The Kevin Sheehan Show - The Carson Wentz Crusaders

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Kevin and Thom with a lot of Carson Wentz discussion in the opening segment. Thom weighed in for the first time on the pod on Friday's Scott Abraham-Jason Wright thing. Some Soto weekend discussion to finish up.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy is here. I am here on this Tuesday, August 16th. I do have to apologize for those of you that typically use the website to listen to the show.

The website was down yesterday, Tommy, because somebody didn't pay the bill to the hosting site. And that somebody would be me. obviously. I just thought it automatically renewed with my credit card, but apparently it didn't. And so it was down, and they didn't send out like emails warning, or if they did, I didn't see them. But Aaron called me and said, the website's down. Did you, I mean, do you think it's a hosting thing? I said, I don't know. Let's call. We called, and they said, yeah, you're, you didn't renew. But I quickly renewed. You didn't pay your bill. I didn't pay my bills. You didn't pay your bills. This is why you guys have to read us and review us as much as possible so we can pay the bills.

Do you have any idea what Tommy costs every week? My God. And I'm not even talking about in terms of dollars from Colonel on Twitter. He gave us five stars, which we appreciate. But he said, a bit too harsh on commanders. I'm sorry, not on Twitter. This is on the Apple podcast review, where we would ask you. to give us five stars and write a nice review.

He gave us five stars, Colonel did, a bit too harsh on the commanders. Though good, I don't think he, I'm assuming he's talking about me, has quite the grasp on how our team is progressing, specifically in preseason, but has a good eye for reviewing how the team plays. Just be more realistic when it's practice. It's practice. Keep up the good work and agree to disagree. it's called a debate. Thank you for that.

From Steve on Twitter, Steve tweeted me and just said, you are so harsh on Carson Wentz. He hasn't even played yet. Get a grip. He's better than anything we've had since Kirk Cousins. Thank you, Steve. I thought the Apple Review and that tweet, tweet, excuse me, kind of went together. I think what Steve just tweeted me is exactly. what I've been saying is don't get so worked up about Carson Wentz. Let's wait until he plays a

game. And he's better than anything they've had since Kirk. I'm pretty sure that's been my position, which by the way leads me to the first topic of the day. And we have other things to get to. I know you want to weigh in on Jason Wright, et cetera. I think people do this thing, Tommy, where the people that are Big Carson-Went supporters, you know, the group of the fan base that just is never going to think the team does any thing wrong, and is just really, really upset and triggered by anybody that constructively discusses the team. I think the two of us would come under the category of we're constructive in our discussion

about the team, sometimes constructively negative. and critical and sometimes constructively positive. But it's however we feel. But man, this Carson Wentz, I think people think when they say get on board, Carson Wentz is going to be great. They're like the only ones saying it. Like everybody else is super negative.

Do you have this sense that people are negative about Carson Wentz? Yes. You do. Okay. Yes. And I think that's face. on his track record. And his track record

is he's been driven out of two towns. He's been banished from two teams who couldn't wait to get rid of him. That's a reasonable opinion. He hasn't done anything here yet. So, I mean, people think, since he hasn't done anything

here yet, he gets some kind of clean slate like the past doesn't exist. Like you're supposed to wipe your memory bank. From everything you know and say, well, none of that matters. He's here in Washington. This is where everyone gets better, right? I actually didn't ask the question the right way,

because I agree with your answer. And I agree it's totally reasonable to be skeptical. I guess my point is what I have felt maybe on radio more than just with this podcast is this sense that those that aren't skeptical at all, and those are the same people that, you know, just say either get on board or get out, you know, that group of people, which I think is a very small percentage of people. And I think most of those people tend to, you know, sort of jerk each other off on social media. But I think it's more about the people that are saying,

you won't even give him a chance. Like with the training camp, he's inaccurate. You won't even give him a chance, and it's just training camp. Well, first of all, I completely agree with that. I'm not going to judge anything based on what I see or hear or read in training camp. Here's something just from today, our good friend Ben Standing. Carson Wentz has cut down on the interceptions in recent practices, but just tossed one.

William Jackson pumped an out route to Terry McCorm. Clorne, the defense rolling early in practice. I'm sure that, you know, and he just tweeted this out, by the end of the day, a bunch of people will just start screaming, why are you hating on Carson Wentz? Yeah, you know, I mean, if you report that he's been thrown a lot of incompletions in a particular practice, and you report he's thrown an interception here and there, your interpretation of it is the problem, not necessarily. Look, I know we all have a bait, not we all, but you have a basic problem with the whole daily play-by-play from training camp.

Yeah. You know, but all they're doing is typing out what they see. I know. Okay. I know. And people's reaction to it is their own personal, you know, prejudices and issues. So if a guy doesn't look good one day in camp and the reporters who are covered a team or writing it. They're not saying he's a bust.

They're not saying, oh, he's a disaster. They're just saying he didn't look good. But see, that's, by the way, let me just for the purposes of being very clear. You know, I don't, I love those guys, and I don't have a problem with them doing that because clearly there is an appetite for that on social media. I just am not going to be influenced as if, like, that's significant to what I'm going to see when the regular season begins. And that's a reasonable opinion.

Absolutely. I think it's much more valuable to listen to what coaches say, or people like Ben are kind of, you know, analyzing overall based on what they're saying. You know, I'm seeing this guy's getting less and less reps with the first team, and that kind of stuff can be, you know, telling. But Carson Wentz throwing a pick in a training camp practice is not a big deal. Him throwing a pick in a preseason game. I'm certainly not going to get worked up on.

But I think, I guess the point I'm making, and I'll give you the Taylor Heineke analogy, and that is there was this time, you were kind of part of the group, but I don't think you were unreasonable. But take somebody like our good friend Sabah. Sabah tried to make it out like everybody but Sabah thought that Taylor Heineke He sucked and had no chance to ever do anything good. And I think the Carson Wentz is great crowd feels like if anybody's constructively critical or constructively or just skeptical, and that's the category I would put myself into, I am very skeptical.

I am very wait and see. Why? Because of what Tommy just said. And if you ignore that, I think you're really stupid to ignore the fact. that two teams, two good franchises, ran them in back-to-back years at an expensive cost to them. But I think that the people that want to be overly positive about everything, they want to feel like they're the only ones.

So that if Carson Wentz ends up having this big season, they can say, no, no, don't start jumping on him having a great season. Now I was the only one. I think that's part of it, a big part of it. That may be part of it. There's also, I think, an underlying fear that the criticism may be right. You mean like an insecurity from those people? Yes, yes.

So they're overcompensating? That's built into this team. I mean, again, I mean, you really would have to be an idiot, not to have an underlying fear of everything concerning this team. And so I think you can overcompensate it by saying, saying, you know, he's going to be fine. He's going to be good. Look what he did here.

He threw 27 touchdowns and only had seven interceptions. Look at those numbers. So I think part of it, too, is an overcompensation because deep down there's a voice inside them that are saying, oh, my God, this is going to be a train wreck. You would think that some of these people, quite honestly, would have learned from their position. because a lot of, again, I think Taylor Heineke might be a good analogy. The people that were really convinced that Taylor Heineke that they had found their answer at quarterback

and didn't want to hear from any of the naysayers about arm strength, about decision making, about any of that stuff, you know, they wanted so desperately to be right and have them, you know, and be able to stand alone as, see, why don't you start listening to me and my podcast? But you would think that like the Taylor Heineke, not that I'm, Taylor Heineke and Carson Wentz are different quarterbacks, okay? I'm not trying to put them and lump them together.

They're different quarterbacks. Carson Wentz has a much, much bigger ceiling. Carson Wentz has many more accomplishments. But it's that same thing. It's like, no, see, Carson Wentz, if we had traded for him, you know, coming out of Philadelphia, just the one stop. I mean, I think there would have been some skepticism there, but not as much as Frank Reich one year. Really? Just one year with Frank Reich after they so desperately wanted him and they traded picks and the whole thing for him.

But anyway, I think it's an interesting. Carson Wentz is the story of this team. Everything about this team revolves around Carson Wentz, who what strikes me about him too. And I know you went to weigh in on the Scott Abraham Jason Wright thing. And we'll do that in the next segment. Is he is so in every interview. And yes, I have asked, trust me, I've asked to do an interview or three with Carson Wentz. I really find him in these interviews to be soft-spoken, humble, and kind of likable.

He hasn't done a lot, has not done a lot of media, and it's from afar, obviously, but there's nothing off-putting about him personally at all. And on some level, even though I'm very skeptical, I am rooting for a lot. him to have a good season and to kind of prove, by the way, the naysayers are much louder outside of this market than inside this market. You can't find anybody nationally that thinks that Carson Wentz is going to resuscitate his career. Including the odds makers. Right. But I don't know. There's something in just the short interviews here and there. And, you know, with the Scott Abraham stuff, I went back and

watch some of the stuff from a couple of months ago because I was actually, I think that was during March, I think I was out when he first did his first thing at that wedding out, out west. And I never, I read the transcript of that interview, but I never actually watched it. And he's, I don't know, he seems to be a likable chap. I don't know how it will work out. I'm very much, my position, let me make it clear on August 16th. He's better than anything they've had since Kirk, he's not better than Kirk. His upside is perhaps higher than Kirk's. I'll give you that if you want to say that. But for me, it's wait and see for two reasons. Philadelphia and Indianapolis. Your position on August 16th is what? State it for the record.

Well, again, my position would be nothing counts until the first regular game of the season. I mean, he accomplished in the preseason game on Saturday against Carolina what he needed to do, which is basically not look bad. Okay? It doesn't matter if you look good in preseason, you just don't want to look bad. Okay, because that that's fuel for the fire. You don't want to give them anything to have fuel with. You know, it's interesting.

I read a quote. I wasn't at the game. I read a quote one of the first things he said in the Post-Kate press conference that it was nice not to be booed. Now, was he talking about his days in Indianapolis or Philly?

I'm not sure. No, he was talking about being back in FedEx Field and not being booed because he's not playing for the Eagles. That's true. Okay. So he said it was nice not to be booed and he accomplished what he wanted to do. I mean, you know, he didn't throw any interceptions.

He looked good in the basically short passing game that they ran, and he gave you no reason to fear the worst. And that's going to, until he establishes himself as somebody who is good and can do what they think he can do, every mistake is always going to be magnified. I mean, every mistake will be tied to his past. So this is why it's important not to make those mistakes. Yeah, you know, it's funny because the performance on Saturday, which I considered to be, it was okay.

You know, it wasn't great, wasn't terrible, whatever. It's a preseason game. Who really knows? But he didn't do anything that made him look bad, and he didn't do anything that made him look great. But in sort of the spirit, I guess, of this conversation about Carson Wentz, at halftime I just put out, you know, a list of first half standouts and first half duds. And I did not include, by the way, my number one first half standout was Rick Doc Walker, who was the absolute best part of the entire day. Yes, yes, he was.

You did get to hear him, right? Oh, yeah. No, I was at my cigar place. quartermasters and Frederick. And we had the game on there. So, yeah, absolutely. Remember I texted you. Some of his comments.

Let me just say, I was on a group text with a bunch of people, and we were just, I mean, I don't know, all of us that have worked with Doc were really happy and thrilled with that day. And I think that, you know, NBC Sports Washington should absolutely be thrilled because that's a preseason game. And I know people that would have not even watched or turned it off at the end of the first quarter that hung in there for pretty much the entire game, which I did for the first time in a long time. But in the conversation about Carson Wentz, I did not include him as a first half standout. Why? Because he wasn't. That's why. I mean, if he had been a first half standout, I would have said it. I would have had no problem.

From this dude who's now blocked me, by the way. Disrespect. Hold on. Where's the original? Oh, because he blocked me, I can't even see the original tweet that he sent me. Basically it was that I was disrespecting Carson Wentz by not listing him as a first-stap standout. And there was something else. You see, this is why he was a standout in their mind, because, But he didn't make any, he didn't screw up. He didn't poop himself. That made him a standout.

But because that's what they're scared of. Yeah, but it's just so funny that people dig their heels in on, you know, look, if you want to, you know, there's no cost to being optimistic. And so, God love you, bless your heart. But here's what you can't do. You can't lecture people if they're not the same way. And if they're not the same way, you know, whether it's reasonable or unreasonable, don't lecture when you are, you know, I mean, this dude lectured me with his thing, and my response was a snowflake to which he got really upset and then blocked me.

But it's like, but it's like I don't understand why these people, like a preseason game and his guy wasn't listed on some talk show hosts first half, standout list in a tweet. I mean, I think the fact that he blocked him, he tells you all you need to know. But there are people out there that have dug their heels in, and it's like, if you're not all in on Carson Wentz right now,

well, you know, you can't be all in when he kills it this year. Well, but we're not I'm not all out. I'm just waiting to see. They're trying to push the tide. They're trying to push against the tide. I guess. And, you know, we'll see what happens.

But, I mean, he did what he needed to do. You want to know? He completed, he completed passes. He didn't look bad. He didn't fumble any snaps. Everything looks fine. Right. I mean, you don't become a standout just for functioning.

No, no, of course not. And he functioned on Saturday. Right. That's what he did. But, yeah. And, you know, again, even if he had been a standout in the first half, it really wouldn't have meant anything. If he had sucked in the first half, it wouldn't have meant anything.

Now, it would have meant something to some people, just like if he had lit it up in the first half, it would have meant something to a lot of people. And that's the problem. That's the problem, though. That's what he can't afford to do. You know? He can't afford to book bad.

Yes, he can. No, he can't. Well, what happens if he doesn't? Well, I mean, again, the momentum will start to build. The momentum for what? To get him out of there. Like my bold prediction. By the 10th game.

By week 10th game. Yeah. Yeah. I think we're a long way away from a bad performance. It's the preseason. If he has a terrible performance against Jacksonville and Detroit to start the season and back-to-back weeks, then we can. can start to talk about momentum. And by the way, it would be loud, loud momentum at that point

and very aggressive momentum if it's really bad and they lose. Well, here's the thing. I mean, in those games, I mean, particularly the Jacksonville game, the home game, if there's a bad performance based on the thousands and thousands of people of commanders fans that are going to be in the stadium, according to Jason Wright, based on, you know, the stand will be filled with commanders fans. There'll be a lot of momentum, you know, because there'll be a lot of eyes on that then. Yeah. Yep, that's true.

Yeah. We're going to talk about, I know you've got some things to say about that. I think I'm all worn out on that. I did listen to the two fight songs yesterday, the slow version that felt like, you know, there was someone attempting to be an opera singer, which they should shoot dead right now. And then the other one, which I got to tell you, seriously, I just, I wouldn't have done it.

Now, after hearing it, I don't think they need a fight song. I don't think they need a mascot. I don't think any of that. But I did real quickly want to mention that yesterday on the show, which for those of you that use the website to listen to the show and not Apple, most of you listen on Apple. And again, rate us, review us. it's really helpful.

I had Sam Fortier on the show from the Washington Post. I actually like Sam a lot. I think he's smart and I think he's good. And he revealed to me, and I didn't know this, that Scott Turner was on the sidelines on Saturday, calling plays from there instead of in the booth. And it led to a conversation about, you know, I think it's kind of interesting.

I went and looked at this before the radio show. this morning. 13 of last year's 32 offensive play callers when the season began were head coaches. So I think it's maybe 14 or 15 projected for this year. Head coaches are also the play callers. So I'm interested to know, let's say it's 14 this year, of what percentage of the other 18 that aren't the head coach, but they're the offensive coordinator and play caller, what percentage of those are in the booth and what percentage of those are on the sideline? I don't know the answer to that. My gut is that more are in the booth

and maybe a lot more are in the booth than on the sideline, which is where Scott Turner's been the last two years, but he is now on the sideline, and Rivera was asked in his presser yesterday about whether or not this would be permanent and he said,

I think so. And he got into this discussion about he said, when he talks to the quarterback now, it's a direct conversation. It really is. I think that really, it helps them both. And I kind of like that. I thought he had a really good feel. I really did because when you don't have where you're sitting there and looking at the play clock and we're going to get delay of game penalties, that tells you, hey, there's a rhythm. They're both on the same page.

It's easy for him to make the call one time and it goes directly to the quarterback as well. I think that's a big part of it in terms of the communications. So let me just tell you that that answer, he answered the question, which is I think so. I think Scott's going to be there. But the reason why other than the direct conversation between player and play caller, the rest of it in terms of communication and delay of game penalties, that's just not true anymore. The offensive coordinator has until 15 seconds on the play clock to be talking to the quarterback through his headset.

Years ago, you would have to call down and then someone would have to call the play in. But no, it doesn't matter where you are, you know, a sideliner booth, The communications there, I don't see the odds changing on delay a game penalties, booth or sideline. If that were the case, then every single play caller would be on the sideline. They would never risk that. I think it's because of the following. This is just a theory.

Doug Peterson was Carson Wentz's first coach. He called the plays. He was the head coach. He was on the sideline. Carson Wentz's second head coach. Frank Reich was also the play caller. He was on the sideline. I think this is something that Carson Wentz prefers,

which, by the way, I'm not being critical. I'm not knocking it. I just think it's something that he's used to because he's never had the play caller in the booth. He's had the play caller with him. Head coach twice. Scott Turner's not the head coach. But maybe it's something that he prefers.

Because I think most coordinators and play callers actually prefer the upper booth view and the lack of chaos on the sideline. You know, and it's more calm and they can spread out all their stuff, et cetera. But we're going to get Scott Turner on the sideline this year. And that's my theory. I don't know if I'm right or wrong. But I think it's because that's what Carson wants. It makes sense to me because that's what he's had before.

And Scott Turner was in the booth the last two years. and Scott's father, Norv, when he wasn't the head coach, was always in the booth. Always. Well, I mean, look, and it also may come into play that, you know, Carson Wentz being new to Scott Turner. You want to build the relationship between them. So the direct conversations probably contributes to that. I mean, this is kind of minutia here in a way as to whether or not one's better than than the other. And your theory is very plausible. It could be that or it could just be that,

you know, that they want to build a relationship between Scott Turner and Carson Wentz. Maybe a year from now, if Carson Wentz is still here, it'll be a different. You know, he'll be up in a booth. Yeah, I agree. I don't know. I don't know which is better. You'd have to talk to an offensive coordinator. Hey, you want to weigh in on some Jason and write stuff. I've got some other stuff too. We'll get to all of that right after these words from a few of our messages. MyBooky is sponsoring this podcast as my bookie has for now going on, I think, three years plus. The reason that my bookie continues to sponsor this podcast is because it's working for them, but I have trust in them. You know, I know a lot about gambling and

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Go to mybooky.ag or mybooky.com. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. You got to use my promo code Kevin D.C. And they'll take good care of you. All right, Tommy. I, you know, on Friday's podcast and then even a little bit more yesterday, talked about the Scott Abraham thing with Jason Wright. You haven't been back with me to discuss it.

You and I talked about it off the air a little bit, but go ahead, have at it. Well, I posted two things on Twitter about it in reaction to what Jason Wright did. And the first one was the irony of this is that nobody is a bigger cheerleader in this town for the team in the media than Scott Abraham. He gives them more positive coverage than their own house unit does. So the go after this guy is just really short-sighted. You know, of all the people that he could have gone after.

The second thing is, you know, even if the questions were harsh and I might have asked them differently, Carson went to handle it fine. He didn't storm off the set. He didn't get visibly mad, even if he was internally. He handled it well, like a pro.

And to have Jason Wright, you know, go on social media and feel the need to defend their quarterback, to me, makes them look soft, like they're worried about him. Like they feel the need to come out and defend him where he handled it fine. He didn't need anybody to run down to the schoolyard because he got beat up. He handled it fine. Do you think? So those are my two things. Do you think that describing Scott the way you just described him at the beginning is, you know, I think, I know you well. And I, you know, I don't think you were doing this, but I think he can come off as being kind of critical of Scott.

Like you basically called him a house guy for all intents and purposes. I don't think he's that. I like him personally. But yes, it's a criticism. It's not a compliment. Yeah, I like Scott. I don't know that I know enough to be able to say that. I've seen him do a lot of positive stuff.

I have certainly heard Scott ask some difficult questions during, you know, pressers with Rivera as an example. I don't think he's lobbing softballs up there all the time, but maybe you feel differently. But yes, I agree with you. and it's the thing you and I talked about too. I would not have, you know, introed the second question the way he did, but it certainly was not, it didn't cross some line.

I mean, I don't know if I mentioned this to you the other day when we were talking about it. And I'm curious as to what your answer is to this. First of all, if Jason didn't respond, it would have been largely a non-event. I mean, there would have been no follow-up conversation about this at all. Secondly, Even though Warren Sharp,

Even though Warren Sharp was the one to first pointed out, I still think it would have died. Warren Sharp pointed it out. I didn't even know that. Yeah, Warren Sharp was the first to point it out. And he raised his eye. He said this was pretty harsh. I forget what his words were. Exactly. All right.

And that would have given it some traction. But here locally, what gave it the traction was Jason Wright. Yeah, and I also think, and I think if, I think if a national reporter, and we'd have to go back because I think Carson Wentz has done some national. This question's been asked before of him, obviously. I just kind of feel like if a national reporter, somebody of more prominence nationally from a sports media standpoint than Scott had asked the question, I'm not sure there would have been a response. I think if an ex-athlet who was a media member had asked the question,

because you can actually make the case that, you know, think of our, very good friend Doc Walker, right? And I'm not saying that he would have handled it this way. But Doc sometimes, and players sometimes, will try to fire a guy up. Man, Philadelphia didn't want you. Indy didn't want you. Is this your last chance to make it work?

You know, and it would have been more like motivational rather than attacking. It would have been perceived that way, and it would have been intended that way. I'm not saying that that's the way Doc would have done it. But I can hear somebody, you know, that is more familiar with, what he's gone through, ask it that way.

And I just think it would have been absolutely not responded to had it been, you know, a national guy or, you know, a former athlete asking it in that way. But again, I do get the tone thing, but I think it was a massive overreaction. Bottom line. Yeah, it was. Yeah. It absolutely was. And again, he, Carson Winston, he may have, he may not have liked it, but I thought he

handled it well. Oh, he handled it really well. He's handled a lot of that stuff really well. Yes. I mean, again, we talked about it in the open of this show. I actually think every single time I've heard him speak and interviewed, he does a really good job and he comes off as very soft-spoken and non-assertive, you know, and anyway. So that's my thoughts on the whole Carson-Wenst. Jason Wright thing. It was, and again, I mean, I really feel strongly about this. I mean, people dismiss this. They thought I was, I was really off base on it, but I don't think I am. I mean, why, I mean, I just think that feeling the need to defend Carson Wentz shows a defensiveness within the organization about Carson Wentz. And I just think it was, it showed that they're, they might be

concerned their quarterback is a little fragile. Yeah, I don't know that that's it, but that that's why he did it. But you could certainly draw that conclusion that he needs to be protected by people in the organization. My bigger issue, Tommy, wasn't, you know, that access was threatened because that doesn't really impact me, although I do understand that, you know, especially for an organization that actually needs people to, you know, pay attention to them, that threatening access probably isn't in their best interest.

But beyond that, I just think that Jason Wright needs to be more anonymous. He's the head of business for this team. This isn't his guy to defend. This is the head coach's guy to defend. If there actually needed to be a public defense because the interviewer was so outrageously rude and aggressive, then it should have been Ron who was, you know,

handling it. Not your head of business. You know, your team president. We've talked about this before, but this is the only organization or one of very few where fans like not only know this person, but they're putting like

a lot of faith and or you know, they're putting, they want to to either give him credit or give him blame for a lot of things. And it's like you wouldn't know this person in most organizations, even with some of the things they've been working on. Like he wouldn't be a person you would blame for the Sean Taylor debacle or the, you know, low energy rollout of the name thing. You know, the reason that we know him, number one is because he was the first black, you know, team president in the history of the league. So that was going to, you know, ensure that we knew the

name. But, you know, the owner is such a recluse. The owner is so despised that we just keep waiting, or a lot of people do, I'm really not in that boat anymore of waiting for somebody to step up and take the organization over and take it. It's not the business person. Okay? You got to win more games and you can't screw up the crest. You can't screw up DeShon Taylor retirement. You can't screw up Trent Williams on the next 10 for the 90 greatest. And then ask for everybody to give you a lot of credit for like this incredible progress report you got on your HR department. People, I agree.

I use this analogy this morning on radio. Rudy, by the way, Sean Aston was fantastic and stranger things. I thought he was really good, Rudy, for those of you who don't know Sean Aston is. But remember when Rudy says to ERA Parsigen in the movie Rudy, when he asks to dress for a game, he said, my family and my friends back home, they don't know I'm on the team. They can't come to practice and see me practice.

They don't think I'm on the team because they don't see me dressed and on the sidelines for games. And, you know, Ayer says, is this really for, you know, your family and your friends? and, you know, he says, well, it's for me too, but it's for all of the guys at the mill. It's for all of the guys, whatever the line is there. I mean, all due respect to Jason and the people, the good people that now work there that didn't used to work there, and it's a better place to work, you know, we don't work there.

We can't see you at practice. And really, the only thing that matters is what happens on the field. And what happens in terms of, like, big PR event. and those things haven't improved at all. So until those things improve, we're not going to know that you're on the team and it's not going to matter. And I think what last week was about was, you know,

and we've heard it from Ron to a certain extent, they want credit for a much better workplace than existed before they got there. Well, most people all do respect to, all of the victims of that toxic workplace. Most people just care that they went on the field. And they're 14 and 19 in the two years since Ron got here. And they've had one major PR gaffe after another for some of the bigger PR things.

So it's hard to, you know, as I said the other day, along with fans do a big sing-along for the progress report grade that they got. got for their HR department and their workplace. That's great. I believe that it's much better. Jason called it gold standard the other day. Did you hear that? Did you read that? Said they are now the gold standard. I know. They're the team that other teams call to find out how they're doing it. Right. And I think that's a big effort to try and get and garner some support and credit for what they've done in two years. But again, we can't see what they've done in two years.

Every seven or eight days, I use the analogy you gave when we were talking on the phone and I gave you credit for it, the chalkboard at the construction site or in the warehouse. Yeah. You know, it's like every six or seven days, they're erasing the number and writing zero since the last accident.

But they don't see it that way. And I don't know where the disconnect is. because they haven't won a playoff game in 17 years. They're 14 and 19 in the last two years. They got desperate. Again, it's an upgrade at quarterback, and they at least did something at quarterback here, but they probably overpaid for the quarterback.

There's a lot of, you know, of the things that are visible on television when ERA and the boys come out and play that hasn't been so great. They want us to ignore that and focus on the fact that it's a better place to work now. Congratulations on that, and I'm being serious, not sarcastic. That's a big thing. They had some bad people throughout that organization.

Arrogent, dumb, you know, incredibly non-customerrorist service-oriented, terrible relationship builders with people in the market. And Jason is different from that standpoint. You know, he is a decent person. Ron's a decent person. And the people they've hired, I'm sure, are decent people. But really, win more on the field and be less of an embarrassment off of it. And then things will start to change.

And we'll give you the credit that you want. But not until then. They still have a lot to earn, I think. Yes, they do. And not just one year. There needs to be an example of consistency all the way around. I just noticed something, and Jason writes comments on Saturday at the, when he held court at the preseason game and told all the reporters how great the organization was doing. Right.

You know, he was questioned about the Jason, the Scott Abraham thing. Right. And somebody had asked him, which we both agree would have been the case, about, you know, contacting Scott privately. Right. And speaking to him about this rather than public. Wright said the team had plenty of conversations with Abraham before taking the critique public. Now, according to this, Scott Abraham disputes that account. He said a team spokesman had only texted him once.

Yeah, I called Scott before I talked about this on Friday to find out, because that was my first thing, is he should have called him and discussed this privately. Scott said that he never got called before. Jason Wright is lying here, then. Well, no, it's a he said he said. You know, we don't know that he... Okay, somebody's lost. lying. Somebody's lying. Yeah.

Yes. Somebody's lying. Yeah. I mean, or somebody's exaggerating the communication because I guess what you said that Jason said, and I didn't see that, is that you know, it's very possible

that the guys in the PR department, you know, texted Scott and, you know, had it back and forth. But before the team president goes on Twitter, basically calling you, you know, names and unprofessional. And, you know, I suggested this, too.

Really, if you're going to tweet from that organization, don't call people names at all, but definitely don't call other people unprofessional because that is really pot and kettle situation. Yeah. But I, you know, he should have, I think that's something that should have been handled privately. But whatever. Yeah.

Yeah, he referred Saturday with the beat reporters to other teams are calling them now to find out, you know, how they've, you know, turned things around and that they've become the gold standard in the NFL. And I think he's talking again about human resources, you know, workplace environment. And that's great. You know, he did make that comment about ghosts of Christmas past, which people are criticizing him for. My personal view is, I don't think he meant it as a diss to the women. that, you know, were victims of the toxic workplace. But it does fail to be sensitive to the victim. I understand that.

I understand that. You know, it would have been better had he not said it. But what I think he was trying to say was we have faced a lot of, and he used the word headwind at one point. And they have, of course. But, you know, for all of the complaining on the football side about the headwind, we're not standing in your way of working harder, making trades, you know, practicing, playing well on the field. You know, the players, we've talked about this a million times.

The players really don't pay attention to much of this shit anyway. Cooley always made that point when Dan was doing all the stuff when he was playing. It's like, we really didn't know. I mean, I'm sure they know more about what's been happening in the last two years. But no excuses. win 10 or more games this year. You know? I'm not going to, I know, coolly played.

But I think a lot of family, a lot of players, they go home to families. They're family members, no. Well, I'm saying the last two years is different than when he played because of, you know, the accusations of the workplace. You can't even hide from what's happened in the last few years. You have to hide under a rock not to know what's going to. going on. All right. A couple more things than then we'll finish up the show. After these words from a few of our sponsors. Window Nation has their back to school sale going on right now. Get two free windows with every two you buy. Pay nothing until 2024. Lower your energy bills. Raise the value of your home with new energy efficient windows from window nation.

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86690 Nation, Windonation.com, and tell them that I sent you. Okay. You were out there for Soto. over the weekend and his return. The crowds were amazing over the weekend. So tell me about it. Well, let's keep a little perspective. Friday night they had 35,000 people, you know,

but nobody mentioned any of the stories. It was pups in the park night. There were people with dogs all over the stadium. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, that would have been, I would have done that. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, it was, it still would have probably been a good crowd, but not 35,000. Most people were there for Fido, not Soto, you know. So, so, I mean, and I think the crowd on Sunday was good, maybe 27,000, but my God, it was, it was a gorgeous day on Sunday, you know. It was great. I'm sure, well, you know, some of them were there to see Soto. And it was pretty much a love fest, you know. every time he got up to hit almost, he got a standing ovation, and every time he'd go out to the outfield, the right field, you know, a fan would stand up and cheer, and he'd wave his,

you know, wave his arms back to them, and I called it Wann Stock, three days of peace and love for Wantsota. Well, I'm... But, but, and he did, he did an interview, and I was there in the Padres dugout on Friday before the game, talked about the emotions, talked about how he cried all morning the day he was traded. And, you know, I talked to people in the organization who said, you know, he really didn't want to be traded. You know, he wanted to stay here.

But I have come to the conclusion even more so than before that the leak, benefited Scott Boris more than it did the organization. The leak that he would not take $440 million, I think that played in the Boris's hands, not just to set a bottom line for what it would take to sign this kid, whenever he does become a free agent. But also, it really shook Soto. The leak shook Soto. He was very upset by it.

and I think if Scott Forrest wanted to illustrate that this is a business and not your home, I think having that information leak out did just that. I don't think it, I think it benefited the Nats too. I think it benefited them from. Well, it did. It did benefit the Nats, but there's a two-fold one. And the one that's really, no one's talked about that I think, I think really is what happened here, is that I think it showed him that, you know, you've got to look out for yourself.

That, you know, this may be the place you grew up. This may be where all your friends are. They may say they love you, but look what they did to you. But Boris has filled this kid with thinking about being the greatest, his kid's mind, with thinking about the greatest free agent in the history of baseball. You know, and he's pretty much brainwashed him into thinking that people forget. He's a 23-year-old kid. And Scott Boris is arguably one of the most, not arguably, he is one of the most powerful people in all baseball.

So there's a little bit of intimidation factor there at play, I think. And I think Boris, you know, to basically work this kid over enough to think that, you know, you need to go to free agency. what better way to do? Where would you rather have him ply his wares for the next couple years, you know, to promote the free agent market? With a penn and contender like the Padres or with a rebuilding team like Washington, if you're Boris? Where would you rather have him play?

Yeah, they're not, you know, right now if the season ended, I don't think they're in, are they? I mean, they've not. They might be in for the wild card. No, right now, the Braves, And the Phillies would be the two wild cards. The Padres are a half game behind the Phillies right now, who are apparently going to get Bryce Harper back.

That makes them a contender. Well, I understand that. If you're half a game out, you're a contender. But since acquiring him, they have a losing record since acquiring him. They'll probably be that way next year. And the year after that, if Soto is still there. No Tatee, Jr. So we'll see.

Yeah, I know. for most of this year, for all this year and part of next year. But it serves Boris's purpose to have him traded rather than to stay in Washington. Right. The record since the trade is five and seven. The Padres are five and seven since the trade. And I think they were in wild card position, but my God, the Phillies have just been red hot.

Yeah. And they are... Speaking of Bryce. Yeah. Speaking of Bryce Harper, what people forget, you know, Bryce Harper was Boris's Juan Soto earlier. You know, and I mean, people, you know,

Bryce Harper certainly didn't get the same reaction that Soto got. People booed Bryce Harper when he came back. But that's in part because Bryce, the free agency dance for Bryce Harper went all the way up until the end. So it's he left after his contract was up. Well, yeah. He wasn't traded.

Two and a half years. Right. So that's why, in part, why Soto get a much warmer reception than Harper would, plus Soto's more likable than Harper. Let's face it. But, you know, for all the hype about Harper, the problem is there's only, maybe one or two teams that will be able to afford a contract like they think they're going to get for Juan Soto.

And ultimately, I don't think Bryce Harper got the deal that he thought he would get. No. No, that was the big story. It wasn't what people thought he would get. I mean, look, Strasberg's deal, now in hindsight, given that he's barely pitched since signing the deal, well, certainly in the last two years anyway. It's a hell of a deal. But no, no, I mean, that's the deal that he signed in Philly,

when there was criticism of the learners and of the Nats, it was like we couldn't afford that to keep him. Harper, they didn't want Harper, obviously. And I don't know that he wanted to be here. I think it's interesting that you think that Soto definitely wanted to be here, that people have told you that. I'm not suggesting you're wrong. at all. But, you know, this is a tough place right now. They're a long way away from being,

I mean, I think they are. You might say, well, the trade actually accelerates their, you know, timeline on being able to compete. And if they had Soto without the trade, without replenishing their farm system, without replenishing, you know, even what they'll have, hopefully they, you know, Abrams was called up last night and started his first game, that they, you know, some people think that they could actually be much more competitive next year than they would have been without the trade. But we don't know whether or not they're ever going to contend with this group. Right. But Soto values relationships.

He cares about people. At least he did. I'm sure he still does, obviously. But Soto valued the relationships. Remember, this was an organization that has a deal in place for his younger brother to come play for them. Right. You know, when they consigned him, this was all about relationships for him here in Washington. Sure, the losing got old, but I don't think that soured him on playing in Washington.

I think the leak is what did it, and I think that worked for Boris very well. The Nats actually won a game last night, and by the way, Nelson Cruz finally had a decent game. and so did Josiah Gray, and C.J. Abrams was called up for his first start at shortstop. He was 0 for 4 in the game. But, God, they are terrible. They are really, really bad. You know, actually, I think the postseason, which we're now, you know, two months away from, less than two months away from, I think it could be a wild fun postseason. I mean, just look at the potential just for the wild card games. I mean, the Orioles are only a game and a half out of the second wild card right now. You've got Seattle in there right now, Tampa and Toronto and Baltimore all in the mix.

In the National League, you've got a Braves Phillies one game or a Braves Padres one game to advance would be pretty fascinating to watch. And then, you know, you've got the Yankees who have obviously cooled off after their incredible start, the Astros in the American League. you've got the Mets and the Dodgers in the National League. The Dodgers right now, and I think what are they on pace to win right now? Is it 112 something like that? Here I could do the math real quickly. They played 114.

That means they've got 48 left. Their winning percentage is that. So 33 more wins. So they, oh, okay, 113. They're on pace right now to win. 113 games. Pretty impressive. I know that, but they just lost one of their stud starters.

Walker Bueller is having seasoned elbows, ending surgery. And Kershaw is out right now, right? I don't know. Yeah, I think Kershaw's kind of hurt right now. You know, you're missing a big story about the Nationals. Joey Menace? I've talked about it the last couple days. The dude's hitting like 420.

Meneces. Manessus. 12 against the Padres. It's amazing. Five home runs in 10 games. Who is he? He was saying, they got him out of, I think he was like, did they get him out of the Mexican league?

I think they did. Right now, Menesis, since coming up to the Biggs, after last night, he's hitting 385. He's hitting 385 with an OPS of 1.200.

Mike, a 15 hit. He said he became the other night only the third major leaguer this year to have two or more hits in five consecutive games. But last night he only had one hit. He was one for four last night. His nickname is Caba Jolie. He's playing center field, right? No, he's not playing center field. Where is he playing?

Right field somewhere. I think he was playing right field the other day. Okay. All right, brother. Anything else? He played in Japan for a while. He was playing in Mexico for all. He's been everywhere. Okay. You know, but he's a new hero.

Yes, he is. All right, we're done today. I got to go. Thanks. I'll talk to you on Thursday. All right, boss. All right. Back tomorrow, everybody.