The Kevin Sheehan Show - Skins Soap Opera with Cooley

Episode Date: December 14, 2018

Kevin opens the show talking about last night's Chargers-Chiefs classic. Yes, there is a "Skins beat Jags if" segment this week. USA Today's Mike Jones joins the show to talk NFL and Redskins. Chris Cooley calls in; so does Andy Pollin. The "Smell Test" is 44-16-1 over the last month....three more picks this weekend. <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. I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that we told you to call. Cooley's going to be here today. Mike Jones is going to be on with us. Smell test later on. Andy Poland will join us with a look back at the significant history between Jacksonville. Washington. Actually, there was a game, and I think Andy's going to share it with us, a Steve Spurrier game back in 2002. It's the only time the Redskins actually have ever lost to Jacksonville. They're five and one all time against the Jags, but the Spurrier team in 2002 lost at Jacksonville, and there were some stories about how Spurrier handled the day that were very entertaining, and I think true also, which makes it even better. What a game last night. What a football game last night.

And there was so much to it because, first of all, I'll start with this. Those of you who know me from listening to me or know me personally know what a massive Philip Rivers fan I have been over the course of his career. Really? Yeah. Much to the, look, to those of you who have ridiculed me over the years about my belief that Philip Rivers was in the midst of a hall. of Fame career, your apologies are accepted because he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. But last night was a special night for him. He's had a couple of them this year, though. You know, the Pittsburgh comeback a few Sunday nights ago. But last night down two touchdowns

to the Chiefs at Arrowhead. And by the way, not only down to the Chiefs, but down to Walt Anderson's officiating crew, too. It was two-on-one one last night. The officiating in the game last night was unacceptable. More on that in a moment. But down two touchdowns with just over seven minutes to go, he led two long touchdown drives. 75 yards was the first one, 60 yards, the second one, two fourth downs converted. You know, when you're down to one play and you've got to convert or the game is over and you convert in the way that he did, especially the second one, it's just clutch play. The touchdown pass with four seconds to go to Mike Williams,

who was a beast last night. Remember the talk about him when they picked him number seven overall in that draft two years ago, and everybody said, Mike Williams, seventh overall? He looks like a top 10 pick, the way he's playing. But instead of going for the tie in overtime, Anthony Lynn says, we didn't come here to lose or tie. We came here to win.

They went for two, and for just the fifth time in NFL history, going for two with under a minute to go paid off. It's five and twelve now all time. 17 times, you know, a team has gone four two in a similar situation to try to win the game with under a minute. And it's five and 12 now all time. But a busted coverage left Mike Williams wide open, and the Chargers won at 29 to 28. And Aaron mentioned something to me before the show started. started, he said, I was really hoping to see if Mahomes would get one chance from the 25-yard line to throw a 75-yard Hail Mary. I didn't even think about that. And maybe that's why they didn't kick it deep into the end zone.

Oh, I'm sure that's why they didn't do it. We've been told that he can throw it 80 yards, you know, in the air. So the drop-back spot from the 25 would have been, you know, the 20 or 15 somewhere. But with a running start, could he have gotten it to the end zone? Maybe. Maybe. That would have been crazy to see, but the impact of the game on the standings is interesting. I mean, now you've got the Chargers and Chiefs tied for first in the AFC West. However, the Chiefs own the tiebreaker, but the Chiefs have a game next Sunday night. The NBC Sunday night game on December 23rd is at Seattle. All right, not easy.

Now, the Chargers have Baltimore next Saturday night at home, and then they finish at Denver, and Denver's already beaten them, which is where, why the Chiefs own the tiebreaker right now because of division record. But if the Chargers get both of those and the Chiefs lose at Seattle, the Chiefs are on the road in the postseason. They're on the road in the postseason, and the Chargers could potentially, well, they probably would be. They'd be the number one seed in the AFC,

and the path to the Super Bowl would go through the Stubhub Center in Los Angeles. Won't be the Stubhubh Center anymore, though. I just saw, I don't know they're losing the naming rights after this month. Are they? Yeah. Look, a few things on this game. It's what I love about Philip Rivers, and to a much lesser degree, don't get this confused, please. It's one of the reasons that I don't, that I sort of like Kirk Cousins and other quarterbacks like them.

I don't, I care about interceptions, I do, but I like the quarterbacks that aren't afraid to take chances. Philip Rivers throughout his career is a risk taker. He's going to throw it into coverage. He's going to make throws in tight windows. And I just love the fact that he last night overcame two bad interceptions. You know, he had one on the second play of the game and he had one in the red zone at the end of the first half as they were going in to make it a 14-14 game, worst case 14 to 10 at halftime. Kendall Fuller, remember him?

He picked off Rivers in the back of the end zone. I actually thought that that might get overturned by replay because his butt fell out of bound. but I guess both feet were inbounds. They did a poor job, I thought, coming back and explaining the replay on that particular play. But anyway, he overcame that. And if you think about the chargers under Philip Rivers, there are a couple of things. Number one, they haven't always had the talent that he has around him right now, number one.

Number two, they have, for whatever reason, been totally snake bit when it comes to injuries. I mean, the Redskins have been clearly, you know, on the wrong side of the injury equation for the last two years in particular. The Chargers have had like five or six years running where they just lose key player after key player. Last night, they didn't have Melvin Gordon in the game, and they lost their number one receiver, Keenan Allen, early in the game. And Rivers, when you think about the Chargers, doesn't it always seem like the game is on the arm of Philip Rivers at the end of so many, Charger games over the years. They're always driving with a chance to win, and many times he's thrown back-breaking picks. And he talked about that last night.

He said, look, we've been pretty good the last few years, but I've made boneheaded mistakes that have cost us two to three games and knocked us out of the postseason. Right now, they are having a great year. It's interesting. This is the first year I haven't picked them to go deep into the postseason. I thought that a lot of their injuries early on with Bosa, it's. et cetera, would hurt them. But I'm a big Philip Rivers fan and last night was certainly one of the memorable games of his career. He's had a couple of them this year and was truly one of the memorable

games of this season. You know, big stakes, double-digit win teams, playing for, you know, the AFC West, you know, Kansas City would have clinched it last night with a win and the Chargers now clinch a wild card, the number five seed. They've already clinched that. too, but now they've got a shot to win the division. The clock management in this game by both teams left a lot to be desired. I'll save a lot of that for the coaching blunders segment next week. But what was really awful and really almost cost the chargers was Rivers got hit on the final drive on a scramble, if that's what you want to call it. He doesn't really scramble. He got hit helmet to helmet in a defenseless mode with his knee already on the

ground. And I don't know what in God's name, Walt Anderson and his crew were looking at, but they didn't flag it. They should be suspended over missing that particular call. It was helmet to helmet. It was clearly defenseless. Rivers got up, just completely mortified and incredulous about how this wasn't called. And all the while, the clock's rolling. Yeah. It's rolling. And Anthony Lynn is completely flummoxed on the sideline as well. If they'd gotten a timeout at the end of the play, there would have been 26 seconds left. By the time they called the time out, there were 13 seconds left on the clock. That was a crushing blow to them.

They overcame it because they threw a touchdown with eight seconds, but after a questionable pass interference call on Kansas City. Yeah, and look, there were calls against the chiefs as well that were head scratchers. The game was just poorly officiated. They've got to let these teams play in big games like this. You've got to let them play. Kansas City had a long seven-minute drive, the drive that gave them a 28 to 14 lead, where there were five flags on the Chargers, two of them on third and forever,

a face mask that was questionable and a defensive hold that was completely made up. I think it's time to get defensive holding to a 10-yard penalty with no automatic first down, the college rule. It's just way, on 3rd and 19, to be bailed out on an illegal contact call that's barely even, there's barely contact, it's away from the play, there was a quick sack on the play anyway, is ridiculous. But anyway, they let 13 seconds go off. They had a first and goal after the PI, but there were eight seconds left instead of 21. They should have had 21 seconds, first and goal at the 1. that would have been four plays if they needed them. Instead, they had eight seconds. Well, they didn't need all eight because they scored on the first play,

touchdown pass to Williams and then the two-point conversion for the win. A great football game that went really from disjointed and boring and unacceptable from an officiating standpoint, midway through the third quarter early into the fourth, to just one of the best finishes of the year because of Rivers and his playmakers last night. You know, again, no Melvin Gordon, no Keenan Allen. I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. Justin Jackson and Aaron and I saw Justin Jackson as Big Ten football people, which we are now at Northwestern. And you could see that he had pro potential.

He didn't get picked, I don't think, until the seventh round. They have backs. I mean, they lost Echler. So all they had was Jackson and some other dude who I've never heard of. But they're a threat. They are a legitimate threat to win it all. I just don't want to see them have to win three road games, which is still the probability, right? Because Kansas City, I don't know, will they be favored at Seattle next Sunday night?

That sounds like, it feels like a pickham game now. I'd say a slight favorite. Slight favorite? Yeah. I think it's pickum minus one either way. The way Seattle's playing right now, the way Seattle's playing at home. Fuller is probably out for next week. He's having surgery on his wrist, so that defense is getting even worse.

Yeah, but Eric Barry will have a game under his belt and maybe be a – look, they have a couple of guys up front that can get after the quarterback. But it's why I've said all year long I don't think the Chiefs are going to go to the Super Bowl. They're just not good enough defensively. Mahomes was sensational again last night. The first third down conversion that he had last night where he went, you know – Runs back 20 yards and then runs up. That's something that I remember I used to do on like Madden or NCAA football. and it was always, it was a great play for video games, but it was so unrealistic, and now it's

realistic. And then the touchdown pass he threw. He basically baited him into thinking that he was going to throw it away, and then he came back with the touchdown throw. He was great. It was a great football game last night. It was an exciting football game that had so much to it, but it got frustrating. It did during the third quarter. Very frustrating during the third quarter because of the officiating. I don't know what the NFL, I think, I think, I think, I think, I feel like we say this every year, though, as it relates to the officiating. But I do think one thing has to be communicated to these officiating crews. In these games where you've got big stakes, and in the playoffs, I have felt over the years that they let them play more in the playoffs,

but it better be an egregious, obvious defensive penalty, all right? Or offensive penalty. You know, there were a couple of questionable holding calls last night to get the flag thrown. You can't throw a flag on 3rd 19 away from the ball for minimal if, you know, barely any contact. You just cannot flag that. No one wants to see more points because there are more penalties. That's the disconnect for me anyway as a fan. They want it called closely. They wanted more points this year. I don't want to see the points arrived at because a team move the ball down the field via the penalty. I don't want to see that. All right, a couple of other things before we get to Mike Jones and then Chris Cooley.

And we'll get to Redskins beat Jags if. Yeah, we're going to do that today. It's going to be brief, though. How about Mason Foster? Mason Foster says that his cousin had control of his social media account and his cousin was responsible for all of those controversial comments. How convenient. I also thought that Doug Williams, if you haven't heard this, go to the team 980.com and listen to his interview with Doc yesterday. He's on with Doc every Thursday. And he reprimanded Mason Foster publicly. I mean, really went after him publicly. You know, in a way that I found surprising, also refreshing, because I think Doug really does feel that way. I was surprised that he did. did that, though. Here's the problem with it, though. He said all the right things, but when you say,

you know, I'm really disappointed, you know, something, and then nothing happens to him, it's a kind of empty word. Well, it's not, it's not, I, I don't know whose call it is. Ultimately, it's probably Bruce's call more than it's the coach's call or Doug's call on Mason Foster, but, uh, look, none of this matters anymore. Just throw it all into the bucket of, it rings familiar. I mean, typical end of Redskins season dysfunction. Similar shit every year, right? There are still two weeks left, by the way, after this week. And if they get their ass kicked on Sunday in Jacksonville,

we're going to get a lot more of this next week, and then the final few weeks. The floodgates of backstabbing and ass covering has already begun. And it will continue, barring a Josh Johnson Christmas miracle. Who knows? Maybe there's a Christmas miracle in store. All right, let's get to Redskins. Woodskins beat Jags if.

All right, this is going to be really brief today. You know, sticking with the theme of it rings familiar, we've been here before, so many years over the last 15 or so, doing this segment on a Friday football show late in the season when it feels like the season has ended has always been interesting because you're like, all right, now we've got to think about the game here. How are they going to win the game? There is seven, seven and a half point dog. That should tell you all you need to know.

I think the Redskins are in complete free fall, turmoil. I wonder how interested they are in this game. I wonder whether or not Jay Gruden can get them up for this game. You know, the opportunity for some of the players that haven't played a lot like Josh Johnson is huge. I mean, what if Josh Johnson comes out and plays great in these final three games? he may create an opportunity for himself next year somewhere. Maybe here. They beat Jacksonville if Jacksonville's defense just doesn't post.

If it does post, which it has at home, the Redskins aren't going to score more than 10 points in this game. They're just not, not offensively anyway. Jacksonville shut out the Colts two weeks ago, six to nothing. Now, the Colts moved the football in that game. they did, but they didn't score. And I think even more impressively, when you look at Jacksonville's defense and the capability of it,

is what they did to Pittsburgh three weeks ago now, and that is they had Pittsburgh shutout late into the third quarter. I mean, you don't get shutouts in the NFL anymore. I mean, seriously, they shut out Indianapolis, and they had another shutout working against the Steelers. These aren't shutouts against the jets and the reds. Redskins, you know, bad offensive teams. These are shutouts they had going against a really good offensive team in Pittsburgh

and a pretty damn good offensive team in Indy where they completed the shutout. Jacksonville's defense still is a wrecking crew when they want to be. You know, the Thursday night beat down at Tennessee last week was the short week. You know, it's almost like you got to throw those games out, especially for the road team. but Telvin Smith and Miles Jack and Gokwey, the Maryland player, and Callais Campbell and Malik Jackson, and then the secondary with A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey. And Ramsey's got some issues right now. You know, there's some big issues there. He wants a contract.

He's such a talent, but clearly there's a problem in terms of his worthiness as a locker room guy. But Jacksonville's defense, if it shows up, I can't see the. Redskins moving the football at all. They'd have to score on special teams and defense, and what we've seen defensively wouldn't lead you to believe that they're going to score. If Jacksonville's defense doesn't post, the Redskins have a chance. The Redskins will beat Jacksonville if they punt it well. I'm serious about this. They're going to punt it. Trisway is going to punt seven, eight times in this game. And he's been the team's MVP, and if he can flip the field with his punts and

their punt coverage, which has been great too. And make Cody Kessler drive at long distances, they can hang in there. You know, maybe you get to the fourth quarter and it's 7-6, 10 to 9, something like that. And you got a chance to win on a turnover. But they got to punt it well and they got to cover their punts well. I'm serious about that as a key to the game because they're going to punt a lot. and you don't want to give up field position to Cody Kessler and make it any easier for him. Now, the truth of the matter is, Cody Kessler has not played poorly.

He actually has not been that bad since coming in for Bordels. He was 18 of 24 for 150 yards with no turnovers in the win over Indianapolis. Only six points. Last week in the game at Tennessee, they actually moved the football a little bit. He didn't turn it over again, but they just couldn't close the deal. They had that chance to take the lead, remember on four Nets, fourth and goal from the one, and then it was the Derek Henry 99-yard run on the next play. The Redskins will beat the Jaguars if they finish plus two or better in the turnover category.

Cleshy stuff, I get it. but this is how they've won the six games that they've won by winning the turnover battles. So against Jacksonville, they're going to need short fields, some field goals off of turnovers, and if they finish plus two or better, they'll have a chance to win the game. I'm not really, as you can tell, very bullish about their chances. Now, a lot of that is contingent on Jacksonville being interested in winning the game. You know, they're not, they don't have anything to play for. The Redskins theoretically, mathematically, are still playing for something.

Jacksonville's had a wretched season at 4 and 9. They're obviously disappointed after being very close in the AFC championship game a year ago to getting to the Super Bowl. I mean, they had a legitimate shot in Foxborough getting to the Super Bowl with Blake Bordell as a quarterback. But they lost so many close games this year. They lost a close game to the Titans, that tight game against the Eagles that they had a chance to win in London.

Two, I think, you know, one loss to the Colts that was really close. The Steelers game, they blew. They were up 16-0, and they blew it. They're clearly more talented than their record says they are, but they've got issues on offense, too, with quarterbacks. I just don't see it this week. If Jacksonville's interested in playing the game, I just think it's going to be a long day offensively.

Look, the Redskins against Bills. Bad defensive teams haven't been able to do anything offensively this year. How are they going to manage a good offensive day against the best defense on paper that they have faced since? Probably the two Dallas games. Dallas has been the best defensive team the Redskins have faced this year. You think about the Redskins, honestly, they've played some bad defensive teams, right? The Falcons, the Buccaneers, you know, the – The Saints turned out to be a better defense than we thought when they played them.

The Cardinals, they've had some bad defensive teams on the schedule that they just haven't been able to do anything against. I just don't know how they'll do it against Jacksonville. Window Nation, I want to tell you about Windonation, because if you are thinking about new windows, I promise you that if you give Windonation a shot, they will not disappoint. Right now, Windonation's triple zero sale is in effect. zero down payment, zero payments, and zero interest until 2020. You don't have to worry about anything out of your own pocket until 2020. But that's not all.

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Save today, save tomorrow, save forever. Call 86690 Nation, or visit windonation.com. That's 86690 Nation or shopwindonation.com and tell them that I told you to call. All right, let's welcome in Mike Jones, who of course now is a columnist with USA Today, and he's a friend, and of course for many, many years covered the Redskins for the Washington Post. We'll get to the skins, and Mike, what you think they're going to do at the end of this season. But first, I'm still caught up in what I thought was just an amazing finish to the game last night.

And, you know, somebody tweeted me, and I just saw it as we were waiting to get you on, you know, because they knew I would be raving about Philip Rivers because I've always been a Rivers guy. And the guy tweeted, Rivers is one of my all-time favorite quarterbacks also, as tough as they come. Don't forget, Kevin, he played with a torn ACL in the AFC championship game, which he did in Foxborough, you know, in that Norv Turner year when they got there. You know, for all that's been said about the Chiefs this year, and they've been a favorite here in the AFC, they may end up playing on the road in the postseason if they lose one more game

and they play at Seattle next week. Yeah, you know, Kevin, that's the one question. You know, I had to do a thing this week about the pressing question facing each divisional leader, and the question about the defense, of the chiefs, you know, do they have enough support for Patrick Mahomes? Can they count on these guys? And we saw last night in the clutch, you know, they had a big busted coverage

and they don't get the stops when they need them consistently. And so the chiefs could be in a really tough situation here when it looked like they had this thing under control. And, I mean, if they lose and if the Chargers went out, the Chargers win that division. everybody's been sleeping on them the whole year because we've always seen the chargers look good and then, you know, fizzle. But this year, they're finishing strong and that was just a huge, huge win, gutsy performance and a great job by Anthony Lynn going for the win instead of playing for a

tie. Yeah, I mean, it's always great when it works. You know, it's five and twelve now all time going for two in the final minute of a game to win it. I watched a lot of the post game last night. Troy Aitman, first of all, and then on NFL network, Lidane and Tomlinson was there, obviously, and he's thrilled with what happened last night, Michael Irvin, etc. And I do get this sense, and I wonder if you feel the same way as someone who covers the league,

that there's a lot of cheering for Philip Rivers to break through in the postseason this year. Yeah, I think that he's a guy that's really well respected, a guy that's often overlooked by the fans, but people who are in the league who have followed him realize that, look, he has been great for a long time. He hasn't always had the support or, you know, from as a roster standpoint or a coaching staff standpoint, but this guy continues to get the job done. And, you know, you talk about the other guys in his draft class. They've got rings, and he doesn't have one yet.

So I think that there is this kind of a sense of hoping that he can pull this thing off and make a deep playoff run. You know, sometimes I just, I defer to those that really understand this stuff, and that'll get me rolling on somebody in terms of a personal interest. And I remember Shanahan telling me maybe five, six years ago, He said there are two quarterbacks in the league that can completely handle and control the game at quarterback from the line of scrimmage. And they were Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers. He said nobody in the league does what the two of them do pre-snap and their understanding of the game. I'd love to see the Chargers win this division.

Of course, I don't think the NFL will be thrilled about home games in Los Angeles in that stadium. They're like the Step Kids in L.A. Not even L.A. really cares that they're there. So, yeah, it would not be the huge, exciting thing to see them post. But, oh, well. Yeah, and Arrowhead's such a great venue for big games. Before we get to the skins, I, during this offensive explosion season, which really reached its height in that Monday night game between the Rams and the Chiefs, the 54-51 game.

I still personally held out hope that defense could still get it done. And in the last two weeks, we've seen the Cowboys completely shut the Saints down and the Bears completely shut the Rams down. Do you think that defense has a chance to trump offense when we get to the postseason? Yeah, well, because it's a different brand of football. I don't know if it's because defensive coordinators have larger bodies of work to work with, to game plan for or what, but it does become more physical. We do see defenses being more aggressive.

And that adage has been going for a long time, you know, that offense wins games, defense wins championships. There is a shift late in the year. And if you don't have a great pass rush, you're not going to be able to get after these offenses. And we've seen the last several weeks that if you can, can pressure these talented quarterbacks and just disrupt them enough, then you've got a chance. And, you know, there's some really, really talented pass rushes that we're going to be seeing on display.

And so things could get a little crazy. Think about it even last year. The defensive front of the Philadelphia Eagles and how much they helped them from an overall standpoint. We could see some of these defensive units really change the outcomes of games and the fortunes of teams in this post season. You know, Jacksonville also, to a lesser degree last year, even though that game at Pittsburgh that they won was a crazy, you know, offensive shootout game, it was their defense that really led them last year and gave them a chance in the postseason in that game at Foxborough. So, all right, let's move to the skins, actually, because you and I were together last night doing the Channel 4 show.

And for those of you that want to see Redskins Showtime, it's Channel 4 Sunday at 11th. 1130. Last night was Mike Clinton and yours truly. All right. Big picture question. If the final three go the way we both think they're going to go, which is, you know, poorly and without a postseason appearance, what happens at the end of this season? What changes, if any, are made? What do I think should happen or what do I think will happen? What do you think will happen? I don't understand. From a one standpoint, I don't understand how they, this could be, but from talking to people the last several days, I would not be surprised if there aren't any wholesale changes. Maybe there's a strength coach firing or a defensive coordinator

or something like that, but there's a very strong possibility. I think that the Redskins don't, the Dan Snyder, you know, brings Bruce and, you know, and Jay and everybody's back. Because I think that Bruce's selling point will be, look, we were six and three, and then our quarterback broke his leg and everything just went to pot. And we're close and we just have to add this and that. And Dan has a hard time trusting people, but he trusts Bruce Allen. And so that's why I think that, you know what, they very well, this could be, wind up being just a continuation.

No dramatic changes for the Redskins this off season. I just, you're not the only person that feels this way and you, you have, you. You've got real sources, and from a reporting standpoint, would have more inside information on this. I just look at historically when they've been at these rock bottoms, and there have been so many of them over the years, but this feels like a new low that we're approaching, if not already there, that Dan makes wholesale changes. He tries to pull a rabbit out of his hat and sell, you know, some new, you know, hope narrative. And I don't even know what that hope narrative would be.

But bringing Jay and Bruce back just seem like complete non-starters to me. I agree with you, but when you just look at the track record, it kind of makes sense as well. I mean, yes, there has been a need for a change at the very top for some time now. And it doesn't happen. and there's a reshuffling and there's always some type of scapegoat. And this year they have the fact that two quarterbacks broke their legs and all these guys are on injured reserve. And so that's what they can point to.

They seriously were winning their division. And yeah, they needed some more pieces. But that's what Bruce will sell to Dan. And, I mean, they do have a real problem. They've got to get butts in the seats. but, you know, I don't know who Dan would turn to in the league because, like I said, he doesn't trust a lot of people. It would be a really hard call from them unless Bruce decided he wanted to retire. You know, I mean, I just don't, I don't see him making that bloodbath change.

Mike, you say that there's no one he can trust. And it almost seems like if that's true, there's like this, this dead. end of it's Bruce or nobody until Bruce is ready to hang it up. You know, he does have someone in his life that he's trusted before, and I'm not suggesting that Joe Gibbs v. brought back to be a coach or a team president. He's not going to want to do that. But couldn't Gibbs or somebody else, maybe Gibbs is the only person that he does trust, help him find another person that is competent from a football operation standpoint,

you know, help him as, say, a consultant. I guess you should never say never. I don't know how connected Joe Gibbs still is in the league to be able to make that recommendation. And I'm not saying that Dan doesn't trust anybody. But from talking to people around the league, they say his circle is very, very small. And, you know, he does not, when you see him at the

these league functions, he does not go anywhere without Bruce. He'll even send Bruce to owner's meetings at times and not attend himself. You know, he is trying. They brought in the Brian Lafemia, the marketing guy this past year, who's highly recommended by people in the league. But, you know, I mean, they haven't given him a whole lot to be able to market and really make a difference from that standpoint. You know, Eric Schaefer is a guy who's worked for the Redskins for a Redskins for

very long time and they've given him more responsibility in recent years. Would Dan turn it over to him and hire, you know, more talent evaluation type of guys? I don't know. But just from asking around and talking to people, they still believe that Dan has got his trust in Bruce. And even though we look at this thing and nothing that Bruce has done has worked out, everything, there's always something that goes wrong, but they feel like Bruce is still highly respected and valued by Dan. All right, let's finish up with this. Do you give them any chance at all in this NFC where it seems like nobody, nobody wants this last wild card spot? Do you give them any chance of winning two of the final three and potentially snagging that last wild card spot?

it's a very, very, very, very slim chance. The only thing is they're going down to Jacksonville. You don't know what kind of defense is going to show up for Jacksonville. We have seen them look like gangbusters, and we have seen them look like trash. They've got Cody Kessler. It's not like they have, you know, a competent, proven quarterback running the show for them either. This could be the team, a game of the least turnovers. Whoever turns the ball over least wins.

and whoever's got the defensive touchdowns wins this game. So they have a slim chance. It could be a six to three game with, you know, field goals. You know, but then you look okay. That's a hell of a sales job to get people to watch it. Can't wait to watch that. Yeah, I mean, it feels that way, though. I don't know.

I don't know if they can win two out of three. I mean, yeah, you know, Carson wins that last game against the Eagles. he's going to be gone and Nick Foles will be playing. Nick Foles does not look like the Nick Foles from the Super Bowl run. Their defense isn't the same, but I don't know. I'm not, I mean, Josh Johnson, you hear how grateful he is for this opportunity, and you're kind of rooting for him, but gosh, I just, the defense of the Redskins does not give you any confidence. No, it really doesn't.

And to your point, that may be the scapegoat at the end of the year, Minusky, and the defense. Actually, I did have one more question for you. Back to Bruce Allen for one moment. The Reggie McKenzie firing earlier this week, a lot of Redskinned fans, I think, are hopeful that John Gruden will want Bruce Allen back with him in Oakland. Is that a possibility? You know, that connection always gets thrown out there. But I was told recently that they're not all tight like you would think that they would think

that they were. I don't know exactly what it was. But I heard that from, you know, somebody earlier in the week that, you know, that is not coming from the Raiders side that Bruce Allen would be there. So I know Redskins would love it. We know that Bruce has a $7 million home out in L.A. And I know people were hoping that he would retire or something like that. but I don't see the Raiders being in.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you. All right, thanks. Good to see you last night. I'll talk to you soon. All right, man. Thanks for having me. So Mike Jones thinks, and he's not the only one, that thinks that there won't be significant change in this offseason.

I'm going to stick with my gut on this, and that is, you know, these rock bottoms before have produced change and significant change. and I would expect it. I just, it's beyond me to think that Dan Snyder, if he's truly engaged with what's happened here this year, with sort of the acceleration of the erosion of this fan base, to bring back Bruce and Jay is not,

it just wouldn't make any business sense. At the same time, I don't think there's an obvious solution either. I will grant you that, that any solution he comes up with is not going to be received in the same way Gibbs was in 2004, where Shanahan was in 2010, or McLuhan was in 2015, after Bruce had the winning off the field comments. I don't know what he can sell more than Jay and Bruce that's so obvious. I mean, I think, and I've said this multiple times, I think, you know, the elevation of somebody like Kyle, Smith to a true general manager position head of football operations, hiring a Greg Williams

from Cleveland if he does not stick around in Cleveland to be the head coach, hiring a really good offensive coordinator, drafting a quarterback in April, trading a lot of the players that can bring significant draft pick value to the team, Jordan Reed, Trent Williams, Ryan Carrigan, and really punting on the next year or two and do it in true reboot fashion. You're going to take that young nucleus, which you have, John Allen, Duran Payne, Matt Ionitis. I think about resigning Preston Smith.

I think he's a good player. Brandon Sheriff coming back. Some of the young players that are good young nucleus, but really going heavy on young players, drafted players the next two years, with a tough disciplinarian, a guy that will have some structure and some accountability in the organization like Greg Williams, with a real talented evaluator. Everything I've heard about Kyle Smith, and Cooley has mentioned this to me many times,

that Kyle Smith is a star evaluator in this league. That's, you know, it's not a sellable thing. It's not like all of a sudden FedEx is going to be packed to the rafters for the opener next. year and TV ratings are going to soar. But, you know, to me, that would be for me something that I could at least grab a hold of and say, I like this direction better, much better than bringing Jay Gruden and Bruce Allen back. We'll get to Cooley here in a moment. But let me tell you about Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. Ferris should be on your list if you're considering something new. Go to Farish Cars.com right now and you'll see all of their live.

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Specifically, he said the Jeep Cherokee, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the Jeep Rangler, along with all of their RAM pickups, best opportunity of the year to get a great deal. If you like this show and you're thinking about something new, and it's a Chrysler Dodge or Jeep vehicle or Subaru, they've got a Subaru dealership as well, I promise you that if you give Ferris a shot, you won't be disappointed. Ask for Ralph when you get there. They're located right there in the heart of Fairfax and Fairfax Circle and you can find out everything Farish has right now, including live inventory, live pricing, and their best deals at Farish Cars.com. All right, let's bring in Chris Cooley for a weekly visit. I mean, Cooney's been on with us now,

at least once a week since the end of September, which makes me very happy and I hope you enjoy doing it as well. We'll do Friday Football QuickPix. together like we did last week, which you were very happy about. So I saved it for you this week. But I think there is some red the redskins stuff that we should talk about. And I would start with this. Where is this headed? First of all, I actually do enjoy doing this with you.

It's not like when Van Pelt would come on with us last year in the radio and say, I don't want to be on this morning. I don't want to do this. I enjoy this, man. I miss doing a show with you. He was just kidding. Yeah, I know. I know, but I am not kissing.

I like doing this. I know, and I do too. All right. Where is this headed right now? Six and seven, doesn't look very promising here over the last three weeks. Big picture. Where are we headed here over the next month? First of all, the last wild card spot in the NFC is so up for grabs.

Right. It's so available for anybody who wants it. The Giants could still get the last. wild card at five and eight right now. They could get to eight and eight. You look at so many teams that could have that last playoff spot. It's the trash spot, man. I don't know.

Minnesota could do it. Free May could still do it. Detroit's still there. Detroit's not doing it. No, Detroit can't do it. You look through all of these teams. Anyone who can put together three wins, and if the Redskins, I don't think they would get in with two wins, but there would be a good chance to get in with two wins.

Yeah. So where is this headed? I don't think it's headed there. Kevin. Right. So that was sort of a wasted time. And it just goes to all of the infighting and all of the talking and all of the back and forth about it's not the players, it's the coaches, it's the big name players.

I mean, the Mason Foster stuff is, I mean, he said his cousin did a lot of it, but that's damning from the team captain. It's just, it's not headed well. And when I look at it, I just think to myself over and over, it doesn't matter what the end result is or what happens in the offseason as far as the coaches, as anybody here or not here, it's not really my job to speculate on who's here or who's not here. But seriously, at this point with this team in kind of the utter turmoil that it's in, it's better that they just lose the last three games, move on from the players they need to

move on from, get a better draft position, and get those last two easy games next year because you get the last play schedule. You lose all three and you're going to get the last play schedule. At least there's that. Remember last year? I told you that. it would have been better to lose to Denver and Arizona? I know, and I didn't feel that way last year because I thought that there was something that they maybe could possibly be building. I'm not taking away from the fact that there could be building something

with some of these young players, but I think you're getting a good understanding of who wants to be here and who doesn't want to be here, and you'll figure it out over the last three. Well, you just said something, so I'm going to go there right now. You said move on from the players they should move on from. Who should they move on from? Well, I'm not going to tell you who they should move on from, Kevin. I think it's understood.

Okay, well, then let me ask for, this is what I've said over the last two days. That's a great attempt, though. Good staff. This is what I've said the last two days. I am all for a complete reboot, as you know. I am ready to move on from Bruce and J, et cetera. But with respect to the players, I think it's time to try to extract as much value as you can get out of Trent Williams, Jordan Reed, Ryan Carragon, three players who still probably would bring back something.

I don't know what Jordan Reed's going to bring back with his injury situation, but would those three players be on your list of players they should move on from? Well, it's interesting because Trent and Ryan Carrigan are both late in their contract situations. So you could, I mean, you're probably not going to get a lot out of Ryan. I'm sure you would get a lot out of Trent Williams, but then I would suggest why would you move on from Trent Williams as opposed to just pay him again. He is the hardest working player out there. He stays late. He comes

early. He does every meeting. He fights through every injury. I wouldn't get rid of Trent Williams. There's no way I would get rid of him. I'd keep him. That's not even a question. Ryan's in his second to last year, right? Next year he's a 13-something cap hit. And if you were to move on, just

move on, it's like a $3 million dead cap hit. So he kept him at 13. If you moved on, it's 3. I don't know. I think about Ryan though. Like, I've gone through this with you. I've gone through this a bunch of times, you know, in any different variety of places. If you were a 4-3 defense like the Eagles, and you said, hey, Ryan, go in a widen technique and just go bulrush every time straight into the backfield, that's better suited for him.

I don't think he's apt to play 3-4 linebacker right now in the NFL as well as he would be to play defensive end. And so I think are you moving on because he doesn't, he's not a scheme fit? And honestly, I don't think he's a scheme fit in a 3-4, as well as he would be in a 4-3. So I don't know what you do with that situation. I don't know if you'd get much back there. You know, it would have been interesting had you wanted to get into the Clil Mac lottery if that would have been a bargaining chip, you know, early in the season, or maybe if it's for another player.

I'm not sure, buddy. But I think a lot of it, for me, goes back to, my initial four years here with Joe Gibbs and watching how he managed his roster and his team and how he built chemistry and how he built culture in so much as saying if you don't want to be here, I'll help you leave here. If you don't believe in what I'm doing and what we're doing here,

then you should go somewhere else. And we did that with multiple players. He did it with Lavernees Coles. He did it with Rod Gardner. He did it with LaVar Harrington. He did it with multiple players. And most of the problems were we don't want to practice hard, we don't want to play disciplined.

Right. So you're addressing the, you know, the possibilities of moving on. And by the way, for what I would call advantageous salary cap reasons, moving on from players like Zach Brown and Josh Norman and Vernon Davis and, you know, potential, Mason Foster at this point. You know, even a Chris Thompson you might move on from. I'm just talking about guys that don't want to be here. And the coaching staff will know and the players will know. I know. I can't speak for them. I'm looking at it from the perspective of if you are going to do a complete reboot and you know that the next year or two, you're going to suffer through, you know, some pain with respect to wins and losses as you try to build this thing from the ground up with young players.

That's why I would think about now moving a player like Trent that could really bring back significant value. You know, I don't know if it's a first. You mean at the end of the year? Yeah, at the end of the year. Yeah, in the offseason. I mean, Trent Williams would bring back no less than a second rounder, right? If not a first. I don't think Trent Williams is a commodity that I would be willing to move.

Do you have an answer, a left tackle? Well, you know, this is how you... He's your best player on all, he's your most consistent player on offense right now. He's the one guy that has... So I did this little, I had this thought process. On offense, the couple things that really matter. execution one, talent two. He executes and he has great talent. I wouldn't move on from him. I'm not arguing either one of those two points. I don't care about. I'm not getting better value

and I'm taking a risk if I move on from a player who I believe in. And by the way, I'm taking a risk on a guy who believes in the team. Now moving on from Trent Williams, you can't, you can't convince me. You have to be like, two first. I'm going to keep trying here for just 20 more seconds. I don't disagree with anything you've said. And all of this stuff, the intangible stuff, is also huge. But I would just suggest to you that in two years when you are potentially young and talented and ready to make potentially a move towards being competitive, he may be at that point on the beginning of the downside of his career, not to mention the fact that he's great, but he has games in which he isn't great. And he also tends to be somewhat injurious.

prone, not to mention the possibility of what the next suspension could bring. And I think he's a great guy and I think he's a great teammate. And everything you've said is true. I'm just looking at the players right now if I'm going to reboot that I can get something back that I can build with. And he's the one. He does not, in my opinion, have games where he's bad. I didn't say bad. Like if you were grading Trent Williams in every single game, there's never a game that he's below a C plus level. Not one. I know. Well, you just answered. my question. I said there are some games in which he isn't great. There are games which everyone isn't great. I know. But you're, I mean, you sort of,

you're sort of acting like. He has more games above the curve than anybody on this team. Yeah. Look, he's a great player. He's not an all-time, you know, great left tackle. He's a, he's a top five left tackle over the course of his career. He hasn't been obviously the best left tackle in football. I, if he, I mean, it's debatable. Okay. Well, I, I like him. I'm not saying that I don't like him. I'm just saying by the... I'm just... I think you're a Trent Williams hater.

No, I'm not. I'm just not... I'm just not... He's not Anthony Munoz. He's not... I don't think he's Joe Jacoby or Jim Lachet, for that matter. I just... He's a really good player, and he's been a really good player.

You can get value for him. We're getting hung up on someone I don't want to get here. You haven't addressed in terms of what's next, big picture. What is your gut... feeling right now on front office and coaching changes. Will there be any, if you don't want to get specific, that's fine, but answer the question as to whether or not you think there will be significant change, front office, and coaching staff? I don't have to answer that question. Everybody's got a solution, Kevin, and everybody's got the right answer, and everybody's got to

what comes next or what should come next to answer. They do. And I have a lot of feelings on if this were my team, what I would do, I don't necessarily expect as much change as you think. Now, the last three weeks could play out to be more change. But I think that there's a lot depending on what would be next, who you would want next, if that person that you would want would become available, if that person that you would want would want to be here. Or if you really love Jay and you believe in the injuries, I know that there's a lot of thought in our organization about how devastating these injuries were. So to say, I don't know if they're going to make changes,

and I'm just going to leave it at everybody has changes that they would make. And mine aren't as great as what most people's are. Do you think other than the playoffs or non-playoffs conversation, meaning if they don't make the playoffs, do you think that winning a game in these final three or winning two of the three and not making the playoffs is significant? No, I think only making the playoffs is significant. Okay, good. So why I think it's significant is I think in my opinion right now, Jay's got a massive job

in terms of getting his team to believe and play with confidence over the last three. and if he were to find a way to do that with Josh Frickon Johnson, and I get it that the last three games aren't, it's not like you're beating the Patriots or the Chiefs or the Rams or Saints, they're not massive hurdles to overcome. But if you could get your team to believe in you in December, late in the year, whatever turmoil and whatever injury has gone on, that would go a long way in me believing in Jay to be able to turn something around right now.

You think he should have done something about Mason Foster this week? What are you going to do at this point? Cut him. I think that they're... Listen, there's a story, and Mason's got a side of this story, and he's going to have that discussion with Jay, and he's going to have to have that discussion with his teammates. And Mason has come out and said that he had the first tweet, right?

The F-this team, F-this-F-F-this-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-s fan-based tweet. His cousin was involved. And then he had given his cousin permission to take over his Instagram feed and his cousin did the rest of the tweets. And then he took responsibility and said, I put him in charge. I'm accountable. This isn't who I am. Blah, blah, blah. My personal opinion on all of this back talking is if there's no recourse, then it just continues.

If there's no consequence, then it just continues. So you agree with me. So whether or not you cut him or suspended. Do something. Do something. Because these were his feelings, right? You would agree with me that the fact that he thought these comments would be kept private

is even more of an indication of this is the way he feels. Yeah, I think it's pretty damning because if you're the group around him on defense, I mean, do you really believe that it wasn't him? or do you really believe that he feels comfortable and confident and trust in the players that he's playing with? I just have a hard time with that. I don't know. I have a hard time with a lot of the calling out coaching. I have a hard time with a lot of the, hey, it's on certain players to be disciplined.

I just think that there's a lot of I-I-I-I right now with about 10 guys on this team. and when it is we, it's really directed at them, not the individual, the rest of the guys. And I don't condone it. I wouldn't stand for it. I don't believe in it. I think it creates dysfunction. I think it tears culture apart. And so I would make decisions different than we've made decisions.

But there's also another story that goes into all of it. And so I understand that there's that. It's hard to tear culture apart when there is no culture. It's, I mean... Well, it's hard. I mean, what no one understands is that a locker informs its own identity every single year because of the new players. And whether or not the fan base has hope,

a locker room creates its own hope every year. And I thought this defense played with some chemistry and some culture and some hope early in the year. And as the infighting got deeper, you see what's happening. Do you want to give me your quick key? to beating Jacksonville on Sunday, if you've thought about them yet? Yeah.

There's no way that you can allow them to score more than three times. In doing that, it's got to be 13 points, I think, at the most. Offensively, you've got to find a way to make a couple plays. I think, you know, Josh is going to have to go off-schedgul and off-script and make some runs and get the Jaguars out of position a couple times. He's probably going to have to make a throw down the field where he's maneuvered or manipulated the pocket, and all of a sudden he's got to, receiver over the top. I don't think that you just go and execute on offense. Clearly there's a

game plan and there's a goal to just go straight execute. But that hasn't happened yet this season. I don't see it happening with the fourth starting quarterback. And so I see this being a, you make a couple big-time school yard type of plays and you just got to try to convert a few first downs and convert a few thirds to get yourself, you know, the ball. You can't just give Jacksonville the ball on three and outs and turnovers. Can't turn it over. Really, I don't think they can afford a turnover in this game. And then saying that, unless Jacksonville is just dreadful on offense, which they are,

which I'm not surprised by. I don't think this is, I think this is, what's the over on this game? It's the lowest over under in six years. 2012 was the last game that was this low. It's 30, I'll give you the updated right now. It was 36 beginning of the week. It's still 36 right now. lowest over under total in the NFL in six years.

I'm going under. Yeah. Yep, I think so too. I think so too. Jacksonville is also a seven. I think you win like a 14 to 13 game or a 16 to 10 game. It's not, I'm just not sure about Jacksonville. I think they're talented, but I also think that they can get gashed,

that they have a lot of the same stuff going on as we have. And to me, it's whoever can find some rhythm early and believe in themselves early, we'll just go ahead and win the game. My skins beat Jaggs if, number one was if the Jacksonville defense just decides it's not interested in playing. Because if it is interested in playing, the Redskins will have a very difficult time scoring 10 or more points offensively. Jacksonville's defense shut out the Colts at home two weeks ago. And they gave up 30 of the Titans. Yeah, but that was on the road in a short week, and they were, you know, and that game was much closer, that fourth and goal that Fournette didn't get in on, and then Henry went 99 yards. Nobody's going 99, although maybe it'll be Adrian Peterson.

Clearly AP can have the ability to go 99. Yeah, but, you know, that defense shut out the Colts, and then a month ago, they had Pittsburgh shut out essentially through three quarters. I don't see the Redskins, as you said. If they give up three scores, they're done. The one thing about this Redskins offense is they're going to be different to prepare for. Okay. Right. I mean, they are.

They were not different with Colt McCoy. They were not different with Mark Sanchez. They'll be at least different to prepare for this week. How bad was Sanchez? My God. How bad was the entire offense around Sanchez? He started the game with three straight passes. for three straight drops.

Yeah, true. There were a lot of drops in that game. There were. But I mean, and then you put him into RPO situations on the goal line. You can't do that. You can't. I mean, he hasn't executed that all year. I mean, why not?

Two slants and slant flat. Why not four outs? Like two by two and outs on either side and let him pick a side. At least let's let him operate in the simplest preseason form. All right. Let's get to some Friday football. QuickPix. Everything you need to know for your football weekend.

It's Friday Football Quick Picks. Before we get to the best games of the weekend, did you watch the game last night? Not one. Oh, coolly. It was, I mean, it was one of the finishes of the year in the NFL. Rivers was spectacular over the final, you know, quarter and a half. And, you know, they've got a chance to win that division now. It would be after this season of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs,

you know, they got to go to Seattle next week, and if they can't win in Seattle and the Chargers win their final two, Kansas City is going to be on the road as a wildcard team. Isn't that amazing? I have the Chargers last night. I like the Chargers a lot in that game. Yeah, I lean Chargers plus three and a half. I also like the under, which did not come through. But it was,

the game was one of these games coolly where if you're watching as a fan, it's excruciating because the officiating, like it's been in many games this year and probably many games the last few years, it was just painful to watch how many blown calls there were, how many tickey tack calls there were. Remember you and I had this conversation about rule changes, and one of the things we both really agreed on was defensive holding or a legal contact has to be a 10-yard penalty, not an automatic first down, because the Chiefs had two-third and forever's with no chance of getting a completion because of quick pass rush.

Oh, it's the worst. And you get a flag on the opposite side of the field for barely any contact, and it's a first down. That's the worst. Right now, that's the most frustrating penalty as a football fan to watch. Yeah, and if you're a fan of that team in particular, it's even worse. Like, hey, we just got to stop on third and 16. Great job. Oh, the guy grabbed a jersey at three yards and held just a little bit.

And the quarterback worked the other side. Sweet. It's so awful to watch. Everyone's had a couple of those. Everyone's had a couple of those. We've had more than, I mean, we're second in the league in defense folding, so we get that. There was a third, I'm sorry, a second in 16 where there was a face mask that really, that's the other thing. I didn't mention this.

There should be a five-yard face mask. You know, when your quarterback is under pressure so quickly that he's got no chance, and somebody reaches out from the pile and just barely touches the face mask and maybe grabs it for a quarter of a second, that's not a 15-yard face mask on second and 17, which it was about to become a third and 24, or third and 25. think that you should have to grab the face mask inside a penalty. If you bump it or if your hand hits a face mask, I don't like that call.

Kansas City had a drive last night at 2114, Cooley, 13 plays, 73 yards, 7 minutes and 55 seconds. Two third down conversions, third and longs due to penalties that were really almost made up. There were five total penalties on the chargers in the drive, and it totally disrupted and brought the game to a halt. It was a really good game, and all of a sudden it became, you got to be kidding me. We just watched 25 minutes of real time, eight minutes of clock time of flag after flag after flag,

but then the game got really good over the final quarter, final seven minutes of the game. All right. best games of the weekend. Yeah, I like Bears Packers. I think that's an exciting game this weekend. For whatever reason, I'm interested in Titans, Giants. I think that's a pretty good game.

Why are you interested in that? Because I think the Giants are going to make the playoffs. At 8 and 8? Eagles, Rams, that's a crazy line in that game. And then obviously the best game is probably Sears Patriots. Yeah, I mean, Pittsburgh right now is staring no playoffs in the face. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing. I mean, they really have crumbled here. You know, Mike Tomlin did just a horrible job last week on a lot of fronts. I mean, you know, pulling Rathusberger

with sort of the expectation that they would win the game when Rathlisberger should have been in there. There were, you know, timeout issues at the end. But, you know, they've lost three in a row, and it could be four in a row because they really were done at Jacksonville. They were down 16-0 late in the third quarter in that game. But they have the Patriots and the Saints. Patriots at home Sunday and then at the Saints. Oh, I know. And the Ravens could still potentially lose a game and win the division.

That's how crazy that is. There's a lot of craziness in the AFC and that last wildcard spot in the AFC is insane. The Browns are still available to make the playoff. They still have a chance. They still have a chance. And you get two Saturday games this weekend in the NFL. Texans, Jets, tomorrow. early and then Browns Broncos tomorrow night.

Yeah, I'll watch Browns Broncos. Texans Jet seems pretty terrible. Yeah, although... Texans Jets might be the worst game this weekend. How about that? Worst game this weekend. Blyans Bills or Texans jet? Oh, no. Redskins-Jackson's the worst game of the weekend. Well, it's not for us. Oh, I thought you were just saying from a fan perspective. No, for us, it's not.

No, I would say no, because Deshawn Watson's and, Watson and Hopkins and Miller and that defense are fun to watch. And you know what? I must be a sucker for Todd Bowles because I think he can scheme up a defense as good as anybody in the league and I think I remember I told you last year if he becomes available I would take him in a heartbeat

to be the Redskins defensive coordinator I think he's a decent head coach the Jets are a good defensive team I'm not excited about that game I'll watch the game tomorrow night too because the Browns are actually a pretty good team right now they're a fun watch with Greg Williams right now and Baker Mayfield

and they got some offense, and that defense is really good. I like the Browns. That'll be a good game. The Cowboys Colts game is a huge game for the Colts even more so, because I think Cowboys can lose and still win the division and likely will win the division. Sure. Although, to your point, what if it came down to Cowboys Giants at the end of the year? If the Cowboys lost the next two weeks, I don't even know who wins a wild card. I should check on the playoff machine that ESPN offers up.

It's so much fun to play with. I did want to ask you one thing before we get to some other things about the games this weekend. The offensive year that this NFL's been, you know, the offensive explosion and all of the points in the 54-51 game on Monday night, you know, a few weeks back, Rams Chiefs. In the last two weeks we have seen the Cowboys defensively completely shut down the Saints and the Bears defensively completely shut down the Rams. How does that play out in the postseason? Do you give really good defensive teams, like Dallas in Chicago in the NFC, like potentially Houston and Baltimore in the AFC, do you give them chances to run all the way to the Super Bowl? I don't think you have a chance to run all the way to the Super Bowl. The Bears have a chance because the Bears have a pretty explosive offense when they get things going.

I like the Bears a lot. I do. This is going to sound like the most homerish thing I've ever said. but I think Sean was playing possum a little bit with his offense. I watched that Rams Bears game last week, and that was not a Sean McVeigh offense that I'd seen through a lot of this year. It was static, it was basic, it was, I think that he was expecting that he may play the Bears later, and he knows that he's a playoff team, and granted, I get it that he's, you don't want to go play on the road in New Orleans.

Right. But I don't, there's nothing about that that made sense for Sean. That's a reach, Cooley. Rich. Playing possum when you've got a chance to get home field advantage throughout, I know it's not a great home field. You didn't install a game plan that you thought was a loser game plan. You didn't go in and think Jared Goff was going to throw four picks, but to some extent, maybe you went in and said, hey, let's make this vanilla and see how our guys operate. It was vanilla for the Rams. God, the bears have been so good defensively, especially at home. I mean, they have been on lights out at home. Oh, the bears are awesome,

man. I mean, they have a very good front, obviously with Mack and Floyd and inside they're good. They're backers. Roquan Smith's playing lights out. Danny Trevathen's a good player. The bears are legit good. Talk about two coaches that have really taken over the league in the last couple years in McVeigh and Nagy. And what a great spot for both of them to be as far as talent. You come into a young team with talent. And Nagy offensively got way better this year. They were bad on offense, but they signed Trey Burton and they got Robbins. Robinson and they drafted Miller and you have two backs that can play. Both of them had first pick quarterbacks to fall into and Trubitsky and Goss.

I mean, just when you talk about getting a head coaching job, you can go to a team like that or you can go to the bills. It's like there's just a massive difference. Well, they were aggressive in the offseason. I mean, you just mentioned the offensive players, but then they dealt for Khalil Mack and they drafted Roquan Smith. And look, I just think that what's interesting about this season is that it's been offense, offense, offense, and yet I believe when we get to the postseason, I believe Chicago can go on the road and win.

You know, certainly they can win at Los Angeles. Look, that game will be a home game for the Bears. It'll be a home game for the Cowboys. Whoever goes to the Coliseum to face the Rams in the divisional round, whether it be Dallas or Chicago, it's going to be a home game for those two teams, crowd-wise. I think it'll be split at this point, but there's a big difference of playing in Chicago in January and playing in Los Angeles for the Rams. No, but what I'm saying is...

I know what you're saying. What I'm saying is it's not going to be seven degrees. Understood, but Chicago is going to play in that first weekend. The Rams aren't. Chicago and Dallas are host... No, I get it. And if you've got your choice as a Cowboys or a Bears fan of going to New Orleans or going to the Coliseum,

You're going to the Coliseum where not only will it be very nice weather-wise, but you're going to have, okay, I'll give you the split. Split worst case. I mean, with those two fan bases in that place, you will have a near home field advantage in the divisional round on the road. I'm with you. I understand it completely. I do find it interesting that the Saints not only got shut down by the Cowboys,

but got shut down really to a certain degree by the Buccaneers through three quarters. It was 14 to 3 late into the third quarter in that game. Dude, the Saints have one receiver. You've been saying this all year long. It's such a great observation. As explosive as they've been, you've said all year long, after Michael Thomas, who gets separation? They look at their depth chart at receiver.

There's a reason they were the only team that said, Des Bryant, who got hurt in a day. Right. They have nobody to get a receiver. So, yeah. Yeah, you got, I mean, Breeze has got to be perfect all the time and they have to run the ball a little bit. I think it's...

You know what's amazing about the Saints? Their defense is all of a sudden pretty good again. It is. You're right about that. They've got playmakers defensively. They've got playmakers defensively. You know, back to the defense versus offense conversation, I think it's clear now that you can go into Arrowhead and win.

You know, they're a bad defensive team, which is why I didn't think they would make a run through to the Super Bowl anyway. But the Ravens, that score was not indicative of how much the Ravens really controlled and dominated the game. And then the Chargers in the key spots last night really got after Mahomes. You know, in that game last night, I don't think the Chiefs had 300 yards of offense last night. I didn't look at that. Let me just see real quickly. Mahomes had like 240 or 250. 243 and then 60 rushing 294 total.

They didn't have 300 yards of offense against the Chargers last night. Now, a lot of that was time of possession. What was the time of possession number? 3326. But still, I think defense can travel to Arrowhead and win. The Ravens could have very easily won that game last week. I don't know. I just think it's interesting the way everybody was convinced 54-51 was the new way.

The thing about Arrowhead is you better have some. offense because that place is insane and the chiefs are well they're not good on defense are good enough with that fan base to suppress any average offense I agree you can't go you watch what the the Ravens had a hard time against that defense well they freaking Gus Edwards but the Ravens the Ravens the Ravens the Ravens well it's I mean you know John Harbaugh sticking with Jackson but I said this yesterday that you know if you look at their situation they've had this run coolly of bad defensive teams that they've faced, you know, the Bengals, the Raiders, the Falcons, and the chiefs on the road, and they face another defense that's questionable this

week in the Buccaneers at home, which makes it easier for Harbaugh to stick with this, you know, dual threat, you know, mostly run threat quarterback. But if they beat the Buccaneers and they're in Los Angeles next week on Saturday night to face the Chargers, I still think there's a chance that Flacco is going to play. I don't see why you wouldn't just have the third down package set up for Flacco. Third and seven plus. Third and five plus, here comes Flacco. I don't care if they're in and out.

I want the best chance to third and five. You already said that the team that you're interested in watching this weekend is the Giants. Yeah, they're good. I mean, they're much better than their record indicates. And, you know, you go back, like the 63-yard field goal, the Graham Ganoe hit. Right now is the difference for the. Giants of being legitimately involved at 6 and 7 in a potential playoff run. And you look at them and if they were to make the playoffs as the 6-seed,

they would be the team that would be dangerous. Oh, yeah. Right now, of any team that could get that 6-seed, they're the most dangerous team. Yeah, I agree with that. Which is crazy. Which is super crazy. But I don't know. I just look at the Giants.

They lost by 7 to us. They lost by 3 to the Falcons. You know, they lost by two to the Panthers. They lost by seven of the Cowboys. They lost by five of the Jaguars. That was preseason. Never mind. They've had a lot of gains that they've been in. Oh, yeah.

The Eagles game on the road. I mean, 193 lead, and then they don't give the ball to Saquan Barkley in the second half is going to be the one that giant fans cringe over. Or not. Or not. Or here they come. I think they lose almost. every tiebreaker with other eight and eight teams.

They would need a complete, you know, it's, I guess it's possible. I guess anything's possible. All right. It's possible that there's not another eight and eight teams. It's possible. I think that's pretty much what it would take, and that is definitely in play. All right, you heard it here first, buddy. That would be amazing.

Look, the Packers could get in at eight, seven, and one. That would be the other team. Aaron Rogers, no one, you know, would want to face. The Vikings at 8, 7 and 1. I think the Cowboys and Bears, I hate to say it, because I'd love to see them just S themselves in the first round, but I think they're both legit good and incapable of winning, what would it be, three games, one at home to get to the Super Bowl. I mean, the Cowboys will figure out a way to trip up, you know, on themselves, but I agree, I agree with you on Chicago. Like, Chicago, New Orleans and the Superdome is,

an NFC championship game would be really interesting. I think it'd be fun. All right, thanks. Talk to you this weekend. Enjoy your trip to Jacksonville. I'm sure you're really excited about this one. It's nice weather, man. It is.

Nice weather. It's going to be raining here the entire weekend. All right. It's too bad. I'll talk to you. See it. Let me tell you real quickly about launch workplaces. If you are working from home right now and you live in the Bethesda,

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Also, real quickly, and I've mentioned this all the time, but for those that want to listen, that don't do podcasts or they can't figure it out yet, I've mentioned this before, but just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. It's really easy to listen to this podcast at kevincien Show.com and all of the old shows, all the past episodes are up. I've also got a blog there and it's easy. So mention that to everybody. And if you haven't rated us or subscribed, do that. It doesn't cost you anything. Let's get to the smell test. Kevin looks where the John Q Public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right, this Mel Test was 7, 3, and 1 last week. That's 9371 and 3 on the season, 57% on fire the last month,

44, 16, and 1 over the last month plus. College bowl season, Aaron, starts tomorrow. It's the run of basically football on every single day and night, except one. There's no football on Christmas Day this year. No bowl game. So the NBA rules Christmas Day now, I guess, with their five games that start at 12 noon and then, you know, whenever it ends on the West Coast, late at night with the West Coast game. But college bowl season is tomorrow. So from December 15th, which is tomorrow through January 1, I think there is football on 16 of 17 days or nights. That's pretty good, though. I like bowl season. I hate, I hate, I. I hate the players that decide for personal reasons, professional reasons not to play in these bowl games because they don't want to get hurt.

I understand it. It's hard not to understand the protection of future income. I just hate the fact that some of these bowl games are impacted by players who are leaving that are going to get drafted that decide they're not playing in these bowl games. By the way, we'll have daily smell test picks if they're all. are any throughout the next two weeks. If there's a bowl game on a Wednesday night next week that fits the smell test criteria, we'll put it out there. But the smell test has been on fire recently. I keep expecting it to change because that's what usually happens. It hasn't the last couple of weeks, but it's been quite the role here over the last month. I do like one game

tomorrow, but it isn't going to be a smell test pick. It's more of a strong lean. I like Middle Tennessee State in the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Nothing official on that game, though, tomorrow. Nothing official, but I would lean towards that. I leaned San Diego last night. San Diego. I can sound like Stephen A. Smith. By the way, on the Stephen A. Smith thing from yesterday,

a lot of you have already heard the audio and watched the video of him trying to wing a segment on Chiefs Chargers preview last night. where he mentions players that aren't even in the game and haven't been on either team for a while, Hunter Henry, and I forget who the other one was for the Chiefs. Derek Jobs for the Chiefs. For the Chiefs. This is what I would say to that. I am absolutely sure that no less than a half dozen times I have referred to a player that wasn't available to play in a game.

know, probably not picked up by most of you, you know, over the years. And perhaps I didn't, you know, say it with as much certainty as Stephen A presented it. But when you talk for a living and everything you say is recorded, recorded, these things are going to happen. Usually, though, I would say this. If you're not prepared to talk about a subject that you know you're going to be asked to talk about, you do at least a little bit of prep work. You know, maybe you cram in between segments. I've done that a lot where it's like, we're going to do this next.

And I'm like, that's what we're doing next? Oh, I forgot about that. And during a commercial break, you'll cram real quickly and try to come up with some take or some thought on the game. But, you know, the truth of the matter is with Stephen A, no one's tuning in for Stephen A's analysis of a game. You know, post or pre, right? He's an entertainer. He's good at what he does. Don't ask him to break down Chiefs Chargers.

Ask him to scream about Rivers being a guy that's not a Hall of Famer. Or Mahomes is Dan Marino number two. Or LeBron. If LeBron were in the game tonight, he'd be the best player on the field. He's better than Tony Gonzalez ever was. You know, ask him to do that stuff. Don't ask him to give you a pre-game analysis of Chiefs Chargers. Did you see the Chargers just having a Twitter account having a little fun with it?

I did. Lance Allworth, Dan Fouts and Ladani and Tomlinson aren't playing tonight. Yes. Yeah, I did see that. I don't, you know, I will say this. I think I've said this before. I like Stephen A. He's short dose.

I'm sure many of you think that I'm short dose. He's a short dose guy, but I think he's really good at what he does. I've also met him a couple times. You know, there were times where he came in to the station to record his radio. show if he were in town. Anyway, no college pick tomorrow, even though there are five bowl games tomorrow, five of them tomorrow. Let's get to Sunday for the smell test picks.

There are a lot of games that I'm interested in, but a lot of those games didn't really fit. Like, I sort of like the Jets against the Texans tomorrow. There's too much sharp money on Houston right now to get me to release that as a smell test pick, but I may personally play the Jets. plus seven. Not a smell test pick, though. I like the Browns a little bit. And there's sharp money on Cleveland, but there's also a lot of public money on Cleveland. So nothing tomorrow. Let's go to Sunday, where the first game to me, and when I looked at the lines initially

late Sunday, I guess, last week, this is the one that really stuck out. The Seattle Seahawks on the road laying three and a half to the 49. Niners. The public loves Seattle. I think Seattle is just one of those public teams. That's why I gave out Minnesota on Monday night. That did not work. That did not work at all. I'm actually surprised Minnesota is a seven-point favorite, seven and a half now over Miami at home. I think that's a lot of points over a Dolphins team that just beat the Patriots, but there's a lot of public action on both side, so it didn't really fit the smell test. But back to Seattle, they're probably the biggest public play of the weekend laying three and a half on the road at San Francisco. Give me the 49ers

plus the three and a half. I'm really, really upset with myself that I didn't give out San Francisco last week in Aaron, I told you this. The number was three at home against Denver, and I really, I played it personally. I don't know why I missed that on. Friday, though. I felt the same way about the Raiders, but not as strongly. And I also liked Indy last week. I would have given, I would have had three more winners. But look, there are many weeks there are games that I wish I'd given out that I would have lost. More of those than the games I would have won on. But San Francisco is a smell test play, plus the three and a half against the Seahawks who looks so good. It's the short week thing for Seattle. They've got a huge game next Sunday

night against Kansas City. They clearly look like right now at 8 and 5, the number 5 seed in the NFC playoffs. Give me the 49ers plus the 3 and a half. Pittsburgh is getting no love from the public. I mean, they've lost, you know, at this point, they've lost three in a row. And it really could be a four-game losing streak when you consider they had to come back from 16-0 down against Jacksonville. New England had the devastating finish in Miami. They're laying three, and the public loves the Patriots to bounce back, and I think they are shorting the Steelers right now, and I wouldn't do that. I would have liked the Steelers anyway plus the three at home,

but it fits the smell test criteria. They are an anti-public play. There is short money actually on both sides, but I'm going to put the Steelers into the smell test plus the three. I'm looking hard at Philadelphia right now. as a smell test pick. The public has loaded up on the Rams. That line opened at 9 and obviously has gone higher because there's no Carson Wentz in this game and it's going to be Nick Foles. I like Philadelphia plus the 11 and a half now to keep this game relatively close, but it's not a smell test pick. There is

more public money on the Rams. There's too much sharp money on Los Angeles too. I got to text the late last night after the charger game from a buddy of mine in a warm climb offshore, because I had reached out to him earlier in the day to say, where are you on Philly Rams? He said, we probably need Philly on Sunday, but there's some sharp money on the Rams too. So I'm going to back off the Eagles, but I'd give a strong lean to the Eagles.

Lastly, the Monday night game, Carolina plus the six. Nobody's on Carolina Monday night against the Saints. Something's going on. with New Orleans here the last couple of games. They got beat up at Dallas. They were struggling at Tampa through three quarters. Cooley has said it and he's mentioned it multiple times, including today, that they only have one true receiver that gets separation. Carolina is an anti-public play. There also is some sharp money on the Panthers, so give me the Panthers plus the six. So this week, there's only three official smell test picks. It's probably the fewest we've

had all year. The 49ers plus three and a half, the Steelers plus three, and then Monday night, the Panthers plus the six. I would give a strong lean to Philadelphia on Sunday plus the 11 and a half. And I'd lean jets tomorrow at home against Houston, but not officially. You may wonder why I don't like the Colts laying three. They're a three-point favorite over Dallas, and I probably will play the Colts, but there is pretty much split action in this game. The Colts are not a massive anti-public play as a favorite over the surging Cowboys. All right, repeating, 49ers plus three and a half, Steelers plus three,

and on Monday night, the Panthers, plus the six. No bowl games tomorrow, but I would bet that there is going to be one or two smell test plays during the week next week during all of those bowl games. All right, let's bring in Andy Poland for his weekly visit. You and I have done a lot of shows together over the years, and I feel like as we get into December, this is like a position and a spot that we're very familiar with, like trying to come up with ways to talk about a game that virtually,

not that nobody cares about, but that few care about. And the difference with this one is they're not 3 and 10. They're actually 6 and 7 and mathematically still alive. You used to make fun of me all the time as I would come up with my playoff scenarios. And many times, you know, they were real. I don't have any juice. I can't muster up any energy to come up with all of the playoff scenarios this year because I don't think they're going to win another game.

Yeah, and it's sad because everything is falling into place for them to do it. I mean, Minnesota keeps losing games and the division stinks. I mean, there are opportunities, but they keep kicking them away. And now you're starting a quarterback who was on his couch two weeks ago. I mean, come on. I know. I know. It's, uh, I, and, and all of the backstabbing and, and as I called it earlier, ass covering, it's all started. You know, it's, it's all too familiar these final few weeks of December and these final few games of a Redskins season. We've seen it so many times. And I just don't know what it's going to lead to. I feel strongly about what it should lead to, but I'm not convinced it'll happen. What do you think's

going to happen? Something will happen. It may not be Jay going. It may not be Bruce going, but whenever you have an ending like this, something happens. And to me, these are similar to 2009, when actually there was optimism at the end because Vinny had been fired and you thought, Oh, Bruce Allen coming in. Now finally there's going to be somebody with a brain running this organization, and then they've gotten worse. And then the end of 2013, which I thought was a stare into the abyss, because the Shanahan experiment had failed.

The Robert Griffin experiment was clearly over. And so this feels a lot like that right now. And I don't know. And really, you know, what was the South? It was hiring Jay Gruden, who's been okay, a 500, coach who won a division title. That's about it. Yeah, I mean, Tommy and I talked yesterday about all the rabbits that Snyders pulled out of the hat, you know, over the years after Spurrier, when things seemed so bleak, it was Gibbs and it was Gibbs quickly after Zorn and Vinny got fired

to your point. It was quickly Shanahan with, you know, this perceived autonomy that he would have coming in. After 2013, it was damn bleak, but remember, it was just a year later that we got the McLuhan. You know, Scott McLuhan. one's going to come in and save the day. I don't know what they're going to over promise this time. That's the problem. It's always an over promise and then, you know, sort of side by side with an under-deliver, but I don't even know what they're going to promise this time to get anybody hopeful that anything's going to change. Well, the only thing is a stadium, I think. That might be the only thing, and that they could

say, much like when RFK was the home of the nationals, hey, buy your tickets here, so when the new stadium opens, they'll have great seats, and maybe they can sell that, that they'll open the new stadium in the district or over by MGM in five years or four years, whatever it would take. I don't know. That might be something. All right. What do you got for me today on the history of Jacksonville and Washington? It's short, as you know, this will be only the seventh meeting between the two teams. So I picked out three games that were significant, including the only loss that the Redskins suffered to Jacksonville, and that was November 10, 2002, Steve Spurrier's first year.

Now, I was told by Bram Weinstein, who was covering the team at the time, this was a four o'clock game in Jacksonville, that Steve Spurrier had spent until about 1231 o'clock at the hotel pool, and he was very familiar with the weather that day. And so they get out on the field, and it's a big homecoming for Spurie. I mean, he's a big deal in Jacksonville, and he's got his ex-gators on the team, Jocquez Green, Chris Doring, the starting quarterback is Shane Matthews. And the first drive of the game against what was one of the worst run defenses in the NFL, Redskins take it down the field, and they're helped by runs of 15 and nine yards from Kenny Watson. Matthews throws a 20-yard touchdown pass to Rod Gardner, and that was it, the rest of the night.

Spurrier through 51 times. He had only 16 runs on the night. And he said after the game, you know, it was a beautiful night for pitching it. And he said, I was dumb enough to think we could throw it up and down the field. Well, you're only as good as your last game and I'm not very good right now. You know, you've looked up the quotes from that day. The other thing that I remember about that day is he also made a comment that, you know, teams had been throwing it. around the park all day in the one o'clock games.

Like that had any, you know, like there was any connection to the Redskins game in Jacksonville at 4 o'clock. Well, they were pitching it around all day around the league. I just thought we could do it too. Yeah. I thought he was back at his, you know, he was back in his old stomping grounds, and I think he had that old feel of being on the sidelines with the gaiters in Jacksonville, and he was just going to pitch it, pitch it all night. And he did and he lost it.

What's the next one? Next one is October 1st, 2006. This is at FedEx. The Redskins won this game, 36 to 30 in overtime to get to 2. And two. It's Mark Brunell against Byron Lefwich. Redskins went up 27-17 touchdown pass to Santana Moss, 12 minutes to go. But Jacksonville got a touchdown, and two Josh Scobie field goals.

They send it into overtime. Redskins win the toss. And on the third play, Brunel throws into double coverage. Somehow, neither defender gets a hand on the ball. Santana Moss gets away with a 68-yard touchdown run. The skins ran for 152 yards on the night. This is Clinton Portis, 112 yards. Jacksonville had just 33, and they sacked left which four times.

I mentioned this game for this reason. This was Cole Nidre, which is the holiest night of the Jewish year. So since it was a 4 o'clock game, we had to go to synagogue, and I was taping the rest of the game to watch when I got home, I'm figuring I wouldn't talk to anybody. I wouldn't listen to the radio. I wouldn't know what would happen until I got home. The president of the synagogue gets up to make the announcements about the brotherhood this and the sisterhood that.

She says, oh, by the way, I talked to the custodian, and he told me it was a really exciting ending over time. I say, I say loudly in synagogue, oh, my God. And a woman turns around, what's the matter? So, well, I was taping the game. Well, that's what you get for doing on a holy. night. So that was that. Well, you know, that game, that was a

great ending to that game. And it was also, if I recall, after they lost a, you know, it was coming off the 2005 season where there was so much hope, you know, from the playoff win and then the close loss at Seattle the year before that Gibbs was going to have it rolling and they opened

up that season 2006 with a Monday night loss at home to the Vikings where they didn't play well. But they got it going in this Jacksonville win if I recall and he got him to like 500 or maybe three and two on the year two two and two and then and then the season imploded they lost a game at home to tennessee where Vince young had i think his first you know uh start and and really good game of his career and it just went south in a hurry with some of the worst off season i think

the 2006 off season with uh brandon lloyd and Antoine Randallel L and Adam Archiletta and trading for T.J. Duckett, you know, right before the season started, was one of the worst off-season of the Snyder era, and there are a lot of them to choose from. But that was a, they just, they really buried themselves that year in the off-season. Yeah, they dropped at 3 and 6 when they lost to Philadelphia 27 to 3. Steve Zabin on the Comcast post-game show, asked Mark Brunel if he might go to his coach and has to be benched, which led to a suspension. saved for a couple of weeks. But in fact, that was the end of Mark Brunnell.

Jason Campbell came in the following week, and Brunel never saw the field again. All right, the last one is September 14, 2014, which is the last time these teams played. This was a FedEx Field. Redskins won the game, 41 to 10. First quarter, Robert Griffin the third, goes down with a dislocated ankle. Kirk Cousins comes in, completes his first 12 passes. Finish the game, 22 of 33, 250 yards, and two touchdown pass. Two touchdown. passes. They sacked Chad Henney, who was the quarterback of Jacksonville, 10 times. Carrigan had four sacks in this game. It broke an eight-game regular season losing streak. And this is what Kirk said after the game. This is Robert's team. My job is to be the backup quarterback, if called

upon, to come in and play. Then I better play and help this team win. The job doesn't change. This is Robert's team. After the game, they don't know the long-term status of Griffith. So Gruden goes on the post-game radio show with Larry Michael and Sonny Jurgensen and says, yeah, looks like he's out for the year. Tough break for the kid, too bad. Then he goes into the media room to do his interview, and he's kind of pressed on that. He says, well, you know, we're waiting for the MRIs. We don't know exactly what's going to happen with Robert, but right now we're going to go with Kirk. And Robert, who remember two years earlier when he didn't play against Cleveland, made sure he had a post-game press conference,

comes up to the podium on crutches. He has an Adidas shirt on and is told he has to turn it inside out because it's a violation of league policy to have an Adidas logo up there and gives his own press conference about how he's going to be back, yada, yada, yada. A day later, Gruden has asked about, well, what happens if Cousins plays well when Griffin's healthy? And instead of saying, Starrett doesn't lose his job for injury, he said, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Which leads me to question. And look, I've thrown out Wilder. theories than yours, that Griffin would be the quarterback of his team next year. I would assume that would mean that Gruden wouldn't be here, because I can't see that happening here. Well, I mean, we did a show earlier in the week. I'm just, I'll just, I mentioned it already, and you and I haven't talked this week, but I've talked to a couple of people who believe that because Griffin will get the endorsement of a top flight organization, Baltimore, you know, Newsom, DeCosta, John Harbaugh, about how much he's matured and what a great teammate he's been in Baltimore and that he's still,

look, he still has a gun for an arm, you know, and the truth of the matter is this league continues to move towards the dual threat quarterback. It is a big part of this league right now, but I was told by somebody who would know that he's going to get an opportunity to potentially compete for a starting job next summer. And at the same time, there's a lot of affection still from Dan Snyder, you know, as it relates to RG3. And they may have a quarterback need. Look, at this point, would anything shock you? It wouldn't shock me.

But I just don't see how, especially with the things that Gruden said about Griffin over the years. No, no, no, no. To answer your question, of course it wouldn't be with Gruden. There's no way. It would be with another coach that promises the owner that he can make Griffin work. And who might that be? Might it be his old coach at Baylor, Art Bryles? Oh, God.

I don't know, Andy, like I said, I don't know what the rabbit is this time. I mean, who really wants to come here? But that's, you know what? Yeah, there would be a segment of the fan base that would say, thank God they're finally making it right for Griffin. They're giving you a chance. But there would also be a fan base that would say, oh, God. Oh, the majority. It's a loud minority, but it's a significant minority of people that actually think Griffin was wronged here.

I mean, people are, if you feel that way, you're delusional and you don't, you either decided to ignore all of the information and fact that was there, or you just didn't hear it because it was rough here. but by all accounts, and he's 28 years old, I think going on 29 now, and we both know, and every adult out there knows that you cringe sometimes, cringe when you think about things you did at 22, 23, 24 years old, and maybe he has matured, maybe. But he can't stay healthy. Even if they do this, he doesn't make it past the fourth game. That's probably true.

I don't think they're going to do it. But anyway, all right, let's finish up with Redskins score and more. Time to settle the score. Is score and more. All right. Josh Johnson going to lead him to a victory, Andy? No. This will be an absolute, this would be much like last week.

I mean, just because this guy can run for his life behind an offensive line that couldn't protect anybody, including Griffin in his prime, or the one year of his crime. I see this as a 31 to 3 game, and the footnote is, Dan Snyder fires Greg Minoski after the game. That's a good footnote. I think that's coming soon too. I think this is a whole lot to a little bit also.

If Jacksonville's defense shows up and they actually are engaged and interested in the game, I don't think the Redskins can score more than 10. I'll go 27 to 7 Jacksonville with the footnote being that the Redskins, Skins get perhaps like a late touchdown, down 27-0. So you add it up, and last week they were down 40 to nothing. This week they'll be down 27 to nothing at some point. So, yeah, I can't imagine the owner's going to sit through that. But Minusky is the logical scapegoat for this,

because the injuries have been primarily to the offensive portion of the football team and the defense has caved over the last five games. And there's clearly a disconnect between Minnowski and many of his key players at this point. Oh, and the coach, I mean, remember after the Philadelphia game, where Gruden said, we shouldn't be giving up over 400 yards with this personnel. That's right. He threw him under the bus. Yep, he did.

He did. All right. Thank you, as always. I'll talk to you soon. All right. Andy Poland, everybody. I want to thank Chris Cooley for joining us on the show today. Thank Mike Jones for joining us on the show today.

Thank Andy for joining us on the show today. Aaron did a great job. We'll be back. You know, hey, what if they pull off a big win and Josh Johnson lights it up? It could be a whole new week next week. But my prediction is that the soap opera will continue. And there will be even more, you know, codes broken on social media next week kind of stories to talk about. But we'll be back with the podcast out early on Monday morning. Have a great week. everybody.