy, and one of the things that we always know, having worked with coach, he recognized you're a Maryland guy or you're Georgetown guy, and the people that claim to be both aren't really passionate about either. But anyway, interesting thing. Maryland plays Notre Dame.

They're number three in the country, highest ranking for the Terps since February of 2016 when they were number two. And tonight in college basketball, you get Michigan who enter. the poll at number four from being unranked with Joanne Howard and an undefeated team, and they play at number one Louisville tonight in the ACCC Big Ten challenge, which will be a great game. What's the line on that game? The line, it's fluctuated a little bit. I think it's around five. Louisville is a five-point favorite. The other game, Michigan State and Duke. And Michigan State and Duke. Which is somehow the undercard. The undercard to Michigan and Louisville. And tomorrow night, you know, Notre Dame was not supposed to be great this year, but I think they only have one loss, Aaron,

Carolina and that's it right and they come into college park tomorrow night that should be the first really good home crowd uh for maryland i would expect the building to be near sold out for you know and Notre Dame's not ranked okay but Maryland's eight no one ranked third in the country this is what people get excited about and uh and and and going to be interesting for the turps they they've got a chance this year to make a deep deep run um anything else for you that's all i got today did we miss anything i don't think so and if we did we'll We'll cover it on Thursday. Thanks to Aaron, and thanks to all of you.

Don't forget we've got an app. Now you can listen to us on the app. You can find it on your Apple, on your iPhone, in the app store. And if you've got an Android, you can find it in the Google store. If you want to listen to us, that way, you get Twitter feeds from me, from the show, Facebook page, et cetera, and it's another way just to listen to the show in very easy fashion. All right. Thanks.

Have a great day back tomorrow. Thank you.