The Kevin Sheehan Show - Thom's Bold Wentz Prediction

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with Thom's impressions from his day at Commanders' training camp yesterday along with a bold prediction about Carson Wentz' 2022 season. They talked Sports Media Bracket Madness, the NFC East QB with the most to prove, and more. 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Don't forget for all of your gambling needs as we approach the first full preseason weekend of the NFL. Go to my bookie.orgie.orgie.com. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they will double your first deposit all the way up to $1,000.

They've got plenty of preseason prop bets for the NFL. and all of the preseason week one action that you can handle. I've never been, Tommy, a preseason football better. But I think I've mentioned this to you every year, this time of year. I have friends of mine that bet the shit out of preseason football and are convinced that there's a much better opportunity on preseason games to win than there is during the regular season. And I think any better would tell you, sports better, would tell you, the NFL is probably the hardest sport to bet. You know, lines are razor sharp.

There's so much information out there. It's only one game a week. You know, there are no back-to-backs or potential, you know, rests of players that might get out. But I don't bet preseason football. I don't even, I can barely even watch preseason football. but go to my bookie and use my promo for Kevin D.C. I've compared preseason football.

I don't even think it's as credible as professional wrestling in terms of its credibility. But it's like it's sort of like High Lie. If you know who's throwing, who's fixing it, then you've got information. I think it went preseason football. I'm not saying it's fixed. but if you are real confident in your team's tendencies in preseason,

you can have an easier time predicting what's going to happen. It's almost like the unpredictable, unpredictability of all these players no one has ever heard of makes the outcome more predictable. Yeah, I think that's part of it. But what I think a lot of betters will focus in on is the coach's tendency in preseason. Now, we have a different preseason, you know, starting last summer, the three-game preseason, which, by the way, the third preseason game is now a full two weeks plus before the opener rather than the 10 days or 11 days before the opener, which means that, you know, the fourth preseason game was always a game in which nobody played, really. There were a couple of coaches that played guys, but that was it. But, you know, there are lots of things that I think betters would look for in preseason, but I think you're right.

Hitting on kind of tendencies organizationally, coaching staff-wise, is what they're looking for. And by the way, they may have more information on how long their front-line guys are going to go versus the opponent. And then you've got first half-line opportunities versus the overall game. Because you really, in every preseason environment, you get into the second half, and you have no idea what's going to happen with roster spots, you know, 25 through 53 playing. But the first half lines, if you really have a sense that one team, you know, that Tampa Bay is going to put out Brady and Evans and Godwin,

and they're going to try to throw the ball over the field and try to put up 21 points and a half and then sit them. and the other team is playing their first ring for the first two series and that's it? Yeah. But you got to have that information. You went to training camp yesterday, so I do want to talk about that. But I want to start with this. I got this.

Alex sent this to both of us yesterday. He said, have you all seen this? Well, yesterday, I didn't see this. I must not have missed it somehow. That's okay. That was pretty busy yesterday. Yes, I know. Okay.

Yeah, well, you're going to tell us about it here shortly. But I wanted to start with this because I thought this was really interesting. I think this has been done before somebody else did this a few years back, I remember. But it's called the D.C. sports fan bracket challenge for local media stars. I don't think any of us are true stars. And it's done at D.C. Sports fan. Speak for yourself. Well, you are. DCsportsfan.com. And what they, and here's what they wrote. As the hot summer days slowly pass by, D.C. Sportsfan.com is here to help you help keep you entertained until football season begins on all levels. We have handpicked the 32 most relevant and popular local media stars in the DMV. By the way, it's all sports media people. And created an NCAA tournament style bracket to see.

who eventually ends up on top. The contest rules are simple. This is a popularity contest. Basically, which local media star dominates the market? No former pro athletes are included, so no Brian Mitchell, John Riggins, Doc Walker, etc. Each matchup currently gets voted on daily through an Instagram poll.

Once we see which poll runs more accurate, we'll use the best source for polls. Local media stars who are now on the national scene are not included. Cornheiser and Wilbon. By the way, it says the local media star who wins will receive a free t-shirt, courtesy of the Sports Extra Screen Printing and Embroidery. If that's my man, Todd at Sports Extra.

And Todd, if you're behind this, good job. I know Todd very well. I used to have to get uniforms for basketball teams all the time, and I did it at Sports Extra in Bethesda. Anyway, they put together this bracket. But before they put together the bracket, they announced the seeding. It's a 32-person field. And so you have four one-seeds, four-two-seeds, four-three seeds, all the way up to four-eight seeds.

You and I, the junkies, all four of the sports junkies, were the number one seeds overall. Now, to be honest with you, I think Steve Zabin should have been a number one seed. I think Andy Poland should have gotten consideration for being a number one seed. But I think that the four junkies, I guess what they're saying is this show, which has been on the air for 25 plus years, and has been just an incredible success story over the last quarter century. Maybe it's hard to separate any one of the four, so they're going to put them all four on the one line. the number two seeds, and I'm going to tell you, I was floored by this, because I would not have guessed that I would have been the first of the number two seeds,

followed by J-P-Finley, Tom Levero, L-E-V-E-R-O. Oh, great. I can't even spell my name right. Yeah, but you're a two-seed. Unbelievable. I'm shocked that I'm a two-seed. I'm actually very surprised your two seed as well. I would have thought we would have been, you know, top 16 seeds when I saw some of the names of the people in here.

I think the seeding wasn't great, but the two seed line, you and I are both on it, J.P. Finley and Steve Buckhance are on it. The three seed line includes Ben Standig, Chad Dukes, Al Galdi, and Chick Hernandez. Tom Boswell, Mark Maskey, Dan Steinberg, and Al Koken are four seeds. Danny Ruey, Grant Paulson, John Kime, Mark Zuckerman, or five seeds. Barry's Veruga, Chris Miller, Steve Zabin, and Andy Poland were six seeds. Right then and there, I've got a problem with the committee. The committee underseeded Zabe and Andy significantly. The seven seeds are Mitch Tishler.

Mitch is one of JPs guys, right? Pete Haley, who's one of JPs guys on his podcast, Joe Beninotti, who should have been much higher-seeded than a seven, and Adam Kilgore. And then the eight seeds are Matt Valdez. I don't know who that is. Sorry, Matt. He's one of the junkies producers.

Okay. Matt... And, you know, the junkies producers are very involved in the show, so their personalities of their own. Okay. Matt Cahill, a drab t-shirt. Is that also a junkies producer?

Is that a 106-7 the fan producer? Yeah, I believe so. And I think he was Chad's producer. Okay. As well. And then Scott Abraham. Yeah, he's a 1067 producer. And then Scott Abraham and Michael Jenkins,

and that filled out the field. They were the eight seeds. So let me just say, I was overseeded, you were overseated. I'm not going to mention any other people that were overseeded, even though I think there were

several people here overseeded. I'll mention the people that I think were underseeded. Joe Beninati for sure. Now this is going to sound self-serving in a moment when we talk about first round matchups. Zabe and Andy were underseeded. I think Barry's Verlugan

Chris Miller were underseated. I think Grant was underseated and Danny probably too, Kime also. But anyway, the bracket has already been voted on and the first round matchups went pretty much all chalk or for the most part chalk.

I think there was a couple of fives over fours, but the big upset, well, first of all, let me talk about your first round matchup. You crushed Mitch Tishler and your 27, 2-seed versus 7-seed first rounder, 69% to 31%. That was one of the biggest routes in the first round. All four, I think all four number one seeds won.

Did all four number one seeds win? Yes, all four number one seeds won. And all but one of the number two, two seeds advanced. The number two seed that did not advance was me. I got Joe B. Really? Well, I got Joe B as a first round matchup.

It's a terrible matchup in the first round. I would have voted for Joe if I had voted for this. You got a bell. I mean, no offense to Mitch, who I'm sure is the nicest guy. And I think JP and Pete and Mitch. Mitch is the third guy of the three on the podcast, and they do a lot of stuff for NBC Sports, Washington. I think they do a great job.

But Buck got Adam Kilgore in a 2-7 matchup. You got Mitch Tishler, and J.P. Finley got Pete Haley. Pete works for JP. He crushed. I got Joe Beninati, maybe the greatest play-by-play voice, one of them in the history of this town. So I got beaten a close first round matchup. I was the highest seed eliminated in the first round.

So now what I just noticed is they've already posted the second round or some of the second round results. You're matched up in a two versus six. Barry's Verluga beat Ben Standing. Standing was the three. Barry was a six. Barry was underseated, as Joe B was in my opinion. and Barry upset Ben, seating-wise.

Let me just say if I was giving a point spread on a first-round matchup between Verlugan standing, I think that would have been one of those situations where the lower-seeded team would have perhaps been favored in the game. Let me point out something here that Barry's Faluga is a columnist for the Washington Post. his stage is much, much bigger than mine or anybody's. I know. Okay? Hence the underseated nature of him. Yes.

Yeah. Absolutely. I agree. So do you think even though he's going to be, I mean, Barry's going to beat me. One thing, he's not going to beat me because I'm not Tom Laveri. I'm Tom Laverro. Well, they just spelled it L.E. E-V-E-R-O initially, but in the bracket,

I don't know who that is. In the bracket, they've got you spelled correctly. So they do have in the bracket, in the actual bracket sheets that got handed out in the office, you are spelled correctly. I mean, that's a pretty bad diss when it cave and spell your name right, and they're claiming you're popular. You know? Yeah.

I would make, I would make. Go ahead. Make Barry a favorite, definitely. Yes, so would I. Yeah, Barry got underseeded as a six and got to face Ben in the first round. And look, Ben has, you and I both feel this way about Ben. He has really created quite a following for himself in a short period of time. And, you know, the key for Ben was to jump to the football beat rather than...

The athletic. Yeah, and cover the football team. rather than cover the wizards. Right, but the athletic is also a big boost for him as well. This is a major sports website. Yes. You know? So, again, he has a big stage as well.

All these, I have a small stage. The Washington Times Sports section, and actually my bigger stage in your podcast. It might be. Well, no, it is. If I don't say so myself. Well, it is and it isn't. I mean, let's let's face it. And you diss our website the other day, and I'm thinking I should have came back with this.

I mean, our website, the Washington Times website, the Kevin Sheen podcast is a drop in the ocean compared to the Washington Times website. Okay? Let me just point that out. Yeah, well, I understand. Is that just because it's a very conservative paper and it has a huge conservative audience that reads it? It has a huge following on the internet. Huge. Right.

I think it's like top 15 or 20 in the country in terms of newspapers. Well, there you go. Well, this podcast ranks really high in Bermuda. Anyway, so am I getting my ass kicked? Well, there's no result yet for your matchup in the second round. So far, Eric Bickle from the junkies, into the, this would be the elite eight. He beat Grant Paulson pretty handily.

Kime pulled off a first round upset, although I wouldn't have considered that an upset over Steinberg. I would have considered that an upset over Dan five years ago, but not now. Yes. Dan is an editor now. He doesn't, he's not in high profile anymore. He's not a columnist. Zabe, to me, was the most underst. seeded in the entire field.

He absolutely destroyed Chad Dukes in the first round. That is, yeah, that's one of the biggest, that was one of the biggest differences in score. He got 74% of the vote in his first round win.

And now he matches up against JP. And then Koken beat Zuckerman. Galdi, good. Galdi. Well, I love Chris Miller. but Galdi won. He had Chris Miller in a first round matchup, and Galdi won pretty easily. And now he's facing Beninotti. So, you know, this is going to be interesting. Can Galdi knock off Beninotti? I certainly didn't knock off Ben andotti. I do think that of the two seeds, I got the toughest draw.

First round draw. I would admit that. I absolutely would admit that. The one thing is, compared to Chris Miller, I think this speaks to the irrelevance of the wizards that Baldy could beat Chris Miller. Yeah. The invisibility of the wizard. The absolute anonymity of the wizards as a media entity in this town. But let me just tell you about our good friend, Al. You know, and I think there are similarities in our audiences. Galdi has a very loyal following.

The people that listen to Galdi love him. So they may have been more inclined and maybe they knew about this. Who knows? Maybe Galdi pushed them to vote. If we had known about this when it first came out, we could have pushed our podcast listeners to vote. And maybe I would have had a better chance. of winning my first round matchup.

But, um... Now, listen, Galdi, Galdi, uh, and you, although it didn't seem to help you much. Galdi has the platform of being a year-round guy. He talks year-round about everything. Right. Whereas Chris Miller is limited to pretty much wizard's NBA business. Right.

And for the most part, during NBA season. Right. You know, where Galdi is in your, is in, you know, is on the spectrum every day. You know, and I would have said that for you, too, but that didn't seem to work for you. Well, it didn't. But again, I'm not, well, I am. I'm defending my loss here.

I got matched up against Joe B. I mean, right now, in terms of the active play-by-play voices in town, there's nobody better than Joe B and nobody that's been doing it longer. I mean, Buck obviously would have Absolutely on both. Buck would have been the guy, but he hasn't been doing it recently. Yes. And it also speaks as to the opposite of the wizards,

the more visible presence of the capitals in this town. All right, let me. As opposed to the wizard. That's, you know what? Well, I guess that's true, certainly right now. Let me just ask all of our podcast listeners to go to, DC Sportsfan.com and figure out how to vote for Tommy in his second round matchup against Barry.

I mean, that's what we're waiting for. We're waiting for this big time second round matchup. And I don't know if voting's already opened. There's something here that says July 29th, 2022. Well, that's already happened. It says that that's the scheduled, well, maybe that's when voting opened. So figure out a way. Let me see if they tell you how to vote here.

They should, right? They said something about voting via Instagram. Votes are cast daily through at DC Sportsfan underscorecom. No, no, I'm sorry, through their Twitter page. At DC Sports Fan underscore com. You're trying to sabotage it by giving out the wrong information. Hold on. Hold on. Just relax.

Okay, we're going to get it right. At DC Sports Fan underscore com on Instagram is how you vote. Okay? That's how you vote. Go vote for Tommy in his matchup against Barry. Let's get Tommy that goddamn T-shirt. Now, if you were to- Okay, listen, wait a minute, wait a minute.

First of all, as I understand it, are each junkie a number one seat? Or are they all in one seat? Okay. Well, they're going to win. Yeah, well, E.B., Eric E.B. Bickel, beat Grant in the second round, and he is awaiting the winner of Levero versus Svruga. It's over. Not if we can.

You know, I'm not getting a T-shirt no matter what happened. It may be possible, Tommy, that nobody really knows about this thing. And if we can push people. To vote for you, we could pull off the upset here. At DC Sports Fan underscore com on Instagram to vote. Okay. So, I mean, this would be a stunner if Leverro. Look, if you're already in the Sweet 16, you get to the Elite 8 matchup,

and somehow we're able to pull off an upset there, you would probably face, it looks like, it will, Jason. Jason's the number one seed on your side of the draw. Jason Bishop. Okay. Well, that's a loss for me. Well, I mean, don't undersell yourself. I mean, you destroyed Mitch, you destroyed Mitch Tishler in the first round. 69% to 31%.

That gives me lots of confidence. Well, I mean, okay. The seating was not done well. That's the only thing. I love the idea here. I certainly hesitate referring to any of us other than Tommy, and maybe he'll prove it here over the next week as media stars. But I just think that the seating was off.

I mean, I'll be honest with you. I think Zabe could win the whole thing. I don't think so. I don't think so. I'm surprised they don't have Feinstein on there. Come on. Anywhere. Why?

He's just Washington Post columnist. Yeah, but they said at the beginning, local media stars who were on the national scene, like Kornheiser and Wilbon and Sera, are not included. That would be him too. You're right. That would be, you're right. Yeah, absolutely.

That would be fair. Yeah. So, look, I'm much more interested in the recognition we get from the D.C. Sports Podcast Association. Oh, my God. To be honest with you, than this contest. Brian, I promise you, I'm going to reach out. You're coming on the show before football season starts.

It's true. I mean, that carries a lot more weight to me. Not to just the contest, which I think is a creative idea. But, I mean, it's the D.C. Sports Podcast Association. That's the gold standard here. I think somebody did this before, like several years ago. And I think I was doing this show with Chris at the time, not you. But I think somebody did it.

Maybe what it was was the shows in a bracket form. I don't remember. Whatever. Tell me about training camp yesterday. It was hot, Kevin. Oh, God, brutal. It was hot. Really, really brutal.

But I managed to handle it and get through okay. It was good to see a lot of people. I saw Scott Jackson. Scott's the best. Yeah, I saw Lou Holder. It was good to see Lou. One of the nicest people out there. course. Absolutely. I saw Doc who's working hard preparing for the preseason broadcast. He was on

the podcast the other day. Yeah. So it was good, it was good to see a lot of people. And it was interesting to watch Carson Wentz a quarterback. Okay. Okay. Elaborate. It was, it was interesting. Well, I'm just, instead of you trying to bully me into a bet, I'm just going to make the bold prediction that we used to do. Okay. based on what I saw. You heard it here first. Bold predictions for the week. Yes.

Carson Wentz will be benched by the 10th game. Okay. By the 10th game. All right. I'm not sure who will be the starter, you know, because I don't know about Sam How, but Carson Wentz will be benched by the 10th game if he lasts that long. That's a bold prediction. That's a good bold prediction.

I think if you went to training camp and watched him, unless you caught him on a good day, I think you feel the same way. I've got a bold prediction for you. My bold prediction... I'm going to win this contest. My bold prediction is that Taylor Heineke sticks around in the league for another seven years minimum.

He's 29. He will be on an NFL roster until he's 36 years old. Well, you certainly can't go wrong with a seven-year bowl prediction. I did that because when I used to do that, you would be like, are you serious? You can't go wrong with that. If you don't want to be proven wrong, go with, go with. with years in advance. I mean, we just, we don't even know if either one of us will be around in seven years.

So I had Scott Abraham from Channel 7. Scott's a really good guy. I had him on the radio show this morning. And he had done this interview with Taylor Heineke, and he was talking about what a great guy, Taylor Heineke is, and how he's accepted his lot as the backup quarterback for, I guess, at least 10 games. And then after that, I guess he'll have the job if your bold prediction comes through. And, you know, Scott gave the, you know, it's just it's an amazing story because here, you know, less than two years ago, he was taking classes at Old Dominion living on his sister's couch, basically.

And football was over for him. And he was going to get whatever degree he was going to get from Old Dominion, some sort of mathematics degree. And he was going to go work on Wall Street or he was going to go work somewhere and, you know, continue. in a completely different professional life. And I thought about that, and I thought, wow, because here is a guy who has already proven that he is a backup NFL quarterback. He gets this opportunity because Washington is desperate for quarterbacks because everybody's going down.

Dwayne Haskins has been released. Alex Smith is completely banged up and they're not even sure he can play again, even though he did end up playing against Philadelphia. and we've got the whole situation with Kyle Allen's hurt. Everybody's in trouble. So Scott Turner calls up Taylor Heineke and says, do you still want to play football? Because Turner was really the guy that discovered Heineke.

And so off the couch, he comes. And here we are, less than two years later. And he's making, you know, roughly $2 million a year as a backup quarterback in the NFL. He's proven that he's good enough to be at the very least a backup quarterback in the NFL. But beyond that, Tommy, he is very well liked, very well respected, and he's really smart. Which I would tell you that that is the perfect formula. Now that his foot's in the door and everybody knows he can do it, to have a long,

career as a backup quarterback making pretty decent money. Now, will he make what Chase Daniel has made? Chase Daniels one of the all-time great business successes in the history of the NFL. The man came into the NFL in 2009. He is still in the league 13 years later as a backup to Justin Herbert in L.A. for the Chargers. And in 13 seasons, so far, with just five games started in 13 years, he's made $39 million, almost $40 million. One contract after another, one team after another. Yeah, this guy can play a little bit. He's a good backup.

He's great in the room. He's well-liked. He's smart. He's highly respected. And Taylor Heineke, it could have a Chase Daniel like. career. And then by the way, because he's smart, and by the way, likable and a pretty good communicator, he could become a coach. And his whole life could be spent in football when he was literally within a few days or a few weeks away from final exams at ODU and taking a job on Wall

Street. I think it's a phenomenal story. And the reason he's got a chance to have a Chase Daniel career is because of the kind of person he is too. Yes. I would agree with that. Although to me, the story was last year. Okay? That was the story when he became the starter. I mean, this is what you're talking about.

Not that, you know, if it happened seven, eight years from now, yeah. But right now, I mean, the Taylor Heineke's story, you know, The story was last year. I'm not following you. What do you mean? No, it's not a big... It's not that great of a story anymore. We've already seen the story.

And the story was him starting from coming off the couch. Well, yes. I don't disagree with that. I wasn't trying to... Okay. I wasn't trying to create, like, a major story. I'm just telling you that there's this chance that the guy was a few days away from never being involved in football again to now having a chance to have his entire

professional life spent in football. Yes. That's what I'm suggesting to you. Unless he has five concussions in practice, then he doesn't. Yeah, but my point, I mean, you can't predict anything in an NFL football career. Okay, I understand that, but I want to make sure you're understanding my point here. It's not just that he proved that he could play a little bit. It's the kind of person he is. He's smart. Everybody likes him and he can play a little bit. But if he didn't have the other two, they'd be looking for somebody who's really good in the quarterback room, who's really, you know, okay being a backup, who you can count on if he comes into the game, but he's going to help everybody in that organization when he's in it. I think that's who Taylor.

Heineke is. That's what Chase Daniel has been. That's why every single Chase Daniel got a contract from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016. He had, I think, three total starts at that point. That was a $7 million deal for two years to be a backup. I just think Taylor Heineke has a chance to do that. That's all I'm saying. And I think it's, I'm not saying that when we get to the end of it seven years from now or eight years from now that that'll be a bigger story than the year that he came off the bench and started in a playoff game against Tom Brady or started 16 games in 2021. I'm just telling you it's the kind of person that ends up sticking in the league for a long period of time once he's proven that he can play a little bit. You don't seem to be interested. No.

Anything else from training camp other than your bold prediction that the quarterback is not going to make it past 10 games? No. I saw one interception, one fumble snap, a few completions, and a few not completions. Did you talk to anybody that gave you that feeling? No. Okay. I just observed. You just observed.

I did talk to, I did ask a question of Ron Rivera in the press conference. What question did you ask? Well, we were talking a little, there were some more discussion about Sam Mills and his mysterious firing, at least in the timing of it. So I asked him if he considered making any coaching changes at the end of last season. and his answer was very curt no and i'm not going again in any specifics at this point except that he had already gotten into a bunch of specifics yes what were those specifics the philosophy um well the first three answers because i i think i read him on the podcast yesterday right after the practice or maybe i did it just this yeah he was looking for more constant push and growth

he was looking for more to be more demonstrative yeah more demonstrative, more in your face, that kind of thing, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I asked them, you know, I mean, I kind of figured, well,

what was different between now and the end of last season? And he wasn't biting on that. Yeah, I mean, well, it's a completely legitimate question. I mean, of course. I mean, did you consider doing this at the, you know, when most people, do it with assistant coaches, like right after the season.

I think the point that I made yesterday, and if I didn't make it yesterday, I'll make it right now with you anyway, is that the whole philosophical differences, you know, he's looking for, you know, Coach Z, Jeff Skanina, who's aggressive and demonstrative. That's something he knew. That didn't just come about. It's not like all of a sudden he realized Chris Mills. Chris Mills. Sam Mills isn't as demonstrative or aggressive or in your face, which aligns with his philosophy like Jeff Skinin is. You know, something happened recently,

or my theory that he had a chance to see what the team looked like without Mills there for a few days. And it kind of backed up what people have been telling him and maybe even asking him for, you know, over a year and he just decided to do it. Boy, don't take any time off if you're a commander's coach. You know, I mean, no. And the timing, I don't want to get into the whole Sam Mill thing, but the timing of it was pretty crass. I mean, the day after he gets back from his father being posthumously inducted into

the Hall of Fame and then he's fired. Well, that's, that assumes that Sam Mills didn't do. anything wrong, you know, over the, you know, in the, in the couple of days proceeding or the day of, you know. I mean, if he told the coach to go to hell in a meeting and told him to be a F off. Yeah. But no, I mean, you're right. I don't know that it has to do, you know, yes, the timing of it with his dad, who's his late father, as you said posthumously, you know, going into the Hall of Fame. But really more than anything else, it doesn't. give the guy a chance to work this year.

You know, when you, those decisions are made really first and foremost so that the coaching staff has a chance to, you know, hire the best possible replacement for the guy that they've let go. But the other benefit is to the guy they're letting go. It gives him a chance to catch on with somebody else. Now, these contracts for assistant coaches are usually one-year deals. Sometimes they're two-year deals, and it's different for the coordinator. but I am assuming that he's going to get paid for the rest of this year.

I would think so. I don't know that for sure unless he was fired with cause. That should have been your question. Was he fired with or without cause? That would have been great. I wish I'd have thought of that. Is he going to have to chase his money or are you going to pay him? What if you really did get?

I mean, he would see, Ron, and I know, know this, and I know this, and I'm not going to get into details, but Tommy knows that I know this. He does, he can have kind of a short fuse. And so, and, you know, and I didn't know that that was the question you asked him. I just saw the very, the transcribed response, and it appeared to have been very short and curt, as you described. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, if you had really gotten personal and said, I'm just curious. Does Sam get paid? Does he get paid the rest of the year? Or, you know, is there two weeks? Did you have to give me? How does that work? I would have loved you seen the answer. That would have been great. Yeah. I really do try not to be, I don't go out of my way to be. To be obnoxious. It just comes naturally most of the time. I don't think that you're obnoxious in questions. I think I don't think either one of us are obnoxious.

I would never even think that, you know, you not trying to be obnoxious ends up being obnoxious. I don't think that. I think you always ask good questions. But here it is in the transcribed interview. On if he considered making coaching changes at the end of the last season, in yesterday's press conference, this is by far in a way the shortest answer. No, and I'm not going to get into any specifics at this point, closed quote. That's it.

We know Ron can go on for a while, you know? Not in that particular case. My actual bold prediction, though, I'm just going to mention this, is that Dax Milne will make the team, will be the punt returner on the team, and will have a role in their offense, even though they've got all these weapons. I do believe that he is valued on this team.

Now, they got a lot of players, at that position, but he is a guy that I think they've liked from the jump. All right, when we come back, Diana Rusini, who we both know well, tweeted something out yesterday about the NFC East quarterbacks. And I want us to talk about that, and we will do so right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Don't forget to rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify with Apple. You can rate us up to five stars. That is helpful for us.

and if you can write a one to two sentence review, that is helpful as well. This came from Jacob. I'm a lifelong Washington fan, grew up in the area, but never followed the local media, found this pod and love the old-timer takes from Kevin and Tommy on the glory days of the football team in particular. I don't have too many positive pro-football memories or come from a family of sports fans,

so it's nice to hear stories of better times. times. There, meaning Kevin and Tom's non-sports banter is great too. Thank you, Jacob, for that. By the way, speaking of... Well, the team, the team agrees with them because there's going to be lots of stories about those old glory days this coming season. I know. They celebrate their 90th anniversary as a franchise. So the commanders would agree with them. Yeah, well, they announced the other day. I think, I think it's the second time they announced it. All of the things they're doing just on Saturday alone.

I mean, you get the debut of the fight song. There also is going to be a mascot unveiling in terms of choices for fans to vote from. Hey, that's awesome. Do you know my level of interest in this stuff? I think it's zero. I don't know that I can even registers. I'm being totally serious with you. The mascot?

I could not give a shit what the mascot is. I have zero interest in what they unveil as mascots. The fight song, you know, I know I'll end up having to talk about it, but we already know it is going to, you know, the only thing that's changing are the lyrics for the original song and melody. I don't even care that much about that. I really don't. Tommy, I'm...

But this stuff is not for you. This stuff is for the kind of like the fringe fan, the family. God only knows why a family would want to go to an NFL game, to be honest with you, but they still do. and, you know, maybe the younger generation that likes bells and whistles, this decision isn't for you. I understand that. So your initial reaction was, come on, no, it's a zero for me. This stuff is a zero for me.

Yeah, you're right. I just don't, I don't, I am going, I'm going to watch the games, obviously. I'm going to be very much into the games because I love, football. And who knows, by the time we get to the opener, commanders jerseys, they're going to be wearing their white jerseys in the opener against Jacksonville. I might, you know, there may be some butterflies for the opener. I may be, I may feel some of what I used to feel, but it won't be anywhere near at that level. And, you know, the other part of it, too, taught me, and I know a lot of people, you know, push back on both of us and many others in the market on this.

I am definitely expecting the worst. It's not that I'm rooting for the worst at all. I know a lot of people that are. I know a lot of people that have basically just said, I want them to fail until Snyder is done, and then I'll be back. That's not necessarily me, but I, I, I don't don't know that I'm going to be able to generate the kind of passion that usually comes with week one. I mean, there have been some times you and I have been doing this show together where we get to within a few days week one. And then that opener comes around and I'm like, let's go have ourselves a season, as

Zayb used to say. I mean, let's go have ourselves a season. And I don't know that I have it in me to do that. But this other stuff, I don't care. I mean, the sports book stuff, you listened to Snyder yesterday, right? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And you know what?

He may want to show up for practice at least once just to make sure he does have a quarterback. Okay? Because he said they finally got a quarterback. He may want to double check on that. Yeah. Well, he may not. He's not going to. I don't think he's going to.

to notice in practices during training camp. I think it's going to take several games before. A lot of people had an issue with him saying to the Maryland Gaming Association. And we finally have a quarterback. By the way, I mean, Tommy, I understand he's been under a lot of, you know, kind of pressure. And there is, I think, now finally, some recognition from him as to how kind of disliked and despised he is, and it's made him perhaps even more uncomfortable, even more reclusive. But he's just, he's such a bad communicator.

There were just, I'm listening to that, and I'm like, he doesn't really know where he's going, and maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe this was just a, hey, I'm here. Thank you so much for considering our application. any questions. But somehow it gets into, we've got an upgraded stadium, and we're going to have a lot of people at the stadium. Oh, by the way, we finally have a quarterback.

A lot of people thought that we finally have a quarterback was really insulting to the quarterbacks they've had here recently, especially Taylor Heineke, who, you know, played his balls off last year. It was. But, I mean, he's fluid. It's funny, the commission, you know, they basically said they used the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Commission. They used the Steve Spurrier measure to determine if he was worthy to get a license.

Not in jail, is he? He's not in jail, is he? Exactly. Yeah, pretty much. That was their measure. That was their standard. Well, he's not in jail. Let's give him a license.

I had this guy from this website sports handle. They follow sports betting in North America, legal sports betting. It was an interesting conversation for me. I don't know how many of you enjoyed it or not. But we ended up talking a little bit after we finished recording as well. And, you know, he basically said, if you're a major sports franchise, you're going to get one of these licenses, like you just said. I mean, unless you're in jail, you know, and by the way, you're in jail for a while,

you're probably going to get one of these licenses. We're exaggerating. I just, these live sports books in these arenas, we'll see. I can't, like, it's one thing to have a downtown location. What? Let me give you a heads up on something. I've done some research into this. I don't have the information in front of me, but I'll tell you what I believe,

that the numbers for the sports book downtown at the Capitol One around, are pretty disappointing. Oh, no, no, we know that. Yeah, we talked about that yesterday with my guest, with Bennett Common. Yeah, they're pretty, and even the one at Nat Park, although I think remarkably that's done better than the Capital One has. But I think you're right about the sports book arenas. If anyone thinks they're going to be flocked with people and they're going to generate a lot

of money, I think they're in for a surprise. well do you have anything else to add to that? Yeah You don't remember what my original prediction on this was No you'll have to See I only care about my predictions not yours Well you only care and remember The predictions you make that you get right

I mean you conveniently forget the ones that you The majority of the ones that you get wrong Um No I when this all came out You and I were doing our show together when, you know, it was all past, you know, sports betting would become a state issue and it could be legalized. And I told you, I said, I don't think in a lot of places this is going to be the financial windfall for states that, you know, that's being predicted. You know, I think it will help

sports because it will bring more people into the betting fold, which means more interest in the games. but, you know, people who bet on sports or have a significant interest in betting on sports have already been betting on sports. But I have a difference of opinion for you here. I'm talking about the actual sports books. I think sports betting and the sports apps have generated a lot of income for some states. Let me finish. I said to you, I don't think it was.

ultimately become the financial windfall. And my reasoning was most of the people that have wanted to bet have figured out how to do it illegally. And many of those people will never bet legally as long as it's available illegally. Because the truth of the matter is it's more convenient. You have credit. And in many cases, it's just not as expensive. and the people that have been betting are bigger betters. You know, they're betting more.

The people that haven't had the access that now have the access will have a much smaller betting size in terms of unit per game. And they won't have credit, which means, you know, maybe eventually you'll be able to bet on credit, but you're not going to be able to do it initially. And before the whole mobile betting, which I knew would be a possibility, obviously, it wasn't going to be as convenient.

Now, the sports book locations are going to have a problem, especially in the places that don't have high foot traffic and don't have enough events. That's why FedEx Field, to me, he can put one out there as a draw for game days for the nine times they have a home game out there to make it easier for sports betting. And maybe one day landover,

and we know that there's going to be building out there. There will be more retail and more options. but I don't see that as being a destination. And I think, you know, I already knew what the numbers were in terms of the actual brick and mortar books. I knew that they were bad. And my guests yesterday sort of confirmed that. But even the mobile betting, where mobile betting is available in a lot of locations, is not doing nearly as well. In the district, it is not done very well.

Now, part of that is because they had a terrible app to begin with. They've had problems with the app. But I think overall, you know, the, now what the states and the jurisdictions get is they get, you know, they get a piece of any, you know, they get a big piece of the action. Maryland gets 15% from these operators. The thing that I learned from him yesterday, Tommy, this was interesting to me. I think it's interesting to you too. There's 60 mobile licenses available for mobile sports betting in the state of Maryland, which, by the way, we have not had mobile sports betting rollout. He said

Maryland's been one of the slowest and the clunkiest of states in getting sports betting rolled out. Just like they were, just like they were with casinos. They were behind the eight ball on that as well. So there are 60

available mobile licenses. And he said they probably will not secure application fees for 60 mobile operators. There just won't be enough people to, A, be able to afford the application, which is $500,000 just to apply. And then B, the problem with it is, like if you and I wanted to do a sports fix sports book, a mobile betting, and we, you know, figured out a way to pay the application

fee, we would be dueling with draft kings and fan duel and bet MGM. And already we're given 15% back to the state. There are lots of other fees. You know, it's not a mom and pop corner operation where we're, you know, we're handing people brown paper bags with cash every once in a while. Like, it's going to be really hard to make money, and it shouldn't in gambling. But in this particular environment, it's going to be pretty hard for many mom and pops to actually make it work against the big boys.

So he thinks that, you know, there won't be anywhere near 60 mobile applications that are do-out or licenses that are doled out. What I did learn is that there is going to be a sports book here in Frederick. Yes. Which was good news. Yeah, there is. Yes, it's a place called Long Shots, which already has an off-track betting, Poller here, not far from where I live.

so there'll be a sports book there as well. I believe, and I could be wrong, but I believe my guest yesterday told me that that is the female-owned sports book in the state of Maryland. They've encouraged, you know, diversity among the sports book operators, and he mentioned that there's one sports book

that is female-owned, and I think it was that one. I think it was. By the way, you know, the sports book at Hollywood Casino in Charlestown is actually really well done. Oh, fabulous. Absolutely.

The BetMGM sports book is well done. Very well done. Okay, so I wanted to read this tweet from Diana. Diana put out this tweet yesterday, Diana Rusini. The NFC East quarterback with the most approve this season, question mark. You could make a strong argument for every single one. one. She's right. And I did calls. We could have taken calls for a while on this this morning. I think it's a very interesting conversation because the four quarterbacks,

Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz, Daniel Jones, and Jalen Hertz all have a lot to prove this year. And, you know, even if you look at Dak Prescott and say, well, he's the best quarterback in the division, he's had quite a start to his career. What does he have to prove? Well, he's got to prove that he can win in the postseason. I mean, that he's one in three as a quarterback in the postseason. But he's on the bottom of the list. He got paid, okay? None of the other guys have got, oh, I shouldn't say that.

Two of the other guys haven't gotten paid yet. Carson Wentz gets Keating paid, you know, continues to get paid by teams to leave. And Carson Wentz clearly has the most approved. out of any of them because if this doesn't work, his career is pretty much done. I mean, the other guys, you know, let's say Daniel Jones doesn't work out, he'll bounce around, he'll get to play with another team. He may get a second or a third chance, same with Jaylon Hurts if he doesn't work out. But Carson Wentz is playing for his NFL career.

So I agree with you. Carson Wentz would be my number one and Dak Prescott would be my number four. Daniel Jones would be my number two and Hertz would be my number three. But I disagree. I would agree with that lineup. But I disagree with you. I think you can make the case for any of them and maybe the least convincing case for Prescott. But you mentioned because he's already been paid, I think that's why he has a lot to prove.

He's the one that's been paid. I mean, Carson Wentz has been paid too. But he has a lot to prove because he's been paid a top five-ish kind of quarterback salary and he has not produced the results. I mean, it's a very good and an excellent regular season record, but he's one and three in the postseason, and he did not play well in their postseason loss to San Francisco last year. But he would be my fourth, and Wence would be my number one.

But I don't think it's a slam dunk. But for me, the reason I would pick Wence is it's not just that he has to produce, you know, on the field more than he has. recently. It's that he has to change the narrative that's out there, the perception of him, that two teams back to back, with the most important position in sports and a hell of a lot invested in this player, said, please go and go quickly. We've had it with you. We're done with you. And for those of you that will push back and say, oh, it was Ursa and it was the vaccination thing. No, no, no, no.

In this league, the hardest thing to do is to land a quarterback that is legitimately good. Philadelphia traded a boatload to go up and pick them, then gave them money. And they took the biggest salary cap penalty hit in the history of the league at the time to trade him and get rid of them. And then Indianapolis, with the guy that mentored him in Philadelphia, Frank Reich, took a year. year, he threw 27 touchdown passes and seven interceptions and they still said, get out. So after trading, multiple picks, including a first rounder the year before, without any answer. They didn't know who their answer was going to be. They were going to cut him. So all of that, the narrative that he's not coachable, the narrative that he's not a leadership,

all of the stuff that's come out, the fact that two teams, two good organizations have said absolutely no and a loud no at that. He has the most approved, the most approved, because that gets coupled with, oh, by the way, he's also got to step it up and play better and play at a higher level and try to play at that level that he played at in 2017 when he was a legitimate MVP candidate. Now, Daniel Jones is interesting to me. Jones was the number six pick in the 2019 draft. And he has had an absolute shit show of coaching situations in New York. You know, with the exclamation point on Joe Judge and the disaster of the last two years of Joe Judge.

Now he is Brian Daibel, a guy that got Josh Allen, worked with Josh Allen in Buffalo, and Josh Allen is now, you know, a debatable top three quarterback. in the NFL. And there are some similarities between Jones and Allen. And they haven't even picked up his fifth year option for a player that was the number six selection in the draft in 2019 by Dave Gettleman. So he has a lot to prove because if he doesn't prove it with Dable, enough for him to stick around and be the starter next year without them having to go out and look for another quarterback, or if Tyrod Taylor replaces him in New York this year, then he's not going to get an opportunity to be a starter more likely than not. He'll get

opportunities to go somewhere and be a backup. Because, you know, like what I said about Taylor Heineke, I've been told Daniel, I've read, Daniel Jones is really well-liked and respected and a hell of a locker room guy. But number six pick, didn't pick up the fifth-year option. He's got a lot to prove. Hertz, second round pick. I'm a fan of Jalen Hertz, and apparently a lot of the locker room is a fan of Jalen Hertz, too. He definitely has issues at times with his throwing.

You know, and quarterbacks have to be able to throw the football. And he's not accurate and he's not consistent. But man, is he dual threat? And could they run the absolute shit out of the ball last year? year with him as a running threat. I like Jalen Hertz. I think he'll get better. I think Philadelphia is going to be good, but he's got a lot to prove because if he doesn't prove that he can get it done on third down from the pocket and they don't win 10 plus games, get to the playoffs and maybe win a game, then they're going to go look for another quarterback. The only thing I would say to you about

Wents, circling back to Wence, is he's not playing for his career, in my opinion. He's playing for the opportunity to be a starting quarterback as a default wherever he goes. If he doesn't make it work in Washington, somebody's going to sign him and have him compete for a job on the cheap, by the way, after he gets released if he doesn't have a good season here. But I don't think he'll be out of the league. If you didn't say that, well, then that's fine. But if you were saying he's playing for his NFL lively, like he's going to be out of the league if it doesn't work this year, I disagree with that.

Well, I think he will be. I think he will be. I mean, just for very, your very description of a successful backup quarterback does not fit Carson Wentz's personality. Right. Fair enough. but his talent is unmistakable. Like he has legitimate talent. And somebody without one,

and there will be 10 to 12 teams that are going to be looking for one, you know, somewhere in that neighborhood, somebody will say, yeah, we'll try to make, we'll be the one. I mean, it didn't work. Remember, Tommy, don't underestimate if it doesn't work in Washington.

Nobody really says much about that. It's not, well, it didn't. work in Washington, of course not. That's a good point. But the combination of it not working in Philly, Indy, and then Washington, no, you're right. A lot of people would steer clear of them, but I think somebody would sign him. I can't imagine it 29 years old or whatever he is now that he would actually be out of the league. He can play, you know, and he can do enough things to give you a chance if you don't have anybody. Look, that's where Washington is right now. They didn't have anybody. They

just needed better quarterback play. They needed average quarterback play. And if he can give them average quarterback play this year, they're going to be, you know, they've got a chance to be a better team than they were last year or the year before. And another team would feel that way next year, that he could give them at least average quarterback play if they didn't have, you know, if they had bad quarterback play. Anything else on this conversation? No, I'm done there. All right. One more segment with a couple of things to knock out on the show right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Ron Rivera did say that Curtis Samuel is going to play on Saturday. That's good news. That came out of training camp today. And the starters overall will play between 15 and 20 snaps against Carolina on Saturday.

He said he wants to see how they handle situations, third down red zone, how they handle the hot. huddle, et cetera, just wants consistency. Handling the huddle would be how is Carson Wentz handling the huddle more likely than not. So 15 to 20 snaps? Well, that typically is at least two to three drives. That's a quarter, you know, maybe a little bit more than a quarter in the first preseason game on Saturday. So I just wanted to finish up the show by telling you that I am three episodes away

from finishing stranger things. I am through episode six in season four. Like every single day, I can't wait to get home to watch it. So I think, I don't know if I'll be able to finish it up tonight. The last episode, you probably remember this, is a movie. It's two and a half hours. Yes.

Yes, I remember. Yeah. So... And it's worth watching. It is? Yes. Okay. I know you have... have to go, but I enjoyed our conversation today, and I'm rooting for you to advance to the

Elite 8 with an upset win over Barry's Verluga. Well, thank you. I got one quick question for you. Okay. What time is the game Saturday? 1 p.m. I just wanted to see if you knew what time the game was. I do know what time the game is. To see how checked out you really are.

Well, I have to participate in some pre-game activities on radio, so that's why I know the games at one o'clock. All right, my friend, go get them. I think you can take Barry. All right, boss. I don't think so. We're done for the day. Back tomorrow.