The Kevin Sheehan Show - Weird Week + Kingsbury's Admission

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Kevin and Thom today with plenty on a weird 3-day evolution with Jayden Daniels "injury". The boys reacted to Kliff Kingsbury admitting today that his play-calling "has got to be better". Thom made his Commanders-Giants pick plus the guys talked about some scary A.I. things, Roderick Muckleroy, and the Notre Dame AD temper tantrum earlier this week. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com 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 Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. Tommy's here, I'm here. The show's presenting sponsor, Window Nation. If you need new windows, I highly recommend Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com to schedule your free-in-home estimate. Let me just mention something right from the top. I do have a smell test pick for tonight's Thursday night game.

It is Atlanta plus the five and a half on the road against Tampa Bay. Kirk Cousins and his Atlanta Falcons are the selection. I gave out Kirk Cousins and Atlanta last week, and it wasn't even close. But it was also part of a five-and-two weekend, and they're right. again tonight. This is one of those major public side games. Sharp money, actually both ways, but it was heavy on Atlanta early. The lines come back a little bit. So I'll take the five and a half, which is a good number. Cousins, by the way, last year threw for eight touchdowns in two games against Tampa. They won both of them. And for almost 800 yards in two games. He

He actually set the Falcons franchise record on a Thursday night game throwing for 509 yards in an overtime win against the Buccaneers last year. They don't have their best receiver again, Drake London, but, you know, this has nothing to do with him, people. Trust me, I'd be on the other side if the other side was the right side. I'm only 96-57 and 11 this year, so whatever you think, think. You do, you know, go ahead. Go against me, which, by the way, is probably the right thing to do now. But anyway, what a year for this. That's an amazing record. Amazing. Honestly, yeah. I mean,

I've had, I think I've had two other seasons like this, but it's been a while. I mean, most of the seasons are winning seasons, but sometimes they're, you know, in the mid-50 percentile, somewhere around there, low 50s. I'm at basically 63 percent right now. I did have, a season that was like 64.7 or something like that, that was like 10, 12 years ago with you on radio. I'm pretty sure it was. But yeah, it's been an absolute banner year for people like me, betting wise. But there's a lot of season to go. We still have another four weeks of the NFL season. There's a whole college football playoff. There are bowl games galore. Notre Dame's not playing in a bowl game this year. But plenty of opportunities for me to screw this

up. So we'll see how it goes. But Atlanta tonight plus the five and a half at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay, Tommy, real quickly, they're in a first place tie in the NFC South with the Carolina Panthers. Carolina's over under for wins to start the year was five and a half. And they are tied for first place. They play each other in two of the final three weeks of the season. So those two games will determine the NFC South champion. The Buccaneers are one of those teams that started off really well when they were healthy. And in the last five, six weeks, they've been without Mike Evans, they were without Chris Godwin, they were without Bucky Irving, they've missed some offensive linemen and defensive backs, and they have lost four of five.

And the great Baker Mayfield, and he has played great. Early in the season, we were talking about Baker Mayfield. Could he potentially be an MVP this year? Yes, we are. But he's had just a horrific run, but he's also been missing a lot of his key pieces in the last few weeks. They're getting healthier. It looks like Mike Evans might be back. Bucky Irving was back last week.

He's a spectacular running back. I mean, he has a chance, I think. to be one of those elite backs, and if not elite, like just barely outside the elite group. But huge game for the Buccaneers, but really their big games will be the two they play against Carolina in the final three weeks. It's actually, you know,

the schedule makers in recent years have done that where they've played, like Washington plays two of its final three games this year against Philadelphia. Remember when we thought they would be massive games? Oh, absolutely Yeah There'll be massive games all right now Massive destruction

Yeah, maybe Probably More likely than not Yeah, you know, it's funny Because when we were talking about the schedule Because we do that a little bit on this show And then I had the guy Mike North On to talk about the schedule

I did say to him Don't you take great risk In scheduling Two of maybe the You know Biggest NFC games games on paper going in, don't you take great risk holding them back until the end of the year? And he said, it's true. You do because one team might be terrible or that final game

of the year might not mean anything. But I remember what he said. He said, the two games between Philadelphia and Dallas are viewed as much more important games to the networks. So even though Washington and Philadelphia played three times last year, including in the NFC championship, Philly and Dallas opened the season, you know, on that first Thursday night game with Philadelphia being the national champion, the national champion, the Super Bowl champion. And then they played in a huge, you know, 425 window, which Fox was not going to give up since the other game was on NBC like a month ago. Philly, remember, was up 21 nothing in that game. And since losing that lead. They've lost now three games in a row. But yeah, I mean, I don't think they saw

Buccaneers Panthers two out of the final three, meaning as much as it will. They probably didn't see Bears Packers playing two out of, not the final three, but two in three weeks. They played on Sunday. They're going to play again next Saturday night. But that's the nature of the NFL. It changes so much year to year. So let's get to the story, which is of course, Jaden Daniels, out against the Giants. I don't know if you listened and probably did not, but I'll net out what my thoughts were on the show yesterday, and then I want to hear yours.

I think in listening to Dan Quinn and actually watching Dan Quinn squirm a little bit during all of those Jaden Daniels' questions yesterday during that press conference, especially when he pushed back any answer about when he was, would return until next week, I thought immediately he's done. They're going to shut him down for the season. I don't like it. I'm disappointed by it. And I have some thoughts about how they should handle it if they indeed are going to shut him down in terms of the rest of the key players on the team. But what did you think? Well, the one thing I kept thinking of was, you know,

for two years now on and off we've heard all kinds of comparisons from people between Jaden Daniels and RG3 and most of them have been totally misguided and not accurate we are in RG3 hell right now it's it's almost a repeat all that's missing is James Daniels

with his breadskins beanie on the sideline. Okay, explain. Well, because we're dealing with a diagnosis that isn't the same diagnosis he got on Sunday. I mean, think about what happened. They're saying now he shouldn't play. On Sunday, Quinn said he could have got in, back in. Well, I'm assuming the doctors told him he could have gone back in. Right.

okay but now he's not healthy enough to play okay but what would have happened if he had suffered more damage by going back in the play since he's not healthy enough to play now what makes you think he what makes you think that it's absolutely true that he's not healthy enough to play right now i'm taking people at their word well if you take him at his word then he was healthy enough to play in the game on Sunday. And then on Monday, he was just sore. And then on Wednesday, the doc called him out. So you're taking that verbatim. You're taking it literally as Quinn tried his best to describe yesterday that, yes, sometimes, you know, the player comes in and it's a little bit more than we thought on Sunday or Monday. By Wednesday, it just had gotten so much worse that they

had to keep him out of this next game. I'm taking it as medical confusion. Medical confusion. That's what I'm taking it as. Oh, so. Medical confusion. So did Quinn get lucky by keeping him out of the game on Sunday? Or was that what you were referring to?

We could have had another RG3 situation. I think he may have. And we're in the midst of one now, where you've got doctors' diagnoses that are changing. You know, you've got a. A quarterback now who is being questioned about his health and fragility, whereas at the starter season, that wasn't necessarily to question. And we're just living through the RG3 thing finally all over again. Now, RG3s was far more severe.

We're talking about his non-throwing elbow, as opposed to a structural knee. Like, I recognize. But the essence of doctors and coaches. interpreting diagnoses. It's right out of the RG3 history book. Yeah, except this doctor said it was okay for him to go in, just like Dr. Beeney did. But this coach decided, if this is how it went, decided not to. See, you know, it's interesting is I'm going to say something and it's going to remind people of RG3 because it's the same team.

But I think Quinn, I think this is a result of the Seattle game. If Jaden Daniels had been injured in the second quarter of the Seattle game, I think he would have gone back in and played in Minnesota, and I think he'd be playing against the Giants this week. I think the nature of them leaving him in the game, a game that was over, dropping them back and then having them run an RPO, in which it was a hideous-looking injury in the moment, even though it didn't turn out to be one on his non-throwing elbow,

the criticism he took from all corners of the NFL universe. He got torched that week. And he had to apologize. He had to admit that he made a mistake on that Monday after the game. And I think he saw a game on Sunday that, as he said, it wasn't going well, wasn't going well on defense, it wasn't going that well on offense, but you typically don't pull a starting quarterback in a 17-0-0 game midway through the third quarter. He did, and he was cleared to go back into the game,

and I think that was Seattle PTSD, and then I think this is now where they're looking at it saying maybe it's sore we're going to the we're playing the giants on that you know people have suggested the turf might have something to do with it the cold weather because it's supposed to be brutally cold in east rutherford on sunday i think they're shutting him down i think they're shutting him down and i think there's a lot going on here but i think the bottom line is they're scared they're scared to play him in meaningless games down the stretch for fear that if he were to get seriously injured, they'd be on the hook for that. But what's ironic about this, and you may be right.

I mean, I think there's probably some truth to it. We're not talking about his specific injury, are we? No. No, it's like, with RG3, it was, could he make the knee worse? With this, we're talking about a non-throwing elbow injury. And it's not even an injury. I mean, it's sore. It hurts them.

Yeah. Yeah. So we're not even talking. We're talking about they don't think, this is part of it, they don't think they can protect them. I'll tell you one thing. Cliff Kingsbury spoke a little while ago, and we're going to play some of that sound in the next segment. He, for all intents and purposes, admitted something that is true. and Steve Suter went through yesterday

in his film breakdown. He did not have a good day. He had a great Sunday night against Denver last week. He did not have a good day against Minnesota. He was out-coached by Brian Flores. They did not have a great plan for

the pressures at all. And not to mention the second and goal, third and goal, and fourth and goal on the opening drive of the game. You know, part of that maybe, Tommy, I think you just hit on part of it, is that so they're concerned about what would happen if he actually got hurt in one of these games at this point because of really

the Seattle game. It would be an absolute no issue if he had gotten banged up in the Seattle game, came back maybe by the Denver game, but let's say he came back last week, and then took that fall in the third quarter after the interception and then played again this Sunday. They're worried about what happened in that Seattle game. And then beyond that, what you just said, which is, you know, what are we doing here? We played a very exotic defensive coordinator and we didn't protect. Now, he didn't get hit. He didn't get smacked around.

That's not how he got hurt. He wasn't getting pumbled in the pocket. But they also can't play the way they want to play because they, and Kingsbury admitted this today, that yes, they didn't call, he didn't say it specifically, but he answered a question about zone reads and designed runs and said, yeah, we called the game differently to protect Jaden. So he can't call the game the way he wants to call the game. So there's all of that involved, I'm sure, and they may just be looking at it saying, you know what, it's just not worth it. with four meaningless games left. Although last week, they were with me. Quinn said five games nearly 30% of the season.

He plays. Well, now, in essence, we're talking about three games because he's already out on Sunday. Right. And you think he's not coming back this season. Well, you haven't answered that question. What do you think? I don't think.

I think Quinn's answers yesterday led me to believe that what's coming next week is the announcement that he's not going to play the rest of the year or they'll just take it one week at a time and he'll be out for the Eagle game. What do you think? What did you hear? I think they may try to do that, but I think the truth will come out that they're just protecting him and that he could play. I mean, whatever story they come up with,

I mean, look, Jaden himself last year, you know, when the team said he didn't have, he didn't hurt his ribs, went on, you know, did an interview and said I had hurt ribs. Okay. So, I mean, I don't think, whatever they're going to try to do to create this, this, this narrative that he's hurt, if he's not hurt, that'll come out. He wasn't hurt on Sunday. He wasn't hurt on Monday.

He's hurt on Wednesday. Yes. My belief is he's probably not hurt. I don't know that, and I hope I'm right, by the way. I don't want him to be hurt. But then you get into the, well, they're scared. They're scared to play him, healthy. And the irony is they're scared at a time when, I mean, the offensive line has actually played pretty well this year.

Yeah, it has. and is playing well of late, and they've got a lot of their weapons back in Terry and Noah Brown. Right. You know, because part of the problem with Jaden in mid-season was he didn't trust the guys he was throwing to. Yeah, Cliff was asked about that today, too. He was asked to evaluate Jaden's six or seven games, and he essentially said it's really hard. I mean, he said the issue was not only did he not have, you know, did he not play a lot, lot. When he did play, he wasn't playing with our group of guys that we wanted out there

with him. And he emphasized something that Quinn emphasized last week, which is, you know, they just haven't had a chance going back to last spring to practice together. Terry and Noah Brown basically didn't practice at all. No OTAs, no training camp for the most part until the end. And so they're just, you know, Quinn called it banked reps. And Kingsbury, talked about the same thing, that just the lack of off-season and then the lack of practices during the season, like, you know, he missed, he's missed more than half the season, which is also more than half the practices. But yeah, I don't think.

This is not a place. I mean, this is, you know, it smells a little bit of incompetence. It smells a little bit of the same. and it's not the odor that you want this franchise. You thought this franchise had left those odors behind. I would say deceit, it's not their obligation to be truthful with us. I mean, they have to be truthful on injury day, you know, Wednesdays, Thursdays in terms of the injury report. And they've been very coy, very, you know, protective of information with respect to injuries going back to last year.

We don't get a lot from them until you have. have to get it. That's why I'm actually surprised we heard it on Wednesday, but I guess they don't care about competitive advantages, because at this point, they'd rather not have them because if they lose out, they might have the number one pick in the draft. So deceit is part of it, no doubt, but they don't have an obligation to be truthful. In competence, I know that. Incompetence, I don't think it's that. I think it's fear. I think that's what this is about. I think that they they don't want to end up in the position that this organization ended up in back in January of 2013 and all of the months and really years that followed.

And they got a glimpse of what it could be when they had him in the game down 31 with seven and a half minutes to go against Seattle and he got hurt. And can you imagine if he got seriously hurt again? This is what we talked about last week. You know, the two outcomes down the stretch that would be, you know, incredible conversation centerpieces for the off season. He gets hurt, or he plays these five games and plays terribly. And now we got to see basically a half a game. He didn't play great.

You know, I had him in a C-minus, and Steve Souter agreed. Yeah. But, you know, there was not a lot of opportunity for them because of the their defense. But we are getting, we're not even getting the serious injury or even a moderate injury that would have created great conversation. We're getting a mysterious injury. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it reeks. It kind of reeks. And it's going to be a bad ending for even what's the bad ending? What's the bad ending?

Help me with it. Well, it just, I mean, it just is. I mean, you know, just having to sit through these, what, next, you know, next 40s? Oh, you're saying to the season? Yeah. Oh, I thought you were saying to the Jaden Daniels mysterious injury. No, no, no, no. I just think of the, I mean, this is, this is worse than losing in a way, just finishing out the season.

and losing normally. Now you have this mystery, this shroud, of whether or not your savior is healthy hanging over to franchise. You know, they'd be better off in this spot right now, being really honest

and just saying, you know, we were excited before the Minnesota game to get them back, to play against the Vikings, to play against these four days, division opponents to end the year, to bank reps, to have them back with Terry and Noah Brown and Debo all together for the first time since the opener, to be a part of this offensive line that's grown throughout the year without him, primarily, to be a part of a backfield that's

kind of evolved into something decent. Chris Rodriguez is having a hell of a season right now. He's a good back. We were looking forward to that. The game on Sunday, really was just a bad game all the way around. And by the way, we the coaches take some of the blame for that. But we didn't play well. We didn't coach well. And, you know, Jaden took another big shot, you know, on that elbow. It was sore. If this were a playoff run that we were involved in, he'd be practicing and playing. But it's not. And we're going to take the very conservative cautionary path and not play them over these final few games. And then we'll have an opportunity to start a new, healthy, off-season, hopefully everybody practicing together,

whoever we have is a new, you know, group in, and, you know, take on 2026. Because that's really what it is right now. I know. They should tell us that. They may try to do that. But the narrative all offseason is going to be, can this guy stay healthy? Do they have their quarterback again? I mean, I get it, okay? I understand it. He is going to, if he doesn't come back, it's basically, if you add it all up, it's barely six games out of 17.

And why? Because he was injured. But there wasn't one serious. injury in the group. Right. It's not like he was seriously injured and had surgery and was lost for the year in week five or after week six and that's how he missed 11 games. So, you know, there's a little, like Sunday was flukeish.

I mean, how many times do you get launched by somebody blocking for a guy that intercepted a pass and is running it back? And he did get launched into the air and then land right on that non-throwing elbow. The RPO play in which he got injured was a bit flukeish. Now, he shouldn't have been there in that moment running that play. So I'm not personally, I'm not concerned about anything. You know, in terms of his playing ability, there is a slight concern about his availability for sure.

But I feel like there's just as much of a chance, if not a greater chance, that will end up with a season that goes without what we had this year and more like 2024, where he plays primarily healthy all year long. I mean, that's possible. It certainly is. That's just as possible. But that's if you believe that the general manager can put a roster together. to repeat that. Well, and the roster that he puts together is actually healthy throughout the year and stays on the field and plays and practices, and they're all together.

So let me just tell you the other piece that I mentioned on the podcast yesterday after, you know, I came to the conclusion, and I may be wrong, and by the way, I hope I'm wrong. I want to see him play still. To use your favorite phrase, the juice is a little less work. the squeeze with three games left than it is with five or six games left. So, you know, it's not that I'll shift my opinion completely to sit him with three games left, because if he's totally ready to go and everybody's there, I want to see him play against Philadelphia on December 20th. But I will be a little bit more understanding if, you know, if he ends up sitting the

rest of the year, if that's the decision they make. But the other thing that I said yesterday is, if he's not going to play the rest of the year, they should now start that process where on real bad losing teams at the end of seasons, guys mysteriously end up on injured reserve. You know, Terry's had a quad injury. He, I guess, is going to play this Sunday. Hopefully he survives this game,

then put him on injured reserve. Put tonsil on injured reserve. You know, don't play him either. Don't play Marcus Mariotta. because he's a guy that's critical to your team next year. And so any player that's critical and good, really good and valuable, I don't know why they would play them down the stretch here. Josh Johnson is a professional quarterback.

He's been that throughout his 18-year career or whatever. He's going to be able to run the offense. You take a look at all these young players, not that you haven't had a chance to see a lot of players already. I mean, they've gone through, you know, two or three practice squads worth of players this year. So you've gotten a look at a lot of players that you didn't anticipate getting a look at. But the players that you like that are young, let them get the experience. The players that you haven't seen enough of, get them into the games.

You can't sit everybody because they're only 53 players and 46 active on game day. But the real crucial players, you know, Jaden, Terry, tonsill. Cosmy, Louvoo, Kinlawn, at a certain level, I would definitely think about, you know, sitting those guys and starting the plan for 2026, and all the while, you're probably losing out and you're going to end up with a very, very high draft pick.

Who knows? Maybe number one overall. And you can leverage that into a slew of new picks, and you could really do some damage in one-off season, rather than if you were picking 10th or 11th with the six picks that you have, which is the situation right now. It's not 10th or 11th now, I think the 5th or 6th or whatever, but yeah. Is this Sunday, is this their last chance to win a game? No, because they'll, you don't know. at that last game of the year will be Philadelphia may have nothing to play for.

That's true. Yeah. Now, the way the standings are right now, my guess is they will have something to play for, whether it's for the division or whether it's for seating, there's a good chance they may have something to play for. But, yeah, I mean, I think I told you last week, or maybe I told you Tuesday when I thought Jaden was still going to play, that I thought they'd still win another game or two. it's the NFL. I mean, you know, the worst of teams rise up and win games. We see it every

single weekend. And they nearly beat Denver two weeks ago. They nearly ended Denver's long win streak. And so will they win another game? You know, the Giants, I had a guest on today. The Giants have played pretty hard. They have not had the season we've had. They've won one less game, but they haven't been blown out five times by 21 or more. They've blown fourth quarter lead after fourth quarter lead and lost in horrific fashion. I mean, they had a 19-0-0 lead on Denver going into the fourth quarter, and that was probably the wildest game of the year, lost 33 to 32. They blew a lead against the Bears, the Packers, the Lions, going back to the early portion of the season, the Cowboys. They've just blown a lot of

games. They have good players, Tommy. Their roster is good. Now, with that said, Washington's going to face the worst defensive team they have faced in a while. Now, Miami wasn't great defensively, but they had that stretch of Chiefs, Seahawks, Lions, Broncos, Vikings, you know, with Miami mixed in. The Giants are the 31st-ranked rush defense in the NFL. Hey, Cliff, he talked running the ball a little bit today. Sunday in the cold and wind and maybe the snow seems like a Chris Rodriguez first time, maybe of his career, 20-plus carry game. I'm wondering if he's ever had. I would agree with that. No, he has not had 20 carry. No, I don't think he's ever had 20, right? No way. He had 13 in the game last year against Tennessee, and this year he had 15 in the

game against Miami. You know, he's averaging for the season 4.6 yards per carry. I know. I know. I mean, he runs hard, and he's not, he doesn't go down by the first time he's hit. Nope. It's a weird situation right now, don't you think? It is.

This is why I mean. It is a weird situation. because you've got you've got mystery you've got credibility and you've got the biggest star questions surrounding the biggest star in a franchise the savior the sun there's volcanic ash covering up the sun right now it's an eclipse um yeah you know in so many ways and i i i I'm so glad this isn't the case. But in so many ways, it would have been much easier for them out there had he really been hurt at some point. And the 11 games missed this year, if he ends up only playing in six, you know, if you add it all up with, you know, leaving basically halfway through the Dallas and through the Minnesota games and, you know, towards the end of the Seattle game, it would have been much better had he had a real injury, not something career-threatening.

but let's just say, you know, a broken arm. And he was, you know, had surgery and he was out, you know, 11 weeks for that. That would have been that, well, of course he can't play. He broke his arm. And he broke his arm. And now that it's healthy with two games left, you know, we're not going to put him out there because he's just recovered from it. If we were in a playoff race, he could play.

But it's the in and out. It's the, you know, some of the way they handled it earlier, on in the year where it's like, you know, we're going to let you know on Friday about Jaden and then they, you know, rule him out. And then there was, you know, the discussion of he may have been able to go in the Denver game. He may have been able to come back, you know, I think a game earlier against the Falcons. Remember, there was some conversation about that. Like, they've had to deal with this all year long. And then in a game in which he was cleared to come back into the game he didn't and then he was called sore on Monday and then two

days later with four games left in the season he's ruled out yeah it's uh I'm I think like you know I always think about if someone were to ask me well how should we have handled it what what would the solution have been for you and I think what I said is the right solution now just be honest now and admit that you're protecting the franchise quarterback down the stretch. He's had a rough year. He hasn't been able to get into rhythm because he's been injured three different times and then banged up a little bit on the third injury on Sunday in Minneapolis, and it's just been one of those years and we're just going to shut it down.

We think that's the best thing to do rather than force it. With five games left, we thought we could get something. thing going here, and he could play some football in 2025. But with three games left, we're not going to do that. I actually think it wouldn't be received poorly. No, I don't think it would. I think the criticism would be greater if they tried to play him, and if they admitted we're not going to play him.

So, I mean, I think the debate out there is teeters towards not playing him more than playing him at this point. Well, it might now. But I don't think it was that way last week or the week before. It was at least split people thinking, my God, 30% of the season left. Your starting quarterback's got to play. But if there are only three games left or what, 17% left of the season, yeah, that's a different conversation. Yeah, but even 50% of your fans don't want your star quarterback to play.

That's still something to be concerned about. I wouldn't be, they shouldn't be concerned about what fans think. Granted that. Granted that. I'll grant you that. But what are we talking about here then? I think we're talking about that they don't, that, that they're fearful of what, of, of, of, what would this, it would be a shit show if he got hurt again in one of these final four games after, you know, he was pulled out of the game on Sunday. Yes, it's fear.

It's what I'm coming back to that. It's fear. And part of that is what. everybody would say, and the irony of it, you talked about irony earlier, is it's not similar to the RG3 situation at all. He had a serious injury. He had a serious knee injury during the season. This guy hasn't been seriously injured once since he got here.

That's true. But he's missed games for Knicks and Knicks. And, you know, it's not like if anybody out there, is saying, you know, we got to recognize the history because, you know, in 2012 and in 2013, we're not associated with that history. That was another organization. And by the way, the situations are completely different. The situations are different, but the, the, the, the, the atmosphere is the same.

You know, different medical diagnoses, an organization that looks confused. Yeah. Too bad they're not getting ready for a playoff game with his sore elbow because hard G3 was getting ready for a playoff game with his banged up knee. Playoffs we were talking about back then. Three and 14 is a distinct possibility now. I guess, you know, I will tell you this, like in talking about, you know, what would be best for us moving forward because we. what's happening right now is not good for us. 3 and 14, 3 and 10 right now, and no Jaden Daniels the rest of the way. Even with this little mystery and controversy is not good. But you know what would be good?

Getting the number one overall pick. That would create a fun lead-up to the draft. January, February, March, April, the debates, the trades, the opportunities, the players in the draft. And you know what? It might not even be number one. could end up with the number two or number three pick in the draft, and it's still going

to be, you know, a, this is a huge off-season. We talked about this the other day. You know, is the seat warm? If they lost the rest of the games by 21 or more, the seats are going to be warm. They've got a massive off-season upcoming. They still have this guy on a rookie contract. They've got a shitload of money to spend in free agency. They're going to have a high pick more likely than not now, and they can.

leverage that into replenishing all of the picks that they lost. You know, they're missing the two tonsill picks right now, the second and the fourth. And so imagine they have number one, Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback's, you know, becomes over the next three weeks, the clear-cut consensus number one. And we don't need a quarterback at number one. The packages we could potentially get offered. you can end up getting your wide receiver, your edge rusher, you're another corner.

You know, think about, now, there'll be young players and they've got to get the right players through the draft. And many of you will be screaming, this is too big of an offseason to leave up to Adam Peters because he doesn't cook anymore. Let Adam cook a year ago. it's all we heard I know

all right I want to play a couple of things that Cliff Kingsbury said or at least one thing that he said we'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors Hey guys how many times

do you get your credit card statement and you go through it and you see a monthly subscription fee for something you don't even use anymore well I've got something that I think can help you Rocket Money Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions.

It also helps monitor your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your overall savings. Rocket Money shows you all your expenses in one place, including subscriptions you forgot about. If you see a subscription you no longer want, Rocket Money will help you cancel it. You know, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday right around the corner, rocket money will help turn you from an impulse buyer

into a smart shopper. When everything's 50% off, it's easy to justify stocking up. Well, Rocket Money helps you stay focused on your budget, not the discounts. Rocket Money has saved users over $2.5 billion, including over $880 million in canceled subscriptions alone. Their 10 million members save up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with rocket money.

Go to rocketmoney.com slash Kevin D.C. today. That's rocketmoney.com slash Kevin D.C. Rocketmoney.com slash Kevin D.C. Have you ever fallen for a scam or know someone who has? Well, the holidays are all about finding the perfect gift. This time of year, however, not every deal is what it seems. Scammers are getting more creative to trick people into sharing their payment information through methods like fake shopping sites and giveaways that are too good to be true. Luckily, cash apps 24-7 fraud monitoring helps detect and alert you for unusual card activity should someone gain access to your card so you can act fast if something seems off.

You can also lock or unlock your cash app card instantly right in the app for extra control and peace of mind. Stay one step ahead of scams this season and keep your money secure with cash app. For a limited time only, new cash app customers can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real, just download cash app, use our exclusive referral code, secure 10. in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days, and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That's money. That's Cash App. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partners. Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank member FDIC. Promotions provided by Cash App a Block Inc brand. Visit cash.com slash legal

slash podcast for full disclosures. It's obviously the easiest second-test play calls when things don't work out. The critical moment in that Minnesota game was the first drive, and you called three pass plays there from the one or the two. What was your thought process there? And has your thinking changed, I guess, as you've looked back at that particular sequence post-game? Yeah, I mean, it always does.

You know, there's 30 plays in that game. I wish I'd call something differently. and I wish one of those plays would have worked, but they didn't, unfortunately. So that's, I think, the nature of a play caller. But, you know, there weren't a lot of great play calls in that game. And that's, like I said, that's all me and I've got to get better. That was offensive coordinator, Cliff Kingsbury, earlier today, answering a question about that sequence at the end of the first drive,

where after the first down run, he went throw, throw, throw, no touchdown. as you heard him say, and it tended to be a part of several answers today, he didn't think he called the best game on Sunday. He said, I got to be better. I think that that could have been part of Jaden not going back in the game. You know, Pauly 757 Polly suggested to me on Monday that he didn't go back in because Quinn lost confidence in Cliff's play calling in the game. Now, Cliff had just called the best game of the year, the previous week.

But they were having major protection issues, and they had just, you know, checked into a bubble screen to Van Ginkle's side. Yes. But Steve was on yesterday, and God, people, I would recommend yesterday's listen. He was so good in so many ways talking about, you know, first of all, telling us that the defense wasn't nearly as bad as it looked, he said it's just because they got methodically beat down rather than big play beat down. He was certainly critical of a lot of Jaden's game, also constructively positive about a few things.

And then, you know, really got after Kingsbury and the game that he called and thought that he was outwitted by Brian Flores in the game. And so, you know, you heard a lot of that. today. And I'm telling you, Tommy, I would say this would be my guess. If I did this as a Twitter poll, and maybe I will, who would you like fired the most? Peters, Quinn, Kingsbury, or none of the above. I think Kingsbury would come out number one. I think he'd have the biggest slice of that, you know, you're fired pie chart. I think Quinn would, just because he's the head coach. And there's a segment of the population out there who don't even know who Cliff Kingsbury is.

Well, our fan base does. People who follow you on Twitter and me on Twitter do. Quinn would be number one. You want to do the poll, or do you want me to do the poll? I don't do polls. That's kind of a harsh poll, isn't it? Yes. Yes, that is.

That's a harsh poll. Is there a delicate way to put it? I don't dirty my hands with polls. Yeah, I mean, because there's so many, you know, things that you do dirty your hands with. So why dirty your hands with everything? But there's a delicate way of asking the question, who deserves the most blame for this season? Or who are you least impressed with? I don't know.

something like that. Who are you not going to send a Christmas card? Sounds like you've done a poll before. Yeah, I mean, the Kingsbury question is an interesting one. You know, especially now with the Michigan job open, you know, Cliff Kingsbury is highly respected by the college football world. Very much so. I mean, he's considered to be an offensive guru.

Michigan's got one of the, you know, they had the five-star quarterback, and Underwood this year, who kind of underperformed as a freshman. I haven't seen one Michigan list yet with him mentioned, but it would be interesting. I don't think that people would shed tears if he took another gig. No, I don't think they would, but I'd be worried about going to Michigan. They take their firing their coaches pretty seriously. Yeah, right now, you know,

You and I talked about this, you know, the details of this story with respect to what he was arrested for and the specifics around the arrest, even the specifics around the firing are still not, as we sit here recording today, they're still not super clear. But I'll tell you one thing. Very unusual that the charges have not been emerged yet. Yet he's being held in custody. Yeah. How can you be held without being charged? I mean, it's a very unusual. I don't recall seeing that too often.

You know, but in this day and age, anything goes, so it doesn't really matter. Michigan... You're right. I think a lot of... You know, that's why in my column, I have to have from the game Sunday, you know, Cliff Kingsbury taking a job that's either good news or bad news for some people. I mean the end of last year

people would have been crushed and maybe King missed his window and Cliff missed this window. Yeah I don't I think that in the business he's very very respected, highly respected

and at the college level I mean he's revered with his work with quarterbacks and offenses. You have to hire somebody as much as you stay in this. That's going to excite fan base. Look, Michigan has an opening right now, and it's a top five-ish opening. You know, in this incredible carousousel of coaching opportunities,

this off-season, LSU, you know, Auburn, Florida, Penn State, you know, Virginia Tech. I mean, the list just keeps going on. Michigan would have probably been number two or number three, number two behind LSU or number three behind LSU in Florida in terms of the opening. And some would probably argue it would be number one. But I think LSU would be, was the number one opportunity. I had Mark Schlebeau on the show at the end of last week.

I think I ran it over the weekend. and he thinks LSU is the number one job in America. And like Alabama, Georgia, like the top jobs are now SEC jobs. And LSU is the best of all of the SEC jobs. But that Michigan opening will be interesting. And getting back to Kingsbury, I mean, I haven't seen his name linked. I've seen Jed Fish, you know, at Washington. I've seen Jesse Minck.

Inter, although he's got a show cause from his time with Harbaugh at Michigan. So that doesn't make any sense. Duke, Manny Diaz. I mean, these are guys that Kingsbury is very much, if they end up hiring a Jed Fish or a Manny Diaz, Cliff Kingsbury is at both of their levels, if not higher, in the college football hierarchy of coaching, you know, coaches. If he wanted to go back to college coaching,

I don't know what he wants to do. I don't think he's going anywhere, though. I don't think he's going anywhere. Probably not, but the fact that we're, that, you know, there's some people, a large segment that wouldn't be, that we're talking about a guy who has not performed well as the coordinator. You've already dumped your defensive coordinator. Yeah.

And now your offensive coordinator, you've got questions about him. That doesn't reflect well on the head coach. those are the two most important hires he makes there was nobody complaining about the hiring of Cliff Kingsbury last year and I know and again but last year was last year yeah but this year is this year and this year you it's really hard to evaluate this year

let's just deal with this past Sunday how could he not have seen that he was getting his head handed to him it was just a bad day I mean everybody has him it was a bad day you know all those coaches 29 coaches on that staff and not

wanted him walked up to him during the game and say you know this isn't going so well you might want to try something else he he was asked so many questions today about you know play calling and different things And, you know, I'll just read you one answer real quickly because I didn't cut this. I didn't record it.

On just limited practice time with players affecting play calling during games, he said, it's been a unique year in which, in that we've been trying to win games differently than we did last year, trying to do different things, possess the ball, you know, run the football, play our strengths. I think we'd like him to run the football even more. And last year, we had some other stuff going on. and we were able to play a little bit more wide open. So I think more than anything, it's just availability of players and just trying to maximize who we are to really just win the game.

The recipe we felt was different this year to try to win the game, and that's how we played. And he said about, you know, Jaden's season, he said, I would just say offensively with him really from the spring on through training camp, we were never able to get into a rhythm with everybody there weren't enough practices strung together enough games strung together just practicing consistently was a problem it just wasn't able to happen and so i think it's hard to really assess what that looks like based on just we never had consistent practice or rhythm or anything of that nature whether he was banged up or when he was

in other guys were out i'm sorry but that's just true for those of you who don't like excuses. That's what makes it impossible to say that Dan Quinn. Look, the Joe Witt Jr. is a separate conversation because they were bad last year on defense with a good team. But I watched last year, and I know Kingsbury's good at what he does, and I think he would have done something similar this year had he had all of the guys healthy and his quarterback. I didn't have all the guys. So it's a failing of not to recognize that you've got to adapt your game plan to the limits that you have. He just said he did. I don't think he did.

I don't think he made it simpler. He may think he did. I don't think he did. Well, look, offensively, if you want to go to, like, numbers, Washington's in the middle of the pack of a lot of key advanced offensive numbers this year. Does it feel like that when we've watched it? know. There have been some games, you know, where he has, I think, gotten more out of less. The Denver game, for sure. You know, I would say the first half of the Kansas City game.

It's just that they were turning the ball over. The Chargers game, the Bears game, the Raiders game earlier this year. But Sunday was an outlier. Sunday for the offense was, you know, a not getting more out of less. and the truth is he had more on Sunday, trying to get more out of more. The defense at no point this season, and really going back to last season, has gotten more out of less. So Cliff's proven he can do it. The defensive coordinator never proved it once in the number of games he was the coordinator. I'm not saying I want to be clear about this because some of you think that I'm like totally on board with Kingsbury coming. back and then I'm a big fan. I am a fan of Kingsbury, but I'm a bigger fan, and I said this

when they hired him. I'm a bigger fan of Shanahan-style football. I would have preferred a Shanahan-style offensive coordinator, and that's the system, and that's the offense that I prefer watching, and I think Jaden would be phenomenal in that kind of a scheme. But Kingsbury proved last year that the scheme he ran last year with Jaden wasn't good, it was great. It was elite last year. So I'm just saying that for those that think he can't do it, that's not true. He didn't show me a lot on Sammy. I'd be worried about if I'd have second thoughts based on Sunday.

I mean, again, part of your job is to adapt. He thinks he did. He thinks those three passes at the goal line with a, or adapting? Yeah, there's a disconnect there for me, too. Yeah, that wasn't adapting. You were rushing for eight yards of carry. You got to recognize that.

Like, stick with it. No doubt. You know, I am looking at, like, certain just traditional numbers. Like, Washington in rushing attempts this year, all right, is 11th in the league. in rushing attempts. I'm sorry, 12th in the league in rushing attempts. In rushing yards, they're fourth in the NFL. They're the fourth highest rush team in the NFL. Yards per carry, they're tied for fourth, tied for fifth, excuse me. Now, the quarterbacks have been involved in that, but not as much as last year. Last year, Jaden was the team's leading rusher.

This year, the team's leading rusher is Krosky Merritt, and the second leading rusher is Rodriguez and McNichols is, you know, not too far back. You know, I'm sure like he would say, well, what do you mean? We're the fourth leading rush offense in the league, and we've rushed it the 11th, you know, most times. And our time of possession, because our defense stinks so bad, is much worse than it was last year. We're getting fewer opportunities. And by the way, we get no takeaways from our defense. So the number of possessions in general are less than pretty much everybody else in the league. But I agree that thinking that they, you know, have adapted with the run game, it doesn't

feel like it when you're watching it. And it certainly didn't on Sunday, no doubt. No. Look, and I'm not advocating getting rid of them. I'm just saying that there wouldn't be as many cries. There wouldn't be as many people crying if he left this. year, as there would have been last year. You know what? That's what happens when you go three and ten and maybe to three and fourteen.

I'll tell you this, though, Sunday. Let me repeat this. The Giants have the 31st ranked rush defense in the NFL. This will be the best opportunity in months to just line it up and run the football. Rodriguez cold, windy day in the Meadowlands. How about 20? two carries for him and another eight for Kroski Merritt. And let's see, and by the way, Marioita, he'll be, see, he can use Marioita as part of the run game. You know, they clearly had the governor on Jaden Sunday where they couldn't run, you know, read options or design runs.

All right, anything else on Kingsbury? Nope. All right, and I know you've, I wash my hands of him. I know you've got some things. And, you know, we didn't talk about the Notre Dame situation the other day, although we did at the very end. But I do think it's interesting. I can be done with that. We're not done with that because college football is responding to Notre Dame and not favorably.

They're angry that Notre Dame was angry. So we'll get to that and a lot more after these words from a few of our sponsors, including your prediction for Sunday's game. guys personal experience with a product that I want to tell you about it's zbiotics and their product called pre-alcohol let's face it after a nighted drinks most at our age anyway don't bounce back the next day like we used to you either have that choice the night before of do i have a drink or two or do i pass because i don't want to feel badly the next day well there's a surefire way to wake up feeling fresh after drinks with friends it's with Pre-alcohol. Zbiotics, pre-alcohol was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings

after drinking. I've noticed a difference the next day after using pre-alcohol. You drink pre-alcohol before your favorite drink for me, Tito's soda, lime, or a beer. You wouldn't believe how great you feel the next day. With the holidays approaching, you're going to be at parties. You're going to have these opportunities where you're going to want to have one or two without waking up the next day feeling terrible. Go to Zbiotics.com slash Sheen to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use Sheehan at checkout. Zbiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee.

So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to Zbiotics.com slash Sheen and use the code Sheen, S-H-E-E-H-A-N at checkout for 15% off. Guys, I introduced you to Goldbelly about a year ago. It's an amazing site that I order from now all the time. It's a place where you can get the most iconic famous foods from restaurants all

across the country. They'll ship it to you no matter where you are. Goldbelly ships you iconic Chicago deep dish pizza from Lou Malnoughties or New York's most famous cheesecake from juniors. If you're craving barbecue, they'll ship it from Franklin's barbecue, the legendary Texas barbecue, straight to your door. And you've got to try the one and only world-renowned stone crab delivered from Joe's in Miami. Whether it's a dish from that one-of-a-kind restaurant or meals from world famous chefs like Jose Andres, Goldbelly has you covered. If you're looking

for that perfect gift or want to impress your friends and family within an epic meal the next time you host, go to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code Sheehan. That's goldbelly.com code Sheen for 20% off your first order. Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, you know, it's pretty cold out there these days. We're in for some pretty cold winter weather coming up. And if you're walking around downtown D.C., And you're looking for an ideal place to get warm. Stop at Shelley's backroom at 1331 F Street, Northwest.

The temperature is always comfortable at Shelley's, as are the surroundings with their comfortable chairs, their eight high-definition TVs all around. And they have a remarkable selection of drinks. And if you really want to get warmed, for me, I would like to get a shot of rum. you know rum in the wintertime okay rum is such a summer drink though I know but I like it in the wintertime okay you know

I mean you know Bacardi I don't have I don't have exotic tastes they have Bacardi there Bacardi superior Bacardi black they have according to their menu and you can find the menu online at shelley's backroom.com they have a rum called Diplomatico ambassador Okay. Yep. That goes for $60. That's a hefty price for a rum drink.

Yeah, it is. They have the El Dorados. They have Mount Gay. They've got flavored rum, Bacardi, Captain Morgan. They've got all kinds of different kinds of drinks. A remarkable selection of drinks. A great selection of cigars that the staff will help with you with. And some food that will warm up your insides as well.

Find out more. deli's backroom.com. We, um, there was like a, I don't know, like a six or seven year stretch where we went to Bermuda a bunch of times, uh, and, you know, that's such a, it's a great place and it's close, you know, it's a short flight. Um, but they, there's a lot of rum drinks there. And they've got, you know, dark and stormy cocktails. They've got something called the Swizzler. And that's all we drank when we were in, uh, Bermuda was rum. And I like rum, but it just speaks to me as kind of a summer drink more so than a winter.

I think it warms me up. Yeah. Well, bourbon can do that too. Yes. All right. You had a couple of things, including your prediction for Sunday. So go ahead. Why don't we start with that?

You've been right the last few weeks. You're just picking them to lose basically every week. But you picked them to lose against Minnesota. So what do you got Sunday? I've got the commanders winning on Sunday. Really? Yes. You know they're an underdog, right?

I know. I want a two-point underdog? Yep, I'll check it at my bookie here, just to see what the latest is, but yeah, keep going. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be hard-fought, not memorable, 20 to 16 win for the Washington commanders. There'll be a lot of running. You know, they'll wind up hurting their draft selection and opening the Giants with theirs. Okay. So, but I've got Washington win in 2016 in a forgettable game.

That would be Washington plus the two and a half right now. That's the number at my bookie. The total is at 46. So Washington in the under for Tommy, if you want to bet it, bet it at my bookie. use my promo code, DC Reload, and they're going to give you a 50% cash bonus when you sign up, or if you go back and you reload as an existing customer. DC Reload is the promo code. Please use that and take the free money at my bookie.

20 to 16, very good. I wanted to mention a couple of things real quickly. So Maryland plays Michigan on Saturday night at home in men's basketball. Michigan's the number two team in the country, Tommy, and they are off to one of the best starts in the history of the game. They are 9-0 currently, and they are annihilating teams. I'm going to give you the scores of their most recent wins, right? They beat 21st-ranked Auburn by 30.

They beat 12th ranked Gonzaga by 40. They beat Rutgers by 41, and they beat Villanova the other night by 28 points. They're beating, they beat two ranked teams in a row by 30 and 40 points. Michigan's number two right now, everybody believes they're number one. I've read various tweets from basketball people who say, I've never seen a team do what Michigan's doing right now. They play at Maryland Saturday night. This is a Fox national TV primetime game, and Maryland is not good.

My Terps are not good this year. It's early, and there's a long way to go, but they're not very good. And I think they are going to be the biggest underdog that they've ever been at home in the last 50 years, you know, since lefty came to coach at Maryland. And think about all the number one teams, Duke and Carolina in particular, that they played in Colfield House or Xfinity Center. I think I was going to be a 16 or 17 point favorite, potentially in College Park. If you see something much less than that, that would be a Maryland smell test pick. But, yeah, and it's,

It's too bad because some of these games are the most memorable with the Terps when they've got a number one or a number two team in and the crowd's pumped up. But I don't think there's a lot of juice right now in the moment for Maryland basketball, even though their recruiting class for next year is ranked number two or number three in the country, depending on which rankings you follow. So there you go on that. Want to talk about Notre Dame a little bit? Well, I wasn't done with my list of things to do. Oh, well, give me your list. Okay. This is a conservativeist of public service.

This came up last night when I was out to dinner with some people. And one of these persons does a lot of work in artificial intelligence. Mm-hmm. And he warned me, like, do you've ever FaceTime? Occasionally, yes. Okay. he warned me in the not too distant future that scam artists

will be able to FaceTime you and you'll be thinking you're talking to a family member Are we Can we save the AI conversation for another day Because it's it's the whole thing is terrifying I told you that what somebody sent me like three months ago right? Didn't I did I tell you that somebody sent me an AI-generated recording of myself ordering food at a restaurant.

And they said, were you at this restaurant the other night? I'm like, no. You didn't tell me that. I thought I told you that. Yeah. I mean, what's that about? I mean, think about your phone, and you're looking at what you think is your son talking to you

and it's not that's really frightening well who is who were they who were they replacing my son with well his image it'll be his image I got it you know

the whole thing but but they recommend it to me is to come up with one particular thing that only you and your family would know about

right a secret a secret code yes yeah it's going to be more important than ever I was just like stunned at the idea of looking at my phone talking to my son and it's not my son or my wife or something like that

scary stuff yeah it's the whole thing about AI is scary but yeah let's talk about Notre Dame did you that was that it on your list you said you had a list I had something else but it's not important go ahead tell me what it is you know on Facebook which you gave up on which I think is great

if you use it right it's great and what they do on Facebook they'll show you memories of something you posted many years ago it'll pop up you know memories from many years ago. Well, I get that, I get that through Apple photos. I get the, you know, pictures sent to me all the

time. But that's not just pictures. Like, I used to post when we did the show. I mean, I post a lot of my stuff on Facebook, as I do with X. And we did the radio show. I used to do the same thing. And in December of 2009,

we had Quentin Gaither on the show. I don't know who that is. Remember his name? I don't know who that is. The name sounds a bit familiar, but I don't know who that is. He played in the NFL five years.

He played with the Redskins in 2009. Did he go to Maryland? I don't think so. I remember Quentin Dunbar. No, Quentin Gather. He played at University of Utah in Citrus College. He was selected by the Titans in the seventh round of the 2006 draft.

He played for four teams, five years, including the Redskins. And we had him on the show because this was a day when the Redskins killed the Raiders, like 34 to 19. And this guy had 50 yards rushing on 14 carries and two touchdowns. His name, by the way, is Quentin Gantan. Not Gaither. Okay. Gantir.

But I don't remember him at all. Yeah. I actually, Quentin Gaither, the made-up name, I actually think I had heard that name before. But Quentin Gantor, I don't remember. So. Well, he was a guest on the sports fix. Exciting. So why are you telling me this?

It's just a memory that popped up on Facebook? Well, because I didn't remember him either. Right. I mean, I can't. I mean, every football player we've ever had, I've heard him. before that I never heard of this guy. Oh, I bet that there are some players that we've had on the show, especially like training camp and stuff, that we could be reminded of and say, yeah, I have no idea who that person

is. I mean, training camp, we, you know, we used to get guys that were not going to make the team sometimes. You know, we had some local pies or something. What? We fell down. We really fell down. Speaking of training camp local ties, the other running back in that game was Marcus Mason.

Well, Georgetown Prep. Yes. He was a training camp here. He was a pre-season hero. Yes. We fell down on that examples of players who we've had on that you never hear of or never heard of before. We never had Roderick Muckleroy on. You remember him, Chris Russell?

Yeah. Yeah, I can just remember you and I leaving like Richmond after doing the show for a day And we'd be going back to the hotel or we'd be going back to get you know going to get lunch or something And Russell was doing the local Richmond station for an hour every day to it was like a training camp show right And he first of all one day we were leaving He was breaking down the potential for who would be the practice school squad kicker. That was one. And then Roderick muckleroy was like a linebacker, maybe from Texas. I can't remember.

And he was going on and on about muckleroy, and we turned it into a bit, and I think a sound drop there for a few years. Oh, yeah, we played that sound drop all the time. Yeah. Roderick muckleroy. He was selected by the Bengals. and this was 2012 when he played for Washington. And that was it. That was his professional. Did he go to Texas, or am I wrong about that?

He went to Texas. I got it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we had a lot of those dudes on, no doubt. We would not, we were... This was in December, Kevin. This was December.

Okay. They signed him in December, so he wasn't in training camp? No, this was December. This is the game they won. But the story I'm talking about where Russell was going on and on, that was training camp, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

But I'm just pointing out that Quentin answer, a guy playing on the team at December, the offensive start a game, who scored two touchdowns, never heard of them. Well, let me tell you something. This is what, these are the players they've been to. playing all year anyway, out of necessity. But these are the players who should be playing in these final three or four games. The guys that, you know, six, seven years from now were like, I think was he, now remember he played in that injury season of 2025 against the Giants and the Meadowlands or against the Eagles or the Cowboys on Christmas Day? I think Netflix is

thrilled. Actually, they're thrilled because they've got the Cowboys. It doesn't matter who they're playing. One last day. Yes. What about the Orioles signing Pete Alonzo? Crazy, huh? Big contract. Really, I mean, that lineup, if they hit like they should have, like everyone thought they would last year, that's going to be an impressive lineup with Pete Alonzo.

And in five years, $155 million. Jesus. When will the nationals be good? When will the nationals be good? Oh, I don't know. Look, they are doing a total. makeover that, you know, Paul Sabani, this guy. Yeah, the 19-year-old GM.

Right, it's what they expected. You know, everyone expected him, and they have a brand new, they have pretty much flush the system and hired all new people, and they're all young, you know, and, you know, all the geeks are very excited about it, but in terms of being good, I mean, how can I say? I don't know how good this guy is, it's just in town. Right. You know, but even if it's good, they're three years away or more. All right.

I'm going to talk with you for five minutes tops about Notre Dame when we come back. And also, a major NFL star was just hospitalized. We'll get to that to finish up the show next after these words from a few of our sponsors. So, guys, I introduced you to a really good product a while back, And I want to remind everybody, for those of you that have been wearing the same boxer briefs, the same any kind of underwear for a long time now, I've got a better answer for you. I want to tell you about skims for men, something I've discovered recently, the softest underwear I've ever worn. I got a few pairs of the five-inch boxer briefs so comfortable, no matter what you're doing,

from sitting in a chair in your office to working out. are so comfortable. They don't bunch up. They were made to recover from every stretch. The fabric is cool to the touch, and it just seems to mold to your body and never loses its shape. This is so different from the synthetic feeling I used to get from what I used to wear. Skims is made with an undeniable soft midweight cotton that allows you to breathe.

Skims for men comes in plenty of colors, plenty of sizes. Shop skims men's at skims.com. Let them know I sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select this show in the drop-down menu that follows. And if you're looking for the perfect gifts this season, the Skims Holiday Shop is now open at skims.com. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself, and Hymns brings expert care straight to you to ensure that happens. with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule.

For simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, ED, weight loss, and more, visit hymns.com slash sheen. That's hymns.com slash sheen for your free online visit. individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxidil and phenosteride. Featured products include compounded drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. With donations offering 50% off everything from now.

until the end of the year. And if you want to finance the purchase, zero percent interest for five years. You won't pay interest on what you borrow to buy the new windows until the new stadium is nearly up at RFK. Window Nation does it right. They've got over 45,000 five-star reviews

and 96% customer satisfaction rating. Forbes Magazine has them as the number one window installation company in America. There's no risk. If you get a free estimate, because it is free, they'll actually let you know which windows in your home need to be replaced. And then if you decide to move forward with them, lifetime warranty on your purchase. You can take comfort in knowing that your windows are secure for years to come. 86690 Nation, windownation.com.

The breaking NFL story is that T.J. Watt, the Steelers, you know, Star Edge pass rush, was sent to the hospital with a lung issue and we'll see if he's okay. They play Monday night in Pittsburgh against the dolphins, and they need him. I kind of picked Pittsburgh to win that division and placed a small wager on their over and for them to win the AFC North,

and with them beating Baltimore last week, they're in good shape to do it, but T.J. Watt needs to be a part of it. Hopefully he's okay. Tommy, look, just give me two minutes. Notre Dame was the team that got left out of the playoff. You know that, right? Yes. Okay, so the bottom line is that the team that they were competing with for the last playoff spot, Miami, they had essentially identical resumes,

and they played head-to-head all the way back on Labor Day weekend, but they played head-to-head and Miami won the game. Based on the criteria that the selection committee is supposed to use, Miami was the right choice. I believe that. I think a lot of college football fans think that, even if you think, which I do, that Notre Dame right now is the better team.

I actually think Notre Dame would have had a chance to win the national championship, but they're not in the field, a 12-team field, which this year includes two of the little guys, Tulane and James Madison. I personally don't think that this playoff moving forward, and it won't, should include two of what they refer to as the G5 conferences, you know, the non-power-4 conferences. The non-power four are the Big Ten, the SEC, the Big 12, and the ACC. Well, Notre Dame didn't take their exclusion very well.

Pete Bavakwa, who is the athletic director, said that they felt robbed. He blamed everybody from ESPN to the ACC and said that the relationship that Notre Dame has with the ACC may be damaged permanently. He went full, petulant child, sour grapes, in my opinion, because when you think about Notre Dame, What has sports done college football in particular to Notre Dame for basically a century? It has cowtowed to Notre Dame at every turn. And the first time, they don't get their way or they don't get included in something. By the way, they didn't deserve it based on the criteria. They lost to Miami head to head.

This is what they decided to do. Well, now college football, people have had it with this babacua. I think he went way beyond what was reasonable. Maybe they feel like they have a legitimate reason to be in over Alabama, or they have a real gripe about the way the selection committee handled their shows leading up to it, because last week, Notre Dame was two spots ahead of Miami, of Miami, with BYU in between, and they're like, well, why didn't you tell us we were behind Miami last week? You got our hopes up.

And the committee said, well, we didn't use the head-to-head until you guys were side-by-side. It's a weak answer by the committee. By the way, every single year, this selection committee and the communication of these weekly rankings has been poor. I mean, that's not a surprise. But college football is not taking kindly to Notre Dame's rant. They, first of all, the Big 12 commissioner ripped in debate. Bavakwa. And now Dan Wolkin from Yahoo Sports is reporting that athletic directors in other leagues

are now threatening to freeze Notre Dame out of future schedules, in part because of the way they behaved and also in part because next year's criteria in the playoff include two new things. Number one, the top four conference champions automatically go. So the power four conference champions, so Duke would have been in the field, although the ACC will change their tie-breaking procedures. That's another story altogether. So James Madison wouldn't have been in the field this year. Duke would have been had that rule taken place. But the other rule is Notre Dame, they voted for this 12-team playoff on the condition that starting in 2026, if they finish in the top 12 of the rankings, they're automatically in.

That's not a preference. That's not a perk or a rule assigned to any other team in college football. Now, think about this, Tommy. Notre Dame's an independent. They've chosen to go that way in football. They're affiliated with the ACC in every other sport except for football. What if their schedule teams from college? conferences started to freeze them out.

I mean, they'd be playing Army, Navy, you know, Temple, or whatever, not Temple. I'm trying to think of the other independent. They'd be going home and homes with those teams. Now, I don't think this would ever happen because when you play Notre Dame, it's a massive payday. It's a massive television rating. It's a massive payday.

It's a massive gate. so you're not realistically going to turn this down. And they do have an ACC schedule commitment of playing ACC schools, even though they're not a part of the ACC. I'd also just mention, during COVID, Tommy, Notre Dame as an independent, didn't have a football schedule. And the ACC bailed them out. That was the year in which the ACC went to him and said,

you can play an ACC schedule with our school. Notre Dame would have had no season during COVID without the ACC, and now the athletic director is bashing them. I've liked Notre Dame my whole life, not as much as Maryland, but I've always kind of rooted for Notre Dame. The behavior of that athletic director was so anti-competitive and so soft, and you're missing out on a $6 million payday from, the Pop-Tarts Bowl, by the way, one of the popular bowl games now,

a $6 million payday they backed away from. Another month of practice, which every coach will tell you the best thing about a bowl game is you have almost a second spring season for your young players to practice for another month, not to mention, you know, the players that wanted to play. And I just, there are other teams that opted out of bowl games, but those teams were five and seven teams and there just wasn't any interest from their fan bases in them going to games.

Notre Dame would have played Texas in a bowl game and would have gotten a $6 million payout and it would have been great for the sport at holiday time to watch that game, even though it's not a meaningful game. But I just thought the whole thing was incredibly distasteful. And if I were a Notre Dame fan, I would have been embarrassed. that my athletic director behaved the way he behaved and that my university made the decision that they made.

It's, to me, that's not what competition is about and that's not what good sportsmanship is about. It's like all of the wrong lessons that you're teaching in the way they behaved over the last few days. I agree. Look, and I haven't liked Notre Dame since So Thaisman played there. The last time I cared about Notre Dame. Yeah.

I've never particularly liked it. I always thought they've been a bully in college football. And, you know, I looked up something. Front Office sports did a story about how Notre Dame is not necessarily the huge TV. No, they're not. They're not. Yeah. I mean, they were 15th in average ratings this year, average people watching in college football.

So, you know, I mean, I think it is petty. I think it's a tantrum, and I think they look bad. Now, let me just tell you that, you know, Notre Dame fans are everywhere. I mean, wherever they play, it's not that they travel. They're already there, in most cases, you know, especially in places like Chicago and New York. D.C., they've, you know, played it at Northwest

Westfield before they played a game against Navy there before, L.A., you know, but I thought the threat of freezing them out of scheduling, like that's a legitimate threat because that, they're an independent. They've chosen to go that route. They got upset that the ACC was promoting on the ACC network Miami by running the Miami Notre Dame game from the opener over and over again last week and the commissioner of the ACC said, you know, we really respect Notre Dame and we love being affiliated with Notre Dame, but Miami's a conference member. Of course we're going to support and promote their, you know, their place in the playoff. Yeah, Notre Dame isn't. They're not a football member of the ACC, but can you imagine like the teams they play every

year, you know, the Michigan states and the Purdue's and the Boston colleges and like if they decided, yeah, we've had it with you. we're not going to schedule you anymore. I don't see that ever happening. All right. I guess we're done for the day. 20 to 16, Washington wins, says Tommy. I'll be back tomorrow.

Jay Gruden on the show. All the smell test picks, and they're going to be several of them from the NFL card. There are a lot of games that don't make sense this weekend. That's it. All right, Tommy. Enjoy the weekend. Okay, boss.

I'll see you. You know, I'm going to be able to be. And so I'm I'm You know, and

the